Written by Wong Choon Mei, PoliticsNow Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR (politicsnowmy.blogspot.com) - A politically-charged comment made by Malaysia's 'government spokesman' has raised eyebrows - not that it provided any new insight but rather whether it was appropriate for the holder of such an official post to act like a 'spin-man'.
"How can the public differentiate what is official information based on facts and what is political speculation and spin?" a political pundit told PoliticsNow Malaysia.
"For all we know, Fahmi might be trying to poke fire in the Pas-Bersatu relationship to deflect attention from Anwar's troubles and growing unpopularity," the pundit added.
He was referring to embattled Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his unpopular communications minister Fahmi Fadzil.
DEFLECTING ATTENTION FROM 'GLOBAL TOURIST' ANWAR?
In recent weeks, the 77-year-old Anwar has come under fire for allegedly underperforming in his dual roles as 'first among equals' in the Cabinet and as finance minister. He has been called out for being a 'global tourist' - accused of taking advantage of his office to go on multiple working trips to other countries when it was not necessary instead of focusing on Malaysia's slow-healing economy and over RM1 trillion in national debt.
As for Fahmi, who holds the triple roles of minister, government spokesman as well as information chief of Anwar's PKR party, the possibility of conflicted interest between the three functions seems to have gone unnoticed.
"Recently, we saw the chairman of PN being pressured to find a new ‘poster boy,’ Bersatu reps being dropped from Perlis Cabinet, and Bersatu top leadership not invited to a major event in Terengganu. These are signs of weakness within PN and an increasingly fractured relationship, which is becoming clearer by the day," Fahmi was reported as telling the media..
“...and the opposition’s performance in Parliament is lacklustre as they are unable to discuss substantive issues. For two consecutive years, they have failed to present an alternative budget. We can clearly see this as a relationship that is on the verge of a break-up,” Fahmi was swift to push in the knife.
Nonetheless what was 'clear' to Fahmi's vision has also been obvious to the public at large. Indeed, Pas which won the most seats in the 2022 general election, is stepping up the hostilities against its weaker partner Bersatu in the PN opposition coalition. But to what end is the burning question.
A recent spat over who should be the PN's 'poster boy' or prime minister candidate - should it be Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin or Pas Terengganu chief minister Samsuri Mokhtar - had escalated already souring ties between the two opposition parties.
Some believe it led Pas to replace two Bersatu assemblymen from the Perlis state Cabinet with two others also from Bersatu - but this led to a rather public row as apparently, the Bersatu leadership had not been consulted and hence felt disrespected. Apart from holding some 49 seats in the 222-seat federal Parliament, the Muslim-centric Pas also controls four of the country's 13 state governments, namely Perlis, Terengganu, Kelantan and Kedah.
The once 'mosquito' and rural-based Pas, which is led by ailing religious teacher Hadi Awang, had shot to national prominence in the 2022 general election, that also swept Anwar's Pakatan Harapan coalition into power. Pas is now demanding the post of the PN secretary-general for its own leader Takiyuddin Hasan from Bersatu's deputy president Hamzah Zainuddin,
“Takiyuddin is qualified to hold the position of PN secretary-general based on his experience and seniority in the party. Furthermore, Takiyuddin was also the deputy secretary general of PN," Pas youth chief Afnan Hamimi said in a Facebook post.
PAS TAKING SIDES IN HAMZAH-AZMIN PROXY WAR?
But whether the Perlis debacle as well as the latest wrangle over the PN sec-gen post is really the death knell for the PN opposition bloc as so facetiously surmised by Fahmi, or the extension of a proxy war for power between Bersatu bigwigs Hamzah and Azmin Ali remains to be seen.
Azmin, who was Anwar's righthand man until he defected in 2020, was just confirmed as the new Bersatu sec-gen succeeding Hamzah, but Pas factions appear to not want Azmin also 'inheriting' the PN sec-gen post. They make no bones about pitting for Hamzah, thereby worsening the disunity seen in both Bersatu and PN.
"Put it this way, Pas is big now but it still has only 49 seats while Bersatu is fighting for survival. Neither would trigger a break up until either has found a new ally. Alone they are worse off, together they may be no better but they can still generate more noise," said the pundit.
"It would be silly and dangerous for Anwar to think he's sitting pretty just because PN is infighting. In fact, his PM post is the one that is most coveted and he is currently perceived as the weakest link in his own unity government by his own ally parties. So it might be better for Fahmi to advise his boss to tend to his own garden rather than busybody others," warned the pundit.
"For many observers, this appears to be the worsening of the Hamzah-Azmin rift with Pas showing it prefers to work with Hamzah. It also looks like Muhyiddin has been dragged in. In the past Muhyiddin could communicate with Hadi but these days it could be Hadi is too ill to see him. Whichever, this is likely to end in Bersatu's implosion in the next general election. Pas has already indicated it wants to contest under its own logo. So until either finds a stronger new partner, both will stick together," the analyst added.
ANWAR, ZAHID & FAHMI GET THE THUMBS DOWN
Speculation is also rife that Pas has approached former ally Umno to ditch Anwar before the next general election, which must be held latest by 2027, and set up a new power structure in exchange for which, Umno would be 'gifted' with the all-powerful PM post while Pas gets four posts in the federal Cabinet.
"Pas is likely to find a new partner sooner than Bersatu, perhaps even before the next election. Bersatu might or might not follow because the new partner is likely to be Umno, which is Muhyiddin's No.1 enemy. There are already talks going on behind the scenes, so instead of flying here and there Anwar would do well to watch his own back. He is the one most likely to be dumped and a new unity government formed before 2027 is not impossible," the analyst added.
In a recent online survey run privately by an academic and well-known columnist, 74.6% of respondents rated Anwar's competence as “D”; 89.1% see the economy as worse than before; 66.2% believe corruption is worse than before; 58.8% believed he has the most ego compared to other leaders, with nemesis Mahathir Mohamad drawing only 30.5%.
As for Fahmi, 94.5% of respondents believe he should resign as minister while 76% of respondents believe the MCMC should be closed down. The MCMC is the industry watchdog that Fahmi has been perceived as using to clamp down on criticism against Anwar; suspend blogs, websites and social media deemed as unfriendly to Anwar and even haul up some of their operators to court.
'The MCMC and Fahmi are a big blackmark upon the government. They will hurt the government's prospects among traditional Pakatan Harapan supporters. Fahmi may face major battle to re-win his parliamentary seat,' the survey had summarized.
It also found that Anwar lacked sufficient support for a second term with "serious issues like untrustworthiness and intellectual incompetence" being touted among his drawbacks.
Anwar's close ally Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi, who is also the Umno president, fared no better, with a resounding 82.1% of respondents believing the corruption-tainted Zahid should not remain DPM.
Written by Wong Choon Mei, PoliticsNow Malaysia
https://politicsnowmy.blogspot.com/
Comments