Who will be prime minister? – Terence Fernandez

KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Love them or loathe them, one of these five gentlemen will be your prime minister in waiting come the hours and days following polling day on November 19.

Love them or loathe them, one of these gentlemen will form the next government that will serve you for the next five years. Hopefully five years.

When the dust has settled, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong will summon the leader of the party or coalition with the largest number of seats in Parliament to form the government.

And it will be one of the party leaders above – bar Ismail Sabri, who is only a vice-president.

Unless there is a “designated survivor” situation, one can discount Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal or PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang.

Will Zahid be as magnanimous (some say daft) as Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who declined the premiership in 2018, even though PKR had the most number of seats? 

She told the king then that the agreement in Pakatan Harapan (PH) was the promise to the voters that Dr Mahathir would be prime minister should PH win.

If Barisan Nasional were to win and it is Zahid who is invited to the palace, will he also stick to the election campaign promise that Ismail Sabri is the poster boy for prime minister and should be the one heading to Putrajaya?

Many among the electorate are confused – some disillusioned – with going into election mode again as the dust from 2018 has yet to settle.

The events of the last two years took a toll on many – the collapse of a democratically elected government, three prime ministers, and an unprecedented health pandemic that brought with it death, isolation, and poverty.

The fear now among many political parties is not that people will not vote for them. It is that they may not vote at all!

For the first time, there is no clear sign of which group of political parties can form the government.

No one will have an absolute majority, which means the wheeling and dealing will continue into the days post-election.

Be prepared for the person you loathe to be made prime minister by the very people you supported; or the person you love making the cut because he cut a deal with those you loathe.

There is no clear side this time around, although the issues have been consistent since the first general election – elevating the poor, improving the economy, raising the bar on education, providing more job opportunities, expanding the use of the national language, protecting Islam as the religion of the federation protecting the privileges of the Malays, and preserving the constitutional monarchy.

These days, however, integrity and building a corrupt-free nation, and preserving the independence of the judiciary and attorney-general have become the new mantra. 

This mantra however, if adopted and applied pragmatically, could guide or be the solution to the issues mapped out in the earlier paragraph above.

So, going into GE15, if the choice of party is too vague and grey, then perhaps just ask yourself who would you want to be prime minister – Muhyiddin or Ismail Sabri again? Dr Mahathir for a third time?

All of whom have set their respective legacies – briefly or otherwise.

Or would it be Anwar or Zahid? Two former deputy prime ministers who almost made it but have made no secret of their desire to administer this country – the latter purportedly resorting to strong-arm tactics, which even got the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to launch a probe.

With campaigning beginning in earnest today, now would be the best time to ask who you would entrust the future of this country to. Your answer will make it easier for you to decide which way your vote goes. – The Vibes, November 5, 2022