FROM DREAM GOVT TO "STARK HYPOCRISY" - KARMA IS NOW COMING FOR TEAM ANWAR - AND A SHAKEUP IS SEEN INEVITABLE
Written by Wong Choon Mei, PoliticsNow!
KUALA LUMPUR (politicsnowmy.blogspot.com) - The toxic vicious cycle that has long typified Malaysian politics is still relentlessly turning - despite hopes that the latest 'dream government' led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will finally turn things around in the still sharply backsliding country.
The blame game favored by generations of Malaysian leaders, bankrupt of vision and childlike in intellect, is still the number one tool used to cover a lack of progress or to hide sinister moves abetting corruption.
But the big difference these days is that there are no longer any 'heroes' in the country - only hypocrites, it would appear.
Even DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng, who once carried the flag for the minority non-Malays, has lost his lustre - relegated to the ranks of gasbags and hypocrites that fill the galleries of politicians who have served the nation past and present.
In the latest bid by the ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition to reclaim the moral high ground, Guan Eng fired a shot at ex-boss Mahathir Mohamad, the legendary yet somewhat sinister 98-year-old leader still seen by many as an arch racist and even accused of being Mr 10% behind his back by critics when he was in power.
Even so Guan Eng could not shine, not even against an adversary with such an unsavory image. Perhaps because it's now obvious to the public his own DAP party along with Anwar's PKR and their Harapan coalition, once the symbol of the hope craved by Malaysians wishful of excavating the cancer killing the country, are in reality little better than Mahathir or the past administrations led by Umno-BN or Bersatu-Pas.
“Dr Mahathir is an expert in selective memory to paint a favourable picture of himself. Whilst we can charitably attribute such lapses to senility due to his advanced age, his unbridled political ambitions and motivation for vengeance politics compels me to put the record straight,” Guan Eng said in a comment on Tuesday.
The DAP stalwart was responding to a book where Mahathir had reminisced about his political disappointments after becoming prime minister for the second time in 2018 and had led a Cabinet in which he had installed Guan Eng as Finance Minister.
Guan Eng also revealed how Mahathir had openly threatened to sack him three times during Cabinet meetings.
“He was openly riled up by my persistent insistence on reducing the North-South Highway toll by 18% “He was also opposed to my implementing open tenders for government procurements and granting development allocations to members of parliament," recounted Guan Eng.
“Despite his opposition, I managed to lobby a majority of Cabinet members to agree with these proposals to his chagrin,” Guan Eng ranted on, impervious to the allegations now levelled at his own coalition.
INTIMIDATION NEVER WORKS
Indeed, in the past, DAP and Pakatan supporters would have reveled at Guan Eng's disclosures - only too happy to hurl brickbats and insults at Mahathir as they took their hero's side.
But not so these days. Not after the recent shock of discovering that the Pakatan-controlled Selangor state government had quietly granted a deal without open tender to the husband of Sports minister Hannah Yeoh, said to be worth billions. Till now, not much is known about the e-hailing mini-bus project's structure, nor its costing and concession period model.
Perhaps Guan Eng was also unwise to chose to talk about reducing tolls when inflation, food prices and costs of living have jumped higher than ever before during any of the previous administrations.
The bitterness is evident among ordinary Malaysians, who quietly raise their eyebrows and point to the historic loss in value of the ringgit, when asked what they perceive to be the main cause of their current struggle to put food on the table or hang onto their jobs.
That Malaysians are still smarting over recent price hikes in electricity tariffs and the removal of subsidies on the prices of essentials such as diesel, eggs and rice by the Anwar regime seems to be lost on Guan Eng. Or perhaps like the rest of the ruling coalition, he too is banking on more ham-fisted moves from Anwar's PKR party to quell and intimidate the public into acceptance.
But the hushed-up and deflated mood in the country won't last for long. Malaysians are known for their political savvy and no rotten regime, especially one seen as so conceited and yet so underperforming, can hope to stop them from speaking up or showing what they feel forever.
Instead, the growing despotism of the Anwar administration as he uses his Communications ministry to intimidate critics into silence with a slew of laws aimed to suppress the media, cow netizens and social media into some sort of false submission to his leadership can only provoke a 'last straw that broke the camel's back' situation.
"Over the past two decades, under the banner of 'Reformasi', PKR through Pakatan Rakyat and later Pakatan Harapan, repeatedly encouraged public demonstrations against the Barisan Nasional government over issues like rising fuel prices, political reforms, and corruption," said Saw Yee Fung, the youth secretary-general of the MCA party said in a statement sent to PoliticsNow!
"Ironically, in less than two years in power, PKR finds itself facing similar criticisms it once levied against Barisan Nasional. Media reports suggest NGO Demi Negara plans a protest 'Demo Rakyat Lawan Anwar (Round One)' scheduled for June 29," Saw added.
FULL CIRCLE - KARMA NOW COMING FOR TEAM ANWAR
Indeed, the dark days have come full circle and the karma that team Anwar once warned their opponents against is now coming for them.
Within Anwar's unity government, the sense of 'doom' seems to spreading too. Some ministers from Umno, a key ally without whom it would be tough for Anwar to stay on as PM, have already lambasted his decision to sell an RM18 billion stake in airports operator MAHB to US behemoth BlackRock. The deal is seen as not only pro-Israel as the conflict in Palestine gets bloodier but also anti-China as the battle for control of the South China Seas between Washington and Beijing escalates.
STARK HYPOCRISY
Saw's MCA party, a component of the Umno-led BN coalition, also urged PKR leaders "to reconcile rhetoric with action and avoid alienating fellow citizens"
"Regarding the unity government's anti-corruption efforts, MCA Youth notes troubling developments, including (the quashing of Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi's corruption charges via) the controversial DNAA rulings and deviations from election promises of open tenders to direct awards," said Saw.
"The May contract extension for MACC chief commissioner Azman Baki, amidst a multi-million share trading scandal, raises further eyebrows. Instead of easing burdens as pledged during elections—such as lowering fuel prices or abolishing tolls—Malaysians are confronted with new taxes and rising utility costs over the past year."
"Has the recent diesel price float eased the people's economic strain? During BN's rule, Pakatan leaders would initiate and mobilise demonstrations without NGO prompting."
"PKR must reflect on why they deemed their past protests as justified while today, when the public wishes to protest, PKR threatens them with police action. This appears to suppress freedom of speech and assembly as enshrined in the Federal Constitution —a stark hypocrisy," Saw added.
So a "stark hypocrisy" is what team Anwar has transformed the Malaysian dream into - yet neither Anwar nor Guan Eng seem to realize what they have done!
"Who would have thought the day would come when there would be a Malaysians Oppose Anwar rally?" a pundit told PoliticsNow!
"But in all fairness, Anwar and Pakatan brought it on themselves. He made all the mistakes that so-called liberators make when they turn into despots for the sake of power and personal self-glorification, while DAP sat eyes wide shut perhaps to finally collect the promised gold at the end of the rainbow as the saying goes," the pundit ended on a wry note.
Written by Wong Choon Mei, PoliticsNow!
https://politicsnowmy.blogspot.com/
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