Malaysia is becoming hard to govern. Three years after the infamous Sheraton Move that saw two prime ministers and an interim in the space of three months in 2020, a 2.0 version of it is said to have been averted in the recent Umno elections.
Umno leaders working with the opposition to topple the unity government? Sure appears so, if our reading of Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's warning to his party's leaders is right.
The Umno head's "stop plotting" warning is also directed at the leaders of Perikatan Nasional. No PN leader has come out denying the existence of such a plot to topple the unity government. There is no such need.
On March 6, Pas president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, speaking from the Parliament's lobby, had a message for Malaysians: No party would be able to stop PN from toppling the unity government, suggesting that it would do so through the democratic process of a general election, no-confidence vote in Parliament and statutory declarations. Party elections are certainly not part of Hadi's stated plan.
Malaysians will have no objections if the "toppling" of a government is done through a general election. After all, government by elections is what Malaysian democracy is about.
But PN must wait out Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's five-year term, unless he calls for an earlier election.
However, PN appears to be not willing to wait out the five years. Resorting to statutory declarations, another disruptive democratic practice, isn't going to be of any help to PN, especially given the existence of the anti-party hopping law.
No doubt there are loopholes in the law that PN may seek to exploit, but again, this is not a path to a stable government.
Enough is enough, we tell leaders of the opposition parties. Give national interests precedence, not political ambitions. Besides, the 15th General Election has given the unity government the mandate to govern the country.
Parliament, too, has expressed its confidence in Anwar's leadership. Let the prime minister be. He has the people and Parliament behind him. Give him the opportunity to take Malaysia to a good place.
Four months out of 60 is too thin a slice to judge a government's performance. We can't throw all sorts of hurdles along the path of the prime minister only to say Anwar isn't performing.
Being in the opposition doesn't mean PN can't work with the unity government, especially when it means it is for the good of the country.
Anwar, too, must stop being antagonistic towards the opposition. If they are constantly labelled as "enemies", they will, at best, behave as one and, at worse, will be one.
Malaysian politics needs to mature more. There has been progress of sorts. For the longest time, Malaysian politics has been one of an uncompromising government versus opposition.
More recently, it was a coalition of coalitions. Today, it is a government made up of a coalition of opposition parties.
There is still more room for political maturity in Malaysia. But this won't happen until political parties conquer the "fear" of the other.
