Pandikar can redeem himself by resigning

The Prime Minister may have been offended by the Speaker turning first to Mahathir.

KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia probably no longer commands the trust and confidence of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak after it emerged that he had complained to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on various matters, ventures a political analyst. “The suspicion is that he may have been playing off one against the other.”

“The jury is still out on who’s telling the truth and who’s lying on the matter of Pandikar’s purported resignation as Speaker.”

Mahathir too, said political analyst Shahbudin Hussin in his latest blog posting, would not ever trust Pandikar again since he failed to make good on his intention to quit. “Under the circumstances, the best way for Pandikar to redeem himself would be to tender his resignation once again as Speaker.”

“If Pandikar can complain about little things like the furniture in his office and the toilet facilities, Najib will think that he may perhaps have complained about much bigger issues to Mahathir,” said Shahbudin. “This must make us wonder how his predecessors, Zahir Ismail and Ramli Ngah Talib, can serve so long without any complaints whatsoever.”

The analyst, who has written several political books, noted that Pandikar made much of the fact that Najib did not accept his resignation, indeed didn’t even hold the letter, much less open it. “Instead, Najib wanted to know what the problem was and promised to address his grievances including on transforming Parliament.”

“It was at this point in time, that he decided to continue as Speaker.”

No Speaker, added Shahbudin, had ever placed himself in such an awkward situation. “If not for Mahathir disclosing his resignation, no one would have been any wiser. Even if the issue was not just about furniture and toilet facilities, his image and credibility has been affected.”

Patently, he conceded, it was Pandikar himself who ignited the storm in a teacup when he poured out his heart to Mahathir. “When matters threatened to get out of hand, he belatedly issued a statement after having painted a different version initially, implying that there had been no such resignation as stated by Mahathir.”

Many would say, he pointed out, that Pandikar can be easily persuaded and was not firm enough in his stand. “Najib may now consider him a thorn in the flesh and may have started scouting around for a replacement. He would have rightly felt offended since Pandikar appealed to Mahathir first before seeing Najib.”