PETALING JAYA: The failure or refusal to see the warning signs is as much a factor as personal ambition that brings down governments.
Public policy analyst Dr Lim Teck Ghee pointed out that in the case of Malaysia, the warning signs were already there, but those in power missed them.
He said it was clear that “professed principles, party loyalties and ethical considerations” had been pushed aside “in exchange for promised power”.
The problem, he said, was that the key players would not admit it.
Lim was giving his views on the factors that had brought down the PH government last week and the subsequent appointment of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the new prime minister.
He said while questions have been raised over Muhyiddin’s rise to power, it has now offered him the opportunity to make a positive impact by steering the nation away from the “failed state” status that the country seemed to be heading for.
“No politician involved in this sordid political ‘wayang’ has emerged with any credit,” he added.
Political commentator Prof Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi of UCSI University also singled out personal ambition as a major cause of the fall of the PH government.
“Mahathir, Anwar and Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali are all fighting over power, and it is very sad to see this in our politics,” he said.
He agreed with Lim’s contention that Mahathir and Anwar’s failure to heed the warning signs was a factor, but added that Azmin also played a role.
He noted that ties between Azmin and Anwar had soured significantly over the past two years and it came to a head when a gay sex video implicating Azmin went viral last year.
“Being a very ambitious man, Azmin would have been worried about Anwar taking power,” he said.
Insiders have previously claimed that the entire brouhaha was the result of an attempt by several PH leaders “forcing” Mahathir at a PH presidential council meeting into agreeing to fix a date for his departure.
Azmin was Anwar’s protege and deputy president of PKR until he was sacked last week.
However, Tajudin believes that Muhyiddin was above reproach in the entire episode.
“I don’t believe that he had jumped ship solely out of the prospect of being appointed prime minister,” he said.
“He never mentioned anything about wanting to be prime minister when PH was formed. He even spoke out against the then Barisan Nasional government over the 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd) issue, knowing his position as deputy prime minister then was at risk,” he added.
