RUMOURS have been clogging social media networks since the middle of December that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s government is seeing its last days in power.
Now we have the Dubai move, which is another attempt to bring down the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional (PH-BN) government. Will it succeed?
Some cyber troopers who support former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad are openly saying the Dubai move is a done deal while others are saying Anwar lost the majority in Parliament.
Nevertheless, former DAP MP Charles Santiago is offering a solution that could end speculation and eliminate political instability.
Charles said on X that Anwar should get the Parliament to fix the term for elections with a Fix Term Parliament Act. He believes this will stop attempts such as the Dubai move.
Fix Term Parliaments Act can stop the Dubai move or any other effort to overthrow govt. Election dates ar fixed & confirmed. Ruling govt can govern w/out fear of losing power. Unity govt has more than 2/3 majority. Why wait @anwaribrahim? Feb sitting of Parliament? https://t.co/04Ox7uVUsq
— Charles Santiago (@mpklang) December 30, 2023
To recap, the sudden surge in social media posts that Anwar’s government is doomed started flooding the internet before the seizure of the Ilham Tower by the MACC on Dec 18.
Rumours were that the King would be calling Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and his coalition partners to form a new government on Dec 15.
On that same day, Sarawak Premier and GPS leader Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg, also known as Abang Jo, made an impromptu visit to Putrajaya where he met Anwar for talks on the unity government.
Pagi tadi saya terima kunjungan dari Premier Sarawak Tan Sri Abang Johari Abang Openg.
Pertemuan empat mata itu menyentuh mengenai kerjasama antara Sarawak dan Persekutuan dalam bidang tenaga hijau serta peluang pelaburan yang baharu yang meningkat di Sarawak dan juga… pic.twitter.com/NMEDegif52
— Anwar Ibrahim (@anwaribrahim) December 22, 2023
(This morning, I received a visit from the Sarawak Premier.
(The one-on-one meeting touched on the collaboration between Sarawak and the Federation in the field of green energy, as well as the increasing new investment opportunities in Sarawak, and also…)
Moreover, Anwar made a statement after the 1-hour meeting that Abang Jo supports the unity government and that the issue of ‘tebuk atap’ is resolved for good. While the GPS leader did not make any official statement or videos of him stating he supports the unity government under the leadership of Anwar started to circulate on social media.
The Dubai move
Last week, new rumours popped up on social media with Perikatan Nasional-PAS and Dr Mahathir supporters becoming more vocal that a move to bring down Anwar was in the works.
Jabatan Komunikasi Komuniti’s (J-KOM) deputy director Datuk Ismail Yusop alleged that discussions about a potential move to Dubai occurred during a recent vacation of PN leaders, including government officials in the UAE’s capital.
Ismail asserted that the meeting aimed to assign tasks to ‘agents’ tasked with identifying MPs susceptible to switching allegiance to the opposition, forming a ‘backdoor’ government.
Beyond PN leaders, he implicated influential veteran political figures and ‘Tuns’ collaborating with the opposition, allegedly utilising ‘foreign sources’ to overthrow Anwar’s administration.
“It is said that spokespersons with access to the opposition leadership are roaming nationwide, including in Sabah and Sarawak, trying to convince that by early next year (2024) the Madani government will collapse with a specific date and deadline,” he said.
Meanwhile, Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal criticised the Langkah Dubai claims raised by the J-KOM as a fabricated tale to mask the failures of the civil government.
As the Bersatu Youth chief, he asserted that the government should not divert attention from domestic issues and should instead focus on addressing people’s concerns. According to him, various issues trouble the citizens but the administration led by Anwar has failed to manage these perceptions effectively. – Dec 31, 2023
Main photo credit: Bernama
