No joy on September 16th, and we are left with a wreckage on our hands: a demoralized, dispirited government and loyalty in tatters. Two innocent people locked up for stupid, mysterious crimes without the opportunity to defend themselves. And the country in standstill, waiting for Anwar to do something.
Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, you have said you will make this right. So make it right. Deeds are most important now, not words anymore.
That being said, it appears that Badawi is forcing the King to get involved. I don’t see what other solutions there are, and indeed Tian Chua was reported on Malaysiakini saying that Pakatan will bring the matter up to the King. Fat lot of good that would do, in my opinion. There were appeals, before, to the King to do something about enforcing free and fair elections before March 8th. The King’s reply was something to the effect of looking out for the greater good - in this case, defined by peace and harmony.
No, I’m not holding my breath over the King agreeing to dissolve parliament and calling for snap elections or handing over the reigns of power to Anwar Ibrahim. Barring the possibility that the King may have a sudden change of heart, all that is left now is for Anwar to convince defectors to stand and be counted. It will probably be up to defectors to decide if they will be able to avoid retribution from UMNO and Barisan Nasional if they come forth.
If the crossovers don’t happen, if the change of government doesn’t come about, what are the consequences? I think it’s pretty simple to paint the picture: Barisan Nasional will continue depriving Pakatan states of funds needed to run the state and for projects and the like. Plans to be implemented by the Pakatan state governments will fail.
Barisan will harp on Pakatan failures, and things could look very different come the next general elections. People will no doubt remember that the devil they knew came to town on a wagonload of cash. I mean, think about it: when the current Selangor Menteri Besar couldn’t do a thing about the sudden increase in parking fares shortly after he came into office, what do you expect him to do in the next 5 years or so?
In the meantime, UMNO would have gotten its act together, and they will continue to perpetuate the same kinds of policies which we have been living with for the past 51 years. Call the opposition members of parliament names if you’d want to, but the cost of Anwar’s failure to change government is going to be high.