I AM responding to the piece by M. Bakri Musa, Parliament must reject Muhyiddin, in your portal.

Perhaps the writer has been away from the country for far too long to understand not just the nuances but even the explicit message spelt out by the palace.

What is very clear is that the king does not want to prolong the politicking that has engulfed this country since PM Muhyiddin Yassin took office in March. His highness wants the administration to continue with efforts to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

For the writer to suggest that MPs reject the prime minister is tantamount to a direct challenge to the royal decree about ending politicking. How else can one see the ouster of a prime minister during a national crisis, other than to continue with the politicking?

Secondly, does the writer have any inkling what the ouster of the prime minister, or the rejection of the Budget 2021 mean? Does he know that much of our future effort to combat Covid-19 hinges on the budget?

Pray tell, where else would the government source funding from if Budget 2021 is not passed? Let’s look at the timeline – Budget 2021 is to be tabled on November 6. Voting will take place about two weeks later.

If the budget is voted down, the prime minister has to resign. And assuming that no consensus is reached on who to be the next prime minister (by the looks of things, that seems a likely scenario), a snap poll will be called.

By the time a general election is concluded and a prime minister sworn in, and a new budget retabled, it will not be inconceivable that the passage of the bill will pass through by late January 2021 or even later.

Not only will salaries of our front-liners be put on hold, but also that of all federal civil servants. Not to mention allocation for fighting Covid-19 such as purchasing PPEs, test kits, etc.

As someone who lives in the US, surely the writer knows the effects of the shutdown when funding legislatures failed to be passed. But then the US is a more developed country than Malaysia. Previous shutdowns happened during non-pandemic times.

If Budget 2021 fails to be passed, the outcome will be disastrous. I hope the writer can be a bit more restrained and less emotional when criticising his home country from the comfort of his armchair halfway across the world. – October 28, 2020.

* Loong Sze Kuan reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.