IF the Olympics has an event for political treachery, it is likely that Malaysia will take the gold. Barely 18 months since the infamous Sheraton Move in late Feb 2020 that saw a putsch that took down a government, our politicians are at it again.
This time, the main beneficiary of the Sheraton Move, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who became the country’s eighth Prime minister soon after, is now getting a taste of his own medicine.
Having lost support in the Dewan Rakyat, his enemies are now engineering his ouster using the same modus operandi that he had used to gain power – garnering support from lawmakers.
Back in 2020, the masterminds of the Sheraton Move like Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin pulled the rug from under the feet of then-PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, presumably with the tacit approval of Muhyiddin.
This time around, there’s no telling if Muhyiddin’s inner circle will employ the same tactic for the equivalent of 30 pieces of silver Judas was paid to betray Jesus Christ.
But unlike 2020, the situation now is more fluid.
Back then, Umno’s 38 lawmakers were one solid bloc. So too were DAP’s 42 MPs.
But now, divisions within parties like Umno and the DAP as well as uncertainties over the allegiance of Gabungan Parti Sarawak and individual lawmakers make the business of forming the next government a flux.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, appointed barely two months ago by Muhyiddin, has started collecting Statutory Declarations to boost his chances of landing the top post in this country.
And let’s not get started on Senior Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali.
After a falling out with his one-time mentor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Azmin led a group of 11 PKR MPs to quit the party in Feb 2020.
And then he threw his support behind Muhyiddin despite being the blue-eyed boy of the premier Dr Mahathir.
There is no telling where Azmin’s allegiance lies but he for one would not stay on a sinking ship, and if necessary, would step on the captain’s head to jump ship headed for his next port of call.
But Ismail Sabri and Azmin are not the only ones at the top of the political expediency game.
The DAP, after being booted from Putrajaya, makes no secret of its desire to return, at whatever the costs.
In the run-up to the ouster of Perak Menteri Besar in December, some key party leaders openly said that the DAP was open to working with archenemy Umno.
It is said that the deal fell through because Umno was unwilling to yield to the DAP’s demands for executive council representation.
Who can forget that the DAP, at different times, had formally worked with PAS in electoral pacts under Barisan Alternatif and Pakatan Rakyat?
This is despite DAP having criticised PAS’ Islamist ways that the former claimed was unsuitable for this plural country.
As of now, the DAP has not yet openly rejected joining forces with Umno leaders who are not part of the “court clusters”.
Neither has Anwar openly rejected on working with Umno.
A leaked audio phone conversation that went viral in April, purportedly between him and Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, merely confirms that the presidents of both parties are in it together – if not publicly, then at least in private.
As speculation mounts on the political configurations post-Muhyiddin, there’s still a chance that the King will ask him to stay on as PM, either as a minority government or to hold the fort until an election is safe to be held.
That would just mess up the plans of those scheming to replace him by joining forces with their fair-weathered allies.
With the current composition in the Dewan Rakyat, ganging up to form a government, even a weak one, throws up too many permutations.
But only two things remain constant: the politicians’ obsession with preserving their self-interests and the fact that the rakyat are the ones who end up at the losing end, as the political elites continue with their power games. – Aug 16, 2021
Julian Tan is a FocusM editorial contributor.
The views expressed here are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect that of Focus Malaysia.
