Never
mind that Pakatan Harapan is attempting to play the innocent in this
fiasco, when in reality, like the Sheraton Move, everyone knew that the
house was crumbling down, but nobody wanted to be the one who belled the
cat.
Furthermore, all these admissions, of behind the scenes
political hookups between supposed mortal rivals, should tell everything
we need to know about mainstream politics in this country and how
political operatives feed the base red meat while attempting to share
power through backdoors means dressing it up as political stability.
All
this talk of corruption and political malfeasances by desperate
charlatans who claim that they have the best interests of the rakyat is
indicative of how cynical these cretins are, because they know
ultimately, whatever creature comes out of this mess, it would be one
which plays by the rules created after decades of Umno/BN rule.
Of
course, we get folks claiming that it is better to have an emergency
declaration in Malacca because this serves two purposes.
The
first, factional power brokers can wheel and deal behind the scenes
without oversight and the second and this perhaps, is the more important
purpose, an emergency would mean that these disparate political parties
would not have to test their electability prospects in a state
election.
In the good old days of hegemonic rule, you would have
the power of the federal government at your disposal for a state
election. Everyone knew who the enemy was and everyone was more or less
on the same page.
Now, the federal government is weak, composed
of the wreckage of the Sheraton Move and is in no position to decisively
offer goodies for their state apparatus.
Indeed, with the motley
crew operating in Putrajaya, the prospect of a state election where the
viability of their individual parties would be tested would result in
political shenanigans of epic ineptitude.
We would have different
groups attempting to use the federal government to prop up their
candidates who would be competing against each other.
For the time
being, everyone can brag about how important and how much grassroots
support they have when nobody wants to roll the dice and test that
proposition, especially when they do not have the federal machinery
behind them.
Safer environment for voters
When
we have parties in the federal government claiming they would not work
with each other, you know how deep the rabbit hole goes.
While the
Health Ministry has claimed there are SOPs in place, they, like the
rest of us, are waiting for the play from Putrajaya. But really, this
idea that having an emergency is for the benefit of the rakyat is
bunkum.
The fact is, pandemic fatigue has set in and grown roots.
While there are SOPs in place and the rakyat are generally following
the rules, the reality is that folks are out and about and in many
places, having a vaccine passport merely means that whoever you are
waving it in front of most probably has no real interest in checking if
you are vaccine compliant.
People voting in a controlled
environment, where SOPs are strictly adhered to, means that for folks
voting, it would be a safer environment, than where they are usually
spending their time. Therefore, this idea, that suspending a democratic
norm and right because of safety issues is pure horse manure.
Furthermore,
nobody really knows what the folks of Malacca want. The best way to
discover this would be an election. Voter turnout would be a strong
indicator of what folks think of the current political disaster or what
they think of this pandemic.
Indeed,
the only safety issue would be during the various campaign stumps and
this is only because political operatives do not give a damn about the
rakyat or SOPs for that matter.
But that is the problem right
here. The political establishment does not want to know what the rakyat
really wants. They would prefer it if they can finesse deals without
having to go through the democratic process and the pandemic gives them
the perfect excuse to maintain power without actually having to be
elected.
The Malacca fiasco could not have come at a worse time
for this regime. While the country is opening up, the excuse for
declaring an emergency becomes farcical.
Even more so, considering that the Muhyiddin Yassin regime used the emergency card when it was terrified of losing power.
Could
an election in Malacca lead to more instability when it comes to
sharing power between disparate power groups? Yes, it could.
But what it will definitely show, depending on turnout – who are the contenders and who are merely pretenders.
