Just a couple of days ago, right after Zahid Hamidi shot himself in the foot by getting into the fray involving Muhyiddin and the 115 SD case, I wrote and ended an article by saying that I hope Anwar too doesn’t step into the quagmire, and make what is really a molehill of a matter, into a mountain of a problem, but even before the ink could dry on that article, Anwar, with guns blazing, kicked open the door of the controversy and confidently followed Zahid to ruin.
Speaking to the media after having lunch at a stall in Kampung Sungai Penchala., Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at once moved to dismiss the claims by Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin that the latter had the support to form the government post GE15.
According to Anwar, Muhyiddin did not have enough support because some federal lawmakers “signed two or three” statutory declarations (SDs).
“Back then the position of it was unclear. Muhyiddin claimed that he had 115 SDs, Anwar said he had 112, and then we had people signing the SD more than once, twice or even three times.
“There were differing opinions among parties. There the King had to review and verify the situation to assure himself.
“After considering the situation, the King also called the Conference of Rulers to consult the Rulers’ opinions.
“As far as I understand, based on the views of the rulers and the attorney-general at that time, who was appointed by Muhyiddin, the number was questionable, so it was left to the discretion of the King,” Anwar said, and accidentally vindicated Muhyiddin while aiming to condemn him, in the same that Zahid had done earlier.
A couple of days ago, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi also had come out to explain the same point – which is that multiple SDs signed by 10 MPs, made their support for Muhyiddin invalid, which in turn reduced Muhyiddin’s tally from 115 to 105, which was insufficient to form the government.
What both Anwar and Zahid are failing to explain though, is why are the SDs by the 10 MPs counted in Anwar’s tally when they cannot be counted in Muhyiddin’s tally? If it is true that the 10 SD’s that by the 10 BN MPs cannot be counted on Muhyiddin’s tally, on account of the 10 MPs signing multiple SD’s, shouldn’t it not be counted in Anwar’s tally as well? If the inability to count the SD’s of the 10 MPs reduced Muhyiddin’s tally from 115 to 105, then shouldn’t it also have reduced Anwar’s own tally from 112 to 102 for the same reason?
The fact that the 10 MPs support was included in Anwar’s tally although it was excluded from Muhyiddin’s tally, is also dubious, for the reason stated by Raja Petra of Malaysia-Today in one of his YouTube videos.
According to Raja Petra, if there are two SDs that speak about the same subject in different terms, it should be the latest SD, not the earlier SD, that should be counted as the authoritative SD.
The SDs that are used to count the 10 BN MPs support for Anwar was signed before the 2022 election. The SDs that were used to count the said MPs support for Muhyiddin however, was signed after the election. Therefore, it should be the SD that the MPs made in support of Muhyiddin that should have been counted as authoritative, not the other way around.
There is a saying. “Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.”
You know you are mad when the more you do something to defeat your opponent, the stronger your opponent becomes, while you find yourself moving faster to the brink of defeat.
I suppose if Fortune and Fate are conspiring against you, you will even find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and but if they are conspiring in your favour, even when you find yourself drowning in a sea of defeat, somehow or other you will still taste the sweetness of victory.
Just after the Nenggiri by-election, Zahid and Anwar were doing splendidly while Muhyiddin’s political career seemed to have one foot in the coffin.
Following BN’s convincing win in the PN stronghold in Kelantan, the momentum against Anwar’s rule – popularly called the “Green Wave” in local parlance – looked like it had finally run out of steam. After nearly two years of uneasy reign, Anwar finally looked like he was finally going to be able to rule with strength and be free to do all that he had in mind.
Muhyiddin on the other hand, was in such bad shape that even his own allies and crews seemed convinced that they wouldn't be able catch any fish for so long as Muhyiddin was their captain. At the state that he was in, it was probably only a matter of time before they decided that either they are going to need a new captain, or they will have to abandon the ship if Muhyiddin continues to insist on being the captain.
But as it turns out, the gods are not done with Muhyiddin after all - that is why they are spitting him back to the limelight right after he was almost swollen by oblivion.
In a surprising turn of event, a few inconsequential words that Muhyiddin had uttered at an obscure stage during a forgettable by-election campaign, is taking on a life of its own, and throwing Muhyiddin a lifeline.
“Man plans, god laughs” indeed.
All Anwar and Zahid had to do to enjoy their victory in Nenggiri as Muhyiddin bit the dust and drifted away to nothingness was nothing, but for some reason, even nothing was something that Anwar and Zahid found impossible to do.
If Anwar is hoping that regardless of the truth, Muhyiddin will still be in trouble for insulting and questioning the authority of the King with his statement, I have serious doubts as to whether Anwar’s hope will come true.
All Muhyiddin said in his speech was that at the end of GE 15, he had 115 SD’s from 115 MPs, but instead of choosing him as the PM, the then Agong chose Anwar instead.
To any reasonable person, what Muhyiddin has said can be interpreted in two ways. Either he was 1) insulting and questioning the authority of the king and 2) he was ruing over his loss in the last general election.
Muhyiddin had been in politics for most of his life, but the 2022 election was the first time he headed a general election campaign. Muhyiddin is also 77 years old, which means that the 2022 election is likely the last time he will ever head a general election. If any of us were in Muhyiddin shoes, and we lost in the biggest contest in our life and that too by a hairbreadth, we might be griping over the loss for a long time too.
If there are two possibilities that can explain a situation, the principle of “presumption of innocence” will compel us to take the explanation that will exonerate the person who is accused of committing a crime.
If Muhyiddin is charged for sedition he will be forced to raise all the matters that I have raised in this article in court, and if he does that, the legitimacy of Anwar’s rule itself will come into question.
Even if Muhyiddin is found guilty and punished, he will likely go down as a martyr figure who is being wrongly persecuted by an unjust government and rejuvenate the green wave while further weakening Anwar’s mandate to rule.
Anwar, let us not forget, came to power with the promise that he will be a Prime Minister for reform. As it is, his commitment for reforms is already being widely doubted, even by his own ardent supporters. If Muhyiddin is punished, at that too for the high crime of sedition, on such flimsy grounds, even his own supporters will likely urge Anwar to stop any further pretension of being a reform minded prime minister, and just assume dictatorial powers in straightforward fashion.
Even now it is not too late for Anwar to stop making things worse.
All he has to do is stop doing something and start doing nothing.
Nothing is an easy thing to do. It requires no effort. All it requires is humility.
To not be able to do nothing, even when all you are doing by doing something is going against the truth, is something only the proud will do.
Pride, as they say, comes before the fall.
The rest is up to Anwar.
TheRealNehruism is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.