ACCORDING to Mohamed Azmin Ali, sometimes minister but mostly just defender of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the rakyat gave the current prime minister the mandate to complete his whole term in office.
Nothing much wrong with that statement except that the support for anyone holding on to the position of prime minister is not unconditional.
Surely, we should not allow a person to complete his term as PM just because he led a political party to victory at a general election? Surely not.
We can’t imagine anyone sitting in silence if the PM suddenly traded in the manifesto that put him in power for a stay-in-power-by-all-means strategy.
Similarly, should Malaysians – who backed Dr Mahathir as PM because they truly believed that he had shed his authoritarian nature; that he was going to be the leader for all Malaysians; and that he had brought in the reformist agenda of Pakatan Harapan – blindly believe that he was still the best man for the job after he veered off course?
Every member of the PH government is on probation. More so Dr Mahathir. Why is the burden heavier on this one person?
Simply because he talked a good game in the run-up to GE14, speaking like someone who wanted to atone for some of his mistakes and set the country on the right path.
Many voters were sceptical because of his Umno pedigree and his patchy record as a reformist, but everyone deserves a second chance.
So, Dr Mahathir was given a second chance. The same community who he once hammered in the Malay Dilemma gave him a chance for redemption.
It is fair to say that the second coming of Dr Mahathir has not been as great as advertised.
Race relations seems to be getting worse by the day, fuelled no doubt by Umno and PAS but encouraged by some elements in PH.
For the average Malaysian, it has been getting tougher to make ends meet.
Most cabinet members are anonymous and the best word to describe intra PH relations is dysfunctional.
Moreover, how else could you describe ties within the coalition when secretaries-general of DAP, PKR, Amanah and Bersatu issue a statement that Hishammuddin Hussein is trying to break-up the coalition through some backroom deal?
Yet, some PH leaders to pretend like there is no such plan.
However, most troubling is the perception that the PM has forgotten what the people who put him in power really desired when they put PH in power: a united Malaysia not hampered by the millstone of race and religion.
Dr Mahathir’s presence at the Malay Dignity Congress was akin to thumbing his nose at those people.
He shared the same stage with leaders of Umno and PAS, political parties he was more than happy to deride as corrupt and dangerous in the run-up to GE14.
By his presence at the congress, he also appeared to endorse the divisive rhetoric of the speakers.
So much for uniting a nation.
So, Azmin, you may believe that Dr Mahathir deserves to complete a full term as the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
There is no such entitlement.
The best judge of Dr Mahathir will be the people who put him and PH in power, not politicians or ministers, whose cushy jobs and perks depend on the status quo.
Malaysians will get a chance to judge what they think of the PM at the by-election in Tanjung Piai. – October 22, 2019.
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