Bear with us folks. This first segment’s a real doozy.

Within a space of just a couple of days, BN and PAS have made a complete U-turn and decided not to support Dr Mahathir Mohamad. They’re having none of the so-called Perikatan Nasional and instead are calling for snap polls to determine who should be leading us poor sods.

The decision to reverse course was conveyed to the King in a meeting yesterday morning, following news that Maddey wanted to form a unity government that would include the full spectrum of political parties in the country.

We all wonder if just such a unity government could exist. How would some of the parties work together in government, considering some of ’em, well, just can’t. Case in point, PAS and DAP. See, the apparent reason behind the BN-PAS U-turn is that any unity gomen would include DAP. The racist, chauvinistic and bigoted PAS says any government would have to leave out that racist, chauvinistic party (not their words, but used in the past to describe Saudara Lim Guan Eng’s beloved party). The problem is that Maddey’s unity gomen idea will of course include DAP.

Mahathir had apparently proposed the unity government at meetings with political leaders from both sides of the political divide held over the course of the morning. With all sides (Pakatan leaders especially PM-wannabe Anwar Ibrahim, former PKR leaders who quit the party or were sacked, opposition leaders) prior to this throwing their support behind the new interim PM to continue being PM (confused yet?), Mads is likely to be the next PM as well, says DAP man Ong Kian Ming. In fact, he seems to be in an even stronger position, with sources saying Maddey would now have the choice of picking from the best leaders from all political parties (yeah we hear ya… slim pickings), should a unity gomen be installed.

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, meanwhile, has been personally interviewing MPs at the Istana, trying to determine if Maddey has their support. But this may just be a moot point with BN-PAS withdrawing theirs. With no unity gomen, what else is left but to determine whether Pakatan still has the majority, what with the PKR leaders jumping ship and Bersatu leaving the pact?

But was there another reason for BN to join PAS in pulling out support for Mahathir? Former Maddey media communications adviser Kadir Jasin says there would be no room for “kleptocrats and crooks” in any government formed by the 4th-7th-7.5th-and-likely-8th PM. If BN thought Umno leaders like Najib Razak and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (not to mention Rosie Mansor) could get off scot-free from the long arm of the law, just cos they supported Mahathir, then this Kadir Jasin statement would’ve been a slap in their faces.

Bersatu Youth, meanwhile, says it will not work with Umno en bloc, so again Maddey’s dream of a unity gomen will likely not come true. And, Bersih 2.0 says it is for fresh polls as a unity government would not be in the spirit of democracy. We support the call for fresh elections, but that last bit seems a little off-key, considering it is an accepted practice around the world. But who are we to doubt the great defenders of democracy in the country?

But the whole unity government thing doesn’t really need to pan out, if what Amanah communications director Khalid Samad says is true. After the coalition’s presidential council meeting yesterday, he said he was confident Pakatan still holds the simple majority in Parliament and can still form the government.

With 11 PKR MPs having quit or been sacked, and Bersatu out of the coalition, this leaves them with only 102 seats. And that’s with Pakatan-friendly Warisan and UPKO included. You need 112 seats for a simple majority, Khalid, so we really don’t know what superior mathematical skills you have that your simple majority is different from the rest of the country’s. 

What is more likely, YB, is that Mahathir could form a minority government. A minority government is formed when there is no party/coalition with a clear-cut majority in Parliament but one MP (Maddey, who else) who has the support of the majority of his peers. Bersatu and the 11 former PKR MPs may not be in Pakatan anymore, but their support is still with Mahathir. So a minority government may actually be possible. In any case, Khalid has said announcement will be coming out today, so let’s wait and see what happens.

You guys have likely already seen this in some way or form by now, but we need to point it out nevertheless: the big winner after all this seems to be Maddey. The only minister who resigned in the face of all this is the only person now left standing, with the rest of his Cabinet dissolved. In other words, Mahathir now reigns supreme. We live in truly wondrous times, don’t we?

No one seems to be able to predict what the outcome of this all will be. It’s only been a few days since this shitload of nonsense was dumped on us. What remains clear is that this is not going to be solved in a day, what with all the manoeuvring, intrigues and U-turns going on.