The most epic political 'performance'

EPIC would be an appropriate word to describe Malaysia's political journey in 2022.

Although Malaysia began to be hit by a political “tsunami” in 2018 with the fall of Umno and 22 months later, Pakatan Harapan (PH) was overthrown through the Sheraton Move and followed by the fall of the “Abah” government in 2021, but 2022 was a different political arena performance.

The fact was that 2022 witnessed how Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) will be the main factors driving the country's political dynamics.

The party created interesting events, including the change of the Johor Chief Minister candidate after the state election at the last minute, the amendment of the anti-party hopping law was gazetted and the 15th General Election (GE15) on Nov 19.

Even with the worse fall in history in GE15, BN still became the main “actor” until the rise of the new “new hero” in Putrajaya who was Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Even so, the “greatest political performance” in 2022 should certainly start with Datuk Seri Najib Razak, known as Bossku, becoming the first former Prime Minister in the country to be imprisoned.

This follows the Federal Court’s decision on Aug 23 upholding his conviction and 12 year jail sentence and RM210 million fine for misappropriating RM42 million of funds belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Today, Jan 1, 2023, marks Najib's 131st day behind bars.

FATE OF THE OTAI LEADERS

Another greatest political performance in the country was the end of the political journey of some “otai” leaders as the people's representatives.

Even so, the way it ended was different for each leader.

DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang, 81, chose to end his 60-year career by announcing his retirement and that he will no longer contest in GE15.

However, two other leaders who have been MPs for the longest time “retired” tragically.

This was because not only Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad, 97, failed to defend the Langkawi seat, it was even more painful when he lost terribly to Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) candidate until he lost his deposit.

Interestingly, another legendary BN leader, Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah or Ku Li, also received the same fate as Dr Mahathir.

Ku Li was shown the way out of Parliament in the Gua Musang seat, also by the PN candidate, even though the he has been based in Gua Musang since 1986.

THE MOST EPIC

The epic of Malaysia's greatest political show for 2022 was none other than Anwar's success in ending the “PM (Prime Minister) Tepi” label given to him.

Anwar started a reform movement and established the Parti Keadilan Nasional on April 4, 1999, and tried to overthrow the government through elections and several efforts but failed to become Prime Minister.

However, in 2022, the story was different. It was the most glorious year for Anwar, a leader who had been sent to prison twice and was now steering Putrajaya at the peak of his career.

What was even more epic was the story was, of course, Anwar becoming PM due to the support of the party that once brought him down, namely Umno and BN.

The result of GE15, which saw no party obtain a simple majority, saw the formation of a coalition government involving PH, BN, GPS, GRS, Warisan and PBM.

Even so, let's not forget that even though PN failed in Putrajaya, the party made an extraordinary surprise in GE15 when it recovered from its defeat in the previous state elections.

Pas, which previously was just a party to liven up the general election by winning just several seats, was now making their move forward in the Dewan Rakyat with 43 MPs.

DRAMATIC POLITICS

Meanwhile, Ilham Centre executive director Hisommudin Bakar admitted that the national politics in 2022 was theatrical, especially involving top leaders because some have fallen and some have risen to the top.

"2022 is like the year of the end of the political life of former two-time PM, Dr Mahathir, who lost his deposit while contesting in GE15, despite successfully establishing a new party bloc called Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA)," said Hisommudin.

Looking at the projection of the current political landscape, Hisommudin expects the political temperature of Malaysia in 2023 will remain hot even after GE15 saw a coalition government referred to as the Malaysian unity government formed.

He said this follows Umno-BN, which was the kingmaker of the new government formation, still needed to go through the party selection process in less than five months, in addition to having to prove the synergy strength of the new election alliance between the coalition with PH being intact to face the state elections in six states in 2023.

"I think the six state elections in Selangor, Penang, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan will be a testimony to whether the national political temperature will remain hot after GE15 or not.

"If the synergy of the BN-PH alliance to face PN is not intact, I am sure that the situation will have implications for the country's political stability, including the position of this new government.

"In addition, I also see the impact of the Umno election as very significant in determining whether Umno-BN will remain the most dynamic political actor after GE15 or the catalyst for the political stability of the Anwar-led government," he said.