The coordinated attacks against Muhyiddin have started: more attacks to come

A series of coordinated attacks against Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and the Perikatan Nasional government have been planned from now until July and today the first of these attacks have been launched.

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How long will Parliament be hijacked? — Lim Kit Siang

There is a need for clarity from Perikatan Nasional government, whether Parliament is going to be fully locked down until the Budget 2021 session in September, with all parliamentary committees completely paralysed?

Although the earlier Parliament calendar states that the next parliamentary meeting will be in July for 25 days from July 13 to August 25, MPs are uncertain whether this calendar will be strictly adhered to as there had been four variations to the Parliamentary calendar for this year alone.

Furthermore, will all parliamentary select committees be frozen and paralysed for nine months of this year?
There are now 12 parliamentary select committees under the Pakatan Harapan government, viz: Consideration of Bills Committee; the Budget Committee; the Rights and Gender Equality Committee; the Major Public Appointments Committee; the Defence and Home Affairs Committee; the Federal-State Relations Committee; the Elections Committee; the International Relations and Trade Committee; the Human Rights and Constitutional Affairs; and Science, Innovation and Environment Committee.

It will be the height of parliamentary irresponsibility if, for nine long months, all these 12 parliamentary select committees are paralysed and cannot perform their constitutional role of parliamentary oversight and scrutiny of government actions, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It will be a further height of parliamentary irresponsibility if the real intention of the PN government is to dissolve all these parliamentary select committees.

We are clearly in abnormal times, not just because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but because of a “backdoor” government which is afraid to test its legitimacy in Parliament.

For this reason, it will be fully characteristic of a “backdoor” government to find new excuses from the Covid-19 pandemic to skip the July meeting of Parliament till the 2021 Budget session in September, which the government could not suspend unless it suspends parliamentary democracy altogether.

Parliament should have set up a Parliamentary Select Committee on Health and Social Care when it met on May 18 to provide oversight and scrutiny of government actions in the Covid-19 pandemic, but the government was so afraid of a normal meeting of Parliament as it would have shown its lack of majority in Parliament.

How long more will Parliament in Malaysia be hijacked?

Is it any wonder that a recent report in the New York Times entitled “Democracy Fades in Malaysia as Old Order Returns to Power” said: “Malaysia’s new government looks much like its scandal-stained old government. And under cover of the coronavirus, its opponents have been muzzled.”

Last month, the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, said that the people were “sick” of politics and that since he became prime minister, he had not thought about it.

Is this true? He could not even convince foreigner observers.

This is what a recent “Leader” of Economist said: “But politicking will not go away. The wobblier Mr Muhyiddin appears, the weightier the incentives he must dangle before wavering lawmakers to keep their backing. Already he has dished out more than 60 jobs as ministers or deputies—in a parliament of just 222 members.”

That was last week. He already has the most bloated Cabinet in Malaysian history – of more than seventy – with some of the most mediocre ministers in memory.

The appointment of government backbenchers and politicians to government-linked companies, government-linked investment companies and other political appointments has become a great scandal of its own.

So much for Muhyddin’s absurd claim that since he became prime minister, he had not thought about politics, when he should be asked when he had stopped thinking about politics and securing a clear majority in Parliament since becoming prime minister.

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Well, Muhyiddin, is it all worth it now? — Franci Paul Siah

There is always a time for some serious reflection or some prefer to call it recollection.

Each one of us must have gone through that process of reviewing our achievements and failures in life at one time or another.

It has been said that “time spent in self-reflection is never wasted; it is an intimate date with yourself”.

Three months into the job, perhaps it’s worth his while for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to do some serious reflection. There must be a lot going on in his mind.

Now on 14-day quarantine at home and over the joyous Hari Raya season, Muhyiddin must have plenty of time to do that.

It helps to be in a familiar environment at home, surrounded by family and loved ones. It’s even better if you are quarantined alone – staring blankly at the four walls of your room will surely help in motivating you to dissect your life intimately. It’s just you looking at yourself in the mirror.

When you are in self-isolation in your room, the trappings of power and the world outside no longer exist. Being prime minister also seems no longer relevant.

Let me attempt to help my prime minister on a little reflection. Yes, Muhyiddin is my prime minister today. I have to accord him that respect although I did not vote for him to be my prime minister in GE14. I supported Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be the transition PM, followed by Anwar Ibrahim.

Muhyiddin would surely have wished today that he became PM on March 1 via the front door, not by treacherous dealings and betrayals.

He told Malaysians a blatant lie when he declared that he agreed to be prime minister in order to “save Malaysia”. Oh, really?

Now we know, from Liew Chin Tong’s revelations, that Muhyiddin had asked for DAP’s support to be the PM candidate before GE14. Liew has no reason to lie on this.

After Pakatan Harapan’s historic GE14 victory, Muhyiddin also wanted to be finance minister and was disappointed that Mahathir only appointed him as the home minister.

It’s now clear that in his 22 months in the Mahathir cabinet, Muhyiddin was a discontented man but was buying time to make his move to achieve his ultimate political goal. Even his brush with pancreatic cancer did not sidetrack him.

That opportunity came when an equally ambitious and treacherous Azmin Ali became his partner in crime.

Time will tell how comfortable Muhyiddin is with Azmin today. Talk is that the prime minister is constantly watching his back, and wary of the Brutus(es) around him. Someone also mentioned karma.

Well, the head never rules the heart but just becomes its partner in crime, so it has been aptly said. For all we know, Muhyiddin’s heart could be aching with pain. I honestly doubt he is a happy, contented man today.

From that first day, I also doubt Muhyiddin was beaming all the way to the palace to be sworn in as PM8 on March 1. He did not hold a celebration with his co-conspirators for he probably knew in his heart that there was really nothing to celebrate.

The legitimacy of his Perikatan Nasional government was still in doubt. Muhyiddin knew the majority of Malaysians were aghast and furious that the government they voted for was stolen from them by traitors from within Harapan. And he, Muhyiddin, was one of them.

The next day, he issued a public apology to Mahathir, his mentor and boss for a good part of his political career. Not surprisingly, Mahathir refused to see him, not after his prime minister’s post was stolen by his protégé in broad daylight.

Then came the Covid-19 pandemic which plunged the nation into an unprecedented lock-down. With the effects of the global economic downturn besieging the country and the ongoing political uncertainties, the past three months was no honeymoon for the embattled Muhyiddin.

Politically, the prime minister also has his hands full trying to please all his allies.

Just look at his bloated cabinet. For starters, Muhyiddin has to make the Azmin camp happy, appointing every single one of his nine turncoat members of Parliament (MPs) into ministerial positions.

Two MPs from Sarawak were also made deputy ministers. When you are part of the Azmin cartel, you will get your rewards. This is the way Azmin is known to operate.

With insufficient ministerial portfolios to satiate the power-hungry wolves, from notably his Umno and PAS allies, Muhyiddin now has to dish out appointments to government-linked companies to other MPs.

Eventually, the PM might have to create unnecessary/irrelevant boards at some ministries just to ensure that everyone is given a “second salary”. And at whose expense? The suffering rakyat, of course.

Well, Muhyiddin, my most important question to you is: Is it all worth it now?

In a previous article, I’ve asked what’s the big deal being prime minister anyway? That was meant for Mukhriz Mahathir.

Now that you are prime minister, Muhyiddin, may I also ask: “Is being prime minister really such a big deal?”

Honestly, if you want to leave behind a legacy, I doubt you have much time to do so given the current chaotic political climate and unfavourable economic situation.

Talk among Malaysians is that you will be the shortest prime minister in Malaysian history.
I would not even go into your personal health issues, but I wish you well on that.

And seriously, I don’t think you want to be prime minister again in your next life. Do you?