MP SPEAKS | What right does Muhyiddin have to ask for good faith?

MP SPEAKS | Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has made an offer to the opposition consisting of seven points, or eight if you include his “akujanji” (promise) to hold elections by end-July 2021, which anyway will depend on the pandemic situation at the time.

On paper, the points look good and there will be voices demanding we accept it and allow him to win the upcoming motion of confidence, for the sake of the national interest during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The problem is that there are many flaws to his proposals.

His speech is an admission of what Malaysians have known all along: that he has lost his majority in the Dewan Rakyat. However, it is also wrong for him to claim that no MP has a majority to replace him.

Whether or not he has a majority is something that can only be conclusively determined by a vote in the Dewan Rakyat: this is a point his supporters have made.

Also, whether any other MP has the support to replace him is a matter for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to ascertain as outlined under the Federal Constitution.

The prime minister should hence not try and usurp the functions of the monarchy and Parliament by making such claims.

At the same time, the so-called “reforms” Muhyiddin is offering is too little, too late. His proposals are of course infinitely reasonable and needed by Malaysia.

But the fact is he could have done any of these seven points, even those that need two-thirds support in the Dewan Rakyat, at any point during his 17-month premiership so far.

The opposition would have felt compelled to support a programme of political reform had it been offered immediately after he came into power after the Sheraton Move, or even in mid-2020 when it seemed like the country had gotten the first two waves of Covid-19 under control.

As it is, the prime minister cannot shake the impression, which many Malaysians immediately got when listening to his speech, that this is simply a desperate attempt of his to cling to power by offering anything.

Pakatan Harapan in countless statements by our leaders and elected representatives, as well as through our input during engagement sessions with the finance minister, made proposals such as raising the ceiling for spending to fight Covid-19.

Our advice, which was for the sake of the people, was listened to, only to be ignored later or executed improperly.

What guarantee can he give that things will be any different now? What right does he have to ask for good faith when he has himself shown so little?

It is also highly ironic that many of the plans he is offering are reforms Harapan attempted to introduce, but which Perikatan Nasional (PN) withdrew such as term limits to the prime ministership.

Another irony: the cabinet ministers behind him include figures who joined the former prime minister in pouring scorn on Harapan's manifesto.

It is also frankly risible that a man who came to power by defections is now posturing himself as the champion of an anti-party-hopping law.

Why did his government do so much to undermine and obstruct Undi18 only to change their minds now? Malaysians must judge the situation holistically: Muhyiddin has promised much but the danger is that the rakyat will end up with nothing new or even less than what they had.

Can Muhyiddin and his PN cabinet really be trusted to implement the reforms he has laid on the table? The fact that many opposition MPs have thus far resisted all kinds of inducements to prop up his failing government should be proof that my colleagues clearly do not. And they should still not.

Muhyiddin is no Churchillian giant, but a Neville Chamberlain desperately trying to save his crumbling administration.

The leadership of Harapan and other opposition parties will decide the best course of action moving forward.

And I know their choices will be to ensure outcomes that will see the rakyat protected and saved from the dangers of the pandemic which threaten them now.

One thing I also do know is that Muhyiddin has offered no game-changers. Malaysians should not be fooled. I am confident they are not and will not be.

NIK NAZMI NIK AHMAD is Setiawangsa MP and PKR organising secretary.