Written By : R.Gunasekaran
PETALING JAYA: Klang MP Charles Santiago has accused Muhyiddin Yassin of playing a game of charades in his talk of reforms, saying this has been shown in his failure to insist on the agenda in Perikatan Nasional’s statement of support for Ismail Sabri Yaakob for the prime minister’s post.
In the statement, Muhyiddin said no one facing trial should be in the new Cabinet. Referring to this, Santiago said it was clear that the former prime minister wanted only to prevent those who brought him down from being appointed to ministerial posts.
“If he was really committed to reforms, he would have set the reforms he proposed in his final days in power as conditions for PN’s support,” Santiago said.
“After all, PN commands 50 MPs and Umno, therefore, needs its support for Ismail to become prime minister.”
Muhyiddin made an overture to all parties on Aug 13, proposing a framework for bipartisan political cooperation. He suggested several reforms, including equal annual allocations for all MPs regardless of the party each belonged to.
He also proposed tabling a bill to prevent party hopping as well as an amendment to the Federal Constitution to limit the tenure of the prime minister to two terms.
The opposition and Umno rebuffed him and this ultimately led to his resignation.
Some have criticised the opposition for not taking advantage of the situation, but Santiago, a member of DAP, told FMT he believed the opposition made the right move.
He acknowledged that the proposals were attractive but said Muhyiddin’s failure to demonstrate a commitment to reforms since his Pakatan Harapan days meant the opposition had little reason to trust he would make good on his promises.
“Even his own allies in Umno and PAS were critical of his proposals and, according to some reports, they were even taken by surprise. Essentially, it was a reform agenda that was dead on arrival.”
Santiago said the government under Muhyiddin, which had emergency powers for six months, not only failed to deal with the health and economic crises but also stifled democracy and violated civil rights “as reported in Human Rights Watch’s 2020 annual report”.
