Friday, June 12, 2020

State of the union.

Sat 13 June 20



I'm not referring to the USA. Trump is insane in the madhouse.

I'm referring to the union of misfits in the Malaysian hung Parliament right now, in the middle of the pandemic. It looks like "when it rains, it pours". What with the invisible but deadly virus  along with the very visible and equally deadly political upheaval, Malaysians have their plates full, so to speak.

I was talking to a Chinese friend yesterday, while patiently waiting for our turns to tee-off at SIGC, with the new SOP, product of covid 19. He admitted that he has left MCA. (I knew that already - all the Chinese  left MCA with the last GE). On my question of whether Muhyiddin  would survive the confused-Parliament affair, this guy mumbled all over the world, and finally said "yes".

"Why ?" I said.

Again he went all over the world, before finally settling with "everyone can be bought".

I disagreed. If Muhyiddin is so confident about his numbers, why the repeated postponements of Parliament ?

"Agong already approved" he retorted.

"Agong believed Muhyiddin's version when he beat the Old Man to the gun" was my answer. "Now he has to count hands in Parliament, and that takes precedent over the Agong."

In the mean time the rumour mongers have been at it full blast, thanks to time and space provided by the lockdown. Each side claims it has the numbers.

The truth is probably somewhere in-between. Probably less than 10 MP's would make the difference.  If money can change minds (of course it does), minds will  change.  Money, you keep. Word, no need.

A lot of cliches here:

These are the worst of times, and the best of times.

There is no honour among thieves.

Politics have strange bed-fellows.

There are no permanent enemies, no permanent friends.

Here today, gone tomorrow.

A man is as good as his words.

Promises are meant to be broken.

Everything has a price.

Facts can be stranger than fiction.

"Janji Melayu".

And so it goes. 

Just ponder, if we can still think properly. There are tons of testimony, evidence, proof and what-have-yous, in print, on tape, on video and in all the mass media about the basis of PH's fight against the long-ruling UMNO. And yet, 22 months later, UMNO and the other "thieves" are deemed clean enough to be embraced, when even pkp  says "keep your distance !"

Now talks are rife that a snap election is on the cards. That's UMNO talk. They have everything to gain and nothing to lose from a snap election. 

PPBM is in the worst possible position. The party is in complete disarray. People are digusted with shamelessness. For it,  GE 15 is now in clear doubt. Contrary to UMNO, it has everything to lose and nothing to gain from a snap election.

Muhyiddin will try to buy more MPs to his cause. UMNO will maximise its bargaining position. If Muhyiddin survives, UMNO benefits. IF not, and there is a snap election, UMNO benefits. To quote another cliche, "heads I win, tails you  lose."

That's the state of the union - for Muhyiddin.


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