12-19-2020, 05:28 PM
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Who is responsible for this mess we are in? It's not Anwar nor Harapan. One man is responsible. He, on his own, without consultation with Harapan leaders who put him in power, resigned unilaterally and caused this present mess.
Without respect for the more than 5.5 million Malaysians who voted out BN for the first time in our 61-year history, he frustrated our aspirations, dashed our dreams and crushed our hopes by throwing away what was a hard-fought victory. He nullified our mandate arrogantly.
By P Ramakrishnan
COMMENT | Let me state my position clearly. This article is not written in favour of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim or to oppose him. I’m just trying to be rational.
Is this the end of the road for Anwar, as some suggest? Has he reached the end of his political career, as others claim?
I don’t think so. But some politicians seem to believe so while others are busy whipping up sentiments of hatred to get rid of Anwar for selfish reasons.
Some have even been arguing that he had lost the confidence of the opposition. How so? Was he defeated in a majority contest? There has been no such contest to confirm their claim.
A vote of confidence is only applicable when you have the majority but Anwar never had this majority in Parliament. So, what is the premise for this conclusion?
Paid cyber-troopers and trouble-shooters have been working full steam following the passage of Budget 2021. Their target is Anwar, creating the impression that he had blundered, otherwise the budget would have been defeated. They cite his last-minute instruction not to support the call for a bloc vote at the policy stage as a serious mistake.
They pretend as if the budget could have been defeated on Nov 26 at the second reading stage. Let’s get real. The opposition never had the numbers to defeat the budget. This has been amply demonstrated throughout the budget session.
All through the 11 occasions when a bloc vote was called for, they did not have the numbers and the vote went in favour of Perikatan Nasional (PN) every time. On Dec 15, on the 11th occasion when the bloc vote was called, the opposition’s best numbers were 108 against 111.
To start with, the numbers were not there and expecting the budget to be defeated was a pipe dream. If the failure to defeat the budget was in any way construed as a reflection on Anwar’s leadership, it is not correct.
It should rather be seen as a vote of no confidence in the entire opposition. Fixing the blame on an individual for a collective failure is foolish.
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