The thief, he kindly spoke

There are many here among us

Who feel that life is but a joke

But you and I, we’ve been through that

And this is not our fate

So let us not talk falsely now

The hour is getting late... – All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan)

COMMENT | With political operatives lining up to meet the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, there of course is all this talk of a realignment of power or perhaps the ending of this emergency. 

The emergency is playing out like just another power struggle in the ruling political class but the rakyat has become increasingly agitated by the constant flip-flopping and the hubris of certain political operatives. 

The MCO (movement control order) for certain states has more of an impact than the emergency declaration has ever had.

While the pandemic is raging in this country, the best the political establishment can come up with is this continuing sandiwara, meant to distract the rakyat from the fact that successive kakistocracies have wrought this dismal response to the pandemic.

Of course, the rakyat will never know what is going on, because political operatives are tight-lipped about such appointments but will spill their guts when the damage has been done and they are attempting to portray themselves as victims rather than active participants.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim claimed that the issue of a new government did not arise in the meeting but if the emergency is lifted and Parliament reconvened, you can bet your last ringgit that political plays will be made to realign political power here in Malaysia and partisanship will override any sense of collective responsibility we have towards the health security of this nation.

I have no idea what kind of political realignment is possible but it would most probably be defined by Malay uber alles preoccupations because the DAP either is demonised or told to kowtow by the Malay establishment. This will never change because of the sadomasochistic component of non-Malay participation in mainstream ketuanan politics.

While I still believe that Pakatan Harapan could not organise an orgy in a brothel, the lion's share of the blame as to why we are losing this war against Covid-19 falls on the PN regime. 

The fact that Harapan was bending over backwards attempting some sort of equilibrium with the PN regime for a unified approach to handle this pandemic and was rejected by the government, demonstrates that the state is more interested in sustaining power than in dealing with the pandemic.

The Perikatan Nasional regime could have made the handling of this pandemic its central goal thereby gaining traction with the rakyat. Instead, it chose to mishandle the pandemic while attempting to destabilise the opposition. 

As the numbers grew, state administrators scrambled to find excuses and blame shift while the federal government, embroiled in political machinations, attempted to paint a picture of competency, while cracking down on dissent.

Meanwhile the rakyat, jaded and fatigued, went about dismantling the new normal in creative ways because neither the MCO nor the emergency made any sense, beyond putting up hurdles to supporting their families or interfering in activities which they were brainwashed into believing, trumped any sense of community obligations.

If you ever wondered what a Malay uber alles government looks like, it is this. The current prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, when he declared the "emergency", calmly explained that this was not meant to seize power but rather because it was necessary to combat the pandemic. 

Now, of course, he travels the country attempting to shore up support while his nemesis Umno spectacularly implodes.

All these warring factions do not give a damn about their constituents and the constant shifting of alliances, and the political manoeuvrings have created a terrain where conspiracy theories and hyper-partisanship shift focus, away from the failed responses of this government and the brazen silliness of the rakyat disguised as rebelliousness or fatigue.

What this government has demonstrated is that Malay unity is a myth and even the DAP hate cannot override the instinct for political one-upmanship in the Malay political establishment. 

Meanwhile, as predicted, non-Malay political power structures continue to cannibalise each other ensuring that mainstream political narratives remain relevant when they have passed their use-by date.

Political analyst Wong Chin Huat rightly points to the rather abused Malaysian “... insatiable fetish of unity, this idea will never die, even if it can never work.” 

All this time Umno could have demonstrated a willingness to work with Harapan instead of the sub rosa moves by certain Umno operatives to deal directly with Anwar. What we got were those farcical pressers which damaged the credibility of Harapan, and made the PN government look stronger than it really is.

Wong advocates a Confidence and Supply Agreement (CSA) deal which sounds good but the problem is that the foundation of mainstream Malay politics - it answers to nobody. 

Ketuanism is an all or nothing game. Nobody should expect the Muhyiddin regime to agree to this because if they were interested in any kind of oversight or even the optics of bipartisanship, they would have managed to make a deal with Harapan – who knows what games Umno would play – and this would go a long way in legitimising the current regime. All this of course is part of the distraction.

Besides we have been assured by the 'prime minister in waiting' that a new government is not in play in the establishment. 

The next few days will be mired in all sorts of spinning and advancement of certain political narratives, while the state continues to give ground to this pandemic.