There is only one issue that voters must consider in the upcoming state elections in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Penang, Selangor and Negri Sembilan next month — which parties can form a coalition government that is truly representative of the majority without excluding the minorities?

Although they are state elections, the outcome will be an endorsement or rejection of the federal unity government led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. These six state elections are extremely significant because it is the only opportunity available to the people now to prove whether Anwar’s government has a majority.

The only other avenue to prove a majority when no party emerges with a majority is a no-confidence vote in Parliament which Anwar faced and won but only because the minority parties had their hands tied by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which demanded that they do not vote against him as prime minister.

Directed by the king and coerced by the MOU, Pakatan Harapan (PH), Gabungan Parti Sarawak, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), and a few other smaller parties gave Anwar the majority support of two-thirds of the Members of Parliament (MPs) in Parliament, thus enabling him to become prime minister.

However, these parties that now form Anwar’s unity government do not represent the majority of the people; they represent minority groups. In other words, Anwar’s mandate comes from minorities and those who helped put him in power. Not having the support of the majority, Anwar can not represent the majority and therefore does not have the mandate to govern on behalf of the majority.

That is the point the voters in the state elections must seriously consider. The incumbent Anwar government is an anomaly in democracy as it goes against the fundamental principle of democracy — rule elected by a majority.

The state elections next month will give voters a chance to correct this error. It is very likely that if the same people came out to vote as in the general elections (GE15) last November, the status quo will remain.

But, if those who didn’t vote in GE15 came out in full force the outcome will be different! They will be backed by the increasing number of voters disenchanted by Anwar and jointly it will be the clear voice of the majority!

The voters must realise that from Day 1, Anwar has made decisions that benefitted those who put him in power rather than the majority. He included two candidates who were defeated in parliamentary elections in his Cabinet, namely Minister of Investment, Trade & Industry Tengku Zafrul Aziz and Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution; he supported Umno’s efforts to leave the top two positions uncontested and made Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is facing numerous criminal charges in court, as Deputy Prime Minister without a blight of conscience!

The court cases involving Zahid, Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Anwar himself are no longer in the news except for those involving DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng. Is this how a prime minister supports the due process of law?

Anwar has abandoned the reform agenda on which he won support. He has revived the cancelled High-Speed Rail (HSR) project raising questions as to who would benefit from it, the people or already rich individuals and corporations?

No doubt Anwar has signed off Felda’s debts but the initiative to cancel the debts came from Muhyiddin Yassin’s term as prime minister. Is he now seeking credit for it to help his party and allies in the state elections? Or, is this another ploy similar to the actions taken by his predecessors to put cash in the hands of Felda settlers and civil servants to win elections?

And just this week, PAS’ Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Nor was arrested in the stealth of night at 3am and charged under the Seditions Act for making statements involving the Selangor Sultan.

In all of the above, was Anwar making decisions for himself and the minorities or the majority?

Now, it’s a foregone conclusion that Kedah will go to Perikatan Nasional (PN) of which PAS is a member. Kelantan and Terengganu will also go to PN.

In Penang and, particularly, in Selangor and Negri Sembilan, if the voter turnout especially among the Malays is high, it will make a difference in the outcome of the results.

The voters must know if they want a government that represents the majority or not and vote accordingly.