Pasir Salak MP (Umno) Tajuddin Abdul Rahman was sacked as Prasarana Malaysia Bhd chairman following a morning press conference after a collision involving two LRT trains on the night of May 24 in which more than 200 were injured, some of them critically. At the press conference, he flippantly referred to the accident as “two trains kissing”. He was fired immediately.

Ultimately, it is the government of the day which is responsible for the heads of government-linked companies (GLCs) and in this case, to most peoples’ relief, the Prihatin Nasional (PN) coalition in government acted swiftly and decisively. Questions, however, remain as to whether the finance minister acted according to the constitution.

Those are similar questions we ask about the legitimacy of the PN leadership in the seat of government. The way PN seized power, introduced emergency and suspended Parliament and the state assemblies, demand close scrutiny as to whether they followed the spirit and intent of the federal constitution. Constitutional “irregularities” are greater offences than an uncouth village idiot’s crass insensitivity and callous indifference to human suffering. Yet, the PN remains in the government seat while Tajuddin has been booted out.

No doubt, held accountable, the government acted to dismiss an errant appointment. But who is the PN leadership accountable to? The king? Apparently no, because the king has stated he has no issue with calling for Parliament but PN head Muhyiddin Yassin has refused to comply. Accountable to the people? Apparently no, because at a press conference last week on the sickeningly rising daily numbers of covid-19 cases and deaths, he simply said on national TV, “Call me stupid PM, but ….. ” and in effect left it to the people to handle the pandemic on their own!

Muhyiddin appeared as if threw up his hands in despair in the face of a health disaster and left it to the people to fend for themselves. Isn’t that an abdication of responsibility? Coming from a caring coalition?

Apparently Muhyiddin is accountable to no one, not even to the constitution. Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad described it aptly when he said that Muhyiddin “was above the federal constitution and all laws”!

Muhyiddin’s inconsistencies — intentional or otherwise — are greater in significance than petty Tajuddin’s thoughtlessness. Yet he continues to remain in government with impunity.

Today’s covid-19 cases crossed the 8,000 mark and registered 8,290 after three days in the 7,000 range. Today’s death tally was 61. The reason for the steeply rising covid-19 figures is largely due to the poor management of the pandemic and Muhyiddin has to assume responsibility for it. If the pandemic was well managed, the figures wouldn’t be rising so quickly and steeply. Look at Singapore’s well-managed pandemic. It recorded 26 new cases yesterday and the total deaths are only 32.

The people who are suffering most are mostly in the rural and semi-rural areas, which is the support base of PN MPs. Vaccination is picking up in the urban areas but vaccine hesitancy is a major issue in the rural areas. Kedah and Kelantan recorded 10,000 who missed their vaccination appointments.

The health, economic and political prospects look so bleak that a PN MP (Umno) Deputy Speaker Azalina Othman has called for a unity government to take over. It’s a very good idea but the issue of the prime minister would still be a problem.

A better idea would be to reconvene Parliament where the unity government can be discussed and agreed upon constitutionally. A unity government would allow for the entire country to be mobilized to fight the covid-19 pandemic.

Muhyiddin needs to realise that opposition parties have a diversity of resources and when summoned for the collective good will yield favourable results. PN’s MCA, MIC, PBS and STAR do not have the majority support of their respective communities. They only have one MP in each party. But, DAP, PKR, Warisan, Amanah and Pejuang have majority support in their constituencies and will be able to wield influence to move the grassroots and economic communities to win support for the vaccination programme and arrest the pandemic.

A unity government will be able to move the masses even under a full-force lockdown, which has been announced today from June 1 to 14.

If Muhyiddin refuses to get the help of Parliament, he will be held responsible for the current trajectory we are on. If an election is held in the future it would be political suicide for him and Bersatu.

If “as prime minister”, he truly cares for this country, he should reconvene Parliament and the state assemblies and facilitate the formation of a unity government in the Dewan Rakyat in order to save the country.