WHAT were the politicians thinking? At the Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting on Friday night, and over the long weekend that followed, at one secret meeting to another; what did they think they were doing?

Were they thinking of the Malaysians who voted for change in 2018? Were they thinking about political stability for the country? Or has stability come to mean self-preservation?

These were the sentiments of many Malaysians yesterday as they grew more cynical with new development that appeared to confirm that Dr Mahathir Mohamad would take Bersatu out of PH to form a coalition government with the foes he ousted in 2018.

The PH leadership’s Friday night decision to let the 94-year-old Dr Mahathir decide when to leave  office should have been the end of the politicking surrounding the power transition issue.

Instead, what followed were more clandestine meetings, beginning with one held by PKR’s Mohamed Azmin Ali and his squad in Putrajaya right after the presidential council meeting – a conference that continued the next day at the Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya.

Ironically, this was the same hotel in which PH announced that it had defeated Barisan Nasional and would form the new government, ending 60 years of single party rule.

Simultaneously, Umno, Bersatu and Gabungan Parti Sarawak also held meetings in the Klang Valley yesterday.

After the meetings, which were shrouded in secrecy, several leaders from these parties were said to have met the king.

The Prime Minister’s Office later denied that Dr Mahathir was among them.

At the Sheraton Hotel, lawmakers from Bersatu, PAS, Umno, GPS and Parti Warisan Sabah had gathered for the evening meal.

Among those who showed up are those facing corruption trials, such as Umno president Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor. Also there were Bersatu’s Muhyiddin Yassin and Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman while PAS was represented by Abdul Hadi Awang and Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.

There were no statements at the event, which ended with issue still hanging.

The gathering has nevertheless strengthened speculation that they were there to plot the beginning of the end of Pakatan Harapan.

Still others say it was a show of force by Bersatu and Azmin, who are pressing for Dr Mahathir to stay a full term despite his promises to step down two years after the May 2018 general election.

Whatever it is, it is cause for concern.

While the country is facing the possibility of a slowdown due to the virus outbreak, its elected lawmakers have disregarded their duties to brazenly scheme and connive in public.

It’s one thing to show support for your leader, it’s another to confuse the public and sow fears of a change to a government they did not vote for.

Politics made the impossible possible in 2018. But politics by itself must never be ahead of public interests.

In the last elections, the majority of Malaysians sacrificed their own interests, overcame their fears and put aside their differences to change the government for the sake of the country.

They should not be repaid with such a betrayal. – February 24, 2020.