Mahathir will not be Prime Minister for a third time but Malaysia has reached an unprecedented political situation where there is no one person who can command majority support of Members of Parliament

Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin is the first Prime Minister in Malaysia who cannot command majority support in Parliament.

This is why Parliament is suspended and emergency declared to allegedly combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is also why Muhyiddin has ignored the Yang di Pertuan Agong’s most clear position on Feb. 24 that Parliament may convene during the emergency period based on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Since the Yang di Pertuan Agong had made his position clear on Feb.24, the Cabinet had met six times but it had been most negligent in not once considering the Yang di Pertuan Agong’s advice.

I do not agree with UMNO veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah that the Yang di Pertuan Agong can convene Parliament without the Prime jMinister’s advice, but the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhytiddin Yassin, and his bloated Cabinet had violated all constitutional proprieties and norms in ignoring the Yang di Pertuan Agong’s advice for six consecutive Cabinet meetings.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that the Prime Minister and his Cabinet had acted in utter disregard of the Rukun Negara on “Loyalty to King and country”.

Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad will not be Prime Minister for a third time, but we have reached an unprecedented political situation where there is no one person who can command majority support of Members of Parliament.

Pakatan Harapan should focus on the 15th General Election and we should get away from the numbers game as to who can win majority support in Parliament to become Prime Minister before the next general election.

I am glad that when visiting the “Malaysian Dream” Theatre Impian in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, the Parliamentary Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said that Pakatan Harapan should be moving forwards, strengthen the idealism of the people and focus on getting the machinery ready for the battlefield in the next general election to champion the aspirations of the people.

Muhyiddin has said that emergency would end on August 1 to be followed by the holding of the 15th General Election.

But from the look of the shape of things to come, neither the emergency will be ended on August 1 nor will the 15th General Election be held in the third or fourth quarter of the year.

Muhyiddin is intoxicated with absolute powers without parliamentary scrutiny or check, which is the reason for latest Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance conferring absolute powers on the Prime Minister to enact supplementary supply bills without parliamentary scrutiny or check - although the Emergency Proclamation ends on August 1 in four months’ time.

I agree with Anwar that there is no reason for the new emergency ordinance that allows federal government to pass supplementary budgets without legislative scrutiny, which is most unethical, irresponsible, undemocratic and dictatorial.

It is shocking that Malaysians performed a political miracle in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 to reject a kleptocratic dictator only to be confronted 22 months later with a kakistocratic dictator.

The Budget 2021 which passed four months ago already allocated sufficient funds for the country’s Covid-19 response.

If valid additional spending is needed, then Muhyiddin should advise the Yang di Pertuan Agong to convene Parliament as the Yang di Pertuan Agong has declared that Parliament can be convened in an emergency.

Furthermore, any valid additional spending to combat the Covid-19 pandemic will get the unanimous support of Parliament, as all MPs from all political parties would like to see the Covid-19 pandemic ended as early as possible.

In fact, I had been calling for the convening of Parliament to spearhead a national mobilisation effort for an “all-of-government”and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control so as to restore normalcy and initiate efforts at economic recovery in the fourth quarter of the year.

The backdoor and illegitimate nature of the present regime has made it very intolerant of democratic practices and norms, which is one reason for the egregious violation of the unanimous parliamentary mandate to confer the right to vote on Malaysians above the age of 18 in the next general election and why the constitutional amendment is being sabotaged.

Can Muhyiddin explain why 50 years ago, United Kingdom can execute the parliamentary mandate to confer the right to vote to those 18 years and above within a year of the law being given the Royal Assent but why 50 years later, Malaysia needs more than three years to implement such a measure?

This is kakistocracy at its worst!

Malaysians are faced with an unprecedented political situation, with a three-kingdom scenario among Bersatu, PAS and UMNO – but what is obvious is that these three parties in the illegitimate “backdoor” government are not pursuing the Malaysian Dream.

We must never yield to the temptation of “Power for Power’s sake” but must ensure that all our actions are guided by our principles and our commitment to pursue justice, eliminate corruption, uphold the rule of law and separation of power, close the growing gap between the haves and have-nots and improve the life of all Malaysians – all ingredients of the Malaysian Dream!