A few days ago, former Prime Minister DS Ismail Sabri fired a broadside at the five-month old unity government of which his party is a component. He had a dire message for them when he made what might have appeared to him a profound statement that a forced marriage is doomed to fail. To reinforce his prediction, DS Ismail further stressed that a lasting marriage can only come about with people who like and respect each other. It was a flippant or perplexing statement depending on how one would assess it, coming from a senior member of a coalition partner at this stage of their political relationship.
DAP Secretary General Anthony Loke was quick to counter Ismail, maintaining that theirs is not a forced marriage, but rather a willing cooperation cobbled together after the outcome of the general election. DS Ismail’s pronouncement also prompted Loke to question Ismail’s intention. DS Ismail appeared to wish that there were conflicts within the unity government which of course did not go down well with Loke and possibly with most other coalition partners.
Loke and his cohorts might have collectively hummed a stage whisper: "What a wish, what a unity partner!”
Could DS Ismail’s argument about the merits and demerits of forced marriages or that of lasting marriages dovetail into an agreeable analogy in politics?
Let us take a look at the paths and journeys of one of our more illustrious political parties: their mergers, their temporary alliances to see if they measure up to or tally with DS Ismail’s assertions.
DS Ismail maintained that a marriage will only last if there was mutual love and respect. UMNO must be assumed to have been made up of like-minded individuals who have respect for each other which is why it has lasted for as long as it has. Then in 2016, TS Muhyiddin and Mukhriz Mahathir were sacked from the party. Not long after, Tun Mahathir who had also left UMNO, led a significant horde of disenchanted UMNO members who quit the once powerful party to form a new party - Bersatu.
This new marriage or alliance soon turned sour. Tun Mahathir and his son Mukhriz left Bersatu to establish yet another party - Pejuang. This new party Pejuang enjoyed a short honeymoon. Tun Mahathir left Pejuang early this year, less than 3 years after he had organized the party. It is not difficult to surmise that our politicians too make very strange and uneasy bedfellows. The assertion that only people who like each other can hold onto a marriage does not necessarily stand up to scrutiny.
What are we to make out of this series of events that did not approximate DS Ismail’s analogous comparison? DS Ismail, may have forgotten what the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said about change being the only constant in life. Change, or paradigm shift in political parlance, in the nation’s wider political environment, tends to usher in changes in the nation’s economy together with a whole gamut of social, cultural and religious experiences. These new set of experiences help to alter the expectations and the needs of the electorates which in turn shape the re-alignment of political parties and their ensuing policies.
These shifts and changes fortunately can be explained by invoking the adage that, “in politics, there are no permanent enemies nor permanent friends; only permanent interests" - whatever these are in our country. Unfortunately, in real life, there is no simple or similar adage that could be summoned to forge a happy or acceptable ending.
What then motivated DS Ismail to come up with such a befuddled declaration?
If he is unhappy and is not agreeable with the arrangement his party is in, he should do something about it rather than just stand and shout. He has the choice of leaving the party or dragging his whole party out of the coalition. Is DS Ismail up against a tough conundrum? Can someone offer some solutions or help him? Finally, let us hope that his prognosis would not come true, or else we will be gearing up for another general election, which is not exactly a happy prospect.
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