QUE sera sera! What will be will be.
The wait is over. Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, member of parliament for Pagoh and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president, will be sworn in today as the eighth prime minister of Malaysia.
This was announced by Comptroller of the Royal Household Datuk Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin at Istana Negara yesterday. A statement to this effect was issued to the media at 4.30pm, as the nation fed on bits and pieces of news, rumours, hearsay and speculation on who will be our new prime minister.
Muhyiddin, the son of a religious master from Johor, was deputy prime minister when Datuk Seri Najib Razak was prime minister.
Before the 14th General Election, he was sacked by Najib for exposing the 1Malaysia Development Bhd fiasco. Current chief minister of Sabah, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, was also sacked for the same reason.
Both were out in the cold, but not for long. They returned to politics in style, and re-entered the administration at the federal and state level.
Muhyiddin joined Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to form Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia while Shafie formed Parti Warisan Sabah.
Bersatu teamed up with PKR, DAP and Amanah to defeat Barisan Nasional in the general election on May 9, 2018 and formed the federal government.
Political pundits have been analysing the situation since the collapse of Pakatan Harapan about a week ago.
Indeed, one week is a long time in politics. But for Muhyiddin, a former Johor menteri besar, waiting was not an issue at all.
Up to yesterday, three candidates were in the running for the prime minister’s post. One must acknowledge the role and wisdom of Yang Di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah for His Majesty’s untiring effort to find an end to the impasse.
Congratulations are in order.
The political tussle (read struggle) for the post of prime minister triggered everyone’s imagination and turned every Ali, Ah Chong and Muthu into political pundits in their own right. They each had theories of who would be sworn in as the eighth prime minister.
While all eyes are on the man of the moment, Muhyiddin, political operators are trying to gauge the reaction of Dr Mahathir and PKR chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Questions are raised whether Muhyiddin would pick Umno leaders for his cabinet. This will not be easy, considering a number of them are on trial for corruption.
Given the intense power struggle, manoeuvres and counter-manoeuvres in the last week or so, will the appointment of the new prime minister calm things down, enabling us to focus on building the nation?
Muhyiddin needs to instil confidence in the government and quickly demonstrate that he has the courage to dig deep into his reserves to bring stability and cohesion in the administration.
He has had quite a tutelage actually. Much is expected of him. It looks like it’s time for Muhyiddin to come out of everyone’s shadow and be his own man.
The writer is a former NST group editor. His first column appeared on Aug 27, 1995, as ‘Kurang Manis’
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times