COMMENT | No more backdoor governments, just call for GE15

COMMENT | Anwar Ibrahim has the numbers to form the government. It isn’t a small, unstable majority of one or two MPs, but a formidable majority. It includes MPs from both sides of the divide, including those who are in the current government. The Perikatan Nasional government of Muhyiddin Yassin has been toppled.

Or so says Anwar Ibrahim himself. Don’t get me wrong. Since the Sheraton Move happened when MPs from Pakatan Harapan suddenly switched sides and formed a different government, pulling the rug from under Harapan, I’ve been pretty upset and have hoped that something can be done to bring it back to how it was.

Many people said that a snap election should be called. But I have to admit that I wasn’t agreeable to that because I felt a lack of confidence that Harapan would win it. Come on. Their win in 2018 wasn’t even expected. Not only by us, but by themselves too. So, another election could just ‘legitimise’ the Sheraton Move.

I don’t know what I was hoping for, but I was hoping for something that would allow Harapan to reclaim Putrajaya without an election. But after months have gone by, I think I’ve come to terms that what happened has happened. It was dirty but it wasn’t illegal. So PN (with the likes of Umno) is now the government.

It is a government that the majority of voters in 2018 did not elect. We had elected a Harapan government with their manifesto and promises. We did not elect PN. In fact, PN didn’t even exist during that election. These MPs just decided for themselves to form a government of their own liking, with no regard for the voters.

So when Anwar announced that he had the numbers to take Putrajaya two days ago, I guess I would have expected to be excited and elated...