DURING its last ceramah in Taman Sri Andalas, Klang on July 25, 2018, the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government could only attract fewer than a hundred people.

Despite an array of speakers that included then Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jeyakumar, Kedah Mentri Besar Mukhriz Mahathir and Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, it failed to draw a crowd for the Sg Kandis by-election campaign.

Some of the reasons for the poor turnout were election fatigue and a by-election that would not change the final composition of the Selangor state government.

But last night’s “Jelajah Harapan” was a different affair.

Coming off a two-week political tussle that ended with PH losing control of the federal government to former ally Muhyiddin Yassin, the crowd returned in the hundreds to listen to former ministers led by Mohamad Sabu and Anthony Loke.

The turmoil which ended what voters see as an act of betrayal has instead galvanised support for PH, whose popularity was on the decline until a week ago.

While former foreign minister Saifuddin has now crossed to “other” side, another Saifuddin (Nasution Ismail) stepped up to the plate to argue PH’s case.

“This is the first time that a prime minister (Muhyiddin) has kicked off his term by saying that he’s not a traitor,” said Saifuddin Nasution, the PKR secretary-general.

“But how can that be when his new partners are now Umno and PAS. Is this what you voted for in 2018?”

Saifuddin said the “new” government under Muhyiddin could even free some of the Umno leaders who are currently facing corruption trials.

“We honoured our promise to ensure Najib (Razak) got his day in court for corruption. But if he’s freed tomorrow, you have Muhyiddin and Mohamed Azmin Ali to thank for,” said Saifuddin, in a field just 500m away from 2018’s ceramah spot.

At the end of the ceramah, Azhar Ismail said: “I came from Bangsar with my family to listen for myself what happened the last two weeks.

“I have read the news and I am aware that PH wasn’t doing so well because of all the lies. But the betrayal has really fired me up,” said the father of three.

With his wife and children, Azhar said it was a tragedy that PH was betrayed before their mandate was up.

“It’s just an excuse that they use to say DAP were the villains and that this is to form an all-Malay government. But it’s really about grabbing power for themselves and returning crooks into government,” he said angrily.

For Taman Sri Andalas resident V. Muthusamy, the new government has no mandate.

“We didn’t vote for Barisan Nasional and PAS to be in power and the new prime minister has no good reason to topple PH.

“I understand that PH wasn’t doing very well but I can’t accept it being brought down like that,” said the 55-year-old.

PH was on the losing end last week when Muhyiddin ended its 22-month government by being sworn-in as the 8th prime minister on March 1.

But the jury is still out on whether he will have the last word on this, as PH is claiming that Muhyiddin does not have majority support in Parliament. – March 8, 2020.