“If government were a product, selling it would be illegal.”

- PJ O'Rourke

COMMENT | The easy line here is that you cannot sell out if you do not have any principles in the first place. I mean some Pakatan Harapan political operatives talk about political frogs as anathema to democracy but take this “hear no evil, see no evil” stance when it comes to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim attempting his various counter coups.

Also this idea of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) as a means to constrain former Umno prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, merely reflects the kind of personality instead of policy politics that is driving Harapan.

And it sounds absurd, you claim you are working for the rakyat but then say that this is a political strategy to constrain your political opponent, especially since Anwar was sniffing around personalities of the court cluster hoping to hitch a ride to Putrajaya and Harapan did not seem to have an issue with this.

Never mind that the court cluster is merely a symptom rather than the disease itself. Remember that the old maverick claimed “corruption” was no longer a serious issue when Harapan took over, then when Harapan fell, said, “both sides were bribing people”.

Also important is that Harapan’s messaging has always been putrid. While Amanah's Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad did attempt to stay on message drawing a distinction between this MOU and a Confidence and Supply Agreement (CSA), various political operatives and talking heads have muddied the water when it comes to this important issue.

This definitional faux pas always seems to revolve around the idea that Harapan has not lost its “oppositional voice”.

The reason Harapan is obsessed with the idea that folks think that the coalition has lost its cajones is that Harapan always bends to the whims of the Malay establishment at the expense of campaign promises and its foundational ideas.