Paklah's shambolic cabinet

While Prime Minister himself was putting a brave face last two nights defending the recent ISA's hullabaloo, the de facto Law Minister yesterday appeared adamant to go against the tide and positioned himself on a head-on collision with his boss. Caught in his own brand of populist politics, he has no other alternatives but to break rank and defend his reform agendas which by the way are not taking off as it should. Zaid Ibrahim has this to say;

“I will seek a meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to have a frank discussion about this issue to seek his views as soon as possible,” he told reporters.

“I know I am breaking rank here ... I am prepared to face the consequences. If I am told to resign, I will do so.

"I am not a trouble maker and I don't want to cause any trouble for the Prime Minister, but I have my principles and will always be a vocal critic of the use of the ISA.

"I joined his administration to make changes and everybody knows, I am also for a more open form of media reporting," he added.

Read more Wrong use of ISA: De facto law minister (update 3)

Of course there are those lauding the action taken. One example here is Zahid Hamidi. He was obviously talking with his foot instead of his brain in order to justify the infamous draconian law. In overly-glorifying the action taken, he was reported to have said the followings;

Sehubungan itu, beliau turut berpendapat agar polis memperluaskan lagi penahanan individu yang menyentuh isu sensitif yang mencabar Perlembagaan Persekutuan mengikut ISA dan tidak mengehadkan kepada tiga orang sahaja.

"Tidak wajar hanya dikenakan (akta ISA) ke atas tiga orang sahaja kerana yang timbulkan perkara sensitif ini ramai lagi termasuk pengendali blog.

"Polis telah beri amaran sebelum ini, tetapi tidak diendahkan dan apabila tindakan diambil, maka mereka mengatakan kononnya bahawa polis dan kerajaan zalim. Mereka yang menzalimi diri sendiri kerana tidak mengendahkan amaran,’’ katanya.

Read more Tahanan ISA zalimi diri sendiri-Ahmad Zahid Hamidi

Disorderly and chaotic, that's how I would summed up the current state of the Malaysian Cabinet and its members under Abdullah Badawi. The cabinet members are breaking ranks like nobody's business. And for those coming to his support, they are not doing him any favours either, not with the invidious remark and uncanny justification coming from their mouth, case in point are the above Ministers in the PM Department.

To top that up, Paklah's topsy-turvy cabinet and its members have the penchant for cheap publicity where they are more inclined towards quarelling in the newspapers instead of doing it in the comfort of their own weekly cabinet meetings. No thrill I guess doing it the conventional way. Don't expect "elegant silence" from these boys, no sir-ee! That's only for the biggest kahuna of them all, the big boss himself. For the boys its all about fame, no matter how cheap!

It is obvious that Abdullah does not have any more grip on the members of his own cabinet. His writ does not run in his own shambolic government for quite some time now and the situation has worsen by the day since March 8, 2008.

Any other Prime Minister on his right mind would call it quit without giving it much thought, but not our dear Paklah. He is more than willing to soldier on. To any reasonable man on the street, Paklah's never-say-die attitude and uncalled-for tenacity (in clinging on to power) despite the precarious position he's in, can be mind boggling to say the least.

Is he really that out-of-touch to reality? Is he that detached? No, I don't think so. He is pretty well aware of everything that's been going on. What we are witnessing maybe just a symptom of a normal sickness of most politicians called "obsess with power syndrome", that's all.