PAKATAN Harapan, which has been championing the cause of democracy and the process of governance, has failed its supporters.

Its justification and acceptance of two assemblymen to contest under its banner is confirmation that the democratic system of governance in the country has collapsed, and something very dark has taken its place.

The coalition’s decision-making has tampered with the trust of its supporters and this is not the first time it happened.

Its failure to fulfil the manifesto that led to it emerging victorious in May 2018 was one such instance

The acceptance of the two assemblymen may not have been so inimical was it not done after categorical statements indicating the exact opposite of previous proclamations.

Whether the PH leadership realises it has lost the trust of its supporters, will be known on the night of November 20 for if it fails to win the mandate to govern the state, the leadership, as expected, will probably roll out the age old recycled excuse of its intention to ‘reset’ – to win back the trust of its supporters, assuming that it can wipe their memory and initiate a ‘tabula rasa’ style reinvention, in which the public would regain trust.

PH’s leaders are aware of a lot of research that has consistently indicated that, once lost, trust is very difficult to regain. When trust has been breached in myriad ways, this renders it all the more so.

Not only its supporters but more and more Malaysians are openly asking and working for change, and even the incumbent government promises change but has little to show of substance.

There is a loathing uncertainty and sense of despair and many feel change is the panacea to the country’s troubled and troublesome government they blame for many of their own troubles: rising crime and cost of living.

The past and present leadership in the current government boasted, superciliously, about their respective ability to get the government to put policies into effect ‘immediately’ when the government itself drags its feet.

PH’s supporters now felt betrayed and humiliated and are wondering if they have misplaced their trust. The wider implication is not solely on PH’s supporters but on society as a whole, where we could possibly see the degeneration into a society where people take the law and matters into their own hands to commit unethical and immoral acts solely to hold on to or to grab power.

PH’s supporters thought that the change of government in May 2018 was the panacea where, with a fresh government, all the skeletons in the overcrowded closet will be cleaned out.

After the Sheraton move, supporters of PH believed that the present government was the one that betrayed the people.

This present move to accept the two assemblymen has shown that PH is also capable of betraying the people too.

Every one of the parties under the PH banner is now tainted and time will tell if they are guilty of doing something they accused the Barisan Nasional government of doing or were unfairly pilloried.

With PH behaving in the same light as all previous governments and those it said it opposed vehemently before, it looks like there will be nothing left to steal when the country is broke.

It gives credence to the whispers heard along the corridors of power that the political ‘birds of the same feather’ do not expose one another’s ‘sins’, because they won’t know who has the thickest file.

It is safer to keep a poker face while plotting someone’s downfall and relying on a Brutus.

No politician can accept his or her faults and always blames others for their problems. It is either the fault of the ‘ungrateful Malays’ or the ‘greedy Chinese’ or the ‘PAS extremists’ or the ‘chauvinist DAP’, but never their own fault behind Malaysia’s economic, social and political woes.

This act of accepting the two assemblymen, coming on the heels reading about the wealth of the politicians from the revelations exposed by the Pandora papers while the citizens eke out an austere living, makes me feel sick.

The country is ascending quickly in assuming the mantle of ‘sick man of Asia.’ – November 8, 2021.

* FLK 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.