It finally happened – deservedly so! It was a five-day nail-biting wait; five days of hoping, praying and praying again for this outcome.
If only the Sabah and Sarawak coalitions had behaved sensibly and responsibly, the deputy prime minister’s post would not go to the party (as many expect) that voters in this general election dumped – the very same party that was responsible for the mess we are in.
Isn’t it ironical that the party that voters hated and roundly rejected in the general election should now play a kingmaker’s role in getting Anwar appointed as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia?
Certain Umno MPs will be holding some important portfolios in Anwar’s cabinet. It is reprehensible! They and their party were complicit in the rampant corruption. To think that they are back in the saddle of power – that is reprehensible, repulsive and repugnant!
This need not be the case if only the Sabah and Sarawak coalitions and parties had acted responsibly and supported Anwar from the beginning. We have to pay this price because the parties in both territories failed to act in the interest of Malaysia and the future of the nation. We will long remember the coalition or party leaders for contributing to this less-than-satisfactory outcome.
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It is incomprehensible that Gabungan Parti Sarawak was prepared to throw in their support for Hadi Awang of Pas. Hadi’s stance on religion and race was a sore point to the predominantly Christian Sarawakians. How could GPS leader Abang Johari Openg support Hadi and seem ever ready to form a government with him?
Hadi was exclusive, whereas Anwar was inclusive and yet, as it were, Abang Johari was prepared to sleep with the ‘devil’! How could he not support Anwar instead? I hope Sarawakians will remember him and what he did at the next state election.
The appointment of Anwar as the PM is a triple blow for Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who for 25 years did his damnedest best to prevent this singular event. Blow 1: Mahathir lost in Langkawi; Blow 2: He lost his deposit along with over a hundred of his candidates in what must be seen as the total rejection of Mahathir by Malaysians; Blow 3: Anwar emerged as PM despite all the vile and sustained machinations of Mahathir over the years.
Anything to do with Mahathir, including his son, was punished severely by the voters. Every single one of his party’s candidates – over a hundred of them – was defeated in total rejection and all of them lost their deposits. What a deadly blow!
Mahathir was harping on helping the poor Malays for 22 years while living in palatial splendour. While his children became wealthy, the poor rural Malays remained miserably poor. Seeing so many working as food delivery riders for Grab, Food Panda, etc, the Malays finally woke up and punished him without any mercy!
This is not a government of the people, by the people, for the people. It is a government foisted upon us. For that, we have to blame ourselves. For us, it should have been Pakatan Harapan vs The Rest but it did not work out that way.
The traitorous party, Perikatan Nasional, that toppled a duly elected government through the Sheraton move on 23 February 2020, in one move denying the mandate of the Malaysian electorate, surprisingly received a lot of support – though many of the traitors such as Azmin Ali were voted out – with Zuraida Kamaruddin even losing her deposit– two years nine months later. Imagine, Nurul Izzah Anwar and Khalid Samad losing in urban areas! It is time to wake up to the long-term threat to nation-building efforts posed by Pas.
For me, the outcome was less than satisfactory, even though I rejoice that Anwar is the PM. He has been forced to work with those he would rather not. If he had secured a simple majority, today he would be in a strong position to carry out his promises and steer this nation to safer shores during these turbulent times.
I would long mourn the fact that the tragedy is the difference between what-is and what-could-have-been.
I conclude by thanking the Malaysian electorate for this collective wisdom, packed even in this form. We must maintain our vigilance, for as human rights advocate Thomas Jefferson famously said: “Eternal vigilance is the price of democracy.”
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
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Sir, let us place on record your dedication to this responsible blog which though
has come a long way due to its nobleness of its thoughts and ideas, together with all those who contributed [ through valuable ideas ] immensibly to the goodness of Malaysian politics, promoting Good Governance as its core value, in no other smaller measures you, Mr Ramakrishnan and together with other eminent and responsible writers are to be counted on for the successes [ of the blog ] and celebrated as Patriotic Tall Malaysians. We continue to pray for the blog’s success. God Bless.
Please remember, TDM Mahathir has done what he had done 50 years or so ago. Please put him on history’s back burner. We would have been even greater and better than Singapore if it were not for his racist policies. The prime development sector, the ones who could produce and enhance our prosperity left to apply their genes for the prosperity of others, e.g. Singapore.
Aliran had not befriended gps sufficiently
You mean Keadilan?
Fair enough, Rama.
Except:
>>”If only the Sabah and Sarawak coalitions had behaved sensibly and responsibly”
When was the last time they did so?
And about this:
>>”human rights advocate Thomas Jefferson famously said: “Eternal vigilance is the price of democracy.””
Edifying to note that this “human rights advocate” was, for all that, a slave-owner.
KSK, you asked “when was the last time the Sabah and Sarawak coalitions behaved sensibly and responsibility”? As one of the many surviving nephews of the late Tan Sri Ong Kee Hui (1814- 2000), I verily believe that Sarawak has on the whole been behaving sensibly and responsibly.” Without knowing my ties to the late Tan Sri, the late former DAP secretary-general Goh Hock Guan once told me that the late Tan Sri was “an honourable and reasonable politician” – being born with a silver spoon and related even to (OUB emeritus chairman) Wee Cho Yaw who runs one of the largest banks in Southeast Asia. So your question, “When was the last time the (Sabah and Sarawak) coalitions behaved sensibly and responsibly?” is almost irrelevant. I do not speak for Sabah but I do think that on the whole, it has also behaved relatively “sensibly and responsibly.” I recall with pride that at the age of 35, I, along with Penang Chief Minister Tun Lim Chong Eu, was one of the official guests of both the Sabah and Sarawak in 1988 to celebrate their 25th… Read more »