Having sought and failed to seize dictatorial control of the country by an illegal proclamation of a bogus State of Emergency without the consent of parliament, there is really only one honourable step for ‘PM8’.

Political careers almost never end on a high note and following the rejection of the Agong and Council of Rulers of his rash and disastrous plan, purely to avoid the defeat of his minority government, it was widely circulated that Muhyiddin had rightly concluded he must go.

As he called his world-beating enormous Cabinet together in his fortunately vast home in Damansara Heights (clad in the most luxurious Italian marble) news started to escape that he intended to hand in his resignation to the Agong on Monday morning. It was the right thing to do.

However, his crowd of 70 ministers (his coalition of chiefs has few Indians) were naturally distraught. For many the past few months have been their first taste of office and they have combined those perks in numerous cases with lucrative public positions on top.

There were tears, they begged Muhyiddin to stay. He might leave with dignity and already plainly has his wealth, but what about them?

Azmin Ali is the one of their number who will never accept to give up his grasp on power – arguably the most unpopular politician in Malaysia (since one side hates him for his treachery and the other for his arrogance and the people for his greed). And it is Azmin Ali who always has a strategy to push on forward even if the game seems up.

Plan B, as unveiled to the supporters who have been fighting with growing success to change Muhyiddin’s sensible decision, is already being rolled out into the public space.

The Royal rebuff is being re-packaged into a Royal show of confidence in this Royally appointed government – and anyone who dares to show disrespect for this interpretation of what Muhyiddin has described as the Royal Decree today will be savaged for ‘defying the Agong’, ‘playing politics in a pandemic’ and ‘destabilising the legitimate government appointed by the King’.

“The Cabinet will further discuss the Seri Paduka Baginda Tuanku’s decree. The priority of the Cabinet and the government at this time is to protect citizens from the Covid-19 disease,” he said in a brief three-paragraph statement just about half an hour from midnight.

Muhyiddin also thanked the Agong for the King’s trust in the government under his leadership, and said he welcomed the King’s advice for the government’s stability to not be disturbed or threatened.” [Malay Mail]

So, the strategy has been laid out, although ‘PM8’ is plainly still mulling the wisdom of this approach.

If Azmin has his way the Government elected by the People will be treated as though it was the Government appointed by the King. The duty of Parliamentarians will be to obey the alleged ‘advice’ of the King and not to oppose the minority government in any way, even though it consists of a ragtag bag of rivalling interests demanding daily bribes for their support.

To do the job the Parliament is there to do, namely to hold the government accountable and to make sure that government represents the majority vote, is to be treated as ‘causing division in a pandemic’, ‘going against the will of the Agong’, ‘politicking’ and so forth.

Already the whips are being sent out to coral backbenchers across the political parties and tell them that their duty is to act like rubber stamps and obedient puppets as allegedly requested by the King.

Everyone knows who has caused the present instability in Malaysia by deserting their political parties in order to seize power and who has spent the past months of the pandemic relentlessly politicking to build a power base for an unelected backdoor government that never held a solid majority.

However, the truth and shame with never deter these power-grabbing obsessives and they will never cease to argue that their criminal abuse of power is justified – indeed sanctified by royal consent.

Under such circumstances it is the absolute duty of Parliament to do its job, just as the rulers did their job this weekend. MPs must restrain the rebels and grafters who have sought to drive a coach and horses through Malaysia’s liberties and laws. They must stand up to such nonsense, call a vote of confidence and establish a legitimate majority, not bend to false arguments about Moo’s ‘right to rule’.