Media Statement by Member of Parliament for Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on 22 October 2020:

Why did Zahid capitulate  so fast and so completely after 30 days of Malaysian Game of Thrones?

The past week confirmed what I said last Thursday that Malaysia was in the midst of an unprecedented political tornado with plots, sub-plots, counter-plots and counter-sub-plots emerging from the woodworks over the shape and form of the government of Malaysia – as the backdoor Muhyiddin government which emerged from the Sheraton Move conspiracy lacked the legitimacy, capability and resources to be an effective government.

But suddenly, with the statement by the UMNO President, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s yesterday reaffirming UMNO’s support for Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Perikatan Nasional government, Malaysia’s Game of Thrones seemed to have ground to a halt. 

Compare Zahid’s statement on Sept 23 that many UMNO and BN MPs had voiced support for PKR President, Anwar Ibrahim to form a new government and that he respected their position to his statement yesterday calling for a “political ceasefire” so that tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic impact on the people can be prioritised.

Why has Zahid capitulated so fast and so completely after 30 days of Malaysian Game of Thrones where for the first time, Malaysians saw the most byzantine conspiracy of plots, counter-plots, sub-plots and counter-sub-plots?

And on a day when there was “light at the end of the tunnel” after four days of bad news on the Covid-19 pandemic front with the daily increase of Covid-19 infections above the 800 three-digit figure, as yesterday reported an increase of 732 Covid-19 cases which hopefully signalled a downward decline of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia and   averting a four-digit daily increase in Covid-19 cases!

It may be no coincidence that Zahid’s statement was issued almost at the same time as the announcement of the NFA (no further action) decision of the Attorney-General’s chambers over the violation of the Covid-19 quarantine SOP by the PAS Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali on his return from a Covid-19 hotspot country, Turkey, on July 7.

May be the UMNO leadership has found, to its shock, that it could find no support from PAS in the Game of Thrones, and that if the Game of Thrones comes to a crunch, it can neither expect PAS to come on board nor an united UMNO parliamentary bloc to blindly support the decision of Zahid and Najib Razak.

Or will the byzantine plots, counterplots, sub-plots and counter-sub-plots now only burrow deeper underground?

Lim Kit Siang,
Member of Parliament for Iskandar Puteri.