The Madani government is already halfway into becoming an absurd government as it is.
Why?
Because it is fighting amongst itself at the state level while cooperating at the federal level.
Because it is governing the nation when it can't even govern itself.
In Malacca, Akmal Saleh has repeatedly and relentlessly confirmed that fighting DAP until the end is the goal of his political life. To make things easier for the UMNO-led Malacca state government, Akmal even offered to resign from his exco post so that he would be free to fight DAP without causing discomfort to the state government.
The fact that the Malacca state government publicly declined his offer is a clear signal that the UMNO-led state government approves of and supports Akmal’s actions and goals. This can also be seen in the fact that Akmal has continuously and relentlessly attacked DAP without restraint.
In Negeri Sembilan, 14 UMNO division leaders have openly attempted to topple the PH-led state government, where PH controls 17 seats and 11 of those seats belong to DAP.
Just on May 17, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke openly stated that he wanted the Negeri Sembilan state assembly dissolved on the same day as the Johor state assembly so that DAP could confront UMNO in both Johor and Negeri Sembilan simultaneously.
Johor is also a frontline of conflict for the Madani government because UMNO has clearly stated that it intends to compete in all 56 state seats and has no interest in seat-sharing arrangements with PH. In other words, allies in the Madani government will be openly in conflict with each other in the Johor election.
Not only are parties within the Madani government in conflict with one another, the ruling party in the Madani goverment, PKR, is also in conflict with itself.
It is an open secret that PKR currently has an Anwar faction and a Rafizi faction. PKR MPs like Wong Chen are openly aligned with Rafizi despite remaining PKR MPs, and Wong Chen is most certainly not alone.
In the coming Johor election, PKR may not only find itself in conflict with UMNO — it may also find itself in conflict with itself.
The Malacca election is also due, and we should not be surprised if the state assembly is dissolved soon so that the election can be held simultaneously with Johor.
The Negeri Sembilan state assembly arguably should have been dissolved even before Johor. It is widely acknowledged that the Negeri Sembilan government is a lame-duck administration that does not have the confidence of its state assembly. The only reason why the Negeri Sembilan state assembly has not been dissolved yet is because it is waiting for a right time to dissolve.
If the Negeri Sembilan state assembly is not dissolved even after Johor — and perhaps Malacca — goes to the polls, the Negeri Sembilan government risks losing all of its legitimacy, potency and and dignity.
There is also no clearly favourable outcome for the Madani government in any of these state elections.
If UMNO wins, the Madani government loses.
If DAP wins, the Madani government still loses.
If both UMNO and DAP lose to PN, the Madani government still loses.
The coalition loses because, in the first two scenarios, internal conflicts intensify. In the third scenario, it loses because those conflicts would have weakened it to the point where its opponents benefit directly.
If the Madani government staggers these state elections, there is little if anything to gain. Instead, it risks subjecting the country to a prolonged election period that could stretch for nearly a year.
Even if these three state elections are held two months apart before Parliament is dissolved, that is already around eight months of continuous election season.
And let us not forget that the Sarawak election is also due. On top of that, governments in Perak and Pahang, both of which depend heavily on PH–UMNO cooperation, could also unravel under the heat generated by the Johor, Negeri Sembilan, and Malacca elections.
Perlis is also governed by a state government with a questionable mandate and could dissolve its assembly at any time.
Add all these state elections together with a general election and we could potentially be looking at eight elections.
If each election is staggered by two months, Malaysia could effectively remain in election mode for close to one and a half years.
Why put the nation through all this when there is little to gain?
Not only does the nation gain little from this prolonged uncertainty — the Madani government itself has little to gain as well.
Rather than continuously subjecting the country to an absurd situation where we are governed by a government that can't even govern itself, why not save itself from the prolonged state of misery by dissolving Parliament and the 8 state assemblies in one shot?
TheRealNehruism (nehru.sathiamoorthy@gmail.com) 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 creator@newswav.com.