Is it a citizens’ revolt or just a “very strange group of people” of various political stripes getting together without a real purpose?

One foreign commentator of Malaysian politics thinks that what could emerge down the road after the March 4 event is still hazy, perhaps even to the nonagenarian Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. “It is ironic that the man who had crushed the opposition while in power has remade himself in retirement as the de facto leader of what in essence is a citizens’ revolt,” said Yang Razali Kassim.

The senior fellow with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University noted that the so-called citizens’ declaration was to “ensure the independence, credibility, professionalism and integrity of our national institutions”, which, ironically, had been undermined by Dr Mahathir himself while in power.

But, he warned that any misplaced sense of confidence on the part of Umno could backfire.

“It would be foolhardy to take lightly what the 90-year-old warhorse is now doing, which may well lead to big changes in Malaysian politics,” he said.