PM Riding on Covid-19 Pandemic and the Economy

A Kadir Jasin

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

PREAMBLE: Views expressed herein are entirely mine. I am writing in my personal capacity as a blogger. It has nothing to do with whatever position I may hold.

The PM is strengthening his position in the government

I COULD have been wrong when I stated in my Sinar Harian column on Sunday that the toppling of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Government by the Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin-led faction of the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) had nothing to do with the Covid-19 pandemic or the economy.

It might be the case at the point when an uprising was mounted against Bersatu Chairman and the then Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, on February 23 but might no longer be the case now.

Then the mantra for leaving PH was the survival of Bersatu. Muhyiddin and his supporters in the party’s Supreme Leadership Council (MPT) had argued vehemently that Bersatu would lose the coming General Elections if it remains in the PH.

The reason being, the Malays could not accept the cooperation with the DAP. This, they said, was amply seen in the defeat of Bersatu’s candidates in the Semenyih state by-election in March 2019 and the Tanjung Piai parliamentary by-election the following November.

Also the majority of the MPT members were not comfortable with the prospects of Dr Mahathir handling over power to the PKR leader, Anwar Ibrahim.

But looking at Muhyiddin’s moves since being sworn in on March 2, it is clear that he is taking full advantage of the pandemic and the economic chaos to secure and strengthen his position as the Prime Minister.

He acknowledged the legitimacy deficit of his backdoor government or the government that came in through the roof, according to Pas President Abdul Hadi Awang.

On March 27, when presenting his first Economic Stimulus Package, Muhyiddin openly admitted in a nationwide broadcast that “..this government may not be the government that you vote (sic) for.”

First of all, he used the pandemic as an excuse to postpone the sitting of Dewan Rakyat from March 9 to May 18. This would give him time to gather support should there be a vote of no confidence against him.

Second, he created a large Cabinet assisted by an ever larger number of deputy ministers. He sacked board members and top executives of GLICs, GLCs and government agencies appointed by the PH Government to be replaced by his political allies starting with the appointment of the Machang Umno MP, Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub, as Chairman of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB).

Today, the Pas Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in-charge of law and parliamentary affairs, Takiyuddin Hassan, was quoted as saying that government MPs would be appointed to head GLCs.

Muhyiddin has also been accepting all and sundry into Bersatu without consulting the MPT. The PKR MPs aligned to Mohamed Azmin Ali had reportedly been admitted into the party.

The Movement Control Order (MCO) also gives him room to strengthen his position in Bersatu. All party activities, including divisional annual general meetings and leadership elections, are being postponed. He is being challenged for the post of President in the party’s first ever leadership elections.

Dr Mahathir had already won the Chairman’s post uncontested. That would pose a problem for Muhyiddin as they are not seeing eye to eye on the coup and the en bloc acceptance of members into the party.

The party is fractured. Among the original members, some are aligned with Dr Mahathir while others support Muhyiddin. Then there are the Umno MPs who crossed over after the 2018 GE and the Azmin faction of the PKR who allegedly joined after Muhyiddin became the PM.

Muhyiddin does not seem to care that he was once a senior member of the PH Government and was involved in the GLICs, GLCs and government agencies appointments. He is removing them at will.

It appears that what matters to him is pacifying and satisfying his new friends from Umno and Pas. It does not matter if Umno is gaining an upper hand in his government and his own party, Bersatu, losses out – like losing the Johor Menteri Besar post to Umno.

He does seem to mind that his publicity-hungry Umno ministers are stealing the limelight and, in the process, making mockery of his government. It would appear that these seasoned Umno Ministers are setting the narrative of the government.

This leads to speculations that he may eventually merge Bersatu with Umno and used his position as PM to lead the merged entity.

This could be a way for him to get rid of Dr Mahathir for good. The latter had said he would not accept Umno en bloc into Bersatu although he was willing to accept Umno leaders as individuals.

It is very clear that Muhyiddin is leading the country back to the last two decades of Umno era when good governance, accountability and professionalism were not the priority.

Nobody had seriously wanted to make Muhyiddin PM. Now that he had successfully made himself PM, why should he not consolidate his position and, hopefully, win the next GE. Or at the very least hangs on to the position for the rest of the parliamentary term.

That’s what he is doing. He is buttressing his position by dispensing favours so that when the Parliament sits in May, the chances of him being defeated in a no confidence motion are minimised.

He is also shrewdly making himself indispensable and unchallenged by not appointing a Deputy Prime Minister. Instead he appointed four Senior Ministers who are theoretically beholden to him and, therefore, are not likely to gang up to challenge him.

Wallhahuaklam.