SOME 10 months as the government and we have the silly spectacle of Pakatan Harapan (PH) bickering with each other, criticising or defending Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

No one needs to defend the man. He’s been the prime minister twice, taking all elections with a two-thirds majority except the last one, which was obtained with a simple majority together with his former political foes.

Yet, we now have a social media slugfest with snide remarks from within the administration over Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar’s remarks about working with Dr Mahathir after all the years of fighting him and the Barisan Nasional (BN) government for her father Anwar Ibrahim’s release.

She’s entitled to her opinions. After all, she did see it fit more than a year ago to work with Dr Mahathir against the BN government. She had agreed he would be prime minister if they won. She can change her mind as much as we can change our minds about her too.

But the reality is this new government isn’t just about Dr Mahathir or Nurul Izzah.

He has the tough job of putting together a new government to clean up the mess of the Najib Razak government.

Dr Mahathir has to overcome the bad legacies of his past and lead a crew more comfortable with criticising and tweeting than actually working.

She has the tough job of being lawmaker, her third term in fact, but now on the government side. She might have quit all other posts but she’s still an MP.

That’s the least we expect from her, to argue and make laws for the benefit of Malaysians, particularly her constituents. Any more would be a bonus after her 20 years of trying to free her father.

Instead what we get is some of the PH chaps just exercising their freedom to speak their mind rather than serving the people.

Let’s keep it simple. PH didn’t win GE14. The people won. They threw out BN and got you chaps in.

May 9 would not have happened if the people didn’t forgive Dr Mahathir for his past sins or put aside their ambivalence about the motley crew of politicians running under the PKR flag.

People changed the government because they were fed up with BN, because they figured the PH people can fulfill some of the promises made.

But the months since May 9 seems to be more of a disappointment than anything else. Please remember that it isn’t about how good you are or how rotten Najib is. That’s the past.

So now do all of us a favour. Deliver.

You don’t have to bicker or run one MP down. There are 32 million Malaysians to serve, so use your time and energy for them.

Dr Mahathir would thank you for that too. As we all would.  – March 26, 2019.

* Jahabar Sadiq runs The Malaysian Insight.