A Prime Minister For Six Months

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Anwar Ibrahim is no longer in prison. There is no longer a need to create an unusual arrangement like Pakatan Harapan did before the 14th general election - Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be the seventh prime minister for two years and hand over the baton to Anwar as the eighth prime minister. The logic at that time was that a loose two-year timeline would ensure that Anwar is out of Sungai Buloh as a prisoner of conscience
In the stalemate on a prime minister candidate for Pakatan Harapan Plus now, it appears that there are a few options forward:(a) Mahathir as prime minister and Anwar as deputy prime minister(b) Mahathir as PM for “several months” and Anwar as DPM(c) Anwar as PM and Mukhriz Mahathir as DPM(d) Shafie Apdal or a Sarawak-based party leader as PMOut of these options, (b) appears to be the most likely outcome. Anwar has held out on option (a) because it puts him in a far worse position compared to before the Sheraton Move – at least back then there was a two-year agreement to hand over power to him
Option (c) is also unlikely since Mahathir would not want to see Anwar as prime minister in his lifetime (deemed as too “liberal” and unsuitable by Mahathir), and Mukhriz’s strength still has some way to go. Option (d) would not receive consensus from most component parties
Therefore, option (b) would be most likely as Harapan would want to seek a reversal to the pre-Sheraton Move status quo. Harapan generally believes that they are a force of moral good and getting back to power is an urgent necessity
Before Muhyiddin Yassin’s coup, the revised timeline for the handover of the prime ministership was “after the Apec summit” that was scheduled to be held in November this year. Of course, Harapan Plus will definitely not agree to put this down to paper and would once again impose a loose timeline of “several months roughly after Apec” for a handover to Anwar
What this translates to is a Mahathir prime ministership of six months. This is a hazardous proposition
One of the common claims against a two-year timeline or any call for Mahathir to hand over to Anwar was that it would destabilise the government
Anwar’s oft-repeated statement was to “give space” to Mahathir to govern since assurance and stability were essential to govern well
In other words, if it wasn’t for the unusual circumstance of Anwar being in prison before GE14, any imposition of a transition plan with a timeline would not be good for anyone. What we have learned is that there is no such thing as a peaceful handover of prime ministership as most prime ministers would want to stay on as long as they can
What has been revealed through the backdoor meetings of Harapan leaders is that leaders aligned to Mahathir had always wanted the nonagenarian to stay on as prime minister – even to the point of reneging on the agreement to hand over power to Anwar
From the people’s perspective, continually changing the premier is also scarring. Policies change, personnel reshuffle and politics go on overdrive. Granted, the coup that changed our premier from Mahathir to Muhyiddin was not Harapan’s fault. But inviting and necessitating a transition plan after six months, or worse, “several months”, converts the government into a farce
Mahathir once told Anwar that setting a timeline to hand over the prime ministership will make him a lame-duck prime minister. I agree. A prime minister needs the confidence and respect of the cabinet, civil service, and the people. If the people know that Mahathir will not be a prime minister for long, they will gather around his successor and only treat what he says with a caution of transience
Therefore, imposing a timeline for a second time is untenable. In fact, on a practical standpoint, no one can get much done in six months
Even an experienced prime minister like Mahathir got little done in the 22 months he served as the seventh prime minister. He has often lamented that he does not have enough time to make the changes he wants
What was destroyed by many governments before will take many years to repair. Mahathir knows this more than anyone else. Imposing a much shorter timeline now – albeit much looser – will inevitably reduce the prime minister to a lame-duck prime minister
Those who prefer Mahathir to return as prime minister for the third time often base their claims on two notions. One is that without Mahathir, Harapan would not have won GE14. Two, the “strong influence” and “miracle” of Mahathir is needed to negotiate the seats that Harapan is short of claiming a majority in Parliament
The first notion has often been repeated but never proven, empirically or otherwise. The broad idea was Mahathir was the key reason why Harapan won the people’s mandate in GE14 – without any proof of public opinion data compared to other vital reasons such as economic pessimism, the GST, employment, or the cost of living. It also ignores the fact that Bersatu only won 13 seats and only 25-30 percent of Malays voted for Harapan, casting doubt on Mahathir’s influence
The second notion is even more problematic as it relies on the assumption that Mahathir does not require the rest of the component parties – chiefly, Anwar’s 39 seats from PKR – to get back into power. Mahathir’s reliance on Harapan’s 92 seats to form a government is greater than Harapan’s reliance on Mahathir’s additional 20 seats to form the government
Bearing this in mind, the question is whether there is any necessity for Mahathir to hold on to several months as prime minister before Harapan Plus can enjoy a breath of fresh air again – when reforms are no longer an impossible dream
In the absence of a strong moral, procedural or political claim to the prime ministership, there is no reason why our country needs Mahathir to return for the third time
After all, Mahathir only has six MPs on his side – a 2.7 percent legitimacy to stake a claim for equal and overriding partnership
JAMES CHAI is a legal consultant and researcher working for Invoke among others. He also blogs and can be reached at [email protected]. - Mkini

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