TWIN CONSEQUENCES & A BAD OMEN FOR ANWAR & ZAHID - WHILE ROGUE BERSATU MPs SIT PRETTY AFTER SUNGAI BAKAP LOSS

Written by Stan Lee, PoliticsNow!

KUALA LUMPUR (politicsnowmy.blogspot.com) - Twin consequences of losing a key by-election are expected to roil embattled Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's remaining term in office and may even shorten it before it expires in 2027.

The first and more immediate is that a select group of 'turncoat' opposition Members of Parliament cultivated by his team can breathe easier now as two of his stalwarts, Johari Abdul the speaker of the federal Parliament who is also a senior member of Anwar's PKR party and Lau Weng San, the speaker of the Selangor state assembly and a senior member in Anwar's ally party DAP, are now expected to find all ways and means to say no to the seven by-election notices now sitting on their tables awaiting  the green light.

The second and just starting to stir up is a power tussle has begun to build up again in Umno and its president Zahid Hamidi, on whose friendship Anwar depends on to survive as PM, can expect to face a challenge soon. If ousted, not only will Zahid lose his post as Anwar's Deputy Prime Minister but it could even collapse Anwar's underperforming unity government and see a new prime minister installed  in his place.

"The loss of Sungai Bakap is very ominous for Anwar. For sure, he cannot afford any more setbacks. It's not just his rivals in the opposition but also within his unity government, from ally parties including Umno and you can't blame them because they too don't want to lose power and if Anwar is seen as the source of inevitable defeat in the future, surely they will try to remove him," an analyst told PoliticsNow!

"It's just like how Biden is now facing calls from his own party to quit the presidential race after his disastrous debate with Trump. So it is more likely than not that Johari and Lau will try their best to block the seven by-elections which people already saying will be easily won back by the PN opposition."

The six 'rogue' MPs in the federal Parliament 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. 

Abdul Rashid Asari is the assemblyman for Selat Kelang, Selangor while Gua Musang MP Azizi is is also the assemblymen for Nenggiri in Kelantan state. Kelantan, which is controlled by the opposition has already declared a by-election for Nenggiri and the Election Commission has fixed August 17 for balloting. 

BROKEN TRUST

On Saturday, Anwar's PKR party crashed to a stunning defeat in Sungai Bakap, a constituency nearby to his long-time power base of Permatang Pauh in the Penang state that is controlled by his Pakatan Harapan coalition. The margin of loss tripled to 4,267 votes compared to 1,563 obtained during the previous poll held last year - showing a decisive and growing rejection for team Anwar by both Malay and non-Malay voters.

And the distaste was not confined to Sungai Bakap, but in many corners around the country, there was a sense of satisfaction that Anwar and his team especially his unpopular Communications minister Fahmi Fadzil had got the big slap that they were perceived to deserve.

For example, at a dinner held hundreds of kilometres away in Selangor stete, Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng was shaken when the crowd clapped at his announcement that PKR had lost at Sungai Bakap. Lim hails from the DAP, a corner stone party in Anwar's ruling Pakatan coalition.

“Tonight at a banquet with a few thousand people, I announced the Sungai Bakap by-election results, and the crowd clapped,” Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng posted on his social media accounts, along with an emoji that represented a frown.

Puad Zarkashi, a senior leader in Umno, did not hesitate to call a spade a spade. “The people are dissatisfied. Trust deficit has returned,” said Puad on Facebook.

He also urged Anwar not to ignore the concerns of the people and remove underperforming officials.

"You can't go on breaking election promises, renege on reforms and then try to behave like Mahathir Mohamad by clamping down on freedom of speech to gag the people from criticizing you. It only shows how foolish and outdated is team Anwar - don't they realize how important social media and blogs are to Malaysians. It shows a real disconnect with the people," the analyst opined when asked on the feedback from  Lim and Puad.

MOOD IN UMNO TURNS AGAINST ZAHID

Mahathir is the ex-prime minister much reviled by Anwar and his PKR party for iron-handed and oppressive rule as well as racial favoritism and one-sided policies that have brought the country to its knees economically, while harming its legal, constitutional and democratic structures and allowing the winds of corruption to foment and infiltrate the entire government and business system in the country.  

Yet even Mahathir has dared to lash out at Anwar for trying to ram through a deal that will see an effective 30% stake in airports manager MAHB sold to a unit of US investment behemoth BlackRock. The deal has angered Muslims here as BlackRock is among the major suppliers of deadly arms and weapons to Israel in the war against Palestine. 

The deal also does not make sense as although MAHB is underperforming, it is still making huge profits due to the monopoly it has been given over the industry. Many have accused Anwar of being the 'US boy', amid escalating tensions between China and Washington in the South China Sea, as giving BlackRock's unit access to local strategic air infrastructure will obviously expose Malaysia's own national security to risk.

Meanwhile, Zahid has given the thumbs-up to the BlackRock deal but the majority of the Umno ministers appointed to Anwar's Cabinet have objected to it. Even Zahid's own deputy president Mohamad Hasan has warned against the deal. 

Other Umno bigwigs who have spoken up include former premier Ismail Sabri, whose sudden reappearance on Facebook earlier this week has spurred talk of a revived move to oust the unpopular Zahid. 

Ismail in his post had tellingly warned the Umno leadership to focus on regaining grassroots support to rebuild their battered party rather than rely on being a member of Anwar's unity government to cling to "past glories". According to Ismail, only 20% of Malays had supported Umno during last year's state elections - whereas once Umno had been the premier party for the Malays.

FAILED DREAM, FALSE HOPE AND BROKEN PROMISES

Many supporters consider the 2023 general election to be Umno's lowest point in its history that includes a six-decade-long hegemonic rule of the country. Led by Zahid, the once mighty Umno chose to align itself with Anwar's multi-racial Pakatan Harapan coalition. The shock 'marriage' was greeted with both gloom as well as euphoria that at last Malaysia was on the road to breaking the racial fences that led to the country's current economic and social woes. 

"It is disappointing in that the hopes of the people when Anwar managed to convince Umno to join his unity government that finally, here's a breakthrough that can change the racial mindset in the country and the nation-building journey towards a Malaysia of different races can begin again instead of just a Malays-only Malaysia," a veteran observer told PoliticsNow!

"But it's now obvious Umno only joined because Zahid played a magnificent game and won against the other factions in Umno such as those controlled by Ismail Sabri or Hishammuddin Hussein. So Umno is in the  unity government because Zahid as the party president managed to get his way, not because the majority of its members wanted to. No doubt Zahid went on to purge and sack many of his internal foes but there are still many warlords who went underground to bide their time to oust him. 

"So I would say a collapse will come soon because Anwar has failed to perform on many fronts as PM, as Finance Minister and overall the political leader of the country. The biggest mistake he made was to try to use his opportunity in power to grab and increase the share of Malay support for himself and PKR. Obviously Umno can see through this and they are not happy, perhaps with the exception of Zahid. Such support-cannibalizing tactics from team Anwar will only make Umno become pro-Malay to defend its market share, so how is acceptance of diversity going to happen in Malaysia when the PM's own party goes out to try and out-Malay Umno, Bersatu and Pas?"

Written by Stan Lee, PoliticsNow!

https://politicsnowmy.blogspot.com