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YOUR OPINION | ‘They bit their tongues and sat on their hands because they were reveling in their new positions …’
COMMENT | The three ‘traitors’
Bobby0: The three alleged traitors – Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Muhyiddin Yassin and Azmin Ali –
it would not have been successful if there had been no direct or indirect help from others.
The president of the PKR, Anwar Ibrahim, is partly to blame for not taking full control of his party. He should have sat down with former PKR vice president Azmin and resolved their differences after Anwar was released from prison.
Instead, he entered a political battle with Azmin. Instead, he should have joined the party. So this betrayal would not have happened.
DAP, Amanah and PKR should also have known the whole story of the former prime minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, before handing over all authority to him.
By the time Anwar won the Port Dickson by-elections, he should have taken over as deputy prime minister to keep Mahathir in check and build his network among Bersatu politicians.
They are all seasoned politicians: Anwar, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang, and Amanah President Mohamad Sabu. How could they be played by their own counterparts? Were they blind to all the signs that were happening around them? Or did they just blindly trust the old man?
They have to share the blame. Even now, some of them still have faith in Mahathir, after everything that has happened.
As they say, ‘nasi sudah jadi bubur’ (the rice has turned into mush). Now Pakatan Harapan and his allies should reorganize. It is not too late, as they still hold a good number of seats in Parliament. They have to unite.
His hope is in Sabah. Winning the state will put them in a stronger position. Then they should target Sarawak. Not everything is lost. The Perikatan Nasional (PN) force is on the peninsula. Harapan should do its best in the two East Malaysian states if they still want to be a force to be reckoned with.
Otherwise, the three alleged traitors will get away with their actions.
IndigoTrout2522: A well written piece by P Gunasegaram. It wouldn’t be surprising if it were revealed that the three traitors had planned and planned everything from the beginning. Remember all those secret meetings you denied?
Mahathir received too much credit for Harapan’s success in the 14th general election (GE14). It was overlooked that Harapan was doing very well, starting with 2008 (GE12) and 2013 (GE13), and culminating in GE14.
Without Mahathir, Harapan would likely have the same success, and furthermore, Bersatu won only 11 MP seats, although it was given the most seats to compete.
Being the smallest component party, Mahathir appointed almost all of Bersatu’s deputies to be ministers or deputy ministers. PKR and DAP, which are the largest component parties, received fewer positions. Azmin was not recommended by his party for ministry, but Mahathir simply promoted him.
Mahathir was using the other component parties to secure his power and position. Many did not believe that he had changed, but it seemed that the leaders of the DAP, PKR and Amanah were delighted with the opportunity to be in power and were convinced that Mahathir had changed.
Now it has been shown that he had not done so and the same is true of Muhyiddin and others. Harapan could still be in power without Mahathir, but Harapan can now only hope to regain federal power in the next GE.
My only disagreement with the author is regarding former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman. Give him a chance to prove himself, but the most important lesson is that Harapan leaders must never trust Mahathir again.
Meanwhile, they must unite the coalition to regain the trust of the rakyat. My suspicion is that Harapan hasn’t done much about it. Perhaps they are still overconfident or arrogant and out of touch with the rakyat.
Mazilamani: It is not uncommon for a family to go through a disastrous dispersion when the head of the family gets lost and abandons everyone. Given this, the dependents have to fend for themselves.
This was exactly what happened when Mahathir left the ship. The next party chief had to bend over backwards to save the government rather than allow an unpopular stranger to take over the government.
They had to work with new partners who gave them the numbers: form a safe government first and work on the initial problems later.
We were in the early stages of an epidemic war against Covid-19 that was gradually sweeping the country. Someone had to move quickly to control the government of the nation. Muhyiddin turned out to be so timely.
A longer wait to form a new government may have led to an interrupted administration or led to rioters to provoke civil or racial unrest.
It is my personal opinion that Muhyiddin saved the day and the nation from chaos. If we are not happy with his leadership, we should wait two years to elect a new leader. Let’s not talk about fair politics now. This is definitely not the time.
For those political leaders dissatisfied with Muhyiddin, it is high time they showed the rakyat how things can be done better, unlike the previous government that did not keep its promises, claiming they did not expect to win.
The Wakandan: It is interesting that the nemesis of Mahathir who caused his downfall were not his traditional opponents (the DAP, Amanah or PKR) but his own men: the traitors of Bersatu and Azmin and his gang whom he raised. That makes sense.
He didn’t expect it, unlike the others he suspected. It is always the internal enemies that are the most dangerous and how true it was for Mahathir. Perhaps Muhyiddin knew more about him and his weaknesses, than the other did not.
Being from Umno, they knew Mahathir inside and out. Not much love was lost either. He was never fully perceived as a genuine Malay, which is why he tried so hard to be one. Once they are strong enough, they drop it.
YOURS | Can Harapan overcome the toxic politics of race and religion?
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