TODAY, Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will be presenting his Budget 2023 which will be another mini-test of the survivability and stability of the Anwar unity government.
But a major test will be in the second 100 days of the Anwar unity government when the six states, Penang, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Kedah, Kelantan and Teregganu dissolve their respective state assemblies at end-June for state polls to be held.
Will there be another triumph of the “green wave” phenomenon which is supposed to be a special characteristic of the 15th parliamentary General Election (GE15) in these six states?
I am quite sceptical about it.
For 93 days, Malaysians had been living on the hopes of a political stability to provide the breathing space for a reset and a return to the original nation-building principles for a plural Malaysia to reunite.
Can these hopes become a reality and that the Anwar unity government has the political stability to last five years until the GE16 in 2027?
The Anwar unity government has passed a major test in securing the confidence-vote motion in the Dewan Rakyat last December but the Opposition – Perikatan Nasional (PN) – had failed the Royal Address Motion test, especially that set by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to ensure political stability prevail over the next five years.
After a seven-day debate on the Royal Address Motion, nobody can say that PN supports the objective to provide political stability for the next five years.
In fact, up to now, I am not sure whether the PAS president Tan Sri Hadi Awang ever supports the five nation-building principles in the Rukun Negara! Nobody knows for sure what his stance on Rukun Negara is.
There is in circulation in the social media a statement that I am still in control of DAP. This is the reason why last April I declined the proposal of the new DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook to become DAP mentor.
The announcement of my political retirement at the DAP congress on March 20, 2022 was a retirement from party elections and leadership, parliamentary and state assembly elections.
But as I said in my 82nd birthday celebrations in Penang on Sunday (Feb 19), I have retired from front-line politics but I have not retired from politics which is only possible if you leave this world.
But I am not in control of DAP. In fact, most of the time, I do not know what is happening in the DAP.
I have full trust in Anthony Loke as the new DAP secretary-general in leading the DAP amid a new political situation. The new leadership may make mistakes but it comes from responsibility, hence acceptable so long as they are honest mistakes.
Retired DAP supremo and former Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang, 82, has a colourful political career spanning 57 years.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
