By Peter Sibon
KUCHING, June 6: Both Sarawak and Sabah will be kingmakers if both Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) win a nearly identical share of seats in Peninsular Malaysia if a snap election is held.
In pointing this out, political analyst Assoc Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi of University of Malaya believed that a snap general election was necessary to address the criticism against the current PN government which has been described by the opposition as a ‘backdoor’ government.
“However, I believe that both Sarawak and Sabah will play the role of kingmakers in forming a new government if the results in Peninsular Malaysia is narrow between PN and PH,” said Awang Azman when contacted by DayakDaily today.
Awang Azman also stressed that both PN and PH seemed to have equal chances to win if a snap election is held despite the fact that Muafakat Nasional, which consisted of Umno and Pas will play the race and religion cards in Peninsular Malaysia.
Additionally, he also hoped that if a snap general election is necessitated to solve the current political impasse, then the Sarawak state election too must be held to save costs.
When asked when Sarawak should hold its election, the Kuching-born academician said it should be held by October if the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) is lifted. If it is still enforced, however, he said it should be held in the first quarter of next year.
Awang Azman was commenting on mounting rumours and speculations that a snap election is in the air due to the continuous political impasse in Putrajaya between current Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, twice former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and PH chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“Snap election is one of the solutions to address the people’s mandate and the criticism of the present ‘backdoor‘ federal government in the context of the country’s democratic practice.
“But this does not mean that the country’s political problems can be fully resolved. This is because if the snap general election results are as narrow as they are today, the political situation will continue. And many political bargaining and party hopping will continue to take place,” he stressed.—DayakDaily
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