After more than two decades of struggling to reach Putrajaya, Anwar Ibrahim was sworn in as the 10th prime minister on Nov 24 last year, albeit with the assistance of Umno. A hundred days later and with the election for six states looming, he still appears to be struggling to contain the green wave.
Perikatan Nasional (PN) continues to peddle the narrative that the coalition government is sidelining the Malays and Dr Mahathir Mohamad is the latest to lend his voice to this chorus, claiming that the race does not have political and economic control. This has forced Anwar and his government to concentrate their efforts on countering this perception.
For political scientist Wong Chin Huat, it is understandable that the Pakatan Harapan chairperson’s biggest challenge is to build support for him and his government. Failing to do so would not just affect Harapan and its allies in the next national polls but also strengthen the Muhyiddin Yassin-led PN.
A strong PN, he added, would “throw in spanners” until the next general election to derail the government’s policy efforts so that the middle-ground voters feel disappointed and discouraged, which would have a significant impact on the outcome.
Citing the online survey by five media outlets, Wong said it still sounded a “big alarm” for Anwar when a majority of peninsula Malays expressed dissatisfaction and lack of confidence in his government, even though it has been criticised as flawed due to the absence of randomised sampling.
“While those numbers cannot be taken at face value due to biased sampling, it is undoubtedly a big portion of Malays - perhaps 40 percent or above - who are hostile towards the government, partly shaped by the PN’s toxic campaigning against the government’s policies.
“The attack on ‘Menu Rahmah’, Bersatu MP Wan Saiful Wan Jan’s attack on the budget which he smeared as ‘communist’ and earlier on the Local Government and Development Ministry to seek advice from Singapore experts (on public housing) are clear examples,” he told Malaysiakini.
Wong pointed out that Anwar’s success in winning over the Malays depended more on whether he can neutralise PN’s ethno-nationalist bombardment than what he does as prime minister. “If he fails in the former, all his achievements in the latter would just be dismissed.
“After all, if the majority of Malay voters have concluded that the government is sidelining the Malays, no objective evidence of the opposite can convince them. This is akin to ‘one cannot be woken up if one is only pretending to be asleep’,” he added.
However, Wong disagreed with the new government taking a page out of the “old BN playbook” to counter the opposition - “starving them (in terms of allocations) and charging them in court”. “Certainly, opposition politicians who break the law must be charged in court and cannot be given impunity for cross-party peace.
“But as law-breaking opposition leaders are charged, the opposition must be given the room and resources to compete professionally. If the government can do both, then it can convincingly dismiss PN’s accusation of a political witchhunt,” he added
Wong also noted how certain segments of Harapan supporters, “disproportionally amongst minorities and liberals”, are defending the government’s marginalisation of the opposition because it would prevent the Muslim conservatives from coming into power.
“They forget that this would only play into the opposition’s hand. “Discrimination against the Malay-led opposition is spun as discrimination against the Malays, allowing PN to play the victim and win the sympathy of middle-ground Malays,” he added.
For Anwar to have five full years to prove his ability to transform Malaysia, Wong said the prime minister must sit down with the opposition to formulate a peace accord.
“He needs to diminish the bitterness amongst Malaysians - this time, amongst the opposition supporters - caused by state partiality and injustice. “If not, he can do more for the Malays and still fail to be enough,” he added. - RK Anand
The odd couple: Hadi & Dr Mahathir...
Malays are no different from their Chinese, Indian, Orang Asli, Orang Asal, and Eurasian cousins. They want the same things in life; security for their families, employment, crime-free communities, education for children, accessible healthcare, affordable housing, and political stability.
Not all Malays have lost their values. Not all rural Malays are ignorant. The townie Malay with better wireless connection, newspapers, and publicity organisations at his disposal can be more clueless than his kampung cousin.
On Feb 28, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had invited him to his house after the 15th general election to share their concerns about the future direction of the country. Their target? The Malays, or rather, the Malay mind. One works on the race angle, whilst the other controls religious sensitivities.
Don’t let these two men fool you! For close to half a century, they sold Malaysia a myth about Malay unity. There is none. Mahathir's Vision 2020 failed to materialise and ironically, despite his mixed ancestry, Mahathir (above, right) prefers to champion only the Malay race.
Hadi (above, left) declared in his "Amanat Haji Hadi" that Muslims should go against the constitution of the colonials and that by separating politics from religion, Muslims will become infidels. Hadi’s teachings are dangerous. He labels bribes as donations. Ironically, his ramblings have confused many Malays because some cannot decide if they are Arab or Malay. Many Malays fear integration.
Strange bedfellows
The two make strange bedfellows, given they are sworn enemies with a relationship that has spanned over four decades. In the late 1970s, PAS’ domination was on the rise, especially in Mahathir’s home state of Kedah. Divisional Umno heads who felt threatened by PAS warned Mahathir about their rising threat and that Umno would lose the coming general election if PAS’ influence continued. Older Malays may recall how Friday prayers had to accommodate two sermons, one for PAS supporters and a second one for Umno. What Malay unity?
Last month, Hadi warned that Malaysia could be controlled by non-Muslims if Malays had low political awareness. He claimed that Mahathir was also worried about the GE15 results. Hadi claimed that Perikatan Nasional (PN) won because of the Malay/Muslim vote, whereas Harapan was boosted by the non-Muslim vote. These two men will never admit that their divisive policies and their use of race and religion have failed.
Mahathir was the prime minister for 22 years. He had the state apparatus behind him. Despite four decades of affirmative action policies, the Malays have not progressed in leaps and bounds as projected and they remain economically backward. Instead, they have become more entitled. They have forgotten their culture and abandoned many Malay rituals because religious men say these age-old traditions are heathen.
Malays had all the advantages that other races could only dream of but the only people who gained were Mahathir’s Malay and non-Malay cronies and his favourites. Some Malay politicians are so wealthy that we only find out about their wealth from exposés like the Panama and Pandora Papers leaks, or when one of them dies and their relatives openly squabble about the billions of ringgits that they left behind. How did one former ambassador amass billions of ringgits on an ambassadorial salary?
Many Umno-Baru’s politicians refuse to list their assets claiming that they were successful businesspersons before they were politicians and feared being kidnapped. Business acumen or political bribery? Older Malaysians will also recall the days of the Ali Baba business model. Projects cost more because the taxpayer had to pay several layers of sub-contractors and reward the politician and civil servants whose decision-making was crucial.
Today, the Jana Wibawa scheme has replaced the former Ali Baba business model. At least in the past, non-Malay companies with expertise in particular fields would complete the construction job; but as we saw last week, a non-Malay furniture company was allegedly the company refurbishing roads in a particular government project.
The president of the Malaysian Malay Contractors’ Association (PKMM), Mohamed Fadzill Hassan, had last month complained about projects being awarded to companies that were friendly with certain political parties, despite having no experience and expertise in the job. If Hadi and Mahathir join forces, Malaysians must ask themselves if this is what they want. When will all the lies end?
Power corrupts
Many good people, including Malays, have left the country for good. Families split up and are now scattered around the globe because children were denied opportunities and were forced to seek their fortune overseas. Freedom of religion is only in name and Muslims must wear their faith on their sleeves.
Like many Malay leaders, Hadi and Mahathir’s addiction to power has changed them. They are probably very nice people at home but when in the driving seat of politics, they show a lack of remorse for the damage they have done to Malaysia.
They avoid accountability for their actions and they become hardened authoritarians when they hold power. They and their families have become immensely wealthy but around them, peoples’ lives are ruined by their policies.
The irony is that four decades later, these two men - who were once sworn enemies - may team up and wreak more havoc on Malaysia. Only you can stop them.- Mariam Mokhtar
Larangan berceramah di mesjid
dan surau di Terengganu...
Ramai yg terkejut apabila di Terengganu atas titah Sultan Mizan, tidak membenarkan ahli2 politik berceramah atau memberi kuliah di Masjid dan Surau2. Sebenarnya sebelum ini Sultan Perak dan Sultan Selangor telah pun menitahkan tidak dibenarkan ahli2 politik berceramah di dlm masjid.
Pun begitu ada ahli politik yg tidak berpuashati. Ini kerana ‘modus operandi’ mereka sejak sekian lama menghasut rakyat dan ‘cari makan’ di masjid kita tifsk boelh berbuat demikian lagi. Akhirnya mereka fitnah mengatakan ia adalah sekatan politik dari kerajaan2 negeri yg memerintah.
Selain Sultan2, Yang Dipertuan Agong juga bertitah, “Saya memang tidak membenarkan mana2 pihak berpolitik dlm rumah Allah, jadilah ini sebagai satu ingatan kpd kita semua, dan saya harap tidak ada yg mempertikaikan arahan ini. Ia utk kesejahteraan dan kebaikan bersama kita umat Islam dan Orang Melayu. - Norman Radzuan
cheers.
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