Brace yourselves. This is gonna be a long entry as there’s a lot to unpack here.

The story in one line is this: Pakatan Harapan is dead, and if PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad gets his way, there’ll soon be a new bunch of fellows – comprising reps from Bersatu, PKR, Umno, PAS, MIC, MCA, Parti Warisan Sabah, and Gabungan Parti Sarawak – setting up shop in Putrajaya.

It’s far from certain at this point just how many MPs from the so-called new coalition Mahathir has on his side, but some reports claim it’s at least 130, which means the old man would be able to ditch Pakatan and lead the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat as boss of the still officially unchristened (and unholy) pact.

Pakatan and current allies Warisan and UPKO have 139 seats in the Dewan right now. However, any exiting (of Mahathir’s Bersatu, Warisan and/or the PKR MPs aligned to its deputy president Azmin Ali) will certainly tip the scales against the present ruling coalition. 

If you’re interested in the numbers game, you can check out the various permutations here. But the long and short of it is Anwar Ibrahim said it best when he remarked on Sunday night that there’d been a betrayal, plain and simple, in utter defiance of agreements and the mandate handed to Pakatan in the 14th general election.

Let’s face it too – there’s a fair bit of karma at play here. Those of you old enough to remember may want to cast your minds back to 2008 when Anwar tried to trigger the fall of the government by getting 30 BN MPs to defect to his side. It’s essentially the same thing now, with one crucial difference – it’s succeeding where Anwar failed. But it was wrong then and it’s wrong now. 

Anyways, to rewind a bit, this particular circus started Sunday morning when news of a bunch unexpected party meetings began making headlines. At first, of course, few thought much of the rumours of an impending coup. Nevertheless, it soon became apparent that not only were Bersatu’s top guns meeting, but so too were PAS and Umno bigwigs and the PKR fellas aligned to Azmin.

Certain leaders at the various meetings had claimed they were just normal get-togethers. However, soon after the respective meetings ended, reports emerged that a number of leaders – reported to be Home Minister and Bersatu prez Muhyiddin Yassin, Umno boss Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, GPS president and Sarawak CM Abang Johari Openg, Warisan’s Shafie Apdal, PAS No. 1 Hadi Awang and Azmin – had made their way to Istana Negara to try and convince Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah that they had the numbers to oust Pakatan and take over the running of Malaysia.

Thing is, no announcement to that effect emerged from the Istana, or from the Sheraton hotel in Petaling Jaya later in the evening where 130+ MPs, apparently aligned to Maddey, met. However, what we did get was confirmation of sorts, courtesy of Umno sec-gen Annuar Musa and MIC president SA Vignewswaran, that Pakatan is no more, Azmin has left PKR, and Umno will “very likely” be part of a new coalition headed by PM Maddey. 

Najib Razak is apparently one of the 130+ MPs who’re supporting Mahathir. There’re conditions konon, but the real story is that the once sworn enemies now appear to be cool with working together. Politics eh?
 

Now, if you think that all these maneuverings seem dishonest, deceitful, and a mockery of the democratic process, you’re right because they damn well are. The rakyat, the facts show, junked parties like Umno and PAS in the last GE. So, as far as we’re concerned, they have no business coming back into the picture through the backdoor. If they win power through an election, fine. But this is just wrong. 

Some may argue that the MPs stil have individual mandates and therefore changing parties essentially doesn’t mean they don’t still have the mandate from their constituency – but let’s face it. How many voters do you think voted on the basis of individual MPs vs the party and ideals they represented? Switching parties midstream just proves once again that it’s power and not responsibility at the top of their minds.

What we’d really, really wanna know though is how the hell did it ever get to this stage when the waters seemed calm less than two days earlier?

In the wee hours of Saturday, Mahathir at a press conference following the much-publicised Pakatan presidential council meet had said that he’d been given the go-ahead by his colleagues to decide on an appropriate time to relinquish power. And that would be only after the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in November. The PM had added that the agreement was pretty clear, and he’d have total say on the matter. 

Yes, a few Anwar supporters appeared less than pleased and there were even stories that discussions at Friday’s meet had been extremely heated. Still, the general feeling was that the decision to let Mads decide his own exit was in the best interest of the coalition and the country.

So what exactly happened between then and Sunday morn that compelled Mahathir to sell out Pakatan and hitch his cart to other horses?!?!  And how long exactly has Mahathir been planning this? You don’t engineer these kinds of things overnight. Did he EVER plan to hand power over to Anwar?

If – or rather, when – this new government comes into power, here are some things to watch out for:
1) PKR will be decimated – Azmin’s departure will trigger an exodus of his supporters. But better for the cancer within to be excised rather than fester, we say.

2) DAP will be in big trouble too. They’ve been public enemy number one for Umno and PAS, and if they’re out of power, it’s gonna be interesting to see how they cope with that. 

3) With Umno, PAS, Bersatu and a large element of PKR in one boat, expect MCA and MIC to become mere window dressing as non-Bumi support really isn’t necessary to anymore. What does this mean? Well, if you’re a minority, prepare to become a political non-entity.

4) And what about all those trials against Najib Razak, Rosmah Mansor, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, etc? Don’t be surprised if they magically go away – the same way you shouldn’t be surprised if people like AG Tommy Thomas and MACC supremo Latheefa Koya are also removed from their positions. (Btw, Dear Najib – we’re sorry we called you Jibby, the Jibster, etc. Please don’t throw us in jail. BTL wuvs you, we truly do)

Incidentally, Anwar, who called an emergency meeting with leaders of DAP and Amanah late Sunday night, is set to meet the Agong today. The initial story was that the meeting had been scheduled way in advance. However, considering all that’s gone on, you can be sure it will be anything but ordinary.

But here’s what’s really infuriating. Less than two years ago, Maddey and co were going around the country saying over and over again that Najib was a thief, that Umno and BN were not the same party that fought for independence, that they were the source of all that’s bad in this country. Maddey even made a video of himself shedding these crocodile tears back then. And yesterday, you could see these same jokers – Maddey aside – in Sheraton PJ, smirks plastered all over their faces because they knew they were the cat that ate the canary. 

The same old bunch of people that Mahathir called crooks are the ones he’s crawling into bed with now, and who’ll soon be snuffling in the troughs of power, like swine at a feeding. We should really have pushed for laws to force an election if/when parties/politicians defect from or break the coalition they were in. But hey, guess that’s too late now.