WILL PAKATAN HARAPAN (PH) SELL US OUT?

 by e.s. shankar

Get the votes, forget the voters

5.5 Million Malaysia citizens cast their votes in favor of PH which promised us many reforms and won the 2018 GE14. Two of the key unfulfilled reforms now inexplicably form part of a slew suddenly “offered” last week by of all people, #IsNotMyPm Ismail Sabri to PH leaders!!!:

1. Maximum 2-term tenure of the prime minister, presumably 5-years each.

2. Anti-hopping laws for MP’s.

I say offered to PH leaders because, after receiving the Rakyat’s votes in 2018, there has been little or no consultation by PH to gauge what their supporters would agree with at the implementation stages. This happens all the time, all over the world. Get the votes, forget the voters!

An example of this is when in 2019, then PH Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng and “Special Adviser” at the MoF, Tony Pua, both from DAP, proposed a RM6.2 billion buy out of highway toll concessionaires, instead of, as widely expected, abolishing tolls completely. It had not escaped anyone’s attention that the Taxpayer would have to bear a premium to buy out tollcos whose concession periods would be expiring in the not too far distant future. Or that Gamuda Plc, which stood to gain RM2.36 Billion from that proposed buy out, had been appointed as Project Delivery Partner for the RM46 Billion Penang Master Transport Plan and its Undersea Tunnel roll out. Was there possibly, a  conflict of interest there?

With the fall of the PH government due to the treachery and betrayal by  Mahathir, Azmin Ali, Mahiaddin and Hamzah Zainuddin, the Rakyat are still burdened heavily with tolls. A universal principle of granting toll concessions to private companies is that it must come to an end within a reasonable period during which the concessionaires are entitled to make a fair, decent profit and return on capital employed. But, it would appear that many a tollco is raking in super profits while having been subsidized heavily by the Taxpayer with huge government grants and cheap interest at the initial construction stage. Is this not highway robbery? Are cronies getting away with two or even three bites at the cherry?

There are other equally important commitments for the Opposition, if not of greater priority. These fall in the realms of justice, human rights and truth and reconciliation. We have lived with unlimited terms for prime ministers and hopping MP’s for 64 years. So, another 22 months with those anomalies will not crush us.

But, what will destroy PH is straying away from fundamental principles. We do not support or negotiate with terrorists. Likewise with our sworn political foes of 64 years, no matter how tempting the offer may be from Ketuanist, Muafakat leaders.

#IsNotMyPm Needs PH more than PH Needs Him

#IsNotMyPm is now caught between a rock and a hard place. At the moment, he has 114 MP’s supporting his durian runtuh PM-ship. If 5 MP’s defect, his government will crash. So, his offer of “reforms” is not genuine, not from the heart. He is hoping that PH, in its desperation, will naively fall into his crooked net. But, he is trapped like a cornered rat. With PH’s 88 seats and a Confidence and Supply Agreement (CSA) with them, he can deflect any defections including those from UMNO’s 11 Klepto/Court Cluster MPs. #IsNotMyPm hold on power is very fragile indeed.

He needs PH more than PH needs him, especially for the ‘Vote of Confidence’ (VoC) due to take place with the re-convening of Parliament scheduled for 6 September. He needs an ace up his sleeve if the Kleptos do not get their bargain and disgruntled UMNO, Bersatu and GPS Sarawak MP’s who did not get plum Cabinet and Deputy Ministers’ posts or other sinecure jobs, pull the plug!

Why PH Should Not Support #IsNotMyPm

I say we should not support or negotiate particularly with this UMNO/PN cabal, because:

1. The government under #IsNotMyPm comprises virtually the same bunch who betrayed and backstabbed PH in February 2020.

2. #IsNotMyPm’s offer for reforms is the same as that offered by Mahiaddin shortly before he resigned on 16 August. So, if PH rejected that offer, how is it more acceptable now? What convoluted logic is this?

3. It is not a certainty that #IsNotMyPm will actually be able to deliver reforms any time soon. Those Constitutional amendments requiring 2/3 majority and the consent of the Rulers will be problematical. Anti-hopping law issues for MP's will particularly be very, very difficult to navigate, given their Constitutional rights of free association. UMNO, PAS and Bersatu MP's might oppose these changes.

4. Then, who’s to say that #IsNotMyPm will not, after winning the VOC with PH’s misguided help, deliberately drag reforms and delay it until it’s too late? If you had to bet all your money on it, would you say #IsNotMyPm’s word is his bond or that he cannot be trusted? So, these reforms may take so long that we might as well wait for GE15.

5. Playing on our emotions with “Saving Lives” is pure horse manure. Ever since Emergency was declared on 12 January 2021 by Mahiaddin and overwhelmingly supported by Ismail Sabri and UMNO too, Covid19 infections have gone up by >700% and deaths, >1,500 %!!! There was massive failure to contain Covid19 and only now they want to talk about “Saving Lives”? What disgraceful hypocrisy! It’s obvious that the infections have spread to the communities. What will save us is 100% vaccination of the population including foreign workers, continuous testing, strict SOP compliance with social distancing, masking up, washing hands etc., and reinforcing that message every hour on on the hour on national TV, radio, social media and the online MSM, If we put such a plan into operation by declaring a limited Emergency to draft in enforcement by the armed forces and reservists, we can open up all sectors of the economy the following week. MP’s, leaders and VIP’s who flout the rules should be jailed without mercy. 

6. Lastly, why would any sane person support a government which over the last 20 years has not done enough  to bring to justice:

a. Indira Gandhi’s husband who kidnapped her daughter when she was a mere infant baby?

b. The persons who gave the orders to murder Altantuya and Hussain Najadi?

c. Those responsible for the deaths of Teoh Beng Hock and Ahmad Sarbani who had gone voluntarily to assist the MACC in their investigations?

d. The persons who abducted Pastor Raymond Koh, Amri, Joshua Hilmi and his wife Ruth Sitepu now all presumed murdered because no one has made any ransom demands?

e. The more than 2,000 deaths in custody that have occurred over the last 20-odd years?

f. Jho Low who is responsible together with Najib, for fraud and the billions of ringgit missing from 1MDB. Or, Nik Feisal the fugitive MD of SRC which has lost RM4 Billion, also due to internal fraud? 

g. Zakir Naik and Zamri Vinod Kalimuthu for allegedly insulting non-Islamic faiths?

h. Two ex-CJ's as recommended for prosecution by the 2009 ‘RCI into the Lingam Video Clip’ as well as an ex-PM, an ex-Minister and a corporate tycoon, relating to the fixing of judicial appointments?

i. Those responsible for the 1990’s RM31 billion Bank Negara Malaysia forex scandal as revealed by the 2017 RCI?

How could the leaders of PH say to us, our children and grandchildren that they shook hands with those who covered up the above crimes and even slept in the same bed? 

What will PH gain from supporting #IsNotMyPm?

Nothing. If PH betrays us, all it will achieve is allow #IsNotMyPM and UMNO to regroup, prosper and get stronger by the time GE15 arrives, at our expense. He will show his gratitude to PH by dumping them like a piece of turd come the next GE. 

PH will be better off preparing for GE15 and let #IsNotMyPm survive as best as he can. He and his Muafakat government already indicated in February 2020 that they will sideline us, withdraw representation and top jobs in the public sector for at least 40% of the Rakyat and ditch our interests. Then there is the question mark hanging over #IsNotMyPM's coalition partner, PAS, congratulating and supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan! 

Are PH leaders masochists and sadists?