When PN announced that it would contest only 33 of Johor's 56 seats, I had the same feeling I had on October 10, 2022, when the then-Ismail Sabri government suddenly dissolved Parliament and called for GE15.
On both occasions, I felt that something was terribly off.
Both decisions struck me like watching a top-rated boxer get knocked out after receiving nothing more than a light jab.
It felt as though the match had been rigged.
Well, it appears I am not the only one who believes that something is not quite right with the Johor election, because DAP is already crying foul.
China Press is reporting that former DAP assemblyman Chew Chong Sin has claimed there is a "tacit understanding" between PN and BN in the coming Johor election.
That, I suppose, is why Chew believes PN is uncharacteristically fielding only 33 candidates in the 56 seat contest. I imagine that, in his view, PN has calibrated its candidate fielding in such a way that BN and PN will avoid splitting the Malay vote, thereby reducing PH's chances of winning marginal seats.
In return for that "sacrifice", if BN fails to secure the minimum 29 seats needed to govern Johor on its own, the partner it would turn to would be PN—not DAP—even though DAP is currently BN's partner at the federal level.
I believe Chew Chong Sin's opinion is, in reality, DAP's opinion. They merely sent a retired assemblyman to deliver the message in order to maintain plausible deniability.
If BN complains about DAP's "rudeness", DAP can simply say that this was merely the personal opinion of Chew, who is now just a "small fry" within the party, and that the mainstream media chose to amplify his views for reasons known only to themselves.
In any case, BN president Zahid Hamidi's statement seems to indirectly confirm that some form of understanding between BN and PN may indeed exist.
"From the very beginning, Johor BN chairman Onn Hafiz Ghazi made it clear that we would contest on our own. That has been proven by the fact that BN is fielding candidates in all 56 state constituencies.
None of our candidates is contesting under another party's logo.
"I have not heard anything about BN's plans to cooperate with PAS and Wawasan.
" It may have been discussions held at the grassroots level," Zahid told reporters after a programme with the Benut BN election machinery in Simpang Renggam today.
From this statement, I deduce that Zahid wants everyone to believe that, if BN and PN have arrived at some tacit understanding, he is aware of it and remains in control of the situation.
Ironically, I suspect the opposite.
I reckon Zahid is signalling this because he fears that some arrangement may already exist without his approval. By appearing calm and in control, he preserves the ability to later claim that any post-election cooperation with PN had always been part of his strategy.
As for DAP, I suspect it is highlighting the possibility of a BN-PN understanding to frighten non-Malay voters into turning out to vote in larger numbers.
The message is simple: if non-Malay voters stay home, Johor could end up with a Malay-Muslim BN-PN government.
At present, DAP's greatest challenge is not convincing non-Malays to vote for PH. Most non-Malay voters will likely still vote for PH if they vote.
The bigger question is whether they will bother voting at all.
Many of them are disappointed with PH and DAP. Although they see no attractive alternative, and disappointment often leads to apathy rather than defection.
As for me, all this complexity—where PH cooperates with BN federally while competing against BN in Johor, and where BN competes against PN while possibly preparing to cooperate with PN after the election—makes me seriously question the purpose of the democratic process itself.
If the relationship between voters and their government is like a marriage, then this feels like a marriage in which neither spouse trusts the other, neither respects the other, both spouses are forever plotting behind each others back and both secretly wish the other will simply just drop dead so that they can free themselves of this meaningless and vexing marriage without needing to bear the burden of guilt.
Despite that, they stay together not because they love one another or expect anything good to come out of the marriage, but because neither can imagine life outside the marriage.
From Sabah to Sarawak, and now even Johor, I sense more and more people wanting out of this arrangement.
And I can understand why.
Who willingly remains trapped in a relationship like this?
You have to be a truly miserable wretch to cling to a relationship that offers so little that is good and so much that is bad, because you have convinced yourself that this is the best life can ever offer.
That, increasingly, is how our democracy feels.
It does not feel like a partnership built on trust or a marriage worth having.
Rather, it is increasingly feeling like pointless, meaningless and burdensome marriage that everyone privately wants to escape, but no one knows how to leave.
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