Suicide in the making

It would appear that the Malaysia government is doing all the wrong things to keep Anwar Ibrahim from grabbing power. Today is the self-imposed September 16 deadline when Anwar is supposed to replace the incumbent government by garnering enough defections from the ruling party to form a simple majority of MPs in Parliament. Whether this will happen today remains to be seen.

But whatever the outcome, the incumbent government seem to be giving a leg-up to Anwar towards his goal. First, in a childish move, it sent its MPs to Taiwan on a study trip in an attempt to thwart the deadline for the takeover (it would appear that the government really believes that Anwar can do it). Then in the latest move, it arrested three Malaysians under its draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) laws - one is an opposition MP, Ms Teresa Kok, another a Sin Chew journalists, Ms Tan Hoon Cheng, who by all accounts, was just doing her job, and third, the irascible Raja Petra Kamaruddin who has fired so many poison arrows at high government ministers that it was only a matter of time that he got 'done in'.

This has backfired on the government. Malaysian are even more convinced that they have the wrong people in government. Its erstwhile Law Minister, Zaid Ibrahim, has resigned in protest over the use of the ISA. So now there is even more reason for incumbent BN Ministers and MPs to defect to the Pakatan Rakyat - Anwar's platform for taking over the Malaysia government. Truly, if this happens, a large part of the fault must lie squarely on the incompetence, childishness and wrong-footing of the government - people like Najib Razak and Said Hamid Albar doing more of the dancing.

Amazingly, it would appear that the greatest source of support for Anwar's planned coup is the BN government itself. UMNO itself is now racked by disagreements and infighting, with Muhyiddin Yassin calling for Abdullah Badawi to step down sooner rather than later, and Najib Razak wavering in his support for AB. Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, the Education Minister, is reportedly against the use of ISA on the Sin Chew reporter. It is now clear that Ms Kok's alleged wrong-doing that led to her arrest has been denied by the party whom she had allegedly wronged. It is clear that the Home Ministry acted without much thinking in the ISA arrests. How can such a sloppy government continue to govern?

Is there any hope anymore for the BN? It would appear that Anwar will get his way without him lifting a finger anymore.