Zahid Hamidi is an albatross on the neck of the unity government, of this there is no doubt.
Regardless of what all the prime minister's men say, no one in the country believes that the prime minister had no hand in Zahid's recent acquittal, and I am not just talking about PN supporters here.
At the end of the day, PH leads the unity government because it has a mandate to rule, and that mandate is based on its identity as the party of reformation, multiculturalism and change.
If the people’s faith in PH as a party that represents institutional reforms, multiculturalism and change is shaken, PN just has to add a little pressure on the unity government, and it can call to question PH's mandate to rule.
The “Save Malaysia” rally that PN carried out in KL on Malaysia day is a valid way for PN to challenge PH’s mandate.
It is probably no coincidence that PN organised this rally without obtaining a police permit. It is likely forcing the unity government to crack down on it.
If PN keeps holding demos and rallies, and that too without obtaining a police permit, the Unity government is bound to crack down on it at some point.
Imagine how it will look like for the unity government to crack down on a rally that only seeks to overturn Zahid’s acquittal, when it is widely seen as having at least some part in securing Zahid’s acquittal in the first place.
The unity government will likely look like the proverbial dog in the manger. Neither is it willing to do what is right, nor does it let anyone else do it.
If that were to happen, the PH that is leading the unity government today will not be seen as the PH that obtained the mandate to rule from voters in the last general election.
Without being seen as the same party that won the mandate to rule in the last general election, there are grounds for the unity government’s rule to be challenged, even if the next election is not scheduled until 2027.
Zahid Hamidi is one of the unity government's biggest headache now and the reason this is so is because although the unity government is seen to be bending over backwards to back Zahid Hamidi, it doesn’t even have one good reason to do so.
Everybody in the country feels that Zahid is only serving as the Deputy Prime Minister and the President of Umno because he needs to hold on to these positions to escape from his legal troubles.
Everybody in the country, regardless of party affiliation, also feel that it is because Anwar is backing Zahid that Zahid is able to retain his party and governmental position.
What nobody knows is why.
Zahid is not only a politician that is viewed with suspicion by Malaysians, he is likely even viewed with suspicion by his own party. If it wasn’t for the fact that the contest for the post of the president of Umno in its last party elections was forbidden, Zahid will likely not be the president of Umno today.
He is riddled with the perception of corruption.
He is not a stellar performer nor does he have a track record of being a commendable minister in the government. Though Zahid has spent decades in the government, I doubt if anybody can name even one of Zahid's achievements.
Zahid is also not a winner. As a matter of fact, under his leadership, BN has suffered colossal losses in GE 15 and the August 12 election.
But despite all this, the unity government is backing Zahid as if he is Mandela, Gandhi, Alexander and Julius Caesar rolled into one.
That Zahid has such a secure place in the unity government although there are strong and compelling reasons for him to be removed from the unity government, is a weakness that can and will be seriously exploited by PN.
The unity government can’t forever defend itself against PN's challenge on technical grounds.
How many times will the country be able to tell itself that PN's rally are not a rally, but just a case of a few thousand people escorting each other to the police station to make a police report, and thus it is ok for it to proceed even without a police permit.
If PN members keep escorting each other by the thousands to make a police report all over the country, what is PH going to do?
If it just lets the “escort activity” continue, it will create a perception that PH is powerless to deal with PN,
If it crackdown on PN’s gathering however, it will lose its identity as a party of reform and change.
Either way, it will be a lose-lose situation for PH.
The way I see it, there are only three options that Zahid can pursue in order to prevent his image and troubles from sinking the unity government.
The first is to resign. He has already been acquitted of all his court cases. If he steps down from politics, he can fade away from the public eye and live a leisurely life in retirement.
The second is to accept being re-charged and stand trial. If he stands trial, he can still remain in his position as the DPM without seriously impinging on PH’s credentials as a party of institutional reform and change.
The third option is for Zahid to find some way to justify his existence in the unity government.
Personally, I feel that Zahid should just moot for the creation of a supermalay multiracial party by merging PKR and Umno into one. If he does that, he can claim that he wants to be the president of Umno to lead Umno into its next evolution, so that it may continue to exist in the changing landscape of Malaysian politics, that is no longer conducive to the existence of purely race based parties any longer.
If he does that, he will at least possess a multicultural and transformational credentials that will justify his continuing existence in the unity government.
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