Mahathir puts Pakatan in deep mire

FMT:

PH duo agrees, coalition might be in trouble

Sean Augustin

August 29, 2019 8:25 AM

Two MPs from Pakatan Harapan say the coalition has yet to fully deliver on its election pledges from GE14.

PETALING JAYA: Two MPs from Pakatan Harapan (PH) agree with the assessment by PPBM chief strategist Rais Hussin that the ruling coalition would face defeat if a general election were called now, saying PH has failed to keep its promises and to carry out fundamental reforms.

DAP’s Klang MP Charles Santiago said public confidence in the government has been on the ebb despite PH’s pledge to usher in a “new Malaysia”.

“We talk about the 2023 polls even though we haven’t fully realised our last manifesto,” he said, citing various flip-flops in policies and what he called a “PM transition that’s stuck in the mud”.

He also said there appears to be little focus on boosting the economy, especially in terms of helping small and medium enterprises.

“Basically, people feel that we are not delivering our promises, and that we are getting caught up in sideshows like Zakir Naik and the khat controversies.

Charles Santiago.

“These sideshows are overtaking the national agenda because issues which should be prioritised are not dealt with,” he told FMT.

Rais had said at a forum yesterday that Umno and PAS would win “hands down” if an election were to be called now.

He said PH leaders had stopped listening to the people and that the coalition needed to take its manifesto seriously to gain public trust.

Santiago said urgent issues include bread-and-butter affairs such as wages, unemployment, inequality and the cost of living.

He warned that the middle class was becoming “tired” of PH and urged the coalition’s leaders to change while they could.

Noting that more young voters are expected to take part in the next polls, he said: “They will vote for those who protect their interests.”

However, he opined that the bulk of votes would go to a “third force” outside of PAS and Umno, if one were to emerge by the next general election.

Wong Chen.

PKR’s Subang MP Wong Chen likewise said PH was at risk of losing power but disagreed that PAS and Umno would easily take over.

He said the two opposition parties might wrest some seats from PH but questioned their ability to cooperate as a united force.

“An election tomorrow would most likely create a hung Parliament with no clear winners but a hell of a lot of horse-trading to form a government,” he told FMT.

He, too, spoke of PH’s failure to deliver “systematic and fundamental reforms” and what he called “self-inflicted problems”.

He said efforts to decentralise the prime minister’s powers, revive parliamentary independence and provide greater checks and balances would help Malaysia shift to a more democratic system.

“A more democratic system would drive economic growth and innovation which, in turn, will ensure that PH gets another term.”

Wong Chin Huat.

Wong Chin Huat of the Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia agreed that PH might lose power but attributed the possibility to a drop in voter turnout rather than a swing in support towards the opposition.

He said if PH were to lose an election tomorrow, it would not be because PAS and Umno are offering a viable alternative.

“Many voters are too let down by politicians on both sides,” he added.

Noting the expected influx of new voters given the move to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, Wong said anything could happen.

As Malaysia practises the “first-past-the-post” system, he said, even small swings in votes could see a drastic shift in seats.

If this happens, he said, none of the PH component parties would be spared.

“Until two months ago, DAP might be. (But) today, DAP is as vulnerable as the others,” he said, citing the khat controversy as well as the stir over Lynas Corp.

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kaytee notes:

I believe the root cause of Pakatan's current problem, a bizarre outcome considering how popular it had been immediately post-GE14 can be traced to Mahathir and his dictatorial policies and frequent about-turns.

Vowing not to accept frogs from UMNO he did just that to boost his Parti Pribumi's poor standing amongst Pakatan component parties.

He grabbed the lion's share of ministerial posts for his bottom-of-the-barrel MPs (eg. Rina Harun, Redzuan Yusof, Maszlee thge last of whom was in reality a last-minute co-option, etc) and ADUNs (eg. Azumu in Perak), who all could hardly perform.

[also see my post The MOST racist Minister in Pakatan government]

He sought to split PKR by unilaterally seizing Azmin Ali from his position as MB Selangor to become Minister of a newly formed ministry, which he created to halve Lim Guan Eng's power as Finance Minister.

Instead of focusing on Malaysia's need on issues of basic essentials eg. food, jobs, cost of living, health, reforms, etc, he misuses his Second Chance to refocus on his hobby horses of:

(i) Car No 3,
(ii) using Khazanah to create more Malay crony-billionaires (watch to see if he will approve Abu Sahid's Maju Holdings with PLUS - much against Lim GE and Khazanah's wishes),
(iii) finding faults with Singapore and (initially) China,
(iv) eff-ing up (again) the education policies with his sinister intentions (sometimes via his puppet Maszlee),
(v) re-sucking up to Japan a la his resurrected Look East Kerbau, and
(vi) strengthening his un-strength-able Parti Pribumi for his own agenda, hence re-instituting his old Mahathir-ist rejection of ICERD, Rome Statute, embracing of Zakir Nakir, and re-ringing the old clarion (but hypocritical) call of 'Wahai Anak Melayu, Bangkit ... yadda yadda yadda".

He has had his old-time coterie to help him outside but more powerful than the cabinet, including a former EC Mahathirist Commissioner to even review the EC (what an eff-ing joke). As mentioned above, he courts Zakir Naik obviously with the intention of marshalling the Heartland over to his Parti Pribumi - I suspect he might even dislike Zakir. He even sluts with PAS and UMNO in a hypocritical call for Malay Unity when he hates both parties. But he hopes UMNO would be de-registered by RoS whence he then hopes to see mass migration of rats abandoning the Mothership to join his UMNO Baru-er (III)

How the hell is he willing to reform when such reforms militate against his personal covert agenda? And worse, his protection of his personal agenda, and thus ultra tolerance of extremism, has encouraged the emergence of uber Ketuanan melayu's like Redzuan Yusof, Dr Asri, and even sneaky naughty Amirudin Shari seeking to re-introduce legislation approving unilateral religious conversion of minors which took decades to restore to the rightful Constitutional clause.

The DAP which has been in tandem with his dictatorial ways (under instructions from the party "leadership", wakakaka) has now suffered enormously especially from Pakatan's (read that as Mahathir's) stand on Lynas, Khat and Zakir Naik - padan muka.

It has been left mainly to salt-of-the-earth stalwarts like Charles Santiago, Ronnie Liu, Dr Boo, Zaid Ibrahim to staunchly remain as old faithful-to-the-cause DAP voices in the new Pakatan wilderness which has already swallowed up kaukau Lim KS, Lim GE, and close inner coterie.

In the meantime Anwar Ibrahim languishes in utter agony as he sees the nation further crumble under Mahathir's notorious 'Minus Touch'.