I seldom make comments on the Malaysian political scenes or on Malaysian politicians but the favorable comments by many people in the various blogs on Anwar being able to make his boast come true on the 16th of September 2008 is a tall order for me. By calling it the 9/16, some bloggers even equate the date as akin to the awesome event like the 9/11. Anwar's boast of some 30 odd MPs from the government side joining the opposition on 16/09/2008 thus giving the Pakatan Rakyat a majority of one or two seats in Parliament, hence forming the government, is takbur i.e. boasting to the exclusion of divine intervention.
For Anwar to form the government is highly improbable. Firstly, there is no indication that some MPs are talking about defecting, not even from Sabah or Sarawak on which states that Anwar is banking on for MPs to cross the floor, although you hear some dissatisfaction from Gerakan, but this party has limited representation in Parliament. One or two or even at the most 5 MPs may cross the floor.
Even if Anwar gets his defection, would the PM of Malaysia simply relinquish his job, his party, his power only to let Anwar take over the country. PM Abdullah Badawi has already said that he would not allow illegal takeover of the government because he considers it illegal for a change in government caused by MPs defecting to the opposition, which is tantamount to a coup. The PM would simply declare a state of emergency and suspend the constitution just as it once did after the 1969 election.
The country would be back to square one with some of the opposition leaders being incarcerated under the ISA. I foresee this situation should there is damaging defection by the BN MPs, come September 16th 2008 or some other dates before the year is out.
Update: 10/09/2008: Out of the blue, a Malaysian military general, Abdul Aziz Zainal, had made a remark that the military is worried on the political situation of this country. The fact that seditious remarks made by some Malays, the aggressive attitude of non-Malays against constitutional rights of the Malays, the possibility of a parliamentary coup and the determination of DAP to challenge what has been the practise in regard to the use of the Malay language, institutions of higher learning, mosque calls for morning prayers and many other thing, point to an unsatisfactory situation in this country. He has therefore urged the government to be more firm in handling the situation to prevent the probability of turmoil.
When I showed the article in MM to my uncle, to the best of his knowledge, my uncle commented that in the last 50 odd years, no military personnel has ever made such a remark. The Malaysian military, true to the traditions of the British military, has never interfered with the politics of its country. Are what the general said harbingers of things to come ?
