Malaysiakini:
There are just not enough good guys to form government
by Zaid Ibrahim
Before Pakatan Harapan can realistically dream to get back to power, the essential takeaway from the embarrassing episode is to think clearly. Only when we think clearly can we plan appropriate actions to regain power.
To depict the appointment of Muhyiddin Yassin as a power grab is wrong, in facts and in law.
When an incumbent prime minister resigns, the vacancy has to be filled. What did Mayuddin and Azmin Ali do that was illegal to have caused the resignation of the PM? Nothing at all.
To use political secretaries to invite everyone to the Sheraton Hotel was not illegal, or to persuade the Palace that Sarawak MPs, Umno and PAS supported them is not illegal. Politicians misrepresent all the time and as for horse-trading, that is par for the course.
If it was not Muyuddin, it could have been any of the 222 MPs.
Just because Mayuddin was supported by some unsavoury characters in Umno or PAS or both does not affect his appointment as prime minister.
Those so-called unsavoury characters from Umno backbenchers, repugnant though they may be to many of us, are not disqualified by law to select the prime minister of their choice.
Instead of wasting time trying to justify the many ridiculous decisions made by the Harapan leadership when they were holding power, or to accuse Muhyiddin and Azmin as traitors, Harapan should instead join in to support the new government and Muhyiddin as prime minister.
If they had done that, at least Muhyiddin would have a bigger choice of good leaders to pick from as his ministers. Some capable ministers from Harapan and other good characters from Harapan could be included in the government.
This way we could provide a check and balance in the cabinet against those unsavoury characters. Now Umno calls the shots because we don't want to be associated with these unsavoury characters
We could balance the extremists and unsavoury characters in the cabinet with the virtuous character from Harapan. Politics is always about doing what is feasible and preventing the worst from happening.
Harapan had practised this well. In the 21 months in power, they were careful not to implement real reforms because they wanted to last as long as possible.
They dared not hurt the feelings of the Malays or that of the former prime minister.
When Anwar was ignored from day one, they did nothing because they were "practical". When Umno and PAS kept calling for Dr Mahathir Mohamad to stay for a full term, they saw this coming, but were again being "practical".
So why can't Harapan now be practical with Muhyiddin? Why can't the means justify the ends continue as the coalition's guiding philosophy?
If we are in government at least we have an easier route to regain federal power in the next election.
Of course, my suggestion will be rejected outright by the self-righteous Harapan supporters.
They think we are the good guys, being highly principled and moral. Those with Muhyiddin and Azmin are the bad guys.
In politics, the good and bad sometimes overlap, and we must at times collaborate and cooperate. There are just not enough good guys to form the government. How else do we keep the machinery of government moving if we are not willing to be flexible?
Harapan supporters seem to think all Umno and PAS MPs are the bad guys, the "untouchables". Some in Harapan declared they could have formed the government had they accepted Umno's support. If this is true, then it was a lost opportunity. This attitude is wrong. Some Umno leaders are "tainted" but Umno votes in the Dewan Rakyat are not.
Will they now also declare that they will not accept any support from Umno MPs when Parliament convenes? Will they also declare they will not accept support from PAS? Who else amongst the MPs will they not accept support from? Yet, they tell us they will win the no-confidence vote which they will garner from all the votes that are "not tainted."
Going along this route, Harapan will have a tough time to return to power.
In the real world, political leaders are not always so righteous and virtuous as defined by our personal standards. We always have to deal with MPs and state assemblypersons from all parties, who may not match our high moral standards, or whose party policies are different from ours, but compromise is necessary if we want to govern, and do good deeds in the process. Otherwise, we will be the opposition for the next 50 years
ZAID IBRAHIM is the Kelantan DAP chief
DAP is ensuring the certainty it will not make any progress in Kelantan by appointing Zaid Ibrahim as its leader there.
ReplyDeleteHe is a totally out of touch elitist.
Didn't we always say that Zaid Ibrahim is a good man, a damn far sight better than most of the politicians carrying Umno genes but alas, he every now and then is a rather loose canon ?
ReplyDeleteA loose canon is an unpredictable or uncontrolled person who is liable to cause unintentional damage. And in this article, he had put his foot in his mouth.
The very fact that we had to grit our teeth to accept Dr M, he of the infamous BTN ardent initiator, he who is the father destroyer of the racial harmony, he of the enabler of cronyism and egoistic builder of useless mega projects and reckless investments causing losses by the billions; by accepting him, we can hardly be described as being overly righteous, not in the least.
So it is not out of righteousness that we wouldn't touch PN's government with a ten foot pole. It is that hardly 21 months ago, we have competely rejected Umno, including that fake holiness Hadi Awang and his gang of fakers in PAS. We had it up to here with their decades-old endless gangsterism, hooliganism, blatant daylight cum surreptitious plundering and most all, the nauseating racism and bigotry, which had really gone blatantly off the chart these last few 21 months braying almost non stop 24/7 while cooling their heels in the opposition bench. And Zaid wants us to sit side by side with them in this PN government and to bear it, all in the interest of getting back into power ? Seriously ?
And here we have Zaid getting all practical, an attribute which is generally reserved for the Chinese, to gloss over the shit that Umno really is, which Dr M himself, an Umno man through and through albeit his temporary change of clothing ( to Bersatu), had railed and cried that Umno is rotten to the core. He should know, right...how rotten Umno was and still is.
So it is not out of righteousness that we won't work with Umno and that devilish Pas. Flawed as we were ourselves, we just couldn't stomach them anymore, even if being practical is a means to an end, the end being to get back to power.
i thot from the very beginning everyone was told mahathir would reign for 2 years then pass to anwar? who is the one that broke promise? what practical this zaid talking abt? this tok kok fella shd join muhyiddin govt if was invited, dun waste such pratical opportunity in life.
ReplyDeleteIt is very disappointing to realise that Zaid is such a "practical" man.
ReplyDeleteIt is good that he holds no other position except as DAP Chief in Kelantan..perhaps DAP should advise him to rejoin UMNO seeing that he (Zaid) is a "practical" man.