Friday, September 12, 2008

Pak Lah surprised by Muhyiddin's call to quit earlier

Sigh.

Pak Lah still cannot properly answer impromptu questions. Yesterday, in response to another impromptu question, Pak Lah said that he was surprised with Muhyiddin’s call to hasten the power transition.

I was not surprised.

May be Pak Lah can never cleverly interpret the subtle hints given by his fellow party members since the dismal election results. (Note: Pak Lah may maintain that it was not a DISMAL result, as he was quoted as saying that, in other countries, such results would be termed as a landslide victory).

Firstly, Pak Lah ignored the calls for a thorough post-mortem on the election results. Should not he be surprised that a lot of people were unhappy with the election results?

Pak Lah’s supporters have also been vocal in criticising those people who asked the PM to take responsibility in respect the dismal results. Mahathir, Ku Li and Mukhriz were vocal in asking Pak Lah to take responsibility. Pak Lah again ignored these calls. Instead, he engineered a pact with Najib for power transition in 2010. Should not he be surprised that his fellow party members were taken aback with the rather long transition plan?

Ghafur and Anifah were among those who declined to be appointed as Pak Lah’s cabinet members. Should not he be surprised that these people were unhappy with his leadership?

Anwar made a successful comeback with a convincing win in Permatang Pauh, just nearby Pak Lah’s constituency of Kepala Batas in Penang. Should not he be surprised that even his fellow state brethrens rejected his leadership?

Ahmad Ismail made a well publicised remark on the Chinese during the by-election. As a result, MCA severed their ties with Bukit Bendera’s UMNO. Gerakan, on the other hand, severed their ties with Penang UMNO. Penang UMNO is headed by Pak Lah. Should he be surprised that even other BN component parties reject his leadership?

One thing that I noticed is that Pak Lah will not react immediately on critical matters unless it has something to do with him. You can criticise UMNO. You can criticise BN. You can criticise other leaders in UMNO or BN. You can criticise and undermine the Malays. You can talk big and create rumours of new government. You can threaten to quit BN. You can do all these things, but never mention Pak Lah or PM as part of your statement. If you do, then you will get immediate reaction from him. If not, Pak Lah will take a while (and wait for input from his troop of advisers) to comment on the matter.

I bet that Pak Lah will say that he is surprised when some BN parliamentarians start to defect before the end of this month. But I will not be surprised if Pak Lah insisted on clinging to power, even with the defections.

Now, to avoid any more surprises on him, Pak Lah wants all talks in respect of the power transition be stopped. Expect his clowns to support the call and start demonising Muhyiddin.

What a solution. Neither clever nor wise.

Sigh.

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