BY: CHA HUI YEE

There is a saying that there is only room for one person at the top. In the bid to be the prime ministerial candidate recently Malaysia’s opposition unfortunately fielded two people as their choice, Anwar Ibrahim and Shafie Apdal.

Perikatan Nasional and Barisan Nasional were solidly behind Ismail Sabri. They knew the game better than the opposition politicians and the votes were coming for them in a cohesive manner unlike the see-saw motion for Anwar and Shafie.

The fact is Anwar should have given way to the fresh choice of Shafie Apdal as Anwar had failed on a few occasions in the past to secure the PM’s job. This is because His Majesty the YDPA and his brother rulers view Anwar with disdain for reasons best known to themselves.

Even when Anwar claimed to have the number of MPs supporting him with Statutory Declarations, the Council of Malay Rulers were not convinced and preferred others like Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri as prime ministers.

Anwar is known now as the ‘nearly man’, having nearly become prime minister on a number of occasions but being denied and since he stood no chance, the opposition MPs should have fronted Shafie Apdal as their PM’s choice.

Shafie would have been able to muster support and East Malaysia could have had their first Malaysian Prime Minister but alas it was not to be. A costly tactical mistake that is a bitter lesson learnt and the opposition is now left with their golden opportunity missed.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE

** The views expressed on this opinion is of the writer and not the publisher