pic by BERNAMA

WHILE supporters of Perikatan Nasional (PN) may rejoice at the success of getting the 2021 budget passed in Parliament, the crux of the matter remains that the 111 votes it secured, which in effect is a single vote majority in the current 220-strong Parliament, attests to how fragile the government is.

It is Pyrrhic, and what lies beneath and ahead threatens what little semblance of good governance and propriety the nation had been built off.

Firstly, there is the Opposition’s overweening claim of having strong, formidable and convincing numbers, though yet to be unsubstantiated by the prime minister (PM)-in-waiting, that will continue to hang over the government like the Sword of Damocles.

Such a situation is only to be expected in a parliamentary democracy, especially when the Opposition was ousted mid-term through a backdoor deal and not through an election.

More sinister is the threat from within.

While the one-vote majority will continue to provide hope to the Opposition that it only needs a few more MPs to cross over its side to push the PN government over the edge, its inability to prove its numbers repeatedly has somewhat taken away the sting.

Instead, the slimmer the margin of majority the government has, the more precious MPs from the government side becomes, and now that they are more aware of the lacklustre threat from the Opposition, nothing is stopping the government MPs, especially the backbenchers, from making more demands, individually.

Of course, it can be argued that such is the trademark of the backdoor government as the PM’s “scheme of things” involved trading of positions, rewards and benefits.

That was then. The excitement of the then Opposition MPs to be back as part of the government and being promised positions and such were enough to keep them at bay.

And the fear of the possibilities that the Opposition may turn the table is too real for comfort.

Of late, the kleptocrats have started flexing their muscles and they are not very subtle about it.

The Perak Move — which saw the toppling of the mentri besar who is the PM’s deputy in their Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia — would have been taken as a tight slap in the face of any dignified political leader.

But without the numbers and the kleptocrats knowing that the PM and his men are at their mercy, they push the limits and throw the insults nonchalantly.

And they get away with it. They got their man to take over and there was nothing the PM nor his chorus line could do other than utter some frivolous protest, if not sheepish, and incoherent justification.

The PM and his supporters may refuse to admit it, but the recent discharge not amounting to acquittal decision preferred for the bribery case, involving Putrajaya MP Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, to the general populace reeked with self-serving and self-preservation political compromise.

How else would the public view the decision when the person who had been accused of giving the bribe was admitted to the crime, punished and fined, while the person receiving it has been given the discharge.

It is of course a new addition to a series of earlier high-profile cases when decisions along the same veins were made and they stank of similar political considerations.

These have, without doubt, contributed further to the fear that all the kleptocrats would eventually, by hook or by crook, be absolved of their crimes, are not as baseless and dismissed flippantly by elites helming the nation.

But that is not the only threat to governance. As it is, there have been reports that political appointees to government-linked companies are also flexing their muscles, demanding the technocrats of these entities to toe the lines the politicians drew.

Again, there are two reasons to such behaviours — firstly, the possibility that the government will fall because of the slimmest of majority pushes them to feel the sense of urgency — making hay while the sun shines.

Secondly, while the majority is still extra thin, the ability to bargain is extra powerful and it should be exercised, again, with haste.

All these are occurring before the eyes of the nation, but there seems to be nothing that could be done, unless the Opposition is serious about a political reset as suggested by two of the three party leaders in Pakatan Harapan.

But merely for suggesting a political reset, obviously following the disappointing no-show of the convincing and formidable numbers by the Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, a scheduled presidential meeting between the leaders were called off, at least that was what reported by a pro-Opposition media.

The problems besieging the Opposition leaders are also there for all to see — one who insist that he should be the PM and having the ability to come up with the numbers despite falling short for the umpteenth time, and another two who are perceived to be quite spineless to insist on a reset that is actually long overdue.

If the government of the day is content with the tail wagging it, the Opposition spends time chasing their own tails.

When confronted and exposed of their flaws and deficiency, some from the Opposition become defensive and blame others for the failure of their chosen leader to recoup the government.

Then, it starts all over again — falling over each other to prop up a godsend leader who, when incapable of taking them to the promised land, fault a not so godsend leader for it.

Indeed, a mind-numbing affair, realised on a bewildering trip to nowhere.

Shamsul Akmar is the editor of The Malaysian Reserve.