Musa Hitam: M'sian politics now a joke, no longer about philosophy or ideology
Malaysian politics is no longer about philosophy or ideologies and instead has become a “joke” with a large number of political defectors, said veteran politician Musa Hitam.
The former deputy prime minister said the obsession with politicking never ceased in former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
"These days, no one is leaning towards political philosophy or ideology, none. Instead, everyone is busy with how many 'seats' they have and who is siding with who. People on this side will jump to the other, and that is the only issue.
"From Mahathir to Muhyiddin to Anwar, all of them. In this obsession with politics, even (Women, Family and Community Development Minister) Rina Harun is dragged in," Musa was quoted as saying by Mingguan Malaysia.
The World Islamic Economic Forum chairperson said current politicians are focused only on seats to secure their political livelihoods, to the extent of becoming "political frogs" and adopting money politics as an ideology.
"Malaysia is a country where there are too many political defectors. To the point, it has become a joke, and we label the defectors as frogs. People in the cities or villages, when they see these defected elected representatives, they will call them frogs.
"In the issue of political defections, in my view, it is not about politics or ideology.
"People are saying the money is not in small amounts like in the past. And there will be more incidents as the general election approaches," he added.
On Feb 28, two PKR lawmakers - Julau MP Larry Sng and Tebrau MP Steven Choong - left the party to be independent parliamentarians aligned to Perikatan Nasional, as they submitted their pledge of support to Muhyiddin.
The duo insisted they left not for personal gains but to serve the people, although rumours persist of alleged enticement attempts that targeted PKR elected representatives.
Sekijang MP Natrah Ismail claimed there was an attempt to poach her to support Muhyiddin, an offer which she rejected.
In response, the MACC urged anyone with information on attempts to buy over parliamentarians to lodge a report with the anti-graft agency.
