No matter how good and promising Muhiyuddin’s team may appear or is made out to be, the truth is many are feeling unhappy, writes JD Lovrenciear.
There is no euphoria in the air despite a ‘new’ government in Malaysia
Strange, isn’t it? Despite the naming of Muhyiddin Yassin’s new cabinet yesterday, an uneasy stillness hangs in the air.
Let us not conveniently blame it on the coronavirus.
No celebrations. No droves and droves of people coming out together to shout “Hidup Malaysia! Hidup Perikatan Nasional!”
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Even social media is so quiet except for some darts of unhappiness being registered.
What does it tell you?
People are still in a shock over how a democratic nation that has dutifully gone to the polls every five years since independence was suddenly deprived of a government that was elected in the 2018 general election. A political coup snatched that sacrosanct citizens’ right to their elected government from right under their noses.
And so … no bursts of jubilation in the air.
Let us not deny this: people feel betrayed.
No matter how good and promising Muhiyuddin’s team may appear or is made out to be, no matter how much this new government team can preach with promises of bringing economic, financial and health relief to the people, the truth is many are feeling unhappy.
A happy people is the building block of politics. When the building block has been smashed, no amount of peddling can gain traction.
What the ‘backdoor’ plotters in their haste forgot is that the next general election is not too far off. A nation of people who mustered the strength to displace a six-decade-old kleptocratic regime will not weaken when faced with unhappiness over a setback.
If Muhiyuddin and his plotters really felt convinced that they were the better alternative for all Malaysians – or even as they claimed for Malays and Islam – they could have waited and met their opponents in grand style at the next general election. But they didn’t.
And so, to dismiss or ignore the absence of euphoria over the new government and cabinet would be sheer folly.
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