By Lim Sue Goan, Sin Chew Daily

Tun Mahathir said he would work with Anwar Ibrahim once again, but Malaysian voters would hardly believe in the old man again.

During the 2018 general elections, many voters indeed believed that Mahathir had turned over a new leaf, and were ready to place their hopes on him and Pakatan Harapan.

However, after PH took over Putrajaya, Mahathir blatantly ignored the PH election manifesto and embraced racism, attending the Malay dignity congress, extending Lynas' operating license, and allowing the Seni Khat issue to tear up the Malaysian society.

U-turns were constantly made and against the backdrop of elevated racist and religious sentiments, Malaysians felt completely disenchanted and the coalition's approval rating plunged to a historical low.

Mahathir got enraged when PH component parties demanded that he give a specific handover date. He tried to form a "grand unity government" with BN, PAS and GPS reps through Azmin Ali so that he could free himself from the bondage of PH agendas and continue to be PM for as long as he wished.

Unfortunately he lost his PM seat to Muhyiddin Yassin.

Mahathir was the person who caused PH to lose the federal administration in betrayal of voters' mandate. He accused Muhyiddin of betraying him, and blamed Anwar for being impatient to become PM, without even the slightest intent of looking into his own problems.

This painful part of the nation's history has disheartened many a voter doing their best to vote on May 9, 2018. Many have tried to put all this behind them during the past several weeks fighting the coronavirus outbreak.

As the country's most senior and experienced political leader, Tun Mahathir should know how hard he has hurt the feelings of his supporters.

Before the 2018 elections, Mahathir took the initiative to reconcile with Anwar, but today, many of his supporters have abandoned him and he could only secure at most the support of four MPs from his own PPBM.

It is therefore believed that he takes the initiative again this time to hold out an olive branch to Anwar in hope of regaining his lost support.

PH would be a big fool if it allows Mahathir to become the prime ministerial candidate once again simply because Mahathir will never change and will never do anything positive for national and democratic reforms.

While Anwar indeed has lofty political aspirations, he lacks a firm leadership and competency in running the government, not to mention his failure in resolving factional conflicts within his own party culminating in the PH administration's downfall.

The Mahathir-Anwar team will no longer mean anything to most people. It is time for them to back off, alongside other senior leaders in the likes of Wan Azizah, Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng, Mat Sabu and Salahuddin, to give way to new generation leaders such as Nurul Izzah, Syed Saddiq and Anthony Loke so as to carry on with PH's reform agenda.

PH will only deliver itself out of the gloom of the "Sheraton coup" if its senior leaders would bow out in grace.

If PH manages to get Muhyiddin to step down through a vote of no confidence in the Parliament, there is still hope for the coalition to make a meaningful comeback to Putrajaya if it outdoes Perikatan Nasional in getting the most qualified leaders and not just the numbers.

PN is only a loose political alliance hurriedly put together to run the country without much concord, political program or governance philosophy. Muhyiddin is now scurrying to firm up the support of PN reps by handing out lucrative government and GLC posts.

More and more Umno MPs have been appointed GLC top guns, including vice president Mahdzir Khalid as Tenaga chairman and Besut MP Idris Jusoh as Felda chairman.

Political appointees taking up senior positions in GLCs has already given rise to a whole lot of problems including misappropriation of funds, corruption, breach of trust, etc. Unfortunately, for the sake of politics, Muhyiddin seems to have overlooked past lessons.

A GLC chairman draws a monthly salary of about RM70,000, good enough to keep these people loyal to the PN government. However, Muhyiddin must also take care of other parties such as PAS, PPBM and GPS.

The coronavirus outbreak has already dealt a severe blow on the national economy and we simply do not have ample resources to satisfy all the unsatiable politicians.

The same thing happens also in Johor, Melaka and Perak, and political instability could ensue any time.

Given the current bleak economic outlook, the PN government should run the country properly to defuse this momentous crisis. Dissident voices will surface within the PN alliance if the economy is not going to get any better soon.

Even as Malaysians in general are still taking the brunt of the coronavirus and economic downturn, our politicians continue to engage in their power play to bag maximal political benefits.