COMMENT As quoted from an article in Malaysiakini, “Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said PKR should not take too long to deliberate on the issue of a snap election for Penang as that would be “not practical and not feasible”.

“We will continue to discuss and convince PKR of our proposal to hold the snap election, and this will be based on mutual respect and trust,” Lim, who is DAP secretary-general, said at his office in George Town today (Wednesday).

He was responding to PKR’s decision not to endorse his proposal for the snap election as the party has yet to be convinced of the reasons to dissolve the state legislative assembly.

Asked how long he was willing to wait for PKR’s decision, he said “not too long” but added that he was not willing to wait until next year.”

Perhaps Guan Eng will cry misquote of some sort, but taking the report at its word, what can we conclude?

If the chief minister says he is not willing to wait until next year, then a message is being read out loud and clear - come hell or high water, Lim Guan Eng has decided to hold snap elections in Penang this year - detractors be damned.

In this case, hell or high water includes any protest or disagreement from PKR - DAP’s only remaining political partner of any consequence.

So, despite all the talk and spin about mutual respect and trust, Guan Eng is clearly communicating that the decision has already been made, and that PKR had damned well better toe the line - shape up or ship out, seems to be the message.

DAP doesn’t need any allies

In terms of electoral maths, DAP is likely to be able to win a snap election easily on its own.

PKR currently counts some five non-Malay representatives in seats that DAP presumably would have no trouble winning should they go it alone.

Added to their 19 incumbent seats, this will put them three ahead of the 21 seats they need to form a majority.

Indeed, the whole reason DAP contested in 19 seats and not more, was in the then-Pakatan Rakyat spirit of not having one party being able to form a government entirely on its own.

So, perhaps Guan Eng is alluding to the fact that DAP doesn’t need anybody, when he haughtily pressures PKR to do as he wants.

Two unilaterals don’t make a right

There has been some back and forth on the question of unilateralism, with DAP supporters alluding to the fact that PKR themselves allegedly decided to call by-elections (in Kajang, most prominently) without really consulting with their partners.

The trouble with this line of reasoning is of course that two wrongs don’t make a right.

Some may say that this is poetic justice for PKR, having shoved Kajang down the throats of DAP and (even more so) PAS; perhaps the chickens have come home to roost.

PKR now has to decide whether to put themselves in the position PAS was after the Kajang seat was vacated, where PAS decided to support the PKR candidate in the by-election (despite their deep misgivings) after the seat was vacated, merely to continue maintaining the illusion of opposition unity.

All well and good for a while, until the question of changing the Selangor menteri besar really came into play. Then things fell apart. We still feel the repercussions of the Kajang Move to this very day.

Principle or partisanship?

Some high-level DAP leaders even took to social media to complain about how ‘friends’ took to the media to act out complaints.

Irony aside, I’m not sure this idea that friends in politics back each other up no matter what withstands scrutiny.

If this was the case, then we should heap praise on all the Umno sycophants for backing the prime minister no matter what he may have done wrong.

If DAP backed PKR during the Kajang Move because they thought that was right, then well and good on them - for doing the right thing, not for backing others for the sake of it. Demanding some sort of ‘reward’ or reciprocity for doing the right thing may not be the most principled thing in the world.

If DAP backed PKR during the Kajang Move even though they thought it was wrong, then I’m not sure this foregoing of principle to further partisanship merits some sort of praise.

And if DAP expects PKR to back them even though PKR believes that DAP is wrong (because DAP did the same before), then they are hoping for partisanship to triumph over principle - twice over, in fact.

So, assuming DAP bulldozes ahead (true to Guan Eng’s character), PKR has the option of taking the high ground and boycotting the elections. This of course means being excluded from the entire Penang power structure, and all the resources that entails.

Alternatively, they can - to borrow a phrase in vogue lately - twist and turn for a while, but ultimately ‘makan dedak’ (eat animal feed) - just scoop up whatever unilateralist crap Guan Eng throws at them, and praise the taste.

Perhaps Guan Eng wins either way.

Snap elections to stack the deck?

One of the commentators on my last article about the Penang snap elections made an astute observation about another prominent potential motivation for Guan Eng to hold elections now. I quote:

“One suspects that LGE has other motive to hold a snap election citing some high sounding reasons for doing so but most likely to safeguard his CM position because there are probably some DAP assemblymen in the current state government who may not see eye-to-eye with LGE and when he is no more SG of DAP in line with the party's own constitution, he may feel threatened since he will not have all the say in choosing the next batch of DAP contestants.

“Note that DAP party elections have now been postponed and LGE retains his SG post for the time being. If snap elections is held now, he will be able to choose the DAP candidates because with the court case coming up, he may not have the opportunity should he lose the case.”

This is a possible angle I missed completely. With Guan Eng facing Anwar Ibrahim’s fate, and more importantly, losing DAP’s secretary-general post, certain other factors come into play for him.

DAP has already postponed its party elections, essentially allowing Guan Eng to serve as secretary-general (the most powerful position in the party) beyond the term limits imposed on the post.

This trend - taken before by many a dictator for life - is in itself is worrying.

In the context of Penang elections however, this means that the window of opportunity for Guan Eng to stack the deck in Penang with a state assembly consisting entirely and only of proven Lim loyalists, is fast closing - thus potentially explaining his rush to dissolve the assembly.

For example, I’m certain thorny assemblypersons like Teh Yeh Cheu who have consistently stood up to Guan Eng will be shown the door, to be replaced with pliant yes-men and blind supporters, who will always be fervent defenders of the beloved leader, P Ramasamy style.

Voices lacking conscience

Mohamad Sabu-led Amanah of course is behind Guan Eng all the way.

Then again, we have to remember that Amanah would probably get single digit percent of votes if it weren’t for DAP. Perhaps Amanah is not yet in a sufficiently independent position financially either to be ‘over-prioritising’ matters of principle.

Ultimately, like MCA (and Ikatan to a lesser extent), they remain a token party, riding the coattails of their big brother.

Many years of being ruthlessly beaten down by the godfather may have left the voices of conscience within DAP itself somewhat muted.

We can only hope a few remain that can whisper some sense into the man’s ear.

National interest, or self-interest?

At its root, the problem with the anti-BN movement post 2013 has been that the players have prioritised their self-interest over the national interest.

We saw this in the Kajang Move, and we see it now in what looks increasingly like inevitable Penang snap polls.

The irony of course is that by prioritising self-interest over national interest, we are imitating the very worst of the same party we are trying to replace.

As long as we’re playing the same game, it seems that the party with greater experience is likely to remain incumbent.

NATHANIEL TAN hopes Penangites will still sell him ‘orr chien’.