Only two options for Muhyiddin: Shafie

Kota Kinabalu: Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, under pressure from Umno, has only two options for dealing with the current political stalemate, according to Warisan President Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal (pic).

Muhyiddin can either seek a ceasefire with Umno and the opposition, allowing him to concentrate on governing during the Covid-19 crisis, or call for a snap general election, Shafie said.

He said elections were unlikely to be called for a while yet; however, Muhyddin had the option of holding a general election when Sarawak goes to the polls for the State Assembly elections, due between June and August.

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“This will mean massive politicking among parties in the months to come,” said Shafie, who was speaking as a guest in an online political forum on the regional political outlook for 2021.

Muhyiddin is head of the ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition which holds power through a narrow majority in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat. The coalition comprises PPBM, PAS and minor parties, and relies on the support of 41 MPs of the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN).

Shafie contended that the PPBM-PAS-Umno alliance was “inherently unsustainable and an electorally foolish construct”, as the three parties had contested against each other in several seats at the 2018 general election.

“As much as Muhyiddin was hoping to capitalise on his early popularity to call a general election as early as June 2020 without sorting out the seats among the three parties, PPBM would be the biggest loser in a general election,” said Shafie.

He charged that the “old-male-dominated elite”, especially among the Malay parties, has left a huge vacuum in Malaysian politics and the political rhetoric of Malay unity had proven to be a false promise.

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“Umno, PPBM and PAS have failed to form a stable government. The Malays themselves suffer when the Malay power elites are subjecting ordinary Malays to one set of rules while they are enjoying a different set of rules.

“About 70pc of Malays are in urban centres, and 80pc of Malaysians are urban-based. But Umno, PAS and PPBM still work on the basis that the majority of Malays are rural-based.

“They will soon find a revolt of urban Malays who return to the kampung to vote,” he said.

Shafie said the common ideology held by Umno, PAS and PPBM was equally dismissive of young people and women, who form a huge block of voters.

“Their ideology has ignored the needs of the non-Malays. Worse, they see multiracial Sabah and Sarawak as ‘outsiders’ in their power game,” he said.

Shafie said Malaysian politics needed a reset; the economy had become stagnant and national institutions had been increasingly compromised.

“A new Malaysia narrative is needed across the country’s key pillars – political, economic and social,” he said. “There is no place left for racial and religious politics – unity needs to be the bedrock of reform through a participatory democracy through a values based system of governance which transcends race and religion.”

There should be a new movement to fill the vacuums he had listed, one that should move beyond the personal politics of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and PKR President Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.