The British TV series Yes, Minister and later Yes, Prime Minister was a satire which made fun of the operations of government.
"Yes Minister is a satirical British sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn that was first transmitted by BBC Television between 1980 and 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988. In total there were 38 episodes, of which all but one lasted half an hour. Several episodes were adapted for BBC Radio, and a stage play was produced in 2010, the latter leading to a new television series on UKTV Gold in 2013."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes_Minister
However, in Malaysia we have daily entertainment in real life, so who needs to watch such sitcoms as Yes, Minister or Yes, Prime Minister.
Still, an enterprising movie producer could have actors re-enact the real-life political goings on in a semi-fictional setting with names and identities change and I'm sure it will be an international hit which will bring Malaysia much recognition and revenue. Perhaps it could be called Legislature Idol.
More seriously though, whether or not his own party members manage to oust Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim as Selangor State Chief Minister using the water crisis, seized Bibles and KIDEX (Kinrara-Damansara Expressway) issues as reasons, whether for the Selangor residents' sake or to serve their own agenda, I wonder if they succeed, what will the Selangor State Government under whoever replaces Khalid do about Selangor's water problems, the Bibles, KIDEX, AND ALSO the problems caused by construction of the Petaling Jaya North Sewer.
Anyway, right now, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People's Justice Party) is too embroiled in its own infighting to attend to anything else, whilst its Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) coalition allies are in a quandry as how to help resolve the infighting within PKR which can result in the coalition losing in the next general elections, which however is quite a few years off.
However, if its rival Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition takes Selangor back in the next general elections, they will quite probably bulldoze KIDEX through. though as a sweetener, they most probably will resolve the water crisis and perhaps the the Bible issue too (i.e. return the seized Malay language Bibles which use the word "Allah" for God to the Bible Society of Malaysia).
Also, PKR Strategy Director Rafizi Ramli who promised the Say No To KIDEX group that he was against KIDEX and support our case, now looks like he will soon be sidelined within his party.
"PETALING JAYA: PKR’s whistleblower and chief strategist Rafizi Ramli is not likely to make it to the inner circle of the party."
Read more here.
There's also speculation that Khalid may jump ship and join UMNO (United Malays National Organisation), the largest member of the 13-party Barisan Nasional coalition which controls the Federal Government.
All, this is Yes, Prime Minister unfolding before our very eyes in real-time.
So, those opposed to KIDEX are caught between a rock and a hard place.
Whatever happens or whoever wins, we must continue to push for its cancellation.
Below is a Free Malaysia Today article on the current mess within the PKR.
Yours trully
Signed
No2KIDEX
==========================
The Selangor riddle
Roslan Bistamam July 12, 2014
Rumours swirl and confusion reigns, but Anwar is still silent on where he stands regarding Khalid.
This week has been a week of confusion for Selangor, brought on by the many rumours surrounding Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim’s future. Were the rumours “unfounded” in the sense that they were spontaneous by-products of various interpretations of current events, or were they, as Khalid’s people would say, engineered in an exercise of disinformation?
Last weekend there was talk of the national PAS leadership’s meeting with the PAS Selangor leaders to discuss Khalid’s position. Officials did not deny that the meeting took place but said the purpose was to discuss “all sorts” of things.
Then an announcement was made confirming that the position of the Menteri Besar was, in fact, discussed but no consensus was reached. It was further announced that all views would be taken into consideration before a decision on the matter would be made.
Those in the know said the reason no consensus was reached was that PAS was split into three groups—one that wanted Khalid’s removal, another that did not and a third that would agree to Khalid’s removal only if a PAS man replaced him.
Members of the media then rushed to the Sultan of Selangor’s palace to await Khalid’s arrival for an audience he was supposed to have with the Sultan. It was rumoured he would be tendering his resignation that day and that PAS’s Iskandar Samad would also turn up to be sworn in as the new Menteri Besar.
Both stories were denied and neither of it happened. In fact, Khalid was at the time chairing a meeting and Iskandar said he was not taking over as Menteri Besar.
Then a meeting of state legislators was called, apparently by Azmin Ali, and all but two of the PAS assembly persons boycotted it. Then it was announced that PAS did not actually boycott the meeting. The party’s representatives just did not see why they needed to turn up since it was Azmin who called for the meeting, something he had never done before.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak praised Khalid for his “cooperation” with the federal government. Is this the kiss of death? Now PKR can say that it is confirmed that Khalid is working for Barisan Nasional and not for Pakatan Rakyat and that would explain his decisions regarding the water and toll highway issues.
The PKR party election is in an absolute mess. But that is only because the tussle between the Khalid faction and the Azmin faction has been “taken to the ground”. The party election is a war between these two factions and it is a violent war, with fisticuffs, bloodshed and broken heads.
It has come to the stage where it is impossible for the two factions to coexist in PKR. One has to go if there ever is going to be peace in the party again. And if this is not settled by the winner taking all and the loser losing all, the next general election will see them battling and sabotaging each other, to the detriment of Pakatan Rakyat and at the risk of losing Selangor to Barisan Nasional.
PAS and DAP knows this. And that is why they want this war resolved. But they do not know how to help bring about a resolution other than by supporting the Azmin faction in kicking out Khalid.
But will that solve the problem? Probably not, if they cannot get the Sultan to agree to the “peace formula”. If the Sultan rejects the formula, then Pakatan Rakyat would just be creating a second crisis rather than solving the first crisis. And then it would be lumbered with two problems to solve.
Most important of all, though, is Anwar’s silence on the matter. Is it to be interpreted as approval? After all, as they say, silence can mean consent. Is Anwar actually the hidden hand behind all this turmoil? Those in Khalid’s camp say that is exactly the case.
Roslan Bistamam is a FMT columnist
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