Pakatan Rakyat and Criticism

I'm writing this with the feeling that my belief that there's an alternative politics in Malaysia might be just an idealistic thinking based on empty hope with no concrete chance of materialising in the near future. That's as optimistic as I can be without being naive. Why the sudden feeling is caused by recent events unfolding in the Pakatan camp that's showing signs that probably there's no "good politics", just bad ones, that Pakatan are just like BN with another name.

Firstly, I will touch on PAS and the developments in Kelantan. The recent resignation of Ariffahmi from kelantan Menteri Besar Incorporated as CEO after criticism on the handling of project Bazar To Guru which cause the state to pay compensation amounting to RM23 Million to a private company showed me that nepotism, cronyism and incompetence are alive and well in Pakatan.

It's to be noted that Ariffahmi is the son-in-law of the Menteri Besar Nik Aziz,( isn't that nepotism)so what's the difference with that of Khairy Jamaludin during Pak Lah's tenure as PM, the opposition did used him to highlight nepotism in the BN camp. Then, there's the cronyism part when someone by the name of Nudin Awang who is said to be a company director which gained from Timber contracts from the state, that he supposedly almost sponsor a Haj trip for Nik Aziz.

Isn't just like the days of Pak Lah where those close to him will benefit economically, so what is Pakatan doing to differentiate themselves from BN, so far from their actions they are showing that they are just like BN.

Then we'll go to DAP and access Lim Guang Eng's stewardship of the state. It's learnt to my dismay that he's chairing the tender board in the state, therefore he will have plenty of say which company receives what projects. Isn't that the same with BN, when the minister or some big guns have a say on which company receives what projects. To make it worst, he's has shown a lack of openness as any criticism will be followed by denial and branding of ''UMNO mentality" and so on.

If I remember correctly that is painfully similar to how UMNO reacts to criticism. Where's the change?

Finally, to PKR, Anuar inability to silence Zukifli is because of his political value to the party was similar to the act of UMNO not taking tough action against Ali Rustam and fielding Isa Samad in the Bangan Pinang by-election. PKR claimed lack of political will on behalf of UMNO to take such action and now, are they going to do the same thing, are they lacking the much needed political will as they seemed to shout reform and reform requires a lot of political will as backlash from those comfortable with the status quo is expected.

So if they are the same with UMNO in their level of political will, can they bring the much needed reform? I doubt it.

In conclusion, all the component parties in Pakatan must buck up or face the possibility of being a '' one term wonder" as Lim Kit Siang puts it. Focus now must be differentiating themselves from BN which requires them to behave differently in a positive manner. They must show the willingness to risk political backlash for the sake of the country not to mention except personal pain especially when it comes to dealing with family and friends in politics.

Only when they can show me that willingness, then I can believe that this is indeed ''Change We Can Believe In" quoting from Obama's campaign slogan. I'm an Optimist, I believe that one day I'll be writing to say that " Yes We Can"( again Obama's slogan), until then, good luck my beloved country.

Purification of PKR

Recently, as a PKR supporter, one cannot help to notice that PKR is in no shape to head the coalition that governs the country. The party seems to be in a state of disarray, confused and losing confidence in the leadership and the party's struggle. Recent outburst by it's MPs like Zukifli Noordin and Zahrain Hashim is prime example of the state PKR is in right now. Rumours have it that later is said to have some MPs to back him in supporting BN so that the BN will regained the 2/3 majority in Parliament allowing them to make constitutional amendments as it pleased.

Based on my personal observation, the main reason for the party current state may be because of the mixed political struggle that the members are carrying out. As we know, PKR mainly consist of UMNO, ABIM( Angkatan belia Islam Malaysia), PRM( Parti Rakyat Malaysia) former members and the liberal/reform minded individuals.

The wide array of political ideologies in PKR can be seen as UMNO beliefs in Malay agenda, ABIM beliefs in an Islamic agenda, PRM beliefs in Socialist agenda and of course the liberals/reformist belief in liberal and reform agenda. So the former members are bringing their former party's struggle inside PKR causing such friction to take place which lead to PKR's current state of disarray causing confusion on what PKR trully stands for.

My suggestion is that PKR purify itself by firstly:

1)Informing all members at all levels about what PKR truly stands for. It's primary objective must be communicated to it's members so the will know where PKR is taking them.
2)The struggle of their former party should be discarded and replaced with that of PKR. Failure to do so will lead to punishment.
3)Candidates that represent the party struggle should be fielded in elections, not the individuals that still carry their former party's ideology.
4)Just like a corporation must have a corporate culture, PKR should strive for one as the party's lack of it is causing cultures from their members former parties to take hold causing PKR to behave like UMNO and the rest, rather than having a distinctive code of behaviour that can be indentifiable and represents the party.
5) New members must be informed of what PKR stands for before admission and trained mentally and emotionally to breath the struggle of PKR.
6)Members who refuse to adhere to the party's struggle should be sidelined or kicked out.


That's the only way PKR can produce leaders that can carry out the party's struggle. Simply saying PKR is for reform is not enough anymore. Reform is such a subjective word. It has many meanings such as reform to a more hardcore malay nationalistic stand, Islamist reform and so on. So elaborating on what reforms PKR is fighting for will be essential for the party as it gives leaders, members and voters a sense of direction by identifying themselves to the party.

However, it's essential that PKR remain a party that beliefs in diversity in thought and action, meaning that despite your ideological leaning being difference from that of PKR, the party will still welcome you and value your input but you must respect the position of PKR as a whole so that PKR will not be heavily bias towards it's struggle to the extent that they become a radical party such as UMNO and their Malay Supremacy struggle.

By weighing in different views and courses of action, PKR will remain a party that strive for moderation despite having an ideology as a guideline to the party's struggle so that it's beliefs, actions and policies can be accepted by all Malaysians regardless of political beliefs and social positions.

Fianlly, I hope that PKR can settle this major problem besetting them so that the confidence of the members and voters not only in PKR but also Pakatan Rakyat can be restored. Only then can PKR talk about genuine reform in a clear cut manner without subjecting themselves to inhibition due to the concern of possible reactions from members and voters as members and voters know what to expect from the party. The call of Reformasi must go on nonetheless, as touted by many PKR and Pakatan Rakyat leaders ''Perjuangan Mesti Diteruskan", and by that I hope that indeed that is the truth.

Everyone Wants To Be a Hero

Since the recent national outburst over the usage of the word ''Allah" for non-Muslims, many opportunistic individuals especially politicians decided to take this golden opportunity to be a hero despite the fact that their action was damaging to the state of security of our nation.

UMNO via one of it's wings decided to host a nationwide protest in mosques and so on to protest this decision, why not, this is the time for the party to show it's core supporter, the Malays,who are mainly Muslims who is the true defender of Islam, not PAS who is working for DAP to undermine Malays and Islam, UMNO is the one, true defender of Malay interests which includes the position of Islam in this country.

Their action was no surprise to me, as they are expected to do so as that is their official stand is that the word ''Allah" can only be use for Muslims as not doing so may cause confusion among Muslims and being a political party that UMNO is, of course they must show how they are willing to fight for their stand.

However what came as a surprise was the spat between PKR Kulim MP Zuklifle Nordin and PAS Shah Alam MP over the issue, more so the action of Zuklifle who went against the party's official stand which the word''Allah'' can be used but must not be misused, not to mention the official stand of Pakatan Rakyat as a whole. He wants to show he is a hero so much that he actually made a police report against his Pakatan comrade despite the many reports already been made by some NGO's, despite the fact that his action went against the coalition common framework policy that strive for unity when it comes to support of such issue.

Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers must strive to be a team player, not only inter-party but at the same time intra-party between it's coalition partners. This was Barisan Nasional strenght. One must remember how with the spirit of give and take, UMNO sat down with MCA and MIC to form this beloved nation of ours despite the political rhetoric such as Ketuanan Melayu and so on.

Therefore it is wise for Pakatan to adopt such practice, although this fact seems obvious to the top leadership to a certain extent, it remains illusive among grassroots members, thus this must be incultivated among the grassroots members so that the cohesiveness of the coalition can be accomplished.

Back to the being a hero part of the equation, the ''heroic" act of some lead to the burning of places of worship in many parts of this country that threatens peace and stability of this nation. The right course of action may not be heroic, but it is the right one that is to remain calm and propagate the use of reason and inclusive debate to achieve a consensus as only by doing that the nation can remain peaceful at the physical and emotional level.

In conclusion, Malaysians must resist the temptation to be a hero. Let the experts decide on the issue as only by doing so can we arrive at the right decision and not the emotional one while rejecting extremist behaviours in any form that can undermine the harmony of the various races in this country so that we can all live peacefully and bury the racial and religious ghost that have been haunting us that is worsening the polarisation of the people of Malaysia so that we can return back to the golden days in terms of race relations pre- May 13. Doing so with no doubt will benefit all of us, irrespective of race and religion. That is the real heroic thing to do.

Malaysian Maverick

Mahathir Mohamad is a maverick indeed, just like the title of Barry Wein's book suggests, the book that was seized by the government reportedly to study the suitability of the books contents. The book in question is The Malaysian Maverick:Mahathir Mohamad in turbulent times. The controversial book claims that among other things, Mahathir worked with American government in allowing them to conduct training in Johore and burned billions of dollars during his tenure as Prime Minister.

My view on this is the same as the Maverick himself, release the book so that it can be made available to the public so that we, the public who worked our buts out earning money that the government conveniently tax us that the book claimed to be mismanaged, be the judge and not those officials in the Home Ministry as it's in the interest of the public too know what happened to their money. Withholding the book won't help, rather it will lead to speculation on the contents of the book by the netizens in the web as can be seen in many blog writings and social networking sites.

This speculation whether true or not can only be dispelled only by the contents of the book be made available and Mahathir himself must be made to answer those allegations, the final verdict will be decided by the public who will have the chance to hear from both sides, then and only then will the verdict by the public be fair and conclusive.

Not doing so will only do unjust for Mahthir's reputation as in Malaysia, rumours ruled the day as we can't trust the mainstream media as it's superbly bias nor that we can use our reasoning to arrive at the truth as that requires the excess to all information which in this case happens to be in the book. So making the book available for scrutiny will allow Mahathir to defend his reputation and if necessary take legal action against the author if the book is a bunch of lies written on a Pro-Western sentiments rather than undisputed facts and figures.

If proven to be accurate then an investigation should be done to find out where the billions went to and whether they're individuals that deserve to be punished because of involvement in the disappearance of billions. I'm not suggesting this for pure resentment rather the move will deter others in the future not to be involved in such scandalous projects that don't follow proper procedures or face the fury of the law.

Nonetheless no matter what the truth is, I still believe that it will not dent Mahathir's contribution towards this country from a backwater nation to a metropolitan, rather it will only serve us as a lesson on what the current lack of accountability and transparency can do to a nation, without knowing we are losing billions and helping US army whose immoral deed in the middle east means that we are a part of it's evil not to mention the risk it pose to our sovereignty as US military are known to be moles, informing to their government on possible weakness in the country they are operating in to take advantage of it to further the US interest. I'm not being anti-American here rather just spelling out the facts.

In conclusion it's high time the government adopts the policy of free information to the public as in the information age, the public must make informed decisions that requires free-flow of information so that they can reach to an informed decision on issues like politics, economics and so on. This will free us from and ignorant society that we are to an informed one that can act in accordance to their values and truth rather than simply accepting conventional wisdom disseminated by the government owned media that cannot hold water, making it tough for the people to make the correct informed decisions and necessary corrective actions as a society that is progressive is the society that embraces the truth and act accordingly no matter how painful it may be for them to do so in an effort to progress further and beyond.

The PAS Dilemma

I'm writing this a day after some 20 people protested in front of the Selangor PAS Headquarters demanding that PAS pull out from the state government in Selangor stating that PAS is better of on its own and that in Pakatan Rakyat PAS are being dominated by it's partners which are PKR and DAP. Of course PAS and Pakatan blamed UMNO for the incident claiming that the protest is the work of UMNO and not PAS which UMNO has denied. Whatever the truth is, with no doubt that PAS is indeed in a dilemma and needs to solve this dilemma quickly and properly.

The dilemma is obviously should the party stay on with Pakatan Rakyat or should they leave either being independent, join UMNO or be a party within BN like they did in the 70s. At stake here is the ideological struggle that PAS has been fighting since it's formation as a splinter party from UMNO, which is the Islamic state struggle, the main agenda of PAS. Let's consider the options here.

First is the stay with Pakatan option. This option is probably the most politically rewarding move on behalf of PAS as can be seen by the electoral gains the party made by capturing Kedah and for a while heading the executive branch of the Perak state government before it's collapse, not to mention an involvement in the running of Selangor and Penang state government.

This all will not be possible without the non-Malays vote that it received courtesy of it's coalition partners especially DAP( the capture of Kedah is a prime example as Mat Sabu stated that the lack of non-Malays vote is the only reason behind the party failure to capture the state all this years), the vote that remains elusive to the party due to the image by the non-Malays that Islamic state means the curtailing of their religious rights and lifestyles( the later is probably justified) unless PAS is prepared to follow a lenient Hudud law which might not be popular with some of the fundamentalists within the party establishment.

The second option is to leave Pakatan and join UMNO or BN, if done properly, this may be the most politically rewarding move by PAS,however there are inherent risks that history can show PAS if it decides to do so. One can remember what happened to PAS when it joined BN in the 70s, not only that they were ignored by UMNO and BN once UMNO and BN managed to undo the damage of the 1969 General Election when the won big in the 1974 General Election, the party was split into many waring factions when the party left the BN in eventually few years later and it took them years to recover, 14 years to be exact when with the now defunct Semangat 46 they took control of the Kelantan state government.

Of course on the upside there's the possibility of being in the ruling government which will lead to more rewards in the form of monetary reward for PAS MPs and state assemblymens, more federal allocation to PAS ruled states and so on, political reward such as ministerial posts for PAS top leadership and PAS can probably control a few national or state agencies like Felda when Asri Muda was the Minister of Land in the 70s.

So despite the risks, there are rewards but either way PAS will play second fiddle to UMNO, just like in the 70s, toe the line or leave BN as UMNO will not bow down to any other positions but as the political masters and to please the other BN partners, like MCA who's oppose to the Islamic state concept, in BN PAS can forget about its main political agenda of turning Malaysia into an Islamic state.

Finally there's the least politically rewarding option of becoming independent. Well PAS will lose the non-Malays vote and that might cause them the state of Kedah, not to mention losing a chance of being part of the Selangor and Penang state government, of course they can keep their option open by opting to work with either Pakatan or BN and leaving at their wimps and fancies while gaining either the rewards from Pakatan or BN along the way.

Certainly a viable way to move forward while keeping their Islamic state agenda struggle, however this can only be done when either coalition is desperately in need of PAS like BN in 1972 and Pakatan now as without the need there's no reason for Pakatan nor BN to except a party that is not committed to the respective coalition cause not to mention PAS will also get less of the rewards if either coalition governs the country or state as their lack of commitment may cause a feeling of distrust by the coalition thus strategic posts might not be awarded to PAS because of that.

Now the PAS leadership must do some deep soul-searching to find which path they want to take and neither path is filled with roses rather there're filled with sacrifices and compromise(thorns to be a little bit symbolic), and the decision that they arrived at will have profound impact on the Malaysia political landscape and the Malaysian people at large so it's understandable that the writer is keeping an eye(without blinking so to speak) on this national and public interest decision as there's to much at stake for all parties not to ignore the final outcome of the climatic moment that begun with the historical March 8 2008 General Election( mother of all elections).

When Everything is Political

Malaysia must surely be one of the most political country in the world as everything is constrained by politics from language to location of temples and so on. It's tough the be a progressive nation when we are inhibited to make the most effective decision for the progress of the nation due to political reasons,thus the political decisions that sometimes are not for the benefit of the nation at large are being adopted due to the importance place on political decisions.

We can see from the recent controversy surrounding the National Civics Bureau(BiroTatanegara) where the Selangor state government banned it's employees and students in state-owned learning institutions from attending this course due to reported racial and political propaganda that the course is propagating. The question is why the government is spending more than 60 million for such programme? Well the answer seemed obvious, for political reasons of course.

By instilling racism(Malay nationalism),UMNO will benefit politically eventhough what the country needs right now is not citizens who identify themselves strongly by race, rather we need citizens who identify themselves being Malaysians first rather than their respective race. So again political interest seems to be place of higher importance than national interest. I believe than the course should be revamp to instill the feeling of patriotism, tolerance and national understanding rather than racist garbage.

Then there's the royalty claim by the Kelantan state government. Again the political interest of the federal government takes precedence when it refused to give the royalty, rather the government will give Wang Ehsan and channelled the rest to federal projects there. This so called projects beneficiary will not be the average Kelantanese,rather UMNO Kelantan cronies will benefit and we all know what the Wang Ehsan did to the Terengganu state government ruled by PAS, it ended it's rein and it's wise for Kelantan to learn from history and not make the same mistake.

So as we can see, the Wang Ehsan and federal projects there will benefit UMNO rather than the Kelantanese people at large, so again political interest was placed higher than the interest of the Kelantanese people.

Finally,even the event where DAP leaders stepped on the picture of the frogs of Perak(Jamaludin and Osman) while missing Hee(another frog), was politicised by certain quarters with a racial element added. What matters here is that these people betrayed the trust of the Perak voters, all of them, they betrayed Malay voters,Chinese voters, Indian voters,Perak voters,so there's no need to politicised or racialised the poster stepping event as I as a Malay will personally would like to join in irrespective of whose face in the poster I stepped as I believe their action is regressive towards the state of democracy in this country and I'm for progress of our democracy not the other way around.

In conclusion, Malaysians must always demand that the interest of the nation at large be placed of higher importance than any other interest so that the nation can progress and Malaysian,all Malaysians can benefit together irrespective of race,religion,class or political beliefs so that the progress achieved is holistic and sustainable and not the overnight progress that we achieved in the 90s which left out some quarters and was destroyed(some of it) overnight due to the economic and social instability due to the Asian Financial Crisis and the sacking and jailing of Anwar Ibrahim which cause massive street protest and eventual political instability. It's time for us to enjoy development without sacrificing the future generation by ensuring a holistic and sustainable progress and rejecting the pursuit of political interest by the government.

Conservatives VS Reformist

The recent outburst of PAS spiritual leader calling for an EGM to replace what he described as "Problematic Leaders" so that once and for all PAS will know the direction it's heading shows how the friction between the conservatives and reformist has gotten worst. The outcome of this rift will determine the fate of the Islamist Party that it's past had shown various political positions from being a left-wing socialist during the Dr Burhanudin era to the nationalist era led by the late Ustaz Asri Muda,to the current Islamist stand or the Kepimpinan Ulama which engulfed the party in the 80's.

However looking from the Pakatan Rakyat's point of view,it is in the best interest of the pact to have a conservative PAS as it's partner as this will enable PAS to compete directly with UMNO for the Malay conservative votes.With PKR already well position,even to a certain extent monopolising the liberal Malay votes,having PAS compete in the Malay conservative votes is crucial as there are probably more Malays who are conservatives than those who are liberals,thus allowing Pakatan to garner a sizable Malay votes,ensuring them to be competitive in the rural Malay areas while maintaining the urban Malay areas the pact won in the 12th General Election.

The lost in Bagan Pinang is part of the cause of the outburst as one academician from International Islamic University,Dr Aziz Bari attributed the lost due to the the action of PAS Selangor chief in trying to ban alcohol sale and criticising the SELCAT initiative in Selangor as part of the reason for the lost,I beg to differ as many PAS supporters are angered by the fact that PAS seemed to be making more compromises than it should,and the Malay conservatives that are fed up with UMNO who supported PAS are disappointed as PAS which is the second largest Malay party seemed to abandon the Malay agenda central to most Malay conservatives,so the action of Dr Hassan Ali is much needed to assured those parties that PAS is serving them,thus ensuring their continuous support.

As long as the clandestine unity government talk is well explained or the issue close completely and trust among the Pakatan partners assured,the conservatives faction can play a significant role in the fight for the the Malay conservative votes which are central to UMNO's strenght,denying UMNO a strong showing in that voter section might weaken or destroy UMNO forever and place PAS as the dominant party representing both Islamic and Malay interest within Pakatan.

This potential for PAS must be exploited for the sake of Pakatan Rakyat chances to form the next federal government.The countdown till the next general election just got more interesting as the game has already begun.