We are all aware of the dictum: Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.
We practise democracy in the country. The philosophy of political democracy is the art of governance of the people, by the people, for the people based on the agenda and manifesto of contending political parties in the General Elections for a term of 5 years. However, Malaysia has been unaware that we had rogue PMs.
PM 4 and 7 were the same person. It was a strange paradigm where in a democracy, there was a dictatorship. This second-generation Indian became a Malay by definition in accordance with the Federal Constitution. His family was given citizenship by our first PM, YTM Tunku Abdul Rahman. The irony was that this ungrateful man blemished the good name of our Bapa Malaysia, blaming him for the 1969 racial riots.
In his first term, Mahathir Mohamad reigned for 22 years. Some have praised him to build a concrete jungle in Malaysia at the expense of agricultural research. Now we see agriculture failing in the country, we are dependent on food supply from abroad.
In his second term, he was together with Pakatan Harapan (PH) - together in name but never in spirit. His only mission during this term was to crush UMNO Baru to oblivion. When the Pakatan Harapan government defeated the UMNO government, he promised that Anwar Ibrahim would succeed him as PM, a bluff from a man who uses lies to enhance his political journey.
During his second term, Mahathir intended to get rid of Najib Razak for corruption. Najib was a PM who was outwitted by a young Chinese boy, Jho Low, to do his bidding. At the behest of Jho Low and with the assistance of his wife, Rosmah Mansor, he created a sovereign fund called the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
To Najib, cash is king. The 1MDB scandal was a worldwide phenomenon that Malaysians are so ashamed of. The corruption case in the courts took 4 years to complete. He is now in Kajang prison, deservedly. As for his wife, she has also been sentenced but she is appealing the sentence.
Money politics has become the norm in the country, never mind the claim of a free and clean general election. The poor quality of education is made a weapon for the GEs. Racist politicians made the rural Malays dependent on handouts, a pitiful and a fistful of ringgit, that could hardly see these people through a few meals. But there you go, these parties made their own race poor and dependent. These parties enriched themselves, their families and their cronies. No positive development for the poor rural folks.
Back to the PH government led by Mahathir as PM.
Bersatu led by Mahiaddin had left the PH government. Then, Mahiaddin and a few defectors from PKR formed an alternative government through a silent coup d'etat. Since Mahathir could not get his own way, he resigned abruptly without leaving a successor.
The Agong then asked for a decision to be made supported by Statutory Declarations (SDs). However, the SD poll is not transparent and open. Support can be bought by bribes and/or promises of benefits. According to the SD poll, Mahiaddin won although his position as PM was never endorsed in the Dewan Rakyat by a vote of confidence.
Mahiaddin formed his Perikatan National (PN) government with the largest-ever cabinet ministers. He also declared a lockdown, as a preventative measure against the spread of Covid-19. But Covid continued to spread out unabated with infections and deaths mounted. The lockdown affected the economy drastically. Small businesses were forced to close. Food was scarce and many were flying white flags for attention because they had no food. There were even depress-related suicides.
Mahiaddin resigned as PM when he realised the government he was leading failed and he handed over the reins of government to Ismail Sabri. Ismail's major "achievement" was giving a speech at the UN General Assembly in Bahasa Melayu (to an empty hall). Other than that, PM Ismail acted as the executive leader of the nation by obeying directions from the President of UMNO.
During GE15, not many expected PN would perform well, especially not after Mahiaddin's performance as PM8. PN proved the nation wrong. Coupled with the great PAS influence, PN won 74 seats in the election. PH won 82 seats but were unable to form a government that requires 112 seats for a simple majority. Pakatan could have formed a minority government but the Agong wanted stability in the government, hence why His Majesty proposed a Unity Government.
Mahiaddin refused to work with others, claiming that he had 115 SDs supporting him as PM. Anwar, however, agreed to the formation of a Unity Government. After consulting with his brother Rulers at a special meeting of the Malay Rulers, His Majesty appointed Anwar Ibrahim as PM10 to lead the said Unity Government.
Even at the present moment, PN is trying very hard to form their government with Mahiaddin as PM. As the leader of the opposition, Hamzah Zainuddin said "the door is open".
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.
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