SANDWICHED between the demands of his party’s “court clusters” for snap polls and a general public that does not want an early election, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is in a difficult place.

Under our political system, it is solely the prime minister’s prerogative to advise the monarch to dissolve parliament to pave way for a general election.

It is his constitutional responsibility to seek counsel from his colleagues, advisers, and even other politicians but ultimately, it is a decision that he alone can make.

Perhaps the most awkward thing about Ismail’s leadership is that it appears to serve nothing more than to enable Umno to claim the office as its own.

The people seem to expect to hear nothing more of the prime minister other than when he intends to dissolve parliament.

There are even jokes about how the countdown to his ejection from office began at his appointment.

While it may be true that several leaders in his party standing trial for corruption, otherwise known as the “court clusters” are hoping for a snap election in order to seek a royal pardon, early polls could actualy benefit the embattled prime minister.

If parliament were to be dissolved at the expiration of the government’s MOU with Pakatan Harapan, a general election would most likely be held in August or September.

The 2018 election was the sole upset in history which saw the defeat of the sitting government, one that was mired in the 1MDB scandal and challenged by an energised opposition led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Ismail should be looking at holding an election as soon as possible as a means to legitimise his leadership.

There is no escaping the fact that the current prime minister is not a winner but rather a seat warmer.

If Umno does not backtrack on the the promise to name Ismail as its prime ministerial candidate, an electoral victory for Barisan Nasional could always be turned to a personal victory for the prime minister, which would strengthen his position in both his party and government.

The question of legitimacy has always dogged been the prime ministers who assume office mid-term.

For example, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s tenure only really kicked off after he led the Barisan Nasional to victory in the 2004 elections, where the coalition won an unprecedented 198 of the 219 seats.

In his first stint as PM, Dr Mahathir dissolved parliament less than a year after he was appointed to the officce in 1981.

Even if the prospect of a snap election is deemed risky for the incumbent, a prime minister should at the very least go to parliament to establish his legitimacy.

Hussein Onn viewed securing a vote of confidence in parliament as the first business of his administration following the death of his predecessor Abdul Razak Hussein.

Perhaps the only successful exception was Najib, who was appointed to replace the struggling Ahmad Badawi in early 2009.

However, Najib’s ascension was a move on the part of Umno seeking to reverse the 2008 political tsunami that occurred on his predecessor’s watch. Najib had to be given time show his administration is different from Ahmad Badawi’s.

Ismail is in need of a victory to kickstart his leadership.

The key question is whether Ismail could ever carve a way forward that defines him as the prime minister of the country rather than a prime minister for Umno. He will need to show whether he has the charisma and authority turn an electoral victory into a referendum for his leadership, and if he has the chutzpah to withstand the pressure from his party’s powerful court clusters.

Failure to to achieve these might just earn him the dubious honour of becoming the shortest-serving prime minister of Malaysia. – June 5, 2022.

* Kenneth Cheng has always been interested in the interplay between human rights and government but more importantly he is a father of two cats, Tangyuan and Toufu. When he is not attending to his feline matters, he is most likely reading books about politics and human rights or playing video games. He is a firm believer in the dictum “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.

* 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.