ORDINARY Sarawakians are angry with the latest political crisis and have vented their displeasure at “selfish” politicians only looking after their own interests.

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) lecturer Joseph Ramanair wanted to know if the politicians had given any thought to the ordinary people who, by and large, have been severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Now we don’t even have a government to handle the pandemic and the problems faced by the people, only a caretaker government.

“What good will that do?” he said.

His sentiments were reflected by many people speaking to The Malaysian Insight.

Ramanair said the crisis will linger for quite some time, which will leave the nation in limbo as political parties huddle to choose the next prime minister.

The academic said he’s angry with the refusal of politicians to work together to alleviate the pain the people are going through.

“I’m angry with the whole thing. They all want to be prime minister,” he said, alluding to the rejection by the opposition of Muhyiddin Yassin’s televised plea to form a unity government.

“I’m not a big fan of Muhyiddin but at least he was noble and honourable enough to reach out and try to get everyone to work together,” he said, adding he had half expected the opposition to accept the then prime minister’s proposals.

“Very silly not to take up the offer. These are the leaders we have now. They would not put their political differences aside and work for the people.”

In his last-ditch effort to secure bipartisan support at next month’s confidence vote in Parliament, he promised to make six key reforms, and a seventh if he gets a two-thirds majority.

These include allocating equal constituency funds to all MPs, adding RM45 billion to the Covid-19 fund as mooted by the opposition, bringing opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim into the cabinet as a senior minister, as well as electoral and parliamentary changes such as limiting a prime minister’s tenure to two terms.

However, these proposals were roundly rejected by the opposition.

Ramanair said if a proper government is not in place to table the national budget later this year, he believes another emergency could be declared to prevent a shutdown of the government in the new year.

PKR grassroots supporter Willam Lee said the politicians behind the crisis are turning the king’s efforts to resolve it into a joke.

“It is not supposed to be (this way). Muhyiddin was picked by the Agong to solve the political crisis but his detractors went all out to make sure he did not last long,” Lee said.

Without naming names, Lee said the same will happen to the person who succeeds Muhyiddin and it will continue to happen “until the politician who wants to be prime minister gets his wish”.

Lee said he wondered if this “fight” for power and position, is a peninsular habit.

“They don’t really care for the people. Do you think they really care whether the rakyat suffer? Its mere lip service when they say they do.”

“They are a bunch of clowns trying to grab power when the country is in deep trouble.

“The country and the plight of the people are far from their minds,” pensioner Teo Ann Lee said.

“It is tipping the country down the drain and my grandchildren will suffer from their greed”.

Like Ramanair, Teo said the opposition should have accepted Muhyiddin’s proposals and forged a unity government to tackle the problems heaped by the pandemic.

Pensioner Josh John on the other hand said the state’s ruling coalition, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), needs to exercise its unique position in the current political equation to resolve the crisis quickly.

He said the four-party coalition could even work with Anwar Ibrahim-led opposition Pakatan Harapan “if it’s in favour of the state”.

“Let bygones be bygones and think of the future of the state.”

Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg has so far not made any statements on where GPS stands after Muhyiddin’s resignation, although the coalition’s secretary-general Alexander Nanta Linggi had said GPS would support Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Abang Johari had said in the past that GPS will never support any group that has DAP as its partner, thus apparently ruling out any support for the Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan. – August 18, 2021.