Ph Weakens Umno Smiles Pm Sighs Briefly

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PM MUHYIDDIN can sigh in relief when two PKR Members of Parliament (MPs) quit their party over the weekend and pledged support for his Perikatan Nasional. However, I am of the view that it won't last long because he is tasked with getting more in order to convene the Parliament session as decreed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Julau MP Larry Sng Wei Shein (known for his party-hopping tactics and Tebrau MP Steven Choong Shiau Yoon handed over their statutory declarations to the PM to the disgust of PKR leaders.
Interesting, actually to note how his butt was saved by those two when PN lost its razor-thin majority as compared to 109 of the Opposition PH, which some analysts said prompted him to declare the state of emergency on January 12. With 111 now, it should save him all the troubles temporarily.
Why temporarily? Because relations between his Bersatu and Umno is at rickety, plus news that Umno could at anytime pull the plug on him.
At the same time, three Amanah state reps have crossover to PKR, a chronic case of inter-party relations in PH. It is a clear indication of Amanah overall weak position within the PH coalition which spells out a possible crisis of leadership. It was given a generous seat allocation in the 14th general election by DAP and PKR.
They are three Johor Amanah assemblymen namely Senggarang assemblyman Khairuddin A. Rahim, Muhamad Said Jonit (Mahkota) and Faizul Amri Adnan (Serom). And last year, two Selangor reps from Amanah namely Mohd Fakhrulrazi Mokhtar (Meru) and Ahmad Mustain Othman (Sabak) also joined PKR.
Given the current situation, Amanah could be in real danger of being allocated only a few seats in the coming 15th general election (GE15) if it remains with the PH coalition. They are too dependent on DAP and PKR.
Within Pakatan, PKR and DAP will call the shots and looking at the current political decision, Amanah will accept the decision made by DAP and PKR even though it will try to portray that these three parties have an equal voice. But in reality, Amanah lacks real grassroots support. They don’t have that.
And it won't come as a surprise if more Amanah representatives join other political parties, including the Perikatan Nasional coalition. This can happen if party leaders fail to effectively present and press the party’s Muslim progressive narrative.
Analysts even questioned as to whether money is involved in the crossovers because the real reason is money and human resources. To face a general election, you have to be strong in resources which are capital and human being to prepare for all the groundwork.
It is not about lack of leadership but insufficient resources to wheel the existentialism of the party itself. Amanah is a splinter party, floating with no root to stay put and no strong foundation to beat PAS.
In that sense, PH should look into creating an anti-party hopping law within its own coalition as practiced by Barisan Nasional. Umno, for instance, had never resorted to 'buying' other parties' representatives to join them.
It’s surprising that Pakatan component parties do not have some sort of anti-mutual-frogging pact in place, as Barisan does. In any case, it also appears that neither Amanah nor PKR would like to make a big deal out of this, but prefer instead to sweep the matter under the carpet at least for the time being.
Come next general election, Amanah would of course demand to contest at least the same number of seats, PKR would morally have to concede to that, and this would hurt the coalition.
Where will this lead to? Umno and BN got nothing to worry. They holds the main key to Muhyiddin's chair. Will there be about 40 MPs willing to replace the SDs should Umno and BN quit PN soon. I dunno when but breeze is turning to typhoon of late.
Its still not comfortable for the PM whose days are numbered, it seems. Just expect for more crossovers and withdrawals. My take is, Muhyiddin is gaining only temporary respite from the defection of two MPs as he continues to fend off challenges to his parliamentary support.
The support of those two does not guarantee Perikatan Nasional’s continued hold on power. The governing party survived crucial Dewan Rakyat votes last year with the support of 111 MPs, but two Umno members have since withdrawn support from Muhyiddin.
The defection of Sng and Choong made the PM look good but it will not be enough to save his place as his bigger concern would be Umno, which has 36 MPs, with Padang Rengas MP Nazri Aziz and Machang MP Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub having retracted their support while Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s stand is unclear.
It was no secret that Umno was willing to go against Muhyiddin’s PPBM as some Umno men in the Cabinet had already said they would rescind their support if the party decides to. President Zahid Hamidi and his team have the answer.
Can Muhyiddin rope in Umno’s support. Looks quite difficult to me... unless there is a change of heart!

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