The Politics of 'no shame'

Hantu Laut

There seems to be no difference between the politicians from both sides of the political divide.Malaysians would soon again be disappointed with their elected representatives from both sides of the political fence.

The case of "I quit....now I don't" by Buntong assemblyman A.Sivasubramaniam shows how blackmail and extortion can be used by disgruntled elected member to make demands on a fragile government.

Sivasubramiam resignation from the party could have caused the collapse of the BR coalition government in Perak.The party and coalition partners have succumbed to his demands because they stood on very weak ground, an insufferable marriage of convenience that can up in dire straits.

On the other side of the political fence some elected BN members have refused to accept minor ministerial positions and in one case a deputy minister resigned his position in less than two weeks after having accepted it, giving less than plausible excuse for his actions.

Although unspoken by them it is without any doubt that they think they deserve better and more important positions.They are sending subtle threat to weak Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi not to take them lightly.

In Sabah the 'wayang kulit' (shadow play) gets even more luminously amusing and ludicrous. A candidate dropped by Chief Minister Musa Aman in the recent elections is trying to lead a revolt against him by calling on elected members to pass vote of no confidence against Musa in the next assembly sitting.

Former Chief Minister Salleh Said Keruak has been calling on those whom he thinks are not aligned with Musa to openly revolt against him and support Rahim Ismail as chief minister, with promises of lucrative contracts and positions for those who jumped the Musa's ship.

Six of the 'topple Musa' team have seen the prime minister.The six are Salleh, Bung Mokhtar,Ghafur Salleh,Pandikat Amin,Rahim Ismail and Dr Yusof Yacob, apparently to impress the PM to change the chief ministership.

The PM may have been called by many names but wouldn't be that stupid to remove a man who delivered 24 out of 25 parliamentry seats and 59 out of 60 state seats to the BN.

Rahim Ismail,Salleh Keruak and Pendikar have been trying to take over the CM seat since two years ago but failed to convince Pak Lah to change, a decision that probably saved the BN from being thrashed in Sabah.As Pendikar and Salleh are now out of the picture, it is now only left for Rahim to go for it, which appears unlikely to see the light of day.

In the meantime, the ever caustic and witty former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohammad has accused Abdullah of having no shame at all.

He said "Anyone else would have already resigned but (Abdullah) has no shame" His son, Mukhriz made the same call for Abdullah to step down. The gathering was attended by over 1000 UMNO members including Khir Toyo.

Is Mahathir going to make a comeback and contest against Abdullah at the UMNO elections if he doesn't step down before the UMNO General Assembly ? It is a possibility you can't ruled out if there is no other candidate whom he thinks doesn't have enough punch to unseat Abdullah.

Mahathir looked the most eligible choice at the moment and would easily get the required nominations to take on Abdullah. If he wins, he probably stays on for one term and hand over the baton to another successor, hopefully not another wrong choice.