GE15 is over. No political party or coalition won the simple majority. Pakatan Harapan won the highest number of elected MPs but could not form a government. His Majesty, the Agong stepped in to invite leaders of the leaders of the all coalitions with the idea of forming a unity government.
He invited the leader of the Perikatan National, Mahiaddin Yasin, to form a unity government. Mahiaddin outrightly refused. Anwar Ibrahim as leader of the Pakatan Harapan coalition has agreed. The next day Agong invited the leader of BN coalition, Zahid Hamidi. They agreed to join the unity government. GPS left it to the decision of the Agong. Thus a Unity Government was formed. Warisan and GRS also joined the government. The Agong called for a special session of the Malay Rulers Conference to endorse the Unity Government which they did.
Anwar Ibrahim was appointed Prime Minister and was sworn in before His Majesty and witnessed by the Chief Justice and the Chief Secretary to the government. The PM 10 appointed two Deputy PMs. The new PM submitted his list of Cabinet ministers for Agong's assent. The appointed ministers were given their Letters of Appointment and were duly sworn in before the Agong, witnessed by the Chief Justice and the Chief Secretary to the government. Thus the Unity Government, as mandated by the Istana and the Malay Rulers, was formally formed.
It must be emphasized here that this is a Unity Government as mandated by the Agong and the Rulers. It is not a Pakatan Harapan government as has been misunderstood by many. I cannot understand the Perikatan National leader, Mahiaddin Yasin, criticizing the Unity Government when he utterly refused the Agong's proposal to join in.
PM 10, Anwar Ibrahim, came under unscrupulous criticism that he had abandoned his Reformasi Agenda. I repeat, this is a unity government and not a Pakatan Harapan government - that is a very big difference.
The appointment of Zahid Hamidi as Deputy PM, who was facing court charges, was heavily criticized. But to make this Unity Government work, the new PM must have the cooperation of other coalition members and it is also upon the decree of His Majesty.
To say Anwar has abandoned his Reformasi Agenda is unfair and uncalled for. We can see quite clearly that Anwar is slowly but surely introducing some aspects of reformation in his government. He has openly declared no to negotiated contracts of projects and procurements.
But let us leave politics aside and focus on the national agenda. The economy failed and ringgit fell in exchange with other currencies, even Thailand which used to enjoy the ringgit patronage now refused to accept the Malaysian ringgit.
The appointment of Anwar as PM will bring untold blessings to the country. (Nevermind the allegations that he is agent of foreign countries. Anwar even comically said he is greater than 007, James Bond). Please let this Unity Government mend this nation and try to bring back prosperity to the well endowed country with natural resources. Let this Unity Government bring in the much needed foreign investments and employment to the masses.
Let us stop politics that does not put food on the table. The time has come for all Malaysians regardless of racial and religious backgrounds to come together to bring our beloved nation back on their feet, if not to bring back those glory days of yesteryears when we were seen as the economic Tiger of Asia.
Wan Ismail Annuar 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!
Newswav is solely an aggregation platform and hosts the content. The views expressed and content above including media (pictures, videos, etc) were provided by the author. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.