ON Monday, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced the dissolution of parliament, ending months of speculation, years of political instability, and providing an uneasy catharsis to a nation suffering from lackadaisical leadership plagued with all-round uncertainty. 

There is no real acceptable reason to call for an election now, and the hypocrisy at every level of reasoning put forth to justify it. 

First the argument that it is “for the people”.  

The same people are now looking to leadership to help them overcome the aftermath of the pandemic-ravaged economy.

A people who still remember the extraordinary floods that hit the two most developed areas of Malaysia, causing billions in infrastructure and personal loss.

It is unfair to compare the flooding in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor with that of the east coast: the population density, more complicated evacuation strategies and lack of predictability of areas affected, which go up with every foot of flooding.

This argument holds water even less effectively than our disaster mitigation system. 

Second, the argument that it is for democracy. Returning the mandate that was stolen in the first place, doesn’t seem like a good argument to begin with.

Convention holds that a government that wins an election gets five years to execute their promises.

Not only was this cut short, but with arguments of race and religion that indirectly fuelled it, runs counterproductive to nation building and the health of democracy, shifting the emphasis from issues and policies to basal, raw, emotive subjects.  

Third, that it is for political stability. It seems that this is an overused sentiment. Was Malaysia truly so unstable politically with the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-Dr Mahathir Mohamad cabinet?  

It took 26 of 31 Bersatu MPs, a major component of PH, and 10 from PKR to defect to actually unseat the Dr Mahathir government, that too, with an “unproven” majority till many months later. 

That was 36 defections, or 16% of the MPs!  

That is more MPs than any one state, as even the largest, Sarawak, has only 31 MPs. It is more than the combined MPs of the entire east coast.  

It took 15 Umno parliamentarians withdrawing their support for Muhyiddin Yassin’s government to collapse.  

It took just five Umno members meeting the PM to trigger an election, despite virtually everyone else not wanting it. 

We are arguably much, much worse off, as opposed to before the “Sheraton Move”. 

Will an election solve our problem? 

The numbers are not very convincing. 

We have more political parties than we did in 2018 – Pejuang, Muda, Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM), Gerak and several other smaller fringe parties.  

We have five major alliances – two Bornean and three mainly in the peninsula. Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA), even though much smaller, could act as a spoiler with the combined tactical appeal. 

In urban seats especially, you would likely see Perikatan Nasional, Barisan Nasional and PH, and if unable to join any of these, PBM, even Warisan would likely be fielding candidates. 

In rural seats, though it will likely be three-way fights, GTA’s presence could upset the balance between PAS and Umno.  

Parti Sosialis Malaysia and Muda’s direction is less settled, with at least some understanding worked out with PH. 

This places PH as a rather stable force, compared to their opponents, should they be able to put together a strategy and avoid inter-party strife. 

There is also Umno’s internal politics to consider.  

The faction loyal to the party president would want to use this opportunity to purge elements that could be disruptive to their plan to return to near absolute power. 

These include several politicians who could still create upsets in a few seats should they choose to throw their weight behind the other side. 

There are also the floods, holidays and voter turnout to consider. 

This election could prove to raise more questions than it answers. – October 12, 2022.

* Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on Earth, and that motivated people can do far more good than any leader with motive.

* 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.