GE 13 : Prime Minister Anwar or Hadi? It Might Not Be Your Choice

Here is a perverse fact about a possible Pakatan Rakyat Government: Voters could bring it to power but have no say about who ends up as Prime Minister. So look forward to "hudud for all" when Hadi arrives a Seri Perdana.
It's partly down the vagaries of the Westminster system but even more so due to the vagaries of Pakatan Rakyat, which has utterly failed to unite behind Anwar's posturing leadership. Even the most diehard Pakatan supporters know this to be true.
For those who have missed the evolution of this damaging uncertainty, it began last November at the PAS Muktamar where there were rousing calls for Hadi to be PM. Did he then stand up, say how flattered he was, but publicly endorse Anwar's leadership? Of course he didn't. "I welcome being elected as the prime minister," he said.
Since then the leadership issue has smouldered with the Pakatan leadership dismissing the Hadi campaign, while DAP endorses Anwar and reminds us that PAS will never get the numbers to make their dream come true. This means DAP, a party contesting 50 federal seats, is talking down the aspirations of PAS, a party contesting 73 seats at GE13.
If Pakatan Rakyat is serious about governing Malaysia it would, in recent weeks, have at least cooked up a sham solution to the leadership crisis for the sake of fooling voters into believing it is united behind Anwar. But so utterly self-serving and factious are PKR-DAP-PAS that they can't even tell a lie in unison.
At the start of April Hadi addressed a crowd in Shah Alam where he refused to rule himself out of the top job and refused to endorse Anwar.
"I would not say more on this, we should be ensuring the victory of all our candidates first," he said, no doubt certain the most candidates "ensured victory" belong to PAS.
Anwar, of course, has failed to assert his authority at every turn. "No problem" he said when first asked about how he feels about PM Hadi and he has done little to end the saga since.
Even the Prime Minister, a politician who focuses on the issues, not the personalities, said last month: "Now, in this 13th general election, the crux of the matter is whether the rakyat places any trust in Anwar, Hadi Awang, or me as the leader of the government." A three-horse race then.
Last year Australian Academic Professor Clive Kessler, who has focussed on Malaysia for half century, was asked about the prospects of a Pakatan government.
"Within a week of getting the numbers and setting up the government they would be at one another's throats," he said.
It's not very academic language is it? But it perfectly sums up the risk of voting for Anwar, or Hadi.