Saya amat tersentuh apabila mengetahui ahli-ahli DAP dari Triang sanggup menempuhi perjalanan jauh dan berjam-jam ke Ayer Hitam, Johor pada 18 Mac 2018 untuk menyaksikan pengumuman diri saya sebagai calon Pakatan Harapan untuk kawasan Ayer Hitam oleh Setiausaha Agung DAP, Lim Guang Eng, yang disertai Pengerusi Pakatan Harapan, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dan pemimpin tertinggi lain.
Walaupun saya tidak menang kerusi tersebut, persaingan di Ayer Hitam telah membantu kami memberi satu pesanan kepada penyokong iaitu: Tidak mustahil untuk mengalahkan kerajaan Barisan Nasional.
Apa yang kita belajar? Jika kita hanya mengikut “pandangan awam” yang dihasilkan oleh media arus perdana Bahasa Melayu dan Cina secara membuta tuli, kita mungkin akan hilang harapan, kemas barang, dan menggantung kasut kita.
Sebaiknya, kita pemimpin Pakatan Harapan di peringkat nasional dan akar umbi, perlu memimpin pandangan awam dan bersedia untuk membuat keputusan sukar, berpandukan kepercayaan dan prinsip kita.
Kini, media hanya berfokuskan kepada isu pemimpin UMNO yang melompat parti. Perhatian dan perspektif sedemikian rupa terhadap isu initelah menimbulkan sentimen negatif dalam penyokong Pakatan.
Salah satu contoh ialah ahli politik yang tidak beretika seperti Rahim Thamby Chik memohon untuk menyertai Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia. Beliau merupakan liabiliti dan tidak memberi nilai tambah kepada perjuangan Pakatan.
Persoalan utama kita sekarang ialah bagaimana kita, sebagai Pakatan, masyarakat dan sebuah negara akan menangani keretakan UMNO. Kita perlu menerima hakikat bahawa 9 Mei 2018 ialah gempa dan tsunami politik yang begitu besar, dan sudah tentu implikasi besar yang lain akan menyusul.
Selagi Najib Razak dan orang kanannya Zahid Hamidi mengetuai UMNO, maka orang Melayu akar umbi dan pertengahan serta pengundi Malaysia yang lain tidak akan kembali untuk menyokongnya. Reputasi kleptokrasi mereka telah mencemarkan kepemimpinan mereka. Jika Zahid terus mengetuai UMNO, perpecahan akan berlaku, dan pemimpin akan melompat keluar parti sebelum kapal tenggelam.
Gempa politik terkini iaitu perhimpunan anti-ICERD pada 8 Disember 2018 merupakan satu alamat berakhirnya UMNO di Sabah. Bagi rakyat Sabah termasuk ahli UMNO Sabah, kerjasama di antara UMNO dan PAS ialah satuidea yang kurang bijak. Pengundi Sabah terdiri daripada pelbagai etnik darisegi luaran berbanding kebanyakan pengundi di Semenanjung.
Zahid dan Najib hanya tahu politik kotor bangsa dan agama, dan mereka sememangnya tidak mewakili masa depan. Ramai orang percaya bahawa kepimpinan UMNO hanya menjadi sebuah sayap Dewan PAS di bawah kepimpinan Zahid.
Terdapat sekurang-kurangannya dua kumpulan dalam UMNO yang tidak serasi, satu menyokong Hishamuddin Hussein dan satu lagi menyokong Khairy Jamaluddin. Kedua-dua kumpulan ini tidak bertembung antara satu samalain, tetapi kedua-duanya menolak kepimpinan Najib dan Zahid.
Mungkinkah wujudnya kumpulan pemimpin UMNO yang meninggalkan parti dan menubuhkan parti pelbagai kaum yang baru? Jika ia berlaku, apakah langkah yang perlu diambali Pakatan? Jika berlaku sebaliknya, bagaimanakah Pakatan dapat menangani situasi tersebut?
Kita berada di pengalaman peralihan yang pertama – politik, ekonomi dan sosial – dalam sejarah negara kita. Kejatuhan bekas rejim autokratik bukanlah satu kerja yang mudah.
Saya memohon penyokong DAP dan Pakatan Harapan untuk bersabar dalam fasa gempa politik hari ini.
Benar, kita harus bersuara tanparasa takut dan berpihak, tetapi kita perlu bekerjasama dengan rakan kongsi Pakatan dalam meneliti fasa peralihan ini.
Daripada melemparkan tuduhan, sebaliknya kita harus komited dengan matlamat untuk membangunkan Malaysia Baharu di manarakyat sama-sama berkongsi manfaat keamanan, kesaksamaan dan negara yang lebih makmur.
Perpecahan UMNO hari ini sebenarnya satu pencapaian hebat bagi demokrasi di Malaysia. Memandangkan UMNO tidak lagi meneruskan perjuangan asal seperti tahun 1946, lebih baik sebuah platform baru diwujudkan demi manfaat untuk semua rakyat Malaysia, termasuk orang Melayu. - Liew Chin Tong
Now, who's breaking up PH?...
The mass exodus in Umno has spawned the conspiracy theory of an imminent ouster of PM Mahathir.
I have tried to figure out why Umno has been divided into three different sects and why Mahathir's ouster to pave the way for Anwar Ibrahim to take over when the parliament sitting resumes next March has been implicated.
A group of Umno leaders have been meeting over their court cases and possible dissolution of Umno. Those against Mahathir argue that the PM is not someone you can negotiate and they are therefore more inclined to support Anwar's early ascension to power because they believe Anwar will keep Umno and help them with their cases.
As for those without court cases or are unhappy with Anwar, they are more likely to continue supporting Mahathir as PM because they don't trust Anwar.
The meeting of these Umno leaders ended with no conclusion, and soon afterward we have all kinds of rumors.
It has been reported that Umno president Ahmad Zahid is more towards supporting Anwar, and may have instructed Padang Rengas MP Mohamed Nazri to talk divisional leaders into supporting the PKR president. and to form a coalition government with PKR and DAP.
The move has nevertheless backfired among the grassroots.
Larut MP Hamzah Zainudin is strongly against Anwar. He claims that 36 BN reps have signed a letter in support of Mahathir.
It is also said that Hishammuddin called a secret meeting last week that included among others Hamzah and PKR's deputy president Azmin Ali, who was accused of trying to stop Anwar from becoming PM during the recent party elections.
If Pakatan Harapan remains disunited, it will not be able to focus on dealing with Umno, allowing the latter to take advantage of the chaos to gain a backdoor access to federal administration.
PH will become BN 2.0 if these people were to be allowed to join the coalition and have their court cases forgiven. This will deal a lethal blow to the country's judiciary.
Why are PH component parties still willing to accept worthless Umno politicians? Very simple: they want to strengthen themselves by absorbing Umno MPs and Malay votes will go to them if Umno is eventually dissolved.
Doing so will also ensure that PH secures a two-thirds majority advantage in Dewan Rakyat so that the Constitution can be amended and their political agendas fulfilled.
Also, bills tabled by the PH government will no longer risk rejection in Dewan Negara following the side-changing of Umno senators.
If these Umno reps are not allowed to join PH, they may eventually defect to PAS, making the Islamic party all the harder to fight in future.
That said, ship-jumping will have very severe impact on the country, as the acceptance of political frogs will invariably trigger renewed political tug-of-war within PH in addition to betraying the public mandate.
Can Lim Kit Siang sit alongside Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik, who has applied to join PPBM and who he said was the culprit for his son Guan Eng's imprisonment for helping an underage Malay girl? Will Anwar pardon someone who in 2011 wickedly distributed his fake sex video clip?
We can judge from their recent public comments that indeed some PH leaders' stand has already softened. They are more willing now to accept these frogs on the grounds of political interest.
As a matter of fact, the PH leadership's position has swung away from that of ordinary citizens who are frustrated that corrupt Umno leaders can be whitewashed and allowed to join PH. This has contravened the coalition's pledge of battling corruption and upholding clean governance.
Unfortunately, the PH leadership appears to have turned a deaf ear to the rakyat's views dutifully reflected by the elected reps from DAP and PKR.
If Umno eventually goes bust and the opposition is significantly weakened, who are there to oversee the government?
Lest we forget, BN was so powerful in the past and could deliberately amend the Constitution because we had a weak opposition.
PH leaders are humans and are thus susceptible to temptation. The country's reforms will never materialize in the absence of a healthy checks and balances mechanism.
New Malaysia must reject immoral political deals. The new government must draw a line between itself and treacherous politicians.
Some PH leaders seem to have lost their directions as they are engrossed with the game of engaging Umno reps, putting behind their priority of revitalizing the country's economy.
PH will have nowhere to go but down if it steers off course and forgoes its principles. - mysinchew
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