Dr M should not exhaust electorate's goodwill

He's nearly spent up all the goodwill he earned from GE14.

Dr M earned himself a tremendous amount of goodwill when he helped the country get rid of a kleptocratic government led by Najib. Nobody thought they could really pull it off but Pakatan Harapan, led by Dr M, performed a miracle and caused a change in government for the first time in our nation's history.

For that, a lot of people were grateful and many, including myself, were willing to forgive him for the transgressions of the past. Yes, the main reason Najib was able to do what he did was thanks to the system established by Dr M. But Dr M helped us get rid of him, so for that we were willing to give him a second chance. A chance to redeem himself.

It was hoped that during the two years he was supposed to be in office (before handing the PM-ship over to Anwar), he would help usher in at least some reforms and more importantly, ensure the prosecution of 1MDB crimes.

One year has gone by while the court case involving Najib is ongoing, and there has been very little progress when it comes to reforms. Repressive laws like the Sedition Act are still in the books. People are still being charged for things they post on social media (as if Malaysians are so easily incited by the silly postings of some agent provocateurs).

It certainly looks like we will have to wait until Anwar becomes PM before we see the major reforms we expected when we voted to boot out the BN government. But will Anwar ever get to become PM?

It's been speculated for some time now that Dr M actually prefers Azmin to take over as PM but recent developments have pushed this notion further, so much so that Malaysiakini has made a point to end every story about Azmin with the statement that it is widely believed that Azmin is preferred. So what has been spoken about in hushed tones is now out in the public.

You have Azmin's faction in PKR saying publicly that they prefer Dr M to stay the whole term, which basically means Anwar doesn't get to become PM. You have some factions in Bersatu saying the same thing, including the education minister, who really has no business saying this. He knows full well what the agreement was before GE14 and he knows just as well that what the electorate voted for was Dr M as interim PM for two years and Anwar to take over. Yet, he goes and rocks the boat further by suggesting Dr M stay the full term.

Dr M of course has plausible deniability because he keeps saying he will keep his promise. He also promised prior to the election not to take in any UMNO frogs. His track record of keeping to his promises is not exactly stellar.

If Dr M wanted to quash all talk of him staying the full term, he could easily do so by publicly denouncing what Azmin's faction are saying about that. He can also instruct his Bersatu members to stop rocking the already shaky boat. But does he do that? No.

Perhaps this is just some mind game he is playing to screw with Anwar's head, to make sure he toes the line and stays a team player. In a way, it's working. You can see Anwar is walking on eggshells, careful not to piss off the old man.

DAP and Amanah are also walking on eggshells with none of its leaders commenting on this topic. Like Anwar, they are just waiting for the first two years to go by. But will the promised transition happen? Increasingly it looks like it won't.

Dr M likes to say two or three years. Why doesn't he give a precise date? He's also fond of saying, when the economy recovers. Who knows how long that will take!

He is purposely playing up the ambiguity, probably because he likes to have everyone walk on eggshells. This way nobody will challenge him on anything, such as the third national car project that nobody wants except him.

Being the crafty politician that he is, he might just surprise everyone and pass the baton to Anwar mid-way through the term (say 2.5 years)? Or, he might not. With Dr M, it's hard to tell.

If it's the former, people can forgive him for doing this a bit late. I think people might be willing to even accept three years instead of two, although this is stretching it a bit. But if he doesn't handover to Anwar after three years, he would have burned all the goodwill he's accumulated for the good deed he did in helping to kick out Najib. There is only so much goodwill to be spent.

In fact, he's been spending that goodwill like it's going out of style, what with the secretive meeting with the Opposition (which happens to be supporting the notion of him staying on as PM for the full term). If anything, the fact that the Opposition wants him for the full term should tell you that it's a bad idea.

I'll be the first to say that after the surprise victory in GE14, PH needed a person like Dr M to be the PM to guide the transition. He is the most experienced politician in the country and he was the steady hand that assured everyone that things will not be chaotic.

Things are stable and there's about a year left for him to tidy up whatever things he needs to get done before he is scheduled to step down. Dr M should not overstay his welcome.

He should not make the mistake of thinking people voted for PH because they wanted him to become the PM. They wanted Anwar but they needed him to make it happen because Anwar was in jail at the time. So, they settled for Dr M as an interim PM. That's what the people voted for.

Dr M would do well to remember that and start planning for the transition instead of playing mind games with Anwar and the electorate.