By Tay Tian Yan, Sin Chew Daily

With the LRT crash site now cleared and the trains involved removed, so is former Prasarana chairman Tajuddin Abdul Rahman.

My most direct feelings for this development are:

1. This is an unusually resolved action adopted by a government known to be anything but decisive.

2. At least the rakyat could get some respite from the tremendous stress brought about by the escalating pandemic.

3. A rare occasion when the cognitively divergent Malaysian society finally finds something they have in common.

Casually describing the crash as just a "kiss"as he appeared for the first time in a comical face shield after the tragedy took place more than half a day, has intensely ignited the wrath of the people.

Like the Great Dictator in Charlie Chaplin's movie, Tajuddin's arrogant and at times disgusting look at the press conference was both sickening and hilarious.

The agony of over 200 injured passengers was of little concern to him, and he hardly showed any respect for the members of the press present.

Wasn't Chaplin's dictator took fun in the misfortunes of the other people?

There was an online petition calling for his resignation that garnered the support of over 100,000 people in under 20 hours.

Seeing that things did not look up quite well, Tajuddin's political boss "Bossku" rushed to his defense, claiming that the Prasarana chief would tender an apology and would quit his post along with other Umno leaders in line with the supreme council's decision, when the time comes.

What Bossku, Tajuddin and the rest of Umno's top guns did not foresee was Tajuddin got the axe from finance minister Tengku Zafrul before he got to resign on his own accord.

That was beyond the expectation of Umno and in fact the whole of Malaysia. It is in many people's impression that the PN government is weak and indecisive, trying to please Umno as far as possible for fear the latter will pull its leg.

Sure enough Zafrul's axe was handed to him by PM Muhyiddin with his full consent: taking Tajuddin out is doing more good than harm to the Muhyiddin administration.

First of all, the LRT incident has sparked the people's wrath, and Tajuddin's behavior at the press conference was like pouring oil on fire.

The PN government's best move now is to erect a firewall to keep out the fire.

Moreover, throwing out Tajuddin is a move that many Malaysians will rejoice, and will save the grace of a government fumbling to keep the coronavirus under control and will likely lift the PN government's dismal approval rating a little.

Secondly, the Muhyiddin government is hard pressed by the increasingly popular Bossku in the way it handles the pandemic and economy, and the Tajuddin farce offers a potent weapon to strike back at Bossku.

Tajuddin is not only a Najib confidant but also a powerful general in the forefront of the former PM's defense in the 1MDB scandal as well as his anti-Muhyiddin campaign.

He is an influential man in Umno's decision-making process being in the party's supreme council. As if that is not enough, he is also the party's election director with the power to decide who gets to run in the next election, and thus, someone none in Umno would dare to offend.

When the PN government appointed him as Prasarana chairman, it was done with the motive of winning over Umno's favor, but Tajuddin has more than once threatened to resign from this post.

Whichever way we see it, sacking Tajuddin is definitely a boost to Muhyiddin. Removing an incompetent GLC chairman should be welcome by most people, and on a personal agenda, will deal a definite blow on the defiant Bossku.

Nevertheless, from the perspectives of good governance, firing a GLC chairman is never enough to tackle the political patronage issue.

The thing is, a politician of poor repute should not have been appointed to a government institution or the GLC board in the very first place!