Political stability is also an absolute precondition to woo and retain foreign investments, spearhead economic development, boost the income levels of Malaysians and weed out corruption.

PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli said on Tuesday that to ensure the smooth operation of the unity government comprising PH, BN and parties from Sabah and Sarawak, various parties and political coalitions will sign an agreement next week

The purpose of this agreement is to avert a possible plot by PN to rope in elected reps from the unity government to achieve their ultimate motive of toppling the new government.

As a matter of fact, what the rakyat want now is for all the 28 ministries in the new government to work in unison for the good of the nation while the PN coalition, being in the opposition, should play its role as such.

Now that the election is over and we have a new prime minister and cabinet, we must accept the legitimacy of the unity government and let the new government take the nation forward.

We are very sure no Malaysians would want to see a repeat of the infamous Sheraton Move and as such, it is of utmost importance for us to ensure the stability of the unity government, which is made up of different parties and coalitions.

For sure there are some elected reps in these parties or coalitions who might hold dissident views, and this makes the signing of the cooperation agreement all the more essential.

Rafizi, who is also the economy minister in the new cabinet, said the agreement would spell out guidelines on how to manage differences that might arise among the coalitions so that they are clearly defined and use the correct mechanism to manage them.

Perhaps we can explain it this way: the agreement is to set out the guidelines to promote consistent stand and loyalty among the coalitions that form the unity government.

Rafizi said under this agreement, individual parties must ensure that their representatives vote in favour of the unity government’s policies, and anyone going against the vote will automatically lose his position as MP under the anti-hopping law.

Under the Constitution (Amendment) (No.3) Bill 2022 taking effect from October 5 this year, “A member of Party A who is a member of the House of Representatives shall cease to be a member of that House if having been elected to the House of Representatives as a member of a political party, he resigns as a member of that party, or ceases to be a member of that party.”

PM Anwar is seeking to table a motion of confidence when the parliament opens on December 19 not because he is overconfident of himself, but because some of the “dissidents” within individual parties may not vote against him in order to keep their MP positions intact, unless the entire party revolts against the PM, which is extremely unlikely given the fact the prime minister and all cabinet ministers have already been sworn in before the King.

There are two major principles in the unity government’s agreement of cooperation:

Firstly, to form a cohesive government. The unity government is made up of different parties and coalitions with their own divergent ideologies and advocacies. Such ideologies need to be integrated into a cohesive force (or central thought) to bind the new government together.

Such a central thought can then be harnessed to draw up the master policy in running the country as well as key projects, allowing the 28 ministries and the departments under their jurisdiction to set out their respective policies, executive strategies, budgets, KPIs, etc. based on the consensus achieved.

In view of this, the unity government is tasked with the mission of integrating the views from all participating parties and draw up an explicit set of governing guidelines.

Once the big direction is set, individual departments will then be able to discharge their duties in a united setting.

Secondly, insistence on political stability. Nothing comes more important in a joint government comprising different political parties and coalitions than “stability”.

The government will only be able to effectively implement major mid- to long-term development policies, key construction projects which will remarkably boost the people’s living standard such as the KL-Singapore high speed rail project and flood mitigation projects, or enact any major laws such as the sunshine law against corruption, open tendering for public procurement, etc. – if there is political stability.

Sure enough political stability is also an absolute precondition to woo and retain foreign investments, spearhead economic development, boost the income levels of Malaysians and weed out corruption.