From Terence Netto
With something like two-and-half years to go before GE16 must be held, the unity government led by Anwar Ibrahim has a stiletto pointed at its back to push it to better governance.
The Perikatan Nasional (PN), led by Muhyiddin Yassin, has managed to obtain the acquiescence of 11 parties to join a loose coalition to monitor and keep the Madani administration in check.
However sceptical one might be about the ideological differences among this loose grouping, you have to admit that this is what democratic politics does: it pushes disparate parties towards the collaboration that they otherwise would not be inspired to attempt.
There’s nothing like the quest for power by parties that think they can do better than the incumbents to drive them to de-emphasise differences and collaborate to bring down the power wielders.
There was plenty of pragmatism in the decision of PN as a coalition to choose Muhyiddin as its leader because the loose grouping among opposition parties he has managed to get to steer together heading into GE16 would not have been possible had, say, Hadi Awang of PAS been PN’s overall leader.
Among the motley group that has come together in this admittedly loose grouping are parties that would find the ideologically rigid Hadi a decidedly awkward drum major.
Muhyiddin has a more pragmatic bent. He is a politician of rounded edges and careful pronouncement, which make him a more suitable candidate to cajole the disparate parts of the loose grouping he has initiated to keep its focus on pushing Madani to govern better.
What with Parti Socialis Malaysia president M Jeyakumar setting the markers for improved performance by the opposition parties, the stage is set for the PN-assembled grouping to prod Madani to raise their governance standards.
Jeyakumar has urged PN to eschew racist tropes that are earning Umno Youth leader Dr Akmal Saleh, and by association Pakatan Harapan (PH), an unsavoury reputation.
Akmal’s persistence in playing a divisive game, and the tacit backing he has received from some in Umno, threatens to overshadow promising multi-racial features of the just announced 13th Malaysia Plan.
If Muhyiddin shows that he and the PN leadership cohort are more interested in steering the nation – despite its racial and religious dissonances – in unifying directions, this will place his coalition at an advantage vis-a-vis an Akmal-marred Madani government.
He would then morph from a “I am Malay first, before I am Malaysian” politician into one more sensitive to the multi-racial characteristics of the Malaysian nation.
That would stand him in good stead as a contender for the premiership at a time when not a few voices are heard to describe the incumbent prime minister as a one-term PM.
In a lively democracy the dice is always rolling.
Terence Netto is a senior journalist and an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
