In this article, I wish to take issue with some Malaysians who are criticizing Saifuddin Nasution on the SOSMA issue as well as those people who keep using expressions like “how many more U-turns from this government?”

For the life of me, I do not understand why respected academics, respected NGOs like IDEAS or Bersih, and respected former MPs from DAP and PKR are questioning a lot of the decisions of the unity government headed by Anwar Ibrahim.

Don’t these people know already that this government is a unity government, NOT a Harapan government?

It is also not our grandfather’s government nor our father’s government! It is the unity government forged by the YDP Agong in his wisdom and His Majesty helped to put in a PM whom many know is not a robber of billions, is not a bigot who thinks he alone will go to heaven nor a person who is afraid of hard work and not a PM who absents himself from parliament so that his many ministers in the PM department could answer.

Let me deal with the incompetent statement of “how many more U-turns will this government make.”

First of all… what U-turn? Second of all… what manifesto?

When Harapan developed its manifesto and if it came to power then of course-lah we can criticize it politely why U-turn on some things.

But because this government is NOT a Pakatan one alone then why is it so difficult to understand that the Harapan manifesto may no longer be relevant and that it is now subjected to intense debate and dialogue with the different parties in the government block?

So, how can one U-turn when one is now in a new company and the old one does not exist? Itu pun susah nak fahamkah?

Please, don’t hold Anwar to the promises of the PH and trust him to do the best he can to accommodate much that was promised in another fantasy world where Harapan has two-thirds majority.

Now we come to the SOSMA. No decent person likes the SOSMA. It was drafted by those who were never incarcerated without due process of the law as well as without one’s loved one knowing where one was.

I too believe that we should review this law…one day nantilah!

When Anwar became PM of a unity government, I had already expected that the had to tread carefully and with utmost wisdom. He would definitely not be able to wave a magic wand and change anything and everything.

For me, Anwar needs to do a balancing act. For instance, I was surprised that he took out not one but two very senior civil servants!

Wow! In a few days of office, that is a dangerous thing to do. But he balanced it by saying that all ministers would have a salary cut of 20%, himself 100% and that all the money promised by the previous government’s budget for civil servants will be honored.

Of course there are some childish NGOs criticizing the “waste” of money on well fed civil servants, but these people do not understand how to walk on a tightrope with only a balancing bar in your hands. Fikir dululah sebelum bercakap!

My feeling about the SOSMA that Saifuddin said may be interpreted in the following way.

When a politician says he would not be changing a law anytime soon, that may change next month or next year.

The politician may want to find the right timing when the government is strong and have the trust of civil servants and the Malay electorate to keep them safe.

Timing, to a politician, is everything.

To many of us, we want things now, now, now. We think politics is just like our 5G computer download timing, fast and in real time.

Well, political time is not real time and never usually is.

Secondly, it could be that there are arrests of criminals and politicians who might flee the country that are in the pipeline that the minister cannot divulge. So, kita jangan pandai-pandai think we have the same data as the minister.

Thirdly, the minister is just a few days into his job, kasi chance-lah! The home affairs ministry is filled with special branch, deep cover agents and security forces that are sometimes laws unto themselves. One wrong step and one wrong confidant and more than your career will end.

The minister needs to know the lay of the land before he can become the real master.

At the moment, civil servants hold all the cards and they are powerful entities. According to a seasoned politician, from his books that I had read describing his ISA incarceration, many Special Branch officers boasted to him that it was they who determined who the country’s leader should be.

Perhaps they were just boasting but I choose to take their statements seriously.

Thus, in this case, if I were the minister of home affairs, for the next few months I will echo whatever the civil servants would pass to me while I learn about the culture and players in that dangerous ministry.

Malaysians seem to think that we live in Alice in Wonderland Malaysia but truth be told our ministries are living breathing entities of corruption, tribal tensions and leadership struggles all in a not-so-nice ways of working environment.

Not many can helm the PMship of this country except those who already know its corridors, traps and dangers.

Anwar was once at the top and traversed these corridors with Saifuddin by his side. Who are we, simple NGOs or has been MPs, to question those who know the hidden things in our ministries?

Would anyone of us dare to be PM and home minister for a month? I would not and so I know when to keep my peace and not shoot off my mouth in childish impatience.

This is the unity government, sir, not the Harapan government. Kalau yang itu pun tak faham, susahlah ini macam!

(Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at a local university and his writing reflects his own personal opinion entirely.)