By Tay Tian Yan, Sin Chew Daily

I believe many of the ministers attending today's cabinet meeting will be very fearful.

Several days ago, following Maszlee Malik's revelation that he was “told to resign”, there has been insider tips that at least two other cabinet ministers have been summoned by PM Mahathir, in a more courteous way to "remind" them and in a more crude way "to give them a piece of his mind".

It looks like this shock bomb from Maszlee is not going to be the last.

Mahathir wants all cabinet ministers to show their report cards for last year, and he is set to do a cabinet reshuffle very soon, meaning things have not come to a close yet. More shock waves can be expected in very near future.

At this juncture, there is no more necessity to speculate on the reason for Maszlee's resignation nor who will take his place.

What deserve more of our attention will be:

1. What is the message the PM is trying to convey?

2. What else is he going to do during his term?

Firstly, the fact that Maszlee was made to resign underscores the fact that this has nothing to do with a person's actual performance. Mahathir can replace anyone any time he wants.

Maszlee has not conspicuously contravened Mahathir's will or policies. He was in fact the PM's favourite boy once and possibly a future heir in PPBM. But then the still has to go when the boss says so.

Maszlee says he now understands Hang Tuah's feelings, hinting at his sworn loyalty to Mahathir as Hang Tuah to Sultan Mansur Shah.

The thing is, when Sultan Mansur Shah banished Hang Tuah, he never bothered about the feelings of Hang Tuah.

Nor did Mahathir.

Similarly, if Mahathir wants any minister to leave, there is usually no room for negotiation, be it a minister from PPBM or elsewhere, because the appointment of ministers is the prime minister's prerogative.

Secondly, Mahathir's term could be much longer than we have thought.

If Mahathir has set a much shorter term for himself, there is perhaps no need for the removal of Maszlee in the first place.

A leader who will not be in office for too long will try just to keep the status quo as he is only an interim leader. Otherwise, he must have some long-term plans in mind such that any subordinate not following his instructions will be told to leave.
Taking out Maszlee means Mahathir is not prepared to leave his office any time soon.

The so-called "after APEC" is just an open-end timetable. Mahathir will never set a date for himself and become a lame-duck PM.

As for his tenure, while Anwar and others may do their own calculations, they have no choice but to accept the reality, or to fight him. To fight him means to start a civil war within the ruling coalition.

Thirdly, the real Mahathir Era is just about to begin.

Any super leader will make the best of the limited time he still has to reinforce his deployment as if he is stepping hard at the accelerator of a 1,000HP supercar.

Mahathir 2.0 began with GE14 when he was leading a brand new team that needed some fine-tuning and adjustments.

One year and eight months later, he is now comfortably seated at the driver's seat, having every single part of the engine and the circuit in front of him at his finger tips.

He can floor the accelerator right now and charge ahead in full force. The question is, no one knows which route he is about to take.

If he is to adopt the same Mahathir 1.0 runway and force through all his policies in the posture of a political strongman, especially his unique economic and educational philosophies, he is poised to intensify social as well as internal conflicts within PH.

With PH's approval rating plunging to an all-time low and many believing the government is heading in the wrong direction, sure enough Mahathir will attempt to reverse this unfavourable situation, in his own way.

But, is everyone else prepared for it once he presses the button?