Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

There are many things to be frustrated about with Pakatan Harapan -- not because it's as bad as BN, because it clearly isn't -- but because so much more was expected of it.

For some people, it's bread and butter issues. Prices of goods haven't really dropped, tolls still exist, etc. But for many it's far beyond that.

There doesn't seem to be any urgency in looking into judicial misconduct or the Teoh Beng Hock, Altantunya and Pastor Koh cases.

Repressive laws are still on the books. People are still getting charged with sedition and other laws for "crimes" such as writing something insulting on social media.

Then, you've got these own goals like the khat issue and the Zakir Naik issue. No doubt the introduction of khat was originally a BN idea and it was also BN that gave Naik PR status. But why continue with BN policies?

There's also Lynas and the third National Car. The list goes on.

The core reason why many of these BN-like things are happening is that Dr M is in charge and he doesn't really want to change all that many things. You won't find any interviews he's done where he admitted there was something wrong or rotten about the old system. He blamed it on Najib.

No doubt Najib had made full use of the system to turn Malaysia into a kleptocracy but he was able to do so precisely because of the flaws in the old system. That is why it is so crucial that reforms are done, so that something like this can never happen again. But such reforms won't happen under Dr M.

I think most people would agree that Dr M was a suitable steady hand that the nation needed when there was a change in government after GE14. We were in uncharted territory. A change in government had never happened before in Malaysia's history. Having someone as experienced as Dr M, who ran the country for more than two decades, was very reassuring.

It started off well, with many of his previously fiercest opponents-turned-allies declaring that Dr M had changed, that he believed in consensus building, etc. But little more than a year after taking office, it's very obvious that Dr M is going back to his old ways.

Is there any doubt that if it were entirely up to PKR, DAP and Amanah, that many of those BN-like policies described above would not have happened? These things are happening because the leaders of the other component parties have all decided to not rock the boat, lest Dr M gets really upset and decides to renege on his promise to hand over the reigns of the country to Anwar.

Rather than take that risk, they have decided to play it conservatively and defer to Dr M. This might prove to be the right strategy. Or it might not. With Dr M, it's hard to tell. He hasn't, for example, committed to any specific deadline for handing over the keys of the country to Anwar. And this has fueled speculation that something is up.

Given that the other component parties in PH have decided to adopt the appeasement strategy, the natural question to ask is have they got a Plan B, in case Dr M does not proceed with what has been agreed. What if two years have gone by and there's still no sign of Dr M preparing to leave. Do they then just bear with it for yet another year, since Dr M has said he might stay as long as three years?

And if they do that, do they then insist on a deadline for Year 3 or will they allow him to continue to keep the handover date vague? What if the end of the third year is approaching and there are still no signs of a handover, do they have Plan C?

It's easy to be an armchair quarterback and say the other PH parties should crack down on Dr M now and insist that he does things this way or that way. They've obviously weighed the pros and cons of appeasement and have decided that that was the best way to go. Keep Dr M happy and hope that he will keep to his promise. In the end, Dr M might just do that and their strategy will prove to be right.

With PH parties, the old maxim: "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst" is something they should heed.

Well, they clearly are hoping for the best but are they prepared for the worst? It would only be prudent if they already had Plan B in place (what happens if he doesn't hand over power after two years?) and even Plan C in place (what happens if the end of year three is approaching and still no indication of him stepping down?). To not have Plans B and C in place would be really unwise and even a dereliction of duty.