YOURSAY | ‘They bit their tongues and sat on their hands because they were revelling in their new positions…’

Bobby0: The three so-called traitors – former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin and former PKR deputy president Azmin Ali – would not have succeeded if there was no direct or indirect help by others.

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has to be partly blamed for not taking full control of his party. He should have sat down with Azmin and sorted out their differences after Anwar was released from prison.

Instead, he went into a political battle with Azmin. He should have instead united the party. Then, this betrayal would not have happened.

DAP, Amanah and PKR should also have known about the whole history of Mahathir before handing over full authority to him.

The moment Anwar won the Port Dickson by-election, he should have taken over the deputy prime minister’s post to keep Mahathir in check and build up his network among the Bersatu politicians.

They are all seasoned politicians - Anwar, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang, and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu. How could they allow themselves to be played out by their own counterparts? Were they blind to all the signs happening around them? Or they just trusted the old man blindly?

They have to share the blame. Even now, some of them still have faith in Mahathir, after all that has happened.

As they say, "nasi sudah jadi bubur" (rice has become porridge). Now Pakatan Harapan and its allies should reorganise. It is not too late as they still hold a good number of seats in Parliament. They have to rally together.

Their hope is in Sabah. Winning the state will put them in a stronger position. Then they should target Sarawak. All is not lost. Perikatan Nasional (PN)’s strength is in the peninsula. Harapan should go all out in the two East Malaysian states if they still want to be a force to be reckoned with.

Otherwise, the three so-called traitors will get away scot-free with their actions.

IndigoTrout2522: A well-written piece by P Gunasegaram. It won’t be surprising if the three traitors were revealed to have schemed and planned the whole thing from the beginning. Recall all those secret meetings that they denied?

Mahathir was given too much credit for the success of Harapan in the 14th general election (GE14). It was overlooked that Harapan was doing very well, beginning with 2008 (GE12) and 2013 (GE13), and culminating with GE14.

Without Mahathir, Harapan would likely be just as successful and furthermore, Bersatu won only 11 MP seats though it was given the most seats to contest.

Being the smallest component party, Mahathir appointed almost every Bersatu MP to be a minister or deputy minister. PKR and DAP, being the largest component parties, were given fewer positions. Azmin was not recommended by his party for ministership but Mahathir just promoted him.

Mahathir was using the other component parties to secure his power and position. Many did not believe he had changed but it appeared that DAP, PKR, and Amanah leaders were overjoyed with the opportunity to be in power that they convinced themselves Mahathir had changed.

It is now proven he had not and the same goes for Muhyiddin and others. Harapan could still be in power without Mahathir but Harapan can now only look forward to reclaiming federal power in the next GE.

My only disagreement with the author is in regards to former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman. Give him a chance to prove himself but the most important lesson is Harapan leaders must never trust Mahathir again.

Meanwhile, they must unite the coalition to regain the trust and confidence of the rakyat. My suspicion is that Harapan has not done much on this. They are maybe still over-confident or arrogant and are out of touch with the rakyat.

Mazilamani: It is not unusual for a family to go through a disastrous scattering when the head of the family goes astray and abandons everyone. Given this, the dependents have to fend for themselves.

This was exactly what happened when Mahathir abandoned the ship. The next head of the party had to do the impossible to save the government instead of allowing an unpopular outsider to hijack the government.

They had to work with new partners that provided them with the numbers - form a safe government first and work on the teething problems later.

We were at the early stages of an epidemic war against Covid-19 that was gradually straggling the country. Someone had to act fast to get a grip of the nation's governance. Muhyiddin happened to be that timely fit.

A longer wait in forming a new government may have led to a disrupted administration or given room to troublemakers to ignite a civil or racial disturbance.

It is my personal opinion that Muhyiddin saved the day and nation from mayhem. If we are unhappy with his leadership, we should wait two years to choose a new leader. Let us not talk about righteous politics now. This is definitely not the time.

For those political leaders dissatisfied with Muhyiddin, it is about time you show the rakyat how you can do things better, unlike the previous government that failed to live up to its promises, claiming they did not expect to win.

The Wakandan: It is interesting that Mahathir's nemeses who caused his downfall were not his traditional opponents (the DAP, Amanah or PKR) but his own men - Bersatu turncoats and Azmin and his gang whom he nurtured. That made sense.

He did not expect it, unlike the others whom he was suspicious of. It is always the enemies within that is more dangerous and how true it was for Mahathir. Perhaps Muhyiddin knew more about him and his weaknesses, which the other did not.

Being from Umno, they knew Mahathir inside in and out. There was not much love lost either. He was never completely perceived as bona fide Malay, the reason why he tried so hard to be one. Once they have enough strength, they ditched him.

YOURSAY | Can Harapan overcome the toxic politics of race and religion?

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