Bersatu is still squirming after losing four lawmakers to the Anwar-led Unity Government. While the number of defectors is small, it translates to 13% of its 31 Members of Parliament. Crucially, the defection is just the beginning. The fact that the party leadership appears to be getting “panic attacks” every single day shows the writing is on the wall – it is collapsing.
The Malaysian United Indigenous Party or Party Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal became the latest leader babbling about the internal crisis. Not only he has labelled one of the defectors – Suhaili Abdul Rahman – as a “traitor”, but also accused him of being the “operator” involved in persuading more opposition MPs to switch sides.
The opposition party was first hit by a “defection wave” on Oct 12 with the desertion of Kuala Kangsar MP Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid, followed by Labuan MP Suhaili Abdul Rahman (Oct 30), and then Gua Musang MP Mohd Azizi Abu Naim (Nov 7). The latest Member of Parliament who joined the bandwagon was Zahari Kechik, a lawmaker from Jeli constituency.
To slip through a loophole in the anti-hopping law, the four Bersatu MPs were clearly sharing the same comical script when they announced their stunning change of allegiance. They declared their support for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim while at the same time remained loyal to Bersatu, claiming they had no intention of joining any parties in the Anwar government.
To insult the intelligence of Bersatu top leadership over the half-baked pledge of loyalty, the four defectors have also expressed their desire to be “seated away” from their comrades. Trying to provoke the party to sack them, they had officially written to the House Speaker Johari Abdul expressing their naughty desire to be seated among the MPs of the Unity Government.
The best part is that two of the defectors, MPs from Gua Musang and Jeli, had contested under the PAS Islamist party banner. This means not only they openly betrayed Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin, but also showed their middle finger to the PAS leadership of Abdul Hadi Awang. Bersatu and PAS formed two of the largest Malay-centric political parties in Perikatan Nasional coalition.
Instead of whining, crying and bitching till foaming at the mouth about the loopholes in the anti-hopping law and the treachery of his comrades, Ahmad Fayhsal should get a mirror from Shopee or Lazada. He could easily claim a free delivery voucher. What the four MPs did to the party reflect precisely what Bersatu had done to others, which occurred not many moons ago.
From the beginning, Bersatu was a party formed by power-crazy politicians who would do anything for power and positions. There was no “red line” that it would not cross, including betraying allies and friends. Its president – Mahiaddin (Muhyiddin) – plotted with enemies UMNO and PAS to topple his own democratically-elected Pakatan Harapan government in March 2020.
The ungrateful Muhyiddin, formerly deputy prime minister under PM Najib Razak, conspired with the same party (UMNO) which had sacked him over 1MDB scandal and slept with the same Islamist party which he had condemned as “parti ajaran sesat” (heresy party). For the sake of power, he conveniently forgot how Pakatan Harapan saved him when he was left in the political wilderness.
Of course, Mr Moo was not the only scumbag traitor. Mahathir Mohamad, the founder of Bersatu who joined forces with Muhyiddin in their effort to remove then-Prime Minister Najib Razak, too, had betrayed Pakatan Harapan over his promise to hand over power to Anwar Ibrahim. Mahathir, who served as the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, was part of the “Sheraton Move”.
The infamous “Sheraton Move” saw traitors Muhyiddin Yassin (Bersatu faction) and Azmin Ali (PKR faction) working with defeated Barisan Nasional and religious extremist PAS to form a new loosely glued backdoor Perikatan Nasional regime, leading to the collapse of legitimately voted Pakatan Harapan coalition, which stunningly won the May 2018 General Election.
Bersatu won only 13 parliamentarian seats in the 2018 General Election. But it quickly doubled in size when 13 UMNO MPs defected and joined it, followed by the betrayal of Azmin Ali and his 10 loyalists. Azmin, formerly PKR deputy president and a loyalist of Anwar, would pay a heavy price for his betrayal in the November 2022 General Election, where he lost his parliamentary seat.
The 13 traitors from the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) who jumped ship included Bersatu secretary-general and opposition de-facto leader Hamzah Zainudin, who has also gone ballistic with the latest defection. He claimed – without proof – that his party’s MPs were being bribed with positions at GLCs (government-linked companies) as well as Cabinet posts.
But karma is a bitch. Mahathir, caught in a photograph where he was seated with Malay leaders of the backdoor Perikatan Nasional coalition having a private meeting at his home (the meeting took place on Feb 23, 2020 – the same day Sheraton Move was launched), was himself sacked by Muhyiddin in May 2020. His son, Mukhriz, along with three other MPs was also kicked out.
Karma then struck Muhyiddin, who had to resign in August 2021 after just 17 months in power after an UMNO faction led by Zahid Hamidi and Najib Razak withdrew support for him. The disgraced Bersatu president, having betrayed Pakatan Harapan and backstabbed Mahathir, tasted his own medicine when it was UMNO’s turn to betray and backstab him.
In short, two Bersatu founders – Mahathir and Muhyiddin – worked together and befriended enemy Pakatan Harapan to bring down former colleague PM Najib. After crooked Najib was brought down, PM Mahathir betrayed Anwar, but was backstabbed and betrayed by power-hungry Muhyiddin, who in turn was betrayed by two UMNO crooks – Najib and Zahid. It’s a cycle of Karma.
More importantly, when Mahathir became prime minister for the second time, he bribed 13 UMNO MPs with power and position to join Bersatu. Likewise, Muhyiddin also bribed Azmin and 10 PKR MPs with power and position to join Bersatu. Mahathir did it to strengthen his position, while Muhyiddin did it to seize power. But both somehow ended up losing power instead.
Supposing Anwar had given his blessing for a fictional “Datuk Botak” to entice the four Bersatu MPs to leave their sinking ship, the premier was merely learning from Mahathir and Muhyiddin. And even if Suhaili was indeed the operator sent to entice opposition MPs to switch allegiance, his role was the same to that played by Hamzah and Azmin previously.
So, which part of “Bersatu is made of a shipload of traitors” that Ahmad Fayhsal doesn’t understand, or pretends to not understand? A traitor will always betray you because that’s their nature. After all, Suhaili was a former UMNO member, before he left for Bersatu, and has now hopped again after Bersatu lost power. If Suhaili is a traitor, so is Perikatan Nasional de-facto leader Hamzah.
However, Bersatu morons have only themselves to blame for allowing its own MPs to jump ship based on some loopholes in the law. Crying over spilt milk, party president Muhyiddin said he wanted the anti-hopping law to be reviewed, arguing that it could still be exploited. But it was the Perikatan Nasional who rejected moves to introduce a more stringent anti-hopping law.
Apparently when the backdoor regime Perikatan Nasional was in power, they disagreed with a proposed provision to declare a seat vacant if an MP went against the party stance or failed to comply with the party whip’s decision. The reason was evil – they deliberately wanted to create the loophole with the belief that it could be used to bribe or blackmail rival MPs to join them.
Yes, the power-crazy Bersatu and PAS leaders were so drunk with power that they were incredibly obsessed with any tool that would allow them to buy lawmakers to cling to power. They were delusional with an illusion that they would forever be in power because the majority of gullible Malays supported them. They never thought that it would come back to haunt them.
Now that Perikatan Nasional has lost power, naturally its own corrupted lawmakers have no reason to stay with the losers. After all, Bersatu is a sinking ship – relying on “big brother” PAS to win elections. After the Islamist party appointed Mahathir as adviser to the four states under its control, it speaks volumes that Muhyiddin’s influence is declining and Bersatu isn’t the VIP club it used to be.
To make matters worse, Bersatu has zero power base to shelter its generals. Muhyiddin and his minions are being hung out to dry when PAS president Hadi Awang refused to even give a small bone for Bersatu to lick. PAS greedily swallowed all the four states, leaving none for the treacherous Malay nationalist party to administer. This has convinced Bersatu lawmakers that there is no future in the party.
The best part is, even after losing four MPs to the unity government, the 7-year-old party still has not learned its lesson. Instead of calling for an urgent amendment to be made to its constitution to punish MPs who switch support for rivals, the top leadership keeps quiet. Obviously, they still think and hope the loophole could help the opposition to seize power and form yet another backdoor government.
Source : Finance Twitter
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