May 21, 2013

The Stolen Harvest

The hotly contested recently held general election in Malaysia has opened the old wounds of racial polarization with a new twist. This time the division, though appears to be racial, has a sting of class sentiment and generational gap that separate the urban from the rural. This is what many have perceived as the cause for the dismal performance of both sides of the isles. Both are not happy, one for not clinching the two-third majority despite spending lavishly through the numerous monetary assistance to the various segments of the society, particularly to the lower rung of the population, and the other is for not taking over Putrajaya as vowed, despite winning some sensational spots and improved popularity vote. At the root of frustration is the happiness of all Malaysians. I am not seeing the happiness I used to see. Certainly this election has created the rift that needs to be cemented immediately by all parties concerned before it gets any deeper, wider and uglier.

Statements from political leaders are not helpful and encouraging, as they are squaring off for another showdown that may further alienate the populace and frustrate any attempt at finding an amicable reconciliation. No matter one may term the swing as Chinese tsunami or as Malaysian tsunami, it is nevertheless a dashing political tsunami that decided the fate of this election. Now the time is for the political elites to find the root cause for this swing and not to focus only on who caused it, rather examine what caused it. No doubt the Chinese were unhappy for numerous reasons which have been accruing for the past ten years. The attempt by the Hon. Prime Minister at wooing the Chinese to vote through generous financial commitment to repair the schools and other communal interest was seen as a last minute attempt by a desperate man who was trying to throw some goodies to angry and stubborn people. They are angry that the leaders did not see the signs of change and they are stubborn because the leaders failed to recognise these changes.

Even though PKR or BA did better than the previous election with remarkable feats by the Chinese dominated DAP and the Ulama dominated PAS both accepting the result happily with growing call for review of some irregularities purportedly committed by the SPR, it is the party of the disenchanted Dato' Anwar who cries foul on the result and has refused to accept it. I am reminded here of the fate of Al-Gore who was denied the presidency by Bush Jr, despite winning the popular vote. He fought the issue at the court and retired in grace except to find later to have betrayed his wife. This is the hallmark of a democrat who believes and acts according to the principles of democracy that upholds the law of the state and trust the system despite feeling unjustly treated. I can understand the anger in Dato Anwar who feels that he has been victimised for speaking the truth as he perceived it. But the truth of the matter is that he has been receiving the rapacious American patronage that overtly and covertly funnel funds through the various NGOs aimed at undermining the established government through organising street protests, public agitations, disrespect for the rule of law and instilling raw hatred for the land all in the name of promoting democracy, transparency and accountability. I am increasingly apprehensive about the cause for which Dato' Anwar is so adamantly persistent. It may look like that he is fighting for justice and that he has some important backers to uphold this justice. As it is said that there is no smoke without fire, I suspect that he is being used by some powerful entities as proxy to achieve their nefarious design for regime change. This seems to be the current trend where the Americans and their Zionist patrons are riding the bandwagon of the so-called Islamists and pseudo-Islamic movements to create chaos in the countries to replace the erstwhile regimes which are struggling to find meaning to their symbolic independence.

I am no wise to advise such a charismatic leader who has gone through some rough patches in his political life. But being a novice in politics and that too in this murky Malaysian politics, I feel that he will not be able to get justice by agitating the public against the government which still wield deep affection in the hearts of many Malaysian who may otherwise express some degree of sympathy towards his predicament. But when that sympathy is taken advantage by causing disturbances aimed at creating chaos and hatred between brothers and friends just to translate personal obsession into a national madness, I cannot agree with him. His action has pitted communities against each other, created racial tension that endanger national unity. I wish Dato' will refrain from such drastic steps and he will be held accountable for any loss of life if matters gets out of hand.

His call for a cleaner and meritocratic government may resonate well with some younger Malaysians who have far too little memory on the early history of Malaysian struggle. He may also sweep those disgruntled Urban Malay middle-class with his power of persuasive words, but the lingering cases against him hovering over his head only increases the doubt in the minds of many that he is creating all these uprisings just to divert the attentions of the citizens and to win their sympathies. No doubt many are impressed with his oratory eloquence in Malay, but I for one am not convinced of his stewardship. He may end up being used and abused by those who are supporting him vociferously to spearhead the collapse of the system. My fear is that he will be sacrificed as the martyr for democracy by the very own people who are engineering behind his premiership dream. This marriage of convenience between these three strange bedfellows shows that the party that will pull the string will be DAP. I am wondering what magic did Dato Seri Anwar played that he was able to wed the Islamists with the ex-communist?. I am still struggling to decipher this magic code.My humble advise as a peace-loving person who sees great hope in this country of my family that he must reflect on the greatness of Allah who has elevated him to this height and let not his sheer determination blinds him of his gratitude to the Creator. Even the Muslim ummah has not settled the 1400 age-old sectarian divide due to one group still fermenting hatred against the other all in the name of justice. We do not want to see another divide among the Muslims and that too in a marginally Muslim majority country like Malaysia.

I am happy to see that even among the opposition there are voices of wisdom calling to settle down after a heated and tumultuous campaign that stolen the harvest of all those who aspired to capture the covetous Putrajaya. In fact all of them have lost some to gain some. It is fair. My happiness is that now the Malaysian public has truly exercised their inalienable right to vote and have spoken their mind on what type of future they want. So it is high time the government heeds their voices and anguishes and start cracking to spearhead the transformation the nation's leaders have campaigned on. The next success will depend on fulfilling the following agendas:

[a] keeping family out of politics [at least when one is in active politics. Putting one's relative as candidate does not augur well for democracy. People who preach about people first must keep their family members out of politics and from all its temptations]
[b] setting high personal moral standard for public figures [as it is mentioned in Arabic maxim من عظمت مرتبته عظمت صغيرته (one whose position is higher his inadvertent mistakes will be counted as great)]
[c] zero tolerance for corruption, nepotism, favoritism, cronyism,etc
[d] transparent public accountability
[e] strictly implementing the promises made
[f] maintaining a strict enforcement of law and order
[g] engaging youths meaningfully
[h] granting more social and personal freedom while enforcing stricter punitive action against those who misuse those freedom.
[i] fairer distribution of the economic pie so that no single community is marginalised
[j] Compulsory education in English and Malay with mother tongues. [i would encourage Malays to enrol in Chinese and Indian schools].

Let's see and pray that things improve within the coming years and Malaysians will focus on the well-being of all Malaysian without resorting to senseless racial bickering. I will still continue buying fish and vegetables from my Chinese friend and my puttumayam from the Indian friend and not to mention the chicken and the mutton from the Muslim friends. This is truly Malaysia.


READ: Malaysian Election

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