The First Lame Duck PM

Prime minister of Malaysia, Muhyiddin Yassin, is ruling Malaysia with a lack of 'majority'. He currently only enjoys 111 support out of a total of 222 parliamentary seats. His allies, Umno (United Malays National Organisation) and PAS (Parti Islam Se-Malaysia), have tremendous influence over what he can or cannot do. A lame-duck prime minister is a term commonly used for his situation. He is the first in Malaysian history to be called a lame-duck prime minister. 

He has more fear of losing his prime ministership than to care about the welfare of the country. Would he even care about the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the country when he keeps losing sleep over his job?

On the eve of Christmas last year, 2 prominent leaders of Umno, Tengku Razaleigh (Ku Li) and Puad Zarkashi, speaking at different locations but stating the same messages against support for Muhyiddin's government. Puad urged Barisan Nasional to withdraw its support for Muhyiddin because he did not honour his 2021 budget promises on EPF i-Sinar scheme and the automatic loan moratorium extension. Ku Li shared the same sentiment. 

Puad also urged the party not to rigidly rule out working with others, such as the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and DAP (Demoratic Action Party). The “No DAP, no Anwar” position by Umno should not be the party’s final stand, hinted Ku Li, the Umno veteran. Puad further asserted that the “No Anwar, no DAP” slogan would not necessarily remain relevant all the time, as political scenarios and the people would keep changing.

With prominent leaders of Muhyiddin's allies speaking openly against him, what else is in store for him? How long can he claim a majority government at the same time what his government has is the lack of majority? A majority so thin that it will collapse if 1 or 2 parliamentarians change their mind at any time.

The End of UMNO ?

If you look at the following political parties in Malaysia, you will find one thing in common among them:

1. Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM)
2. Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang)
3. Group led by Azmin Ali (AA)
4. Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)
5. Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan)

All of them, in one way or another, have a significant group of politicians from United Malays National Organisation (Umno). PPBM and Pejuang are practically ex-Umno parties.

Should you put Umno and the 5 spin-offs together, you can imagine how strong a political force Umno can be. Umno has for decades been known as a synonym of Malaysia insofar politics are concerned. All the prime ministers of Malaysia thus far are all closely linked to Umno's dominance.

Umno, as a once formidable political force deciding who was the prime minister of Malaysia, has degraded into a political faction that has to work with other parties just to maintain its relevance in the ruling coalition. Why? Umno has lost its shine due to its own corruption and abuse of power over the decades when the party helmed the country.

The leaders in Umno have become so greedy that Malaysia was getting too small for Umno. Malaysia was incurring huge debts just to feed the luxurious personal appetite of Umno leaders and their cronies. If history is of any lesson, Umno is expected to go down the slippery slope and become an even less influential party in the years to come. The situation is not dissimilar to those political parties once very dominant in other countries. 

The end of Umno is near. Do you agree?

The Ball-Less PM ?

No One Can Be More Ball-Less Than Him !

The sitting prime minister of Malaysia, Muhyiddin Yassin, is not a person you will expect him to be a world-class leader. He has not dared to hold a press conference with open questions from the press ever since he took office. Instead, he read out press release and excused himself immediately thereafter.

He did not have the courage to allow his finance minister to present the next year's national budget to the parliament. He tried to call for the state of emergency (darurat in Malay language) in Malaysia with a view of bypassing the parliament in pushing through his budget 2021. Yes, he invoked the state of emergency for his own sake and conveniently drew on Covid-19 as an excuse. He failed in his attempt when the council of Malay rulers and the king rightly rejected his advice for the state of emergency. 

Illustration by Zunar. All credits go to Zunar.my

The prevailing laws on prevention of contagious diseases from spreading is more than adequate in Malaysia but the laws do not allow Muhyiddin to put into effect his budget without going through the parliament. Perhaps, he has many things to hide from the public as regards the national budget.

He however shamelessly turned around and convinced the king to urge all parliamentarians to support his budget in the name of fighting Covid-19. Well, he just did not have the balls to do his job and to convince the parliamentarians himself. How thick skin do you expect him to be?

It is obvious to everyone that he does not command the majority support of the parliamentarians in Malaysia to approve the budget but he wants to hang on to power nonetheless. Power crazy? It is for reader to interpret. Historically, the failure of a government to obtain sufficient parliamentarian votes to approve its budget may mean the government is a minority government. This prime minister may well be the most ball-less leader of any country in the modern history of mankind.

Fun Facts about Malaysia in 2020

When you are part of the ministerial cabinet members in Malaysia, you are exempted from complying with the Covid-19 prevention standard operating procedures (SOP). The general public have to comply with SOP unless risking fine and imprisonment, but not the cabinet members. Such is a rare privilege accorded to leadership of the country.

Furthermore, when Malaysia is seeing a spike in Covid-19 infections, surpassing previous highest record of cases, and the students for tertiary institutions are being turned away on the day they are supposed to be checking-in to the accommodation for registration, the prime ministers and a large number of cabinet ministers are busy playing golf and have sumptuous dinner at a remote resort while the students face tremendous hardship. This is a rare privilege accorded to leadership of this country.

At the same time, another deputy minister who is known to have fictitious university degrees went around attending official event without a simple face mask for preventing Covid-19 infection.

Independence Day has a New Meaning

A picture speaks a thousand words...

* All credits must go to Zunar. Please buy at https://www.zunar.my/

Muhyiddin Yassin, the current prime minister of Malaysia, is famous for buying support among the members of parliament to prop up his backdoor government. He did not win the election to legitimately form a government. He succeeded in forming the government by buying support of parliamentarians with money and benefits in kind while his own party is smaller than other political parties in his informal coalition, Perikatan Nasional (PN). In local colloquial jargon, these members of parliament are known as frogs for hopping and switching their support. Muhyiddin's government was formed by apparently only the support of 112 out of a total of 222 parliamentarians.

According to Nur Jazlan, the outspoken leader of UMNO party which is one of the coalition party within PN, Muhyiddin is still going around buying support from members of parliament to secure his position as the prime minister to date.

For those members of parliament who are willing to support Muhyiddin, it is clear that their motivation is not for the well-being of the country but for their own flow of cash and monetary benefits. When a political party is driven by cash flow and profit, it should be known as business entity which is rightfully motivated by cash flow or profit. Its leaders and members should be known as businessmen and not politician. 

You can see the grey area is so huge in Malaysia. Business and politics are all for cash flow and profit. Poor Malaysians who voted for these politicians. Literally, these Malaysians will just get poorer over time.

Please see https://www.sinarharian.com.my/article/98919/BERITA/Politik/Muhyiddin-berhentilah-cari-sokongan