tumpang sekole...?: Tun M needed self-reflection before criticising Anwar...

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is free to form his opinion on whether he is confident or not in Prime Minister (PM) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. But before commenting on the topic of confidence, it would be best for the two-time PM to assess and contemplate the people’s loss of confidence in him, his party and his coalition.

Anwar-led the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to emerge as the biggest coalition in Parliament with 82 seats while the Dr Mahathir-led Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) coalition received zero. Anwar officially won the Tambun parliamentary seat with a majority of 5,328 votes although the constituency is not his stronghold, while Dr Mahathir not only failed to defend his Langkawi parliamentary seat but even lost his deposit.

In a huge contrast, Anwar became Malaysia’s 10th PM upon receiving a mandate from his voter base, confidence from other coalitions, and endorsed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Malay Rulers. On the contrary, Dr Mahathir and his party became totally irrelevant in Malaysia’s current politics.

Despite this, Anwar proved his legitimacy by also winning the motion of confidence at the first session of the 15th Parliamentary session, gaining support from his unity government consisting of former political rivals, while the top leadership in Dr Mahathir’s Pejuang are leaving, citing the loss of confidence. Even Dr Mahathir has left the party he founded.

Thus, as far as the topic of confidence goes, the contrast between Dr Mahathir and Anwar is like night and day. It is best to digest, contemplate and accept the reality before commenting on the matter.

Dr Mahathir loses relevance...

As for being worried about Anwar’s ability to navigate and address the economic issues or claiming Anwar was preoccupied with maintaining support in the Dewan Rakyat, perhaps Dr Mahathir could not recall ever being worried about securing confidence because the system he put in place ensured that his authority will never be questioned.

In contrast to Dr Mahathir’s brand of power concentration and collusion of power, thankfully Anwar and PH are in fact, pushing for the de-powering of the PM’s position by limiting terms, ensuring appointments of the Attorney-General (AG) and other crucial checks-and-balance organisations are made independently as well as separating the executive and the judiciary and many other reforms.

If anything, Anwar’s apparent “preoccupation” involves undoing the resulting corrupt machinery instilled through decades of Dr Mahathir’s “preoccupation” with securing power. Anwar could have focused solely on economic issues but he ended up having to juggle cleaning up someone else’s mess of poor governance and integrity over many decades.

As for being worried about Anwar’s ability to navigate and address the economic issues, Dr Mahathir should know it has only been a month since Anwar took office, and even then, his administration has done plenty.

Anwar’s first order of business was (and still is) to focus on addressing issues tied to cost of living with short and long-terms measures being implemented. Dr Mahathir should know that inflation is a combination of various factors, some areas being less within the control of the government. It’s easy to criticise from the sideline.

Dr Mahathir is unable to deny Anwar’s leadership-by-example which has been shown through cutting ministerial salaries (in addition to Anwar not taking any pay), ordering cost-cutting measures and frugality in ministries and agencies, and not taking new government car or office renovations.

Helping the people remains a focus when electricity tariff was not increased, giving tax cuts for low-cost housing, direct cash aid for students and families who are in need, special telco payment schemes for youths, veterans and the old, and many more.

All this while not forgetting to address structural and governance issues such as ending direct tenders, reviewing costly and questionable projects and so on.

Perhaps if Dr Mahathir has other great ideas, he should constructively convey this to Anwar. At least Dr Mahathir might maintain some semblance of relevance in that way instead of unproductive criticisms and comments to the press or ramblings on social media. – Datuk Dr Rais Hussin

The real story of Pejuang:

tales of treachery and deceit...

Treachery and infighting within Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) led to the recent resignation of Mahathir Mohamed as party chairperson. Mahathir gave no reason for his shock resignation. However, informed sources said his resignation wasn’t a voluntary one. Treachery from very close quarters brought down Mahathir.

Pejuang went into the last general election with few expectations of electoral success. Mahathir founded Pejuang back in August 2020 after withdrawing from the “Sheraton move” engineered by Bersatu’s Muhyiddin Yassin and Azmin Ali who betrayed PKR.

Mahathir also stitched up a loose coalition of academics, professionals and NGOs called Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA). Pejuang and GTA fielded 369 candidates for state and federal seats in the recent general election, where all candidates lost their deposits.

Mahathir in his own seat of Langkawi could only garner 4,566 votes, not enough to even return his deposit in a humiliating defeat. The election results should have been enough for Pejuang to close shop. By itself, Pejuang doesn’t have enough direct support to influence the national political environment.

If Pejuang is to have any political future it must cooperate with one of the main coalitions. Reliable sources tell a tale of deceit between the chairperson and president of Pejuang, Mukhriz Mahathir who had long been talking to Anwar Ibrahim.

If Mukhriz held his federal seat of Jerlun, it is believed there might have been an opportunity for him to participate in the cabinet or hold another government post. However, this evaporated when he lost his seat.

Analysts are predicting Pejuang to lose its way after Mahathir’s resignation. However, the reality is that Pejuang was irrelevant before the election. This is not true for some small pockets within the state of Kedah.

Mukhriz still has some value for Anwar in the coming state election in Kedah. Pejuang still holds two seats in the assembly, Mukhriz in Jitra and Amiruddin Hamzah in Anak Bukit. With the little support Pejuang has in Kedah, joining Pakatan Harapan would bolster its chances of survival.

This is a strategic chip for PH, which together with Pejuang may be able to prevent Perikatan Nasional from holding the state. A possible reward for Mukhriz could be a return to the chief minister position. Mukhriz was one of the early people to have publicly congratulated Anwar on becoming prime minister.

What makes the plot thicken is that Pejuang Youth Chief Abu Hafiz Salleh Hudin and Mukhriz’s political secretary Anas have been regularly talking to Anwar since the Melaka state election. What is not known is whether Mukhriz was aware of this. Mahathir was certainly not aware. Mahathir drove Pejuang alone during the last general election. This proved disastrous.

Mukhriz feared disagreeing with his father. This is why Mukhriz is often seen to appear “half-hearted”, as he was essentially subservient to his father in what was essential his party. However, Mahathir is adamant of creating enough instability to make Anwar’s government fall.

He is in earnest discussions with Muhyiddin on this issue. Mahathir is still chairperson of GTA, a vehicle he can use to destabilise the government. This is an issue of great contention among the leadership of Pejuang.

Many members of Pejuang feel that Mukhriz has betrayed his father’s cause and is thus a traitor to the party. This led to the Federal Territories chief Khairuddin Abu Hasan and Pejuang Youth Chief Abu Hafiz Salleh Hudin resigning their positions. Sources indicate more are planning to follow.

There is a feeling Mukhriz has betrayed his father. Many within Pejuang are sympathetic towards Mahathir. This story indicates that political treachery and infighting is still prevalent in Malaysian politics. This time it has split Mahathir’s own family! - Murray Hunter