“When push comes to shove, better the devil you know than the devil you don’t!”

“When push comes to shove, better the devil you know than the devil you don’t!”

By Hussein Abdul Hamid





SO, no party had secured a simple majority to enable it to form a new government in the aftermath of the 15th General Election (GE15).


Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has announced that he has the simple majority to form a government. This time around, I believe that he has.

Barisan Nasional (BN) is not in a position to impose any unacceptable conditions to PH (read this as the UMNO court cluster will have to go through the judicial process and there will be no political interference in the decision of the courts!).


The reality is that PAS which is a coalition partner of Perikatan Nasional (PN) has clinched 49 seats. More than DAP in the second place with 40 seats.

Any coalition that includes PN will see at the very least, PAS president Tan Sri Hadi Awang as Deputy Prime Minister. At worst, even Hadi as Prime Minister (PM).

For many of us, this is a fate worse than death. Anything else is better than that.

What is better then?

PH, BN, Sarawak, and Sabah together in a coalition of the willing against the treacherous PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin and the greedy Hadi.

What about the oft-repeated stance of PKR/PH not to work with BN? When push comes to shove, BN is anytime a better choice to PN with a Hadi as DPM or – God forbid – PM?

What about the oft-repeated stance of BN not to work with DAP? When push comes to shove, BN will have to find ways to work with DAP or face being in the Opposition for the next five years – a fate that is also worse than death for politicians.



Throughout history, there haven’t been any events which indicated that DAP has betrayed or cheated any other parties as claimed. That narrative has to change.

What about Zahid and the UMNO court cluster? The wheels of justice have been turning, albeit too slowly … and will continue to turn until justice is served.

Everything else is negotiable.

Who will be PM, who will be DPM, how many DPMs – the other nuts and bolts needed to hold the coalition together – can be ironed out on the negotiation table.

If the parties are courageous enough and generous enough to and with each other – and if they remember that the rakyat will be watching them all the time – they will surely prevail against the betrayal of that man called Muhyiddin and the greed of that obnoxious Hadi.

Of course, maybe, Anwar is talking about a coalition with parties from Sabah and Sarawak. Only time will tell but a reminder for Anwar is that better the devil you know than the devil you do not!

After all, Anwar knows Zahid better than most of us, right? Enough said. – Nov 21, 2022