COMMENT | There seem to be many misgivings about how Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin formed his government.

Lately, there are also concerns about the way top positions in government-linked companies, statutory and regulatory bodies, as well as state-owned entities, are being distributed to members of parliament. We are crying foul with somewhat scant regard or remembrance of the reasons why this has happened.

We must not forget that the last election, GE14, although won legitimately, was won on duplicity and deceit, a big fat lie. There was an unequivocal but manifestly false declaration to the people that Anwar Ibrahim would succeed to the prime ministership.

We now know that that was never the intention of the Pakatan Harapan leader, who may or may not have intimated this significant little secret to his own ilk. It will be recalled his Bersatu had fielded candidates in almost one-quarter of the parliamentary constituencies.

The intention, it would seem, was to be a predominant player in a reconfigured parliament. Bersatu not only failed in that sinister venture but fared the worst of all Harapan component parties. Yet that did not seem to have sobered or restrained Bersatu to be moderate about the extent of their participation in the new government.

The Harapan leader allotted a disproportionately overwhelming number of key ministerial posts to his own party. Then the lie about Anwar’s inevitable succession was artfully and audaciously advertised. It just shows plain disdain for the people. What other lies were told?

I hope we have seen the last of that Harapan leader in our national political firmament.

After coming to power, the Harapan government took a long time to fill vital posts in key government and government-affiliated agencies. They seemed to be in a greater hurry to remove chairpersons and members of boards, commissions and companies whom they suspected were scary ghosts from the BN administration.

One minister removed every Sabahan and Sarawakian from a particular body. Was it amnesia about Malaysia’s components? His own appointees have now all been removed thankfully.

Wasting political capital

While we saw relatively greater press and media freedom under the Harapan government, we also saw expressions of unfettered and unrestrained freedom by elected Harapan parliamentarians who attacked their own prime minister and government. They undermined their own government.

I hope these MPs who don’t seem to understand the rudiments of parliamentary democracy also don’t offer themselves for reelection. Dissent within ministerial ranks also existed although it was not pronounced. It is essential that such disagreements are best aired behind closed doors, if at all.

After that hard-fought priceless victory in GE14, there were high, even unrealistic expectations, that the government would focus on domestic issues and give that their utmost attention. There were many shortcomings in the country as the Harapan manifesto clearly stated.

The Harapan government wasted a lot of political capital on polemics chasing hungry shadows in a prestigious university-college and indulging in wasteful rhetoric attacking the country’s significant trade and economic partners on the international stage.

The basic thrust of diplomacy is the painstaking cultivation and development of friendship, understanding and goodwill, not about nitpicking. It is mainly about the advancement of our national interest. Wisma Putra will tell you that. Let us show some maturity in international relations after six decades of independence.

The Harapan government was not focussed on essential matters and good governance. All that frenetic pace of travel to faraway places to attack friendly countries is counterproductive.

The current government, whatever its faults, is focussed on the elephant in the room. Its leader is not busily making travel plans, not in the present circumstances. He has asked us all to stay at home and he is in his home country for the foreseeable future.

For these reasons, the current government must be supported to ensure success in overcoming this brutal, bruising battle against Covid-19.

We can assess them when we are out of the woods.

M SANTHANANABAN is a retired ambassador with 45 years of public sector experience.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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