We are all ‘kingmakers’

While Malaysia powers through widespread abuse of power and large-scale corruption, there are those who choose to prioritise one’s ego over our collective national interest. In a time of desperation when we need a united front, we are facing disunity because of the deficit in moral conscience.

Recently, we witnessed a few PAS leaders claim that they are now the ‘kingmakers’ of Malaysian politics. If they side the opposition, the opposition will win. If they side with Umno-BN, the ruling elites will stay on ruling us all.

I won’t try to skirt this issue but address this with full honesty. If we are confronted with three-cornered contests, chances of winning are quite slim and the status quo remains. In a way, this makes PAS’s claim correct. However, behind that honesty lies a more interesting fact.

Any credible opposition party can be ‘kingmakers’ if they flirt with both sides while sacrificing their principles.

Let’s take PKR for example. They have 28 parliamentary seats and rule the Selangor state government. DAP has 37 parliamentary seats while leading the Penang state government. If one of these parties decide to leave the opposition coalition under the pretext of PAS’s version of ‘politik matang’ while flirting with both suitors (ruling government and opposition), they could also be ‘kingmakers’.

The opposition needs them to win. In an event of a hung parliament, Umno-BN needs them to cling on to power. In fact these two parties are in a much better position than PAS since they hold more parliamentary seats than PAS.

However if this were to happen, in a three-cornered contest, they’ll stand the chance of losing both Penang and Selangor. Furthermore, they also risk alienating both suitors due to their political inconsistency. Their grassroots support are also very likely to grow disenchanted to the party elites due to the political whoring.

In the end, the opposition as a whole loses out while Umno-BN clings on to power. The abuse of power and rampant corruption continue like normal.

Despite being a newcomer, even PPBM (Bersatu) could be a ‘kingmaker’ if it wanted to. With the combined influence & experience of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Muhyiddin Yassin and Mukhriz Mahathir, a lot can be done to shift a large segment of Malaysia’s electorate. The fact that a three-month-old party can assemble a 10,000 strong crowd during their party launching is proof of this.