The moral dilemmas of Anwar's new govt

 

If PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim wants to form a new government, his biggest challenge is to find enough MPs. Once the king has validated his support numbers that prove he commands the confidence of the majority, then Anwar shall be prime minister.

Our biggest challenge as the people, however, is to decide whether we accept this new government.

There are a few moral dilemmas that confront our country.

One, will we be willing to work with anyone, including Najib Abdul Razak and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, as long as it gets rid of Muhyiddin Yassin’s backdoor government?

Two, will we be willing to get rid of Muhyiddin’s government in the middle of a pandemic?

Three, will we be willing to accept a DAP and Umno partnership despite their antagonistic party struggles in the past?

These three challenges are primarily moral. They are not practical because if Anwar forms a government, he would probably have to work with the Najib-Zahid cohort, in a time of a pandemic, and the DAP will have to work with Umno for the first time.

Would we work with Najib-Zahid to defeat Muhyiddin?

The biggest moral dilemma facing us is which one is a greater evil: Najib or Muhyiddin? In all likelihood, the cohort of Najib-Zahid in Umno would lend sizeable support to Anwar’s claim to power. The remaining group opposing Najib and Zahid in Umno are in Muhyiddin’s control. These include MPs like Annuar Musa and Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

What we all know is that Najib and Zahid are former leaders who are now still embroiled in tens of corruption charges, and Najib was even found guilty in a few. Corruption scandals were rampant during the reign of Najib and Zahid; and even if we do not accept full evidence of their involvement in corruption cases, we can accept that they belong to a different camp of governance.

They do not symbolise a government of principle and integrity. They are closer to the camp that is willing to abuse the trust and power given to them.

On the other hand, we have Muhyiddin’s backdoor government. The group of Bersatu MPs led by Muhyiddin, together with Azmin Ali’s gang of 10, have been villainised by the people because of what they had done in late February of 2020.

The change in government from Pakatan Harapan to Perikatan Nasional was shocking and dramatic. There was virtually no parallel in the Westminster world. Since then, people have described this as a betrayal that cuts so deep it is unforgivable.

The moral question we ought to ask is whether the moral case to remove Muhyiddin from power and return an almost-Pakatan Harapan government is so strong that we could work with Najib-Zahid – the main people Pakatan Harapan wanted to remove.

Would we change government amidst Covid-19?

The second moral dilemma relates to timing.

The first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic was so bad we had to go into a full lockdown in March. When the world was scrambling to keep tabs on the unknown, once-in-a-century disease, Muhyiddin and Azmin planned a political coup. Precious two weeks were taken away from dealing with the crisis.

Many lives were lost.

It was clear at that time that Muhyiddin’s government not only lacked moral legitimacy due to his method of acquiring power (without going through the electorate), but he was also unconscionable, given that the country was facing a health crisis. Health ought to come before politics.

Then the same thing happened in Sabah. Musa Aman and his greedy pact of politicians orchestrated a coup behind closed doors. Changing governments seemed so easy and everyone was addicted. Warisan's Shafie Apdal had to buck the Peninsular trend and Sabah called for a snap election.

It was this snap election that ushered in the massive mobilisation of the people; and so came the clusters in Sabah that were subsequently brought to the peninsula. Muhyiddin, in his official address to the nation at his residence, admitted that the snap election was a contributing factor. His apology was timely, but also regrettable.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

The moral dilemma that confronts us is whether we are willing to accept a change of government during another wave of Covid-19. This wave has the highest daily cases so far.

Will some political events matter more than health? And would one moral case (wrestling power back from a backdoor government to a legitimate government) cancel out another immoral situation (putting politics above health)?

Would we accept a DAP-Umno partnership?

The final moral dilemma is whether we are willing to accept a DAP-Umno partnership. The reason this is an important moral question to ask is that a DAP-Umno partnership would transform politics from one of principles and struggles to one of interest.

A new government is only possible with the DAP and Umno being in the same government, since they both command a sizeable number of MPs. There may be an informal partnership or a confidence-and-supply arrangement in Parliament, but largely, they will have to work together for this to succeed.

The DAP and Umno stand on opposite camps. Whenever they move too close, both sides would suffer loss in Chinese and Malay voters respectively. This is because both parties have become the de facto defenders of their race-based voters, and they have made it a point to contrast their cause to the other.

Most importantly, DAP and Umno have built the contrasts on morality. The implicit message in Umno’s struggle is that whoever chooses to work with the DAP is immoral and the DAP itself is immoral; and vice versa. This is regardless of the validity or veracity of these claims.

If the DAP and Umno choose to work with each other in government, it means that their interest in being in power overwhelms other moral considerations. They both believe that having power is worth it, even if they lose support from their bases.

Our politics would then shift. It will evolve into a transactional business based on interest, and a DAP-Umno partnership will be the greatest example of this.

Granted, Muhyiddin’s government is a conglomerate of people who prioritise private interest. You may argue that our politics is already like that.

It is true. But a DAP-Umno partnership would complete that because if the DAP and Umno can work together, then you can truly say that all politicians are the same.

Whatever our moral decision, we must be able to justify it. This would have a ripple effect on how we see politics in the years to come. How we resolve these moral dilemmas will become institutionalised and injected into our collective blood. They will have an impact on how politicians will act.

The reason why Najib’s government was brave enough to practise money politics is because we have accepted money politics as a norm for years. We have told ourselves that all politicians take money. And we are okay with that as long as they still give some back to the people in the form of some development and some assistance.

Now we are faced with the same dilemmas. We must make our choices wisely. I have a suspicion that we are yearning for something so much better. 

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JAMES CHAI is a legal consultant and researcher working for Invoke, among others. He also blogs at jameschai.com.my. You may reach him at jameschai.mpuk@gmail.com. - Mkini

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

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