Crybaby Leaders And Malaysia S Humpty Dumpty Politics

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One of my favourite English nursery rhymes etched in my mind from kindergarten days is the story of Humpty Dumpty. The rhyme goes like this – Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; All the king’s horses and all the king’s men, couldn’t put Humpty together again. Its origins are obscure, and several theories have been advanced to suggest the rhyme’s meaning.
The bad fall leading to a chaotic nation
Perhaps we can suggest a new meaning of the rhyme in the context of the country’s political situation. Malaysia had a great fall on May 9, 2018, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not put Malaysia back together again.
We have a constitutional monarchy system where the prime minister and his Cabinet has the duty to put the nation together again; and not the King.
What was expected after the fall – of Umno and Barisan Nasional – was for the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to set the economy right after the fallout of the world’s biggest kleptocracy case: they would rebuild the nation, introduce reforms, and turn Malaysia into a prosperous and happy nation thereafter.
That was only a dream. Maybe PH tried, but in the end, they succumbed to bitter infighting. The infighting has continued ever since, in the rebranded coalition of Perikatan Nasional and other sub-coalitions at state and federal level.
Most of the players remain the same under different banners, trying to fool the rakyat with the same rhetoric and promises that always come to naught.
Monarchs coming to the rescue
At one time, Malaysians questioned whether we needed a constitutional monarch. Now many would agree that without the monarchy we would have anarchy. It is apparent we have become dependent on the monarchy as the “arbitrator” in our political system, as our politicians are incapable of sorting out pettiness among themselves. Can it still be said that the King only has a ceremonial role?
Our politicians seem to like running to “mama” which usually occurs when siblings fight. My mama used to say that you sort out your squabbles among yourselves, and eventually we did that for all our squabbles. The politicians are incapable of doing that and need a “mama” to settle their quarrels.
Monarchy represents democracy
The monarchical system in Malaysia is more democratic than the current political system. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong holds office for five years, and the Malay Rulers take turns among themselves to become the King. This system is respected by all royal families.
For the people, the principle is quite simple: the people pledge loyalty to the King and the King protects his people. The biggest problem now is the political reliance on the King to settle political squabbles, and questions raised of the necessity of a Westminster type electoral system if the prime minister can circumvent the system by relying on the King to calm the unstable political situation.
The King was asked to declare a state of emergency last October, which was promptly rejected by His Majesty. This year, the King finally acceded to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s request seeing that the politicians did not listen to the King’s advice to stop politicking.
The budget, which was supposed to be about expenditures to run the country and to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, became a test of the vote of no confidence. The hype about the vote was a non-starter and many politicians ended up with red faces.
Imagine if we did not have the King to help keep the calm in Malaysia, we would be like Donald Trump’s America.
Malaysia full of drama queens
There are so many drama queens in Malaysia – one said they had the numbers to form a new government and failed; another said they would quit because they were not given the respect and position they deserve; and yet another said they would leave the coalition because of selective prosecution. Everyone seems to be like a crybaby.
Muhyiddin’s reasons were transparent: he sought an emergency to prevent the collapse of the PN government after being deserted by some of his coalition members and reducing his slender majority to negative.
While there are cries of Muhyiddin being undemocratic and trying to save his own skin, we should not be caught up in the heat of the moment.
By all rationales, he did the right thing and at the right moment. Imagine if the PN government collapsed and a general election had to be called during the pandemic.
In the aftermath of an election, the movement restrictions could then be extended for longer periods of time affecting the economy even further. There should be lessons learnt from the spike in Covid-19 infections after the US and Sabah state elections.
Greed and a thirst for power
In Malaysia, greed and thirst for power has consumed our politicians.
Many could not survive after the fall from the gravy train in 2018 and want to regain the privileges of their former lives. Even after being given some of the privileges to continue their lifestyles as part of their notion of “self-entitlement”, they have continued to rock the boat.
Perhaps their only mission in life is to get back control of the government and to continue milking the nation dry.
The question for us now is whether all the king’s horses and all the king’s men can put Humpty Dumpty together again.- FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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