ANWAR ON HIS KNEES SEEKING FORGIVESNESS FROM MUHYIDDIN? VIRAL PIC SPARKS TALKS OF 'NO BY-ELECTIONS' DEAL

ANWAR ON HIS KNEES SEEKING FORGIVESNESS FROM MUHYIDDIN? VIRAL PIC SPARKS TALKS OF 'NO BY-ELECTIONS' DEAL

Written by Stan Lee, PoliticsNow!

KUALA LUMPUR (politicsnowmy.blogspot.com) - A picture of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in a supplicating posture, on his knees and earnestly clasping the hand of arch rival Muhyiddin Yassin, who remained seated while patting Anwar's back with his free hand in a consolatory gesture, is making waves around the country.

The political cynics have cut right to the chase, interpreting the picture as Anwar seeking a truce with Muhyiddin, an ex-prime minister whose Bersatu party has a much more solid hold over the predominant Malay electorate than Anwar's PKR party, which although leading the current government is seen as weak and facing potential disaster in the next general election.

"Right or wrong, many see it as Anwar seeking forgiveness from Muhyiddin over the pinching of Bersatu's 6 MPs and an agreement behind the scenes already knocked out to not hold by-elections," a political analyst told PoliticsNow!

Ostensibly, the photo-op of warmth and cordiality was to mark an end to the defamation lawsuits the two had slapped on each other. The picture released in the press was taken on June 14 ahead of the following week's Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday - but in a mosque in Port Dickson that neither men frequent, even though Anwar was once the Member of Parliament for the rather under-developed constituency.

"As I said, no by-elections," a PKR insider, who earlier told PoliticsNow! not to "dream" about by-elections. Again, the insider declined to elaborate further.

Amid the resulting buzz and the hype pushed by the pro-Anwar propaganda machinery about how the dropping of the defamation lawsuits would usher in a new era of political peace and stability, Muhyiddin has today (June18) fired off a sarcastic comment in response to Anwar's announcement of a 3-sen reduction in the price of eggs.

“I ‘thank’ the prime minister for reducing the price of eggs by three sen. He said this is part of the government’s move to return savings from the recent diesel subsidy rationalisation," Muhyiddin said on Facebook.

“Just that I thought the prime minister would be announcing a comprehensive mechanism to reduce prices of goods."

3 SEN FOR ONE EGG WHILE 'NASI CAMPUR' HAS ALREADY SHOT UP BY RM3

Indeed, Anwar's latest move is seen as lame - perhaps even foolish - by the populace, who have been gripped by astonishing and unprecedented hikes in food and living costs due to moves such as the shock removal of key government subsidies for fuel and other essentials including electricity.

"Of course the people will see it as joke! It is way too little and too late. What's the point of getting an egg for 3-sen less when you have to pay at least RM3 more for a modest rice meal for lunch these days," the former head of a large foreign bank told PoliticsNow!

"It's actually an insult to the intelligence of the people for Anwar to try to portray an image of benevolence at their expense - that he's giving back to them 3 sens an egg to make up for the tremendous price hikes his administration has wrought due to ill-timed policies that should have been delayed if the government wanted to be caring. The most bitter pill is Anwar and his coalition had promised the first thing they would do if they got elected would be to cut fuel prices but it seems to be the total opposite now."       

LAME ECONOMIC MOVES & BACKFIRING POLITICAL SHENANIGANS 

Indeed, inflation is still sky-rocketing while property prices and rentals are sharply slumping due to massive oversupply. One of the main causes appear to be the value of the local currency - which not only broke through 25-year lows but is still too weak to make any significant rebound due to an overall lack of investor confidence in the current regime's ability to take the country forward in any meaningful way.

At 9am, the ringgit rose to 4.7100/4.7140 versus the greenback from Friday’s close of 4.7190/4.7225 - away from the 4.80 psychological level that has already been pierced but nowhere near the 4.20 level that the Anwar regime had optimistically touted or even near the 4.50 key level.

With his grip on power shaky, many have accused Anwar of political shenanigans to beef up his support in the federal Parliament. 

Indeed, his administration has cut off allocations to Members of Parliament in the opposition unless they declared support for him. A rather dubious scheme seems to have been hatched to help opposition lawmakers, short on funds, to indirectly switch allegiance - which is to declare political support for Anwar while still pledging loyalty to their own party so as to avoid triggering the country's Anti-Hopping law that requires elected representatives to vacate their seats if they crossed over to a new party.

'PADAN MUKA' TIME

As a result of the shenanigans, at least seven by-elections are on the cards - five involving federal and two state assembly seats. The final go-ahead on the federal seats has to come from the Johari Abdul, the House Speaker who is a member of Anwar's PKR party and well-known to be an influential member in Anwar's inner circle. 

The six MPs are Syed Abu Hussin the Bukit Gantang MP, Zahari Kechik the Jeli MP, Azizi Abu Naim the Gua Musang MP, Iskandar Dzulkarnain the Kuala Kangsar MP, Suhaili Abdul Rahman the Labuan MP and Zulkafperi Hanapi the Tanjong Karang MP.   

Azizi the Gua Musang MP is also the state assemblymen for Nenggiri, Kelantan while Abdul Rashid Asari is the assemblyman for Selat Kelang in Selangor.

While Johari might be able to block the by-elections at federal level and there is some consensus that the Selangor state government, which is controlled by Anwar's PKR party, will do the same - the seat in Kelantan held by Muhyiddin's ally party Pas is likely to go through polling.

"If this happens, obviously it would make team Anwar look even worse to the Malays and it would be a chance for Bersatu and Pas to go to town and paint team Anwar as cheats and charlatans. It is 'padan muka' or 'serves you right'," said the analyst.

Indeed, Anwar's 'gathering' of opposition politicians in this manner has been denounced as outright and unethical theft, rather than the smooth and sophisticated political move his minders have tried to whitewash it as.

Written by Stan Lee, PoliticsNow!

https://politicsnowmy.blogspot.com/