Ke mana UMNO? 16 March 2008

Pepatah Melayu ada mengatakan, adat pertandingan ada yang menang dan ada yang kalah. Yang menang jangan terlalu bongkak dan yang kalah harus menerimanya dengan hati yang terbuka.

Pilihanraya umum yang baru dilangsungkan telah membuahkan satu fenomena politik yang dikatakan bagai ‘tsunami’, di mana parti perikatan Barisan Nasional telah mengalami kekalahan yang teruk di seluruh negara.

Akibat dari tamparan itu, pemimpin-pemimpin Barisan Nasional memutuskan untuk mencermin diri mereka dan parti itu sendiri. Mereka menyatakan hasrat mereka untuk membuat kajian dan post mortem tentang kekalahan mereka, sebab mengapa hanya 51% dari rakyat Malaysia yang keluar mengundi pada 8 Mac yang lalu mengundi Barisan Nasional.

Ramai yang telah menjangka bahawa pengundi-pengundi bukan Melayu akan berpihak kepada pembangkang kali ini. Ini jelas dengan kekalahan hebat yang dialami oleh parti-parti komponen Barisan Nasional yang berlandaskan kaum bukan Melayu, seperti MCA, MIC, Gerakan dan PPP. Akan tetapi, ramai yang tidak mengjangka bahawa di kalangan pengundi-pengundi Melayu juga rata-rata terdapat vote swing kepada pihak pembangkang.

UMNO sebagai parti kompenan bangsa Melayu di dalam Barisan Nasional haruslah bertanggungjawab. Ahli-ahli dan para pemimpin UMNO harus mengambil iktibar dari apa yang telah berlaku dan melihat semula di mana kesilapan mereka. Jika mereka tidak berbuat demikian, masa depan UMNO akan menjadi semakin gelap dan lama-kelamaan, parti tersebut akan menjadi tidak relevan lagi.

Apa yang amat mengecewakan adalah UMNO bagaikan tidak mahu belajar dari kekalahan ini. Benar, pilihanraya umum baru berakhir seminggu yang lepas, tetapi apa yang dilihat dari UMNO selepas kekalahan Barisan Nasional tidak menunjukkan bahawa mereka mengambil apa-apa iktibar dari kekalahan mereka.

Ahli Parlimen Kepala Batas, Johari Baharom yang juga penyandang jawatan Menteri Keselamatan Dalam Negeri minggu lepas menyatakan bahawa kekalahan Barisan Nasional adalah disebabkan oleh parti-parti kompenan Barisan Nasional yang lain. Manakala Zainuddin Maidin, bekas Menteri Penerangan menyatakan bahawa sebab kekalahannya adalah kerana ‘undi protes’ dari pengundi bukan Melayu. Kenyataan-kenyataan seperti ini menunjukkan keangkuhan pemimpin-pemimpin tersebut yang tidak menerima kenyataan bahawa UMNO juga harus dipersalahkan di dalam hal ini.

Jika UMNO berhati terbuka, mereka sebenarnya akan dapat melihat bahawa mereka merupakan salah satu sebab pengundi bukan Melayu menolak parti-parti komponen BN yang lain. Mereka jangan sangka bahawa pengundi telah melupakan episod mengeluarkan keris oleh Ketua Pemuda UMNO sejak beberapa Perhimpunan Agung UMNO yang lepas. Dan juga kata-kata tidak sensitif yang dikeluarkan oleh ahli-ahli UMNO di Perhimpunan Agung dua tahun yang lepas. Isu yang berbangkit ketika itu tidak ditangani dengan baik oleh parti komponen yang lain dan pengundi bukan Melayu melihatkan parti MCA dan MIC sebagai ‘Pak Turut’ kepada UMNO, yang rata-rata mendominasi Barisan Nasional.

Tiada siapa di dalam UMNO yang mengakui akan hal tersebut. Dan UMNO kini kelihatan seperti ‘tidak faham bahasa’. Utusan Malaysia, media aliran perdana yang sebenarnya merupakan suara rasmi parti itu, kini giat mengkritik parti-parti pembangkang, terutama sekali DAP, menuduh mereka sebagai tidak membela nasib Melayu, biadap dan tidak sensitif. Malah UMNO juga telah mengadakan perhimpunan di hadapan pejabat Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang yang baru, Lim Guan Eng, kononnya untuk membantah kenyataan pemimpin pembangkang tersebut berkenaan dengan DEB. ‘Hidup Melayu’ dan ‘Kami Menolak Kerajaan Pulau Pinang’, laungan mereka. Mereka ‘menghentam’ kerajaan Pulau Pinang belum sampai seminggu kerajaan tersebut dibentuk. Bagaimanakah mereka tahu bahawa nasib orang Melayu di Pulau Pinang akan tergadai hanya dalam masa beberapa hari?

Adakah mereka ingin melagakan orang Melayu dan bukan Melayu? Perbuatan mereka adalah taktik yang sering mereka gunakan iaitu menakutkan orang Melayu dengan kehilangan ‘ketuanan Melayu’ yang mereka juarakan itu. UMNO telah bertahan selama ini kononnya sebagai pembela nasib orang Melayu.

Ketika UMNO seharusnya mencermin diri, melihat semula dan mengkaji, mereka lebih gemar mengkritik parti-parti pembangkang. Masalah dalaman yang sedang melanda mereka seperti tidak diendah. Krisis kepimipinan presiden UMNO, kemelut melantik menteri besar di Perlis dan Terengganu dan kekalahan Barisan Nasional dan UMNO itu sendiri tidak dikaji mahupun cuba ditangani. Sokongan untuk parti tersebut semakin berkurangan, terutama sekali dari belia-belia Melayu professional masa kini. Jika tiada apa yang dilakukan, maka UMNO pada masa hadapan akan dipinggirkan oleh golongan professional dan intelektual Melayu yang tidak tahan dengan pemikiran kolot kebanyakan pemimpin-pemimpin parti tersebut.

Pengundi masa kini semakin bijak. Kenyataan-kenyataan yang diluahkan oleh para pemimpin akan diteliti. UMNO tidak boleh bergantung kepada scare tactics mereka yang berkali-kali membuahkan hasil. Orang Melayu kini tidak mudah diperdaya kononya tanpa DEB itu Melayu akan gagal. Orang Melayu sendiri telah melihat betapa polisi tersebut telah dicabuli oleh ‘jaguh-jaguh’ bangsa di dalam UMNO.

Seperti yang dikatakan oleh bekas pemimpin UMNO dan bekas ahli Parlimen Kota Bharu, Zaid Ibrahim, UMNO memerlukan suatu perubahan dari dalam, suatu reformasi dalam diri parti itu. Demokrasi harus dikembalikan ke dalam UMNO, budaya politik wang harus dilenyapkan. Di samping itu, pemikiran ahli UMNO harus juga berubah supaya mereka melihat diri mereka bukan hanya sebagai Melayu tetapi sebagai seorang rakyat Malaysia. Imej chauvanist Melayu yang kini menjadi stigma parti tersebut haruslah dikikis. Mereka harus sedar bahawa Melayu itu tidak semestinya UMNO.

Jika tidak, UMNO akan tenggelam.

How to act in defeat 10 March 2008

The actions of defeated Barisan Nasional leaders in the aftermath of last Saturday’s election results speaks a lot about their character.

On Saturday night, Mr. Koh Tsu Koon won the respect of many by holding a press conference to concede defeat in Penang and even said that he is proud to have served the people of Penang for so long.

Ms. Sharizat Jalil meanwhile came to congratulate her opponent, Nurul Izzah Anwar and told her to take care of the people of Lembah Pantai when it was confirmed that she had lost the seat to the younger Izzah.

Compare that to Mr. Samy’s non-appearance when the official result of his lost in Sungai Siput was announced.

Or how about Mr. Tajol Rosli, former Menteri Besar of Perak? He locked himself in his house and cried after it was confirmed that Perak was lost to the opposition.

Mr. Khir Toyo was said to be quietly trying to smuggle documents from the Selangor administrative building in Shah Alam. He has yet to issue a press statement regarding the fall of Selangor to the PKR-DAP-PAS coalition.

Mr. Zainuddin ‘I-need-English-lessons’ Maidin was a sour grape when he said that his defeat in Sungai Petani was due to protest votes from non-Malay voters. Someone should inform the former Minister of Information that a 9,000 votes majority isn’t a protest, but a rejection. He also said that the people will regret their decision.

Some people are just sore losers.

I remembered and so I will vote 6 March 2008

Until a few days ago, I was one of those ‘undecided’ voters that you often hear about. Not quite the ‘silent majority’, I never made secret my opinions, but I saw myself as an independent, objective person, not being affiliated with any political parties.

I have thought long and hard about this elections. After all, I did not want to vote based on emotions, as I believe that the voting process should be done with a clear mind and conscience. So I observed and I read, putting my best efforts to be objective. 

I thought about the elections four years ago. Yes, I was not part of the electoral process at that time, in fact I was scrolling through the results on my laptop in Cardiff. Yet I’m very sure that if I was to vote, my vote at that time would be for Barisan Nasional.

In fact, most Malaysians did that. We were overwhelmed with a feeling of euphoria, a sense of new beginning; we harbored hopes that things will be better from now on. We want our nation that we love so much, to grow from strength to strength. 20-odd years of the Tun (great, but very flawed that he was as a prime minister) was enough for us. We wanted change. 

So we voiced out that hope through our votes. We gave the ruling coalition a huge mandate. We told them, with our votes, ‘You have our full confidence’.

How things have changed in four short years. 

Little by little, I saw the mistake we made. Slowly but surely, I realized that the proverbial wool was cast over our eyes and the new dawn we had hoped for turned out to be a false one.

I saw how those who are supposed to represent us have failed us. I saw leaders acting in such a way that no other leaders of a democratic nation would ever dream of. Personal insults were traded in the sacrosanct chambers of Parliament. Words such as ‘bodoh’, ‘beruk’ and other expletives became the norm, rather than the exception.

How can we forget the sexist ‘leaking’ joke by the Yang Berhormats from Kinabatangan and Jasin? How can we forget the gentlemen from Jerai uttering the word ‘keling’? Or his comment about the ‘tunnel’ under a lady’s skirt. On a personal note, I was up in arms when I heard the ‘observations’ of a Johor state assemblyman from Parit Sulong who claimed that missionary schools such as my alma mater, La Salle Petaling Jaya, were funded by the Vatican and that we sang church hymns! To that gentleman, let me tell you how long my school had to collect donations just to build a new block of classrooms. If we were funded by the Vatican, you would think that the Vatican, being as wealthy as they are, would simply donate us some funds, right? 

I too remembered, the internal bickering between the Barisan component parties. Remember the spat between UMNO Youth and all the other Youth wings? Remember the name-calling between Mr. Samy and Mr. Kayveas? Mr. Keng Yeik and Mr. Kayveas? Mr. Kayveas and everyone else? Or how about the ‘tussle’ for Perlis between it’s prominent UMNO leaders.

Remember the keris-waving? The fist up in air, ‘it’s us against them’ speeches? How about the racist insults and the incitement to racial riots during the UMNO General Assembly two years ago. 

“We want to know when he is going to use his keris!” the Youth delegate exclaimed, eliciting thunderous applause from the floor. 

And now, we’re supposed to believe that everyone’s ‘buddy-buddy’ with each other?

I do not understand how such speeches can be allowed. I even more confused when the very same people are warning others not to use race and religion for political gain. Pot to kettle, you’re black!

We are supposed to respect each other’s race and religion. Yet, what kind of message are they sending by organizing the UMNO General Assembly last year during Deepavali? The reason that was given? Mr. Badawi was too busy, and that was the only time that he was free.

Yes, it’s a small issue. Yes, it might not swing votes and people do not remember it. But I remember. And I really believe that it’s just common courtesy to respect the festival of others. Imagine, if another component party held it’s meeting during Hari Raya.

I also remembered the temples that were destroyed, even after strong opposition from various groups. Am I supposed to believe that there was no other way to solve the problem other than destroying places of worship, sacred to so many people? Where then, were the ‘custodians’ of the community, if I may borrow a phrase from the MIC advertisement.

I remembered sending e-mails to some close friends when I saw the temple at Batu Caves being bombarded by gas canisters and water cannon. I remember my outrage at such blatant disrespect. That day, tens of thousands of Malaysians converged onto our capitol for a peaceful assembly. Yet, they were treated like criminals and eventually charged. Words like ‘terrorists’ and ‘traitors’ were thrown around freely. Then, a few months later, things were all rosy again. The ‘attempted murderers’ were released, and we got a holiday for Thaipussam. I am supposed to believe that all is good. 

On the same subject, how come we don’t hear words like ketuanan Melayu in this elections?

Further, as a legal practitioner, I remembered the outrage I felt when Mr. Nazri insulted the walk of justice by my fellow lawyers. How he dismissed any ‘crisis’ in the judiciary, how he told us to disregard the video as we cannot verify it’s authenticity. He must have felt very foolish after seeing the proceedings of the Royal Commission. 

On the topic of lawyers, I have not forgotten how five lawyers were caught for participating in a walk to commemorate Human Rights Day. There were charged and were asked to be denied bail because they are threats to national security.

Actually, come to think of it, anything to do with Mr. Nazri opening his mouth is enough to flare me up. 

I think of all the promises made, and I how empty they seem. We were not promised freedom of the press? Yet why are we bombarded by Barisan Nasional advertisements in the media? Why is Utusan Malaysia filled with stories of the greatness of the ruling coalition?

Corruption? We have gone down a few rungs in the global transparency index. We hear of scandals with BN-linked corporations like Scomi and ECM Libra. We see the façade of the Port Klang Free Zone. Maika Holdings. Submarine deals. And of course, overpriced screwdrivers, according to the Auditor General’s report. 

Come to think of it, was anything done with the findings of the report?

We were told that the economy is booming while we are struggling with inflation and rising fuel prices. We were told that we are a heavily subsidized country: compare our fuel prices with Singapore!

(Singapore, incidentally, is NOT a fuel-producing country. It has to buy fuel. Of course the oil will be more expensive.)

I remember all this.

The ruling coalition thinks that they can get away with anything, just because they have our mandate. In the past four years I have seen the importance of a strong opposition in order to provide balance to the government. I now realize that if we wish to progress as a nation, we must ensure that the actions of our leaders are kept in check.

I cannot stand the fact that they think they can fool us and that we have forgotten.

But I remember.

That is why, on 8 March 2008, when I cast my first vote, it will be a vote for change.

Used: the Mainstream Media, part II 3 March 2008

My friend told me last week that he does not read first few pages the New Straits Times these days. “It’s full of propoganda,” he claims. I agreed with him, bemoaning the lack of ‘objective’ viewpoints in the English-language daily.

I do not normally read Malay-language dailies. I do pick up the weekend’s Bintang Popular and Pancaindera, just to read on some mindless gossip columnists judging everyone else except for themselves. It’s mindless, but sometimes you need to read garbage just so that you’re thankful that you’re not. But I only flip through Utusan Malaysia or Berita Harian when I’m eating or I’ve read the day’s NST.

To me, Malay-language newspapers are too racially chauvinistic and too judgmental for my liking. Why do they have to make judgment calls in their reporting, I always wonder. A report on ‘morally reprehensible’ matters, for example, would certainly contain such a line:

“Perbuatan terkutuk itu semakin menjadi akhir-akhir ini“.

Err, can you drop the ‘hollier-than-thou’ attitude and just report the news?

But I digress. Anyways, I flipped through Utusan Malaysia while having my dinner today and discovered that compared to Utusan, NST would seem like Harakah.

Every single piece of elections news is about Barisan Nasional. Nothing on the opposition parties, not even neutral stories. Not even a page called Warna-Warni Kempen, or ‘colours of the campaign, which displays snapshots of election campaigners, had pictures of anything even remotely non-Barisan.

It’s madness I tell you. Propaganda at it’s most blatant. Now I know what it feels like to live in North Korea.

Don’t believe me? Buy yourself an Utusan today. It’s only RM1.50.

The Battle for the Margins of Victory 2 March 2008

Let’s talk reality: the upcoming General Elections isn’t about who is going to lead the country. Barring a mega screw-up by Barisan Nasional, Malaysia in the next few years will be governed by the same coalition that has governed us since independence.

Even the opposition parties, never outrightly admitting this fact before, has confessed that the ‘good fight’ this time isn’t about victor but the margins of victory. Such is the dominance of Barisan Nasional that the outcome, even before the first vote has been cast, is a foregone conclusion.

However, I predict Barisan Nasional to be in for a tough fight this time around. And this is down to two factors: the government’s own actions as and the rejuvenation of the main opposition parties.

The opposition

Let us first examine the state of the opposition. In almost all areas in the peninsular, the three main opposition parties PKR, PAS and DAP has managed to reach an understanding in relation to seat allocation. Apart from the distraction of independent candidates vying their luck in some seats, the peninsular will as a whole see one-on-one fights between BN candidates and those from the three main opposition parties.

This is a huge step forward in terms of the co-operation between the opposition parties. Lest we forget, in DAP and PAS we have two political parties with widely differing ideologies, one seeking to establish a ‘true’ Islamic state and the other to do away with the ‘current’ Islamic state. No wonder that whilst the two have an unspoken understanding in facing the common ‘enemy’, the official position is that ‘there is no pact’.

These two established parties have undergone a re-branding of sorts. This can more clearly be seen in the Islamist PAS, who after riding high in the 1999 elections, lost much ground in 2004 over its’ stubbornness in wanting to establish an Islamic state. Seeing that the party, whom gained a lot of Malay-Muslim support at the height of the 1998 political crises, is slowly losing its support even in its’ power base of Kelantan, many of its members voted in a new brand of PAS politicians, the ‘young turks’, led by it’s current vice-president, Nasharuddin Mat Isa. They represented the professionals of PAS and swept away many of the party’s ‘old-guard’, those that represented the traditional ulama faction in the party. This power struggle is still going on within the party, but there is certainly a noticeable difference in PAS’ tune these days; the omission of any mention of an Islamic state in their latest manifesto, for example.

DAP, although technically a multi-racial party, is still Chinese-dominated. Their ‘Bangsa Malaysia’ ideology usually does not sit well with Malays and their successes have always been in Chinese-majority, urban constituencies. And because of this, I believe they stand to gain the most in this elections. Their choice of candidates reflect their intentions this time around, many of them young, educated and passionate. Joining the ranks of veterans Lim Kit Siang, Teresa Kok, Karpal Singh and Fong Po Kuan (a ‘veteran’ in her 30s), are blogger Jeff Ooi, Oxford graduate Tony Pua, Janice Lee Ying Ha and lawyer (and Karpal’s son) Gobind Singh. And they made no secret of their ambition to capture Penang from the ruling coalition, setting the stage for one of the most interesting battlegrounds in this elections.

But to me, it is Parti Keadilan Rakyat that has undergone the biggest evolution. Keadilan (as it was then known), was formed with one sole purpose: to free Anwar Ibrahim. In the 1999 elections, they captured some important seats, capitalizing on the political crisis of the time. Yet 2004 saw them losing badly, hanging onto 1 Parliamentary seat and 1 state seat and many predicted that that would be the end of the party. Yet somehow, quietly, the PKR of today has somehow managed to evolve. Yes, Anwar looms large over the proceedings, but to me, I no longer see it as a ‘one-man party’. This is a party that has genuine multi-racial membership (just glance through their candidate list), attracting support of the intellectuals and the professionals. But whether Malaysians are ready for a truly multi-racial party remains to be seen.

The incumbent government

The government too, played it’s part in the ‘ensuring’ that we have an interesting elections. Some 4 years ago, Malaysians went to the polls with hope. After 20-odd years of Mr. Mahathir’s leadership, Mr. Badawi’s promise of transparency and integrity charmed us into giving Barisan Nasional a huge mandate.

But it is this overwhelming control, this empowering grip on the nation that is precisely the problem with the current administration. The number of BN representation in Parliament during the last general election is huge, so much so that this total political victory has made the government arrogant. Far from being the government that listens, it has become a government that tells people to listen.

And why wouldn’t our leaders feel powerful? Look at the number of seats won by BN in the last elections. 91% of the nationwide Parliamentary seats belong to Barisan Nasional. Ninety-one-percent, in case you are unable to figure it out, means that opposition representation in the 2004 polls is only 9%!

Forget two-thirds majority, 9% opposition representation resulted in the ruling coalition having it’s way most, if not all, of the time. This can clearly be seen in December of last year, when although all the opposition MPs staged a walkout, Article 114 of the Federal Constitution was amended to extend the retirement age of the current Election Commission Chairman. All BN MPs voted in favour of the amendment.

The general consensus on Mr. Badawi’s administration is that it is weak. It lacks a clear vision on what is needed to propel Malaysia forward. Malaysia’s global competitiveness ranks far below other nations. Inflation is on the rise, the price of goods are increasing yet the income of the people do not match that increase. And to rub salt into the gaping wound, the people have to contend with an alarming increase in crime rate.

I have posted a blog entry previously on Mr. Badawi’s false dawn.

We cannot allow such overwhelming majority ever again. We have witnessed what a powerful mandate can do to the government, and if we wish our democratic system to remain healthy, we must ensure that there exist an adequate check and balance in the administration of the country. No self-respecting democratic nation would ever allow the ruling party to have a representation in Parliament akin to ours.

That is why the elections on 8 March 2008 is of the utmost importance. To me, it represents the crossroad that our nation must face: whether to continue upon the road that we have embarked upon since Merdeka, or to realize that if we were to move forwards, there must be a strong opposition to monitor the government’s actions.

Yes, come March 8, Barisan Nasional will be crowned victors. Yes, most likely the party will retain two thirds majority in Parliament. But apart from those two conclusions, nothing else is certain.

Used: the Mainstream Media 27 February 2008

If you’ve been reading the mainstream media lately, you’d be forgiven if you think that all the opposition parties are rubbish and the ruling coalition is the best thing to come out of our country since nasi lemak.

Without any ounce of shame nor of any semblance of journalistic integrity, the mainstream media these days publish the most biased of news. We were told that everything good is to be associated with Barisan Nasional, and everything bad with the opposition parties.

It’s one thing being served with ‘Undilah Barisan Nasional‘ advertisements on radio, television and the print media, but to actually use the media as direct propaganda tools is something a wholly different level altogether.

Just flip through the ‘opinions’ column in your local dailies; it’s difficult to find the relatively impartial views amongst the swathes of BN-skewered ‘commentaries’. Or turn on your television and watch the 8pm news to see how the manifestos of the opposition parties is systematically dissected, along with ‘views’ from ‘prominent’ intellectuals on how the manifestos supposedly, pardon my French, suck.

It’s enough to make you stop reading the papers or watching the news.

How come no space is allowed for opposition voices? Are you telling me that the opposition cannot come up with enough money to buy a full page advertisement in the newspapers?

The allegations that the votes are rigged, phantom voters and mala fide use of postal votes all remain allegations. No concrete proof has been offered so far, so we do not know for sure the truth in those claims. But if someone was to ask me whether I think the elections are fair, I’d say this: it’s not.

Why? Because of the blatant use of the mainstream media by the ruling coalition.