LETTER | Malaysians are not pawns in your political chess

LETTER | First, a one-day Parliament sitting. Then, a motion of no-confidence. One claimed to be a government for all Malaysians, while another stresses that the people support his comeback as prime minister.

In this game of political chess, the rakyat have been treated as pawns while both players attempt to use Covid-19 as a wildcard. Here is why:

Let us talk about the one-day Parliament sitting for starters. Traditionally, parliamentary sittings are conducted to keep the government accountable in their actions of managing the country. This is achieved by having multiple debate sessions throughout the year where the opposition can question and propose alternatives to what the current ruling party is doing. According to the Federal Constitution, the Parliament must be summoned no longer than six months from the last sitting.

However, this time around, the speaker has decided that the meeting will only focus on government bills and matters. In addition, no motions or written questions will be accepted.

The denial of motions is understandable because I believe the majority of Malaysians agree that another change of government is the last thing we need now. A stable ruling party is vital in our efforts to fight the pandemic. It is always better to follow the vision of one average leader than to be confused by multiple brilliant minds trying to have things their way.

But to deny any form of scrutiny on your policies is questionable. If Muhyiddin Yassin claims that his government serves all Malaysians, then he must be opened to be questioned by all Malaysians. 

The Perikatan Nasional government should not use the pandemic as an excuse to “bulldoze” their policies without seeking parliamentary approval as Teresa Kok said. Currently, the May 18 parliamentary gathering is nothing more than a "formality" move to fulfil the needs of the Federal Constitution.

Then came Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the 4th, 7th, and maybe the 9th prime minister. The Malaysian equivalent of the 3rd Hokage in Naruto, only with a more impressive record of potentially returning for a third time instead of just twice.

He supposedly had the support of the people, sometimes. I say “sometimes” because Mahathir’s backing does not seem loyal and can be easily swayed to Muhyiddin’s side. 

Sometimes, Mahathir says he has the support of 114 MPs. Sometimes, Mahathir says he had the support of 114 MPs. Well, it is not like there is any law against party-hopping any way, right?

After nearly two months of hiatus, Mahathir suddenly made a comeback with a motion of no-confidence amid the whole movement control order (MCO) and Covid-19 situation. 

I commend his efforts to ensure the announcement happened on May 9 for symbolistic reasons. However, this is still done in poor taste without considering the well-being of Malaysians.

Couldn’t he at least wait out the storm before trying to make another go at being prime minister? If Mahathir really had Malaysia’s best interest in mind, he should let the present ruling government handle the pandemic first and put politics aside. The will of the people must always take precedence.

If they would just pay attention to the voices of the rakyat, they would know that we only have one goal now, and that is to survive this pandemic. When the time comes, the people’s votes are going to be the deal-breaker.

We are not pawns, we are not silent and we won’t forget.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.