The Suspenseful 48 Hours

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And still no dissolution yet!...
On Wednesday, a day before prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was to have an audience with the King, there were talks from within Umno that the dissolution of parliament would be announced immediately after the PM has met the King instead of Friday noon.
However, after the PM left the Istana on Thursday, he headed straight to the Umno headquarters to brief the rest of the party’s Top Five. Umno leaders suddenly had their lips tightly zipped, busily engaged in one meeting after another. The joyful atmosphere merely a day earlier seemed to have suddenly dissipated. Something could have gone wrong with their “parliament dissolution” aspiration.
The first question that flashed past the minds of many was: did the King reject the PM’s proposal to dissolve the parliament? The palace issued a statement in the evening clarifying that the meeting between the PM and His Majesty was only a regular meeting for them to discuss and exchange views on government affairs and some issues. The simple and concise statement made no mention of dissolution of parliament.
The second question that flashed past our minds was this: did Ismail seek His Majesty’s consent to dissolve the parliament? Thursday morning, His Majesty made an unannounced visit to the national flood forecasting and warning center to listen to its briefing, and this has released a very important message, that the King places the well-being of the rakyat before anything else!
He wanted to personally listen to the center’s briefing so that he could make a proper decision instead of hastily consenting to the proposal to dissolve the parliament.
On the other hand, after Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz went to the Istana on Wednesday to brief the King on the 2023 Budget as well as financial outlook and economic report, he said he firmly believed it was the right move to table the Budget at parliament on Friday as planned because of the many measures that would benefit the rakyat in this Budget.
To be honest, even one day is too long in politics. In a similar manner, the plans we have can never keep up with the changes, the past 48 hours being a classical example. As such, it will not come as a surprise to anyone if the grand design of “dissolution” seemingly nipped in the bud is suddenly resuscitated within a week or so.
In the meantime, the 12 Perikatan Nasional ministers writing to the King to oppose to a general election this year are perceived by some in Umno as backstabbing PM Ismail. Umno youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki questioned whether the move of these ministers could be interpreted as cabinet ministers losing faith in the PM.
Asyraf wrote on Facebook on Thursday that Article 43(4) of the Federal Constitution states that if the Prime Minister ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives, he must tender the resignation of the cabinet. But to these PN ministers, writing to the King cannot be construed as they losing faith in the PM, but speaking on behalf of the rakyat against having the election during the monsoon season.

Other than Umno which wants very badly to have the election this year, other political parties and alliances, in particular PH and PN, have wanted the election to be held next year so that they can have more time to discuss and pool their resources together to fight BN. Postponing the election will also give disenchanted voters now reluctant to vote sufficient time to pick up their enthusiasm once again, thus boosting the morale of the opposition parties.
BN may not lose the support of the people if they are able to shed the burden of the Court Cluster by then and come up with innovative and people-friendly policies to engage the voters. The rakyat want the ruling and opposition parties to abandon their antiquated discriminatory, religion-centric, abusive and anti-constructive political struggles.
Among the things Ismail has done after taking over the helm such as signing an MoU with PH on behalf of the government, allowing the anti-hopping and anti-sexual harassment bills to be passed in parliament, plus a couple of other things he has pledged to do next, including tabling the political funding bill, restoring the parliamentary services act and limiting the PM’s tenure – all these are positive developments that have served to fortify BN’s political ammunition.
From what we gather from the extensive nationwide “What Rakyat Want” survey jointly conducted by Sin Chew Daily, The Star, Sinar Harian, Astro Awani and Malaysia Nanban on what Malaysians from different ethnic backgrounds in East and West Malaysia expect from the new government post-GE15, along with the incisive analyses by political analysts and observers, we have arrived at the conclusion that Malaysians want political stability and more focus on economic revival and the eradication of corruption for the well-being of all rakyat irrespective of race and religion.
Whether the election is to be held this year or next year, all politicians must be constantly reminded of what the rakyat want.We have entrusted you with power with the hope you can dutifully serve the nation irrespective of race, religion or cultural background, not to satiate your personal desires with the mandate we have given you. Malaysians today are so much more sober than many of our politicians, as we know very well who is good or evil. - MySinchew 
Menteri Kewangan Zafrul Aziz telah mengetepikan isu rasionalisasi subsidi serta cara membiayai defisit hampir RM100 bilion. Kerajaan katanya akan ambil kira perkenalkan GST & reformasi cukai lain tahun depan apabila tiba masanya.- Melissa Goh

Political stability after GE15? Get real, people...
One thing that Umno has been drumming in people’s minds is that the government needs to expedite the 15th general election (GE15) as the current “hybrid government” was unstable.Well, we can all agree that post-Sheraton Move, almost everything in the country has become unstable, but if one thinks GE15 will bring political stability to Malaysia, one must be naïve indeed.
For starters, let’s picture a scenario where Umno-BN wins with a simple majority to form the government. If that happens, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamid would claim the premiership for himself. So what if they had decided on Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob as their poster boy? It doesn’t really matter when it comes to politics.
Since Merdeka until the fall of BN in 2018, it is the Umno president who sat on the prime minister’s chair. Hence, speaking from tradition, Zahid has every right to become the next prime minister if Umno wins GE15.
This is where the instability will come in. Having tasted power and adulation, one would be naïve to think Ismail Sabri will take this lying down. While he may appear oblivious to things at most times, one can safely say that Ismail Sabri is no pushover and would not back down from a fight when it is needed.
Bear in mind, he has taken this one year plus to shore up support, not only within Umno but also outside of BN. The two will definitely clash for the top job, and the loser is unlikely to back down and wait another day to take on the new prime minister.

Zahid vs Ismail Sabri vs Najib
Assuming Zahid manages to “vanquish” Ismail Sabri, he would be facing another problem from Umno as well – the cult of Bossku. Though both appear to be on the same page since 2018, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s supporters would definitely pressure Zahid to get the Pekan MP pardoned. With Najib free, he could make another move for the premiership – and this would anger Zahid and cause another level of political instability in the country.
On the flip side, even if Ismail Sabri is retained as prime minister after defeating Zahid, the latter will join forces with Najib to undermine the former out of spite. And there goes Malaysia’s political stability.
Now, let’s check out another scenario in which Pakatan Harapan emerges victorious and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim becomes the prime minister. Again, as we have seen post-2018, both Umno and PAS would agitate the crowd using the “the non-Muslims have taken over the country” narrative again.
They may exploit the race and religion rhetoric to the hilt like what had happened during former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s second stint as premier. But this time, the agitation may be louder.
While both Umno and PAS were careful with the nonagenarian given his past-autocratic tendencies, they may not be that measured with Anwar given that he has always been painted as a “traitor to the nation and Malays” since his ouster from Umno in 1998.

Let Umno be the opposition
The point I’m trying to drive here is – in both scenarios – it would be Umno-BN which would be causing the instability like what has happened since the Sheraton Move. So what can we do to ensure we have a stable government for some time? In my view, the answer is to send Umno-BN to the opposition aisle for at least two parliamentary terms.
Yes, they will join forces with PAS to cause problems for the new government but this is where the latter must focus on reforms and keep close communication with the public on what is being done and why it is being done.
The new government must then show no mercy to those who play the race and religion card. I think the public has had enough of such nonsense and they need leaders who can address pressing matters such as the rising cost of living, poverty, unemployment, and others. Besides, the general public is quite clear by now that much of Umno and PAS’ past rhetoric was nothing but a political stunt with little regard for the people’s real struggles.
If my projection is right, Umno will start reinventing and rejuvenating itself within 10 years, with good junior leaders finally mustering the courage to get rid of their tainted superiors. How can we know whether good leaders have taken over Umno in the future? For starters, they will start working as an effective opposition in Parliament.
Simply put, if Umno (as an opposition) manages to keep the government of the day on their toes over day-to-day issues, we can positively say that they have “earned the people’s trust” to take over Putrajaya again. The sad thing about Umno is that the party could have reformed itself by now if not for Bersatu’s treachery towards Harapan, which brought the nationalist party back to power prematurely.
So, it’s time for the people to give Umno-BN another shot at redeeming themselves. Who knows, we may have another Tunku Abdul Rahman or Onn Jaafar helming the party in the near future. - G.Vinod,mk

cheers.

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