LEADERS of the various Semenanjung political parties have already met the Yang di-Pertuan Agong while leaders of Borneo parties are slated to do so in the first half of this week. The Agong is then expected to chair a meeting of the Conference of Rulers, presumably to discuss the pandemic and share the input of the various leaders he has met. 

Some of those leaders have disclosed the agendas of their royal meetings. Lim Guan Eng, for example, conveyed the rakyat’s hardships to the king while Dr Mahathir Mohamad shared with the monarch his vision of a National Operations Council 2.0 to temporarily take over the reins of leadership. 

All in all, the consensus among the Pakatan Harapan components, Umno and Pejuang seems to be that things can no longer continue as they are. Even before the palace summons, there had been constructive criticisms of Covid containment measures from civil society, medical practitioners and even from the Sultans.  

It is perhaps this jolt of realisation that kicked the government into speeding up vaccinations, from barely 50,000 a day to over 150,000, heading towards 200,000 by next month. 

The setting up of mega vaccination centres, engagement with NGOs and loosening the previously tight but illogical restrictions against states, large companies and private hospitals from procuring the vaccines themselves. 

Sadly, it needn’t have come to this.  

We had 450 days of Covid experience, and plenty of precious time was wasted on semantics, flip-flops and endless polemics. SOPs have been revised so many times even those enforcing them have a difficult time keeping up, let alone the thousands of businesses and millions of people it affects. 

This may have started as an administrative issue, but has branched out into many problems which have further clustered out.  

At the heart of many of these issues is public distrust.  

People simply do not believe politicians have their best interests at heart anymore. 

Ineffective strategies, messy implementation and blatant favouritism are among reasons that gave rise to a belief in conspiracy theories in place of even logical steps being taken by the government. 

Enough has been said about the mess created by bureaucrats who nonchalantly change decisions with wanton disregard for livelihoods and nary a thought for the hell they create for both those who have to enforce their silly regulations and those upon whom they are enforced. 

Will changing the people at the top, whether via a new NOC, or unity government, really make any difference at this point? 

Perhaps not, without strong political will behind it. 

Even in the unlikely event a political reshuffle is on the cards, it would just prolong the feeling of uncertainty that has plagued the leadership since the Sheraton move.  

In two years, an election is due, and political parties are eager to capitalise on wins and losses attained during this crisis.

Politicians may be eager, for example, to be associated with the success of vaccine acceleration, but less so with the risen Covid numbers, or loss of life. They would want to take credit for the aid package, but probably not for i-Sinar which lets EPF contributors help themselves with their own money. 

It gets trickier along party and coalition lines. Umno appears to want to be both in government and out of it at first chance. PAS has not fully revealed its cards.

On the PH side, while it’s clear they do not endorse Dr Mahathir, elements in DAP and Amanah may not be as eager to dismiss him off completely, while not fully, tacitly backing Anwar either.

PKR still rallies behind their supremo, though the rally doesn’t seem able to muster enough from either the opposite aisle, nor East Malaysia to join their cause, while also unwilling to back anyone else’s candidate. 

All other mentioned names to lead – Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Mohd Shafie Apdal – have fallen short of support and now the idea of changing leadership itself has died out.  

The open criticism from leaders, even ministers, of the government is a clear sign of this crack. 

While an election may solve this impasse, going to the polls without settled leadership will only breed more uncertainty. 

Perhaps this is the first deadlock that needs solving. – June 16, 2021.

* Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on Earth, and that motivated people can do far more good than any leader with motive.