COMMENT | Not unity govt but legitimate govt needed

COMMENT | With the Yang di-Pertuan Agong meeting with various leaders of political parties, speculations centre on what kind of government may be formed after these consultations.

There is a suggestion that a unity government comprising representatives of all political parties may be the answer to the present uncertainty on whether Perikatan Nasional indeed has majority support to govern the country rightfully.

This is not a workable plan. Leaders in the unity government will be pulling the nation in all different directions to ensure that their base support will remain intact. The interest of the nation may not be their main priority. Arriving at a common strategy to plan for the nation’s welfare may take a back seat.

There will be competition to outdo their rivals and they will come up with ideas just to impress their members. This reminds me of the 1960s when Khrushchev, the Soviet premier, suggested that the vacancy caused by the tragic death of Dag Hammarskjold, the United Nations secretary-general, be filled by three men on a rotational basis to represent the three groupings.

US President Kennedy, in dismissing this proposal, emphasised, “However difficult it may be to fill Mr Hammarskjold's place, it can better be filled by one man rather than three. Even the three horses of the Troika did not have three drivers, all going in different directions. They had only one […]”.

This is what is likely to happen when a unity government comprising various parties is implemented. It is difficult to work as one team with a common purpose of supporting a common agenda.

Then there is a suggestion that a prime minister is appointed and be given a free hand to pick his own ministers to form the cabinet. These individuals appointed as ministers will only be beholden to the PM and not answerable to anyone else.

This method will not allow any checks and balances and the appointed PM will be free to do as he wishes. This will be totally unacceptable and will go against the notion of parliamentary democracy. We can’t have one man running or ruining the country – that will be akin to a...