THE food crisis, economic woes and various hardship encountered by the commoners in recent times have given rise to perception that the government today has ministers but “they don’t seem to be around”.
In fact, it not uncommon for the people to feel as if Malaysia has no government even though it has been almost a year since the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional (PH-BN) alliance was formed in the aftermath of the 15th General Election (GE15) last November, according to Perikatan Nasional (PN) chief whip Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.
“We Malaysians sometimes feel as if there is no Federal government right now,” he told a ceramah in conjunction with the Pelangai state assembly by-election in Bentong, Pahang last night (Oct 4).
Takiyuddin who is also the PAS secretary-general further noted that such situation has even prompted primary school pupils to coin captivating expression that has since gone viral.
“The teacher asked the kids to compose a pantun (poem) from the two words, namely ada (got) and tiada (none). So, the schoolchildren went ahead to compose their poems. They are smart these days,” shared the Kota Bharu MP.
“There is chicken but no eggs; there is oil palm tree but no oil; there is sugar cane but no sugar; there is paddy field but no rice.
“But one mischievous pupil added that ‘there are ministers but they don’t seem to be around’. Back at the said pupil’s house, his father remarked that there was PMX (Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) but the impression is that he was never around,”
Takiyuddin explained the current situation is a manifestation of the people’s frustration over the current food crisis as everyone knows that most food products are produced in this country.
He reckoned that the current Madani government is a government which is confused as to whether “they are the government of the day or members of the Opposition till they fail to function properly as a government”.
“The honourable Opposition leader in our Parliament has remarked in the Parliament that ‘you should behave as the PM while I’m the Opposition leader’. But why are you acting as if you are the Opposition leader?” wondered the former de facto law minister during the administration of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
“But he (presumably Anwar) wants to oppose as well or even gets angry and eventually criticise the Opposition. The job of the Opposition is indeed to criticise the government. And he wants to be in the Opposition at the same time,” added Takiyuddin. – Oct 5, 2023
