KUALA LUMPUR – Umno stalwart Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad has fired back a salvo at Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s statement that the former is “bodoh” (stupid) for challenging him to collapse the Umno-led Johor administration.
Speaking to The Vibes, the veteran politician said he threw down the gauntlet to Muhyiddin, seeing how the former prime minister had painted Umno in a bad light over the Melaka election, which was triggered due to the party’s internal power struggle.
“My issue was actually about the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government. In the case of Melaka, what (Datuk Seri) Idris Haron was trying to do was to give the state back to the PH government. And surely, Muhyiddin would not want this to happen.”
He said it is not a good thing to dissolve the Melaka assembly and force the rakyat into an election.
“His campaign approach as the ‘caring’ Abah (father) can be called patronising through showing sympathy to the people of Melaka.
“But I know he surely doesn’t want to see PH back in power (in the state) even though they have an ex-Umno chief minister like Idris Haron because in my view, the PH government can’t perform at the federal level, Johor, or Melaka,” said Shahrir.
He conceded that the PH-led Penang and Selangor governments are performing well, but noted that the only reason they excel is due to the fact that DAP and PKR are the dominant parties in both states respectively.
Fragile nature of political balance
Based on his observation in states such as Putrajaya where the balance of power is not biased towards any particular party in the coalition, the democratic process of consulting each other before coming to any decision is their administrative downfall.
Shahrir said his intention was not to challenge Muhyiddin to trigger the collapse of the Johor government, but to give a reminder to the latter over the fragile nature of the political balance and that Muhyiddin should be more sensitive to it before attacking Umno for votes in Melaka.
The former federal minister then schooled Muhyiddin on electoral processes, and how it is not as easy as “pushing a button” to collapse any administration.
If you want to overthrow a government, you can’t just press a button and everything falls down. We are a country based on a constitution and in it, we have the power of the constitutional rulers or the heads of state. It’s not as simple as pressing a button. Whether I am ‘bodoh’ or not, it’s a matter of the processes and systems that we have. So, we have to follow the process.”
Unlike Muhyiddin, the Umno strongman did not resort to name-calling, even though he was labelled “stupid” by the Pagoh MP.
Instead, he gently chastised his former party comrade over the latter’s lack of emotional control and how it sets a bad example to the public.
“I feel really sorry for him because he wants to be like a father and tries to push the image of ‘Abah’.
“But if you’re the dad, you can’t just lash out and lose control of your emotions.
“If you want to be the ‘Abah’, your children are the rakyat and you must put on your best behaviour to be a father.
“Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) whole election campaign in Melaka is just on Abah and how much Abah loves Melaka. They are continuing with this theme.
“I pity him. He doesn’t realise what he said. And if he is really sympathetic over the plight of Melaka because there’s an election, why is he (and PN) contesting?” he chuckled. – The Vibes, November 15, 2021
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