All MPs should ask for a fresh mandate!
Is Pakatan Harapan in the grave? That is a question that still hangs. While some diehards in the “dissolved” coalition say that there is still hope for Pakatan, others have clearly dismissed the notion.
The move by Gombak MP Mohamed Azmin Ali and his team had cost Malaysian some RM41 billion in Bursa Malaysia losses. The ringgit is dwindling and investors are most likely looking at other markets.
I am not defending the accused former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his affiliates for the 1MDB blunder and losses but what difference in terms of financial impact is there in comparison with this power struggle?
Both have caused the ordinary Malaysian heartache. One may be called a thief but then what shall we call the current government and their idiosyncrasies? As the rakyat, we are being made the sacrificial lamb no matter what the outcome.
As it is, the economy is already sluggish due to external forces and the coronavirus. Making things worse, we have an economic minister justifying an act, labelled as treason by some, by saying he did the “Langkah Sheraton” to save his boss! Can any fool believe that! The entire move is gyrating more towards a very thought out and cunning plan to actually oust certain entities from the equation.
Whatever said and done the bottom line is that people are losing that little trust that was there on some politicians. We feel cheated, betrayed and above all, being made pawns to be sacrificed in certain politicians’ chessboard.
They earn fat salaries and allowances paid by the rakyat via so many well-crafted taxes. In fact, Pakatan has squeezed us more than ever to apparently justify the so called loses due to 1MDB. But then who will now compensate for their blunder? Hardly 21 months into power and we are worse as Pakatan has actually compounded the 1MDB damage but via other routes.
First time in history, we have a one-man government and that too interim. He is today the entire government. Only Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad can bring down all the prime ministers in Malaysia. …including himself. I wouldn’t go as far to his days with Tunku Abdul Rahman but he played a fundamental role in the removal of Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib. And of course, he himself yesterday bounced back a couple of hours later as interim premier.
With that sort of track record, I doubt any single MP would now be comfortable sitting on the chair as long as Mahathir is politically active. Thus, the biggest dilemma facing Malaysia today is, who is next after Mahathir? Do we even have any credible candidate? Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was pretty close but with the current scenario he looks lame too.
The only right thing to do is to go back to the people to get a fresh mandate. We Malaysians must be given the right to decide who and which party still deserve that valuable vote.
That is what all the MPs should recommend to His Majesty, Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Narinder Pal Singh is a veteran political observer
