The DAP Central Executive Committee decision last night to reaffirm its commitment to Pakatan Rakyat as the embodiment of the hopes and aspirations of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion and region, for a new Malaysia where there is freedom, justice, democracy, integrity and human dignity had been a great disappointment and shock to UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders who had expected to see the demise of Pakatan Rakyat last night.
Pakatan Rakyat is undoubtedly facing its greatest crisis in its seven-year history as a result of the political conspiracies of plotters who use the bait of UG (Unity Government of UMNO and PAS) and hudud implementation in Kelantan to destabilise, divide and destroy PR.
What the UMNO/BN conspirators never expected was the unintended consequences of such a plot, as it has also brought UMNO/Barisan Nasional coalition to the brink of disintegration or of being totally discredited even if the shell of the coalition is maintained.
This is best illustrated by the great and prolonged “labour pains” of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to declare the stand of UMNO/BN on the private member’s bill of the PAS President and MP for Marang, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.
Najib was supposed to make clear the official UMN/BN stand last Friday, but five days have come and gone, and there are no signs that Najib is out of his “labour pains”.
The initial delay in Najib’s announcement was probably influenced by the hope that the DAP CEC on Monday night would announce the demise of Pakatan Rakyat, but when this did not eventuate, Najib’s “labour pains” have worsened, with UMNO Ministers declaring that UMNO Ministers support the UMNO Kelantan State Assemblymen voting in support of Kelantan PAS Syariah Criminal Code 2015 while the 13 other Barisan Nasional component parties are reported to have urged Najib to stay true and loyal to Barisan Nasional (and previously Alliance) founding principles that hudud laws are unconstitutional and not suitable for a plural society like Malaysia.
It suddenly dawned on Najib that UMNO/BN’s support for PAS President’s private member’s bill on hudud implementation in Kelantan is a double-edged sword for it would not only destroy Pakatan Rakyat, it would at the same time destroy Barisan Nasional!
If this come about, with both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat destroyed by the same C4 explosive of UMNO support for Hadi’s private member’s bill in Parliament, then a new political scenario which is post-BN and post-PR has arisen.
It is in such a new political scenario that I had suggested two days ago that the time may have come for a new “Save Malaysia” coalition comprising MPs from both insides of the political divide as well as both sides of the South China Sea, Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, to defend constitutionalism and rule of law with a new Prime Minister and a new Malaysian Government.
I believe UMNO MPs would not be monolithic in supporting Hadi’s private member’s bill. One UMNO MP who had declared his opposition to Hadi’s private member’s bill is the PAC Chairman and UMNO for Pulai, Nur Jazlan Mohamad.
The statement by former Deputy Prime Minister and former UMNO Deputy President Tun Musa Hitam that UMNO could “self-destruct” as UMNO had always taken the position that hudud is not suitable for a multi-religious and multi-racial country is clear signal that it is not just one UMNO MP, Nur Jazlan who would not be able to support Hadi’s private member’s bill, but many other UMNO MPs as well.
After all, the first three Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein had made it very clear that the Malaysian constitution would not permit the implementation of hudud laws.
This is why I said that if Najib wields the double-edged sword and announces that UMNO/BN supports Hadi’s private member’s bill, and the two coalitions of BN and PR are destroyed, then it is time for MPs from both sides of the political divide as well as both sides of the South China Sea to take a stand to “Save Malaysia” to defend constitutionalism by coming together in a new coalition – with MPs presently from both BN (including UMNO) and PR.
If there are sufficient numbers in such a new coalition exceeding a simple majority of the 222-seat Parliament, then it will also involve establishing a new government coalition and a new Prime Minister in both post-BN and post-PR scenario.
Who will then be the Prime Minister? Clearly, Najib will not be the Prime Minister. The new PM can be from Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak or Sabah – can be a man or a woman.
After the five-day “labour pains” of the Prime Minister over declaring the UMNO/BN stand on Hadi’s private member’s bill, Najib may try to take the easy way out and find some excuse not to declare any stand on Hadi’s private member’s bill.
But this will in effect be a major change of policy of UMNO/BN as until now, the UMNO/BN coalition had never altered from the position that hudud law is against the Malaysian Constitution and not suitable for a multi-racial, multi-religious country.
Najib’s refusal and inability to declare such core constitutional principle of nation building which had been a bedrock principle of UMN/BN all these decades since Merdeka in 1957 and Malaysia in 1963 will be a major policy change by itself.
If Najib continues to suffer from “labour pains” and finds it impossible to declare any stand on Hadi’s private member’s bill, then Malaysians must dare to think of the unthinkable of a new government coalition and a new Prime Minister even before the 14th General Election to “Save Malaysia”, protect constitutionalism, rule of law and entrench good governance.