"Maybe a man has to sell his soul to get the power to do good." - Robert Penn Warren (All the King's Men)
COMMENT In my last piece, I commented on the rather predictable backlash that arose after Prime Minister Najib Razak's clarion call to the Malay polity of impending colonisation by a Pakatan Rakyat government which was in reality a proxy for the dreaded ‘pendatang' DAP.
In all my pieces, I have been pretty adamant on the futility of playing the race game and indeed in my conversations with Human Rights Party leader P Uthayakumar, I pushed the same line of argument although like any good discussion, there was opposing points of view which somehow managed to find a way to an amicable middle ground.
(Readers may be interested in fact that there are interviews with P Uthayakumar and Waythamoorthy in the works, but the sedition trial (and numerous social work obligations) of the former and the hectic nationwide fact-finding mission of the latter, will mean that these comprehensive interviews are a slow process).
One of the problems Pakatan faces in the reality which is the Umno-created Malaysia, is that the race game is the only game in town and that Pakatan, as I have pointed out in numerous pieces, is at a disadvantage because although they hum the multiracial tune, they are in reality bound by the same racial political chains that bind any mainstream political party that wishes to claim the throne in Putrajaya.
This is one of the reasons that Najib can play the race card and claim that the Malays are in peril because of a weak backbone - Malay stewardship in Pakatan.
Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's strengths as a politician in the racial minefield of Malaysian politics, such as his ability to build consensus between various racial/ideological political parties, his appeal to a diverse racial demographic, his ability to engage with different social classes of the voting public and his Clintonion ability to come out unscathed from the Umno traps, has been interpreted by Umno as a sign of weakness.
Their propaganda organs screech that he is a race traitor who would sell out the Malays by making deals with Chinese interlopers, that he is in reality a liberal and who uses PAS to bolster his Islamic credentials and that he plays the crowds with promises that he has no intention of keeping.
The fact that the DAP is a disciplined political animal and proving itself capable of running a state without the largesse of Umno and that they seem to work well despite the very real ideological differences with PAS, is a sign that although the same race game is being played, it is a game that can be played without Umno.
Best to drop multiracial facade
And although I abhor the race game and those closeted racists within Pakatan, I despise the overt racists within Umno-BN more. If we are to play the race game then it is a game that should be played without Umno.
Just as the charade that is 1Malaysia, which is being perpetuated by the Umno state, is nothing but a fig leaf to hide the rancid core of a corrupt government, Pakatan should drop its multiracial/cultural facade and play the race game openly without the peekaboo missteps that is more grist for the Umno mill.
In other words, the hypocrisy of the whole multiracial/cultural song is what is hurting Pakatan and raising suspicions amongst a sizeable section of the Malay majority not to mention a large valuable section of the Indian voting public.
This hypocrisy extends to the way how Pakatan and its supporters characterize Umno-BN (or anyone who disagrees with them) as racists, all the while engaging in the same kind of online behaviour they claim to find reprehensible.
Pakatan supporters delude themselves when they think the "majority" is with them. Forget about the gerrymandering and suspicious electoral rolls, because the hard cold reality is, that the Malay community is extremely susceptible to appeals to emotions. The opposition and its supporters are susceptible to emotional appeals too. The whole ABU (Anything But Umno) movement or at least its hardcore supporters and the symbiotic nature of ABU and Pakatan is evidence of this.
In this highly polarised atmosphere, it is easy to forget that Umno-BN does command a share of the vote and even if they are "weak" as former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad claims, those who vote BN are Malaysians but oppositional discourse never acknowledges them as such.
When Pakatan kool-aid drinkers refer to them as "ignorant" or "stupid" and dehumanise people who vote BN in much the same way Perkasa and the various outsourced thugs of Umno do to their political adversaries, it just shows exactly what kind of morality powers this so-called movement of change.
Those who mock the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak for voting BN all these years have no idea of the reality of the lives they live and what compels them to vote the way they do. Same with the so-called rural heartland folks or anyone who would vote BN even though they are aware of the corruption that exist but take the pragmatic route that this is merely the reality of living a "peaceful life" without the hardships they see in other countries.
For Pakatan supporters or Pakatan itself, to think of these people as "ignorant" or "stupid" is a mistake that only the conceited would make and if votes do swing back, a lesson that could have been avoided if Pakatan had played its hand well.
Never mind that I can remember a time when we who voted for the opposition were mocked for our beliefs (and very often sanctioned by the Umno state) while the majority voted BN without thinking of the so-called principles that are bandied about now.
Umno has convinced them that the self-defeating deal they get now is better than the one Pakatan will give them. The reality of Pakatan rule in Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan which has not seen the Malay community being disenfranchised in any way is lost upon those who fear the erosion of Malay majority presence in every facet of Malaysian life.
Well, if this is the reality we are forced to exist in, then what Pakatan should do is ensure they make the best deal with every community that could contribute to their political capital. Obviously they got the Chinese vote more or less locked in and the DAP is working well with the racial script, except for the occasional blunders when they attempt to play the multiracial/cultural card.
The MCA and Gerakan are a joke and the most interesting part of author Kee Thuan Chye's second letter to Chua Soi Lek is the reaffirmation that the Chinese community are better off without representation in the government if it means representation that was made by the likes of MCA and Gerakan all these years.
And this is important because minorities should get used to the idea that if the game goes badly for us, we would be left out in the cold until by luck or a paradigm shift of thinking in the Malay community, we would be allowed to re-enter the sand box.
Work with Hindraf
What Pakatan needs to do is get the Indian vote and this means dealing with the only credible players when it comes to Indian interests here in Malaysia. That's right; Pakatan should be dealing with Hindraf and the Human Rights Party.
When it comes to Hindraf, Pakatan too can claim the Umno trait of practising revisionist history. These days Hindraf is mocked as a racist party while those who do the mocking attempt to rewrite history and dismiss the significance of Hindraf. I remember when there wasn't a ceramah, either Malay or Chinese dominated, that didn't ring out with the shouts of "Makkal Sakti".
Pakatan politicians had no problem claiming the Indian emancipation cause as their own. People regardless of race were invigorated by the prospects of "taking it to the streets" and this is one of the most important contributions of Hindraf not to mention that a single ethnic group comprised of various different socio-economic classes took part in a massive demonstration against Umno hegemony.
I have written about how Hindraf made mistakes post-2008, but the fact remains that Uthayakumar and Waythmoorthy (right) are the best bet when it comes to the "Indian issue" and if Pakatan (and it is incumbent on Pakatan) can stop assuming that the Indian vote is expendable and work with these men, not only would the Indian community benefit but also the prospects of a Pakatan administration playing the race game fairly.
PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat meeting with Waythamoorthy was an extremely good first step and the time has come for Pakatan, especially the DAP, to drop this whole "Hindraf is racist" narrative and deal with Uthayakumar and Waythamoorthy. As I said, only Hindraf in this whole sorry state of affairs has been honest enough to play the race game openly.
There is no doubt that the recent restriction on Waythamoorthy's movement is blowback because of his meeting with Pakatan.
This of course has been met with derision by Pakatan supporters who claim that Waythamoorthy should not have trusted (sic) Umno, when this has nothing to do with trusting Umno but rather the biased manner that the legal system works in this country. How many times have Pakatan attempted to use the system in place even though they know that the system is flawed?
If you make the mistake of thinking that the Indian vote is unimportant and that Indians should take care of their own problems, you are making a grave political mistake. Anwar and the top echelon of Pakatan should start viewing Hindraf as partners together with the other ‘Indian' political leaders in their respective parties.
Their grassroots level activism would be of great help when it comes to not the Indian vote but also to identify the fault lines in the Indian community which would make them swing back to Barisan.
The sad reality is that at the end of the day, the best we can hope for in this game is that successive hands we are dealt would be better than the last. If Pakatan has to play the game, at least we should do it openly and not aspire to anything more than the idea that Pakatan would play the game more fairly and that each community would have its place in the sun.
Until then, never mind the idealism.
COMMENT In my last piece, I commented on the rather predictable backlash that arose after Prime Minister Najib Razak's clarion call to the Malay polity of impending colonisation by a Pakatan Rakyat government which was in reality a proxy for the dreaded ‘pendatang' DAP.
In all my pieces, I have been pretty adamant on the futility of playing the race game and indeed in my conversations with Human Rights Party leader P Uthayakumar, I pushed the same line of argument although like any good discussion, there was opposing points of view which somehow managed to find a way to an amicable middle ground.
(Readers may be interested in fact that there are interviews with P Uthayakumar and Waythamoorthy in the works, but the sedition trial (and numerous social work obligations) of the former and the hectic nationwide fact-finding mission of the latter, will mean that these comprehensive interviews are a slow process).
One of the problems Pakatan faces in the reality which is the Umno-created Malaysia, is that the race game is the only game in town and that Pakatan, as I have pointed out in numerous pieces, is at a disadvantage because although they hum the multiracial tune, they are in reality bound by the same racial political chains that bind any mainstream political party that wishes to claim the throne in Putrajaya.
This is one of the reasons that Najib can play the race card and claim that the Malays are in peril because of a weak backbone - Malay stewardship in Pakatan.Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's strengths as a politician in the racial minefield of Malaysian politics, such as his ability to build consensus between various racial/ideological political parties, his appeal to a diverse racial demographic, his ability to engage with different social classes of the voting public and his Clintonion ability to come out unscathed from the Umno traps, has been interpreted by Umno as a sign of weakness.
Their propaganda organs screech that he is a race traitor who would sell out the Malays by making deals with Chinese interlopers, that he is in reality a liberal and who uses PAS to bolster his Islamic credentials and that he plays the crowds with promises that he has no intention of keeping.
The fact that the DAP is a disciplined political animal and proving itself capable of running a state without the largesse of Umno and that they seem to work well despite the very real ideological differences with PAS, is a sign that although the same race game is being played, it is a game that can be played without Umno.
Best to drop multiracial facade
And although I abhor the race game and those closeted racists within Pakatan, I despise the overt racists within Umno-BN more. If we are to play the race game then it is a game that should be played without Umno.
Just as the charade that is 1Malaysia, which is being perpetuated by the Umno state, is nothing but a fig leaf to hide the rancid core of a corrupt government, Pakatan should drop its multiracial/cultural facade and play the race game openly without the peekaboo missteps that is more grist for the Umno mill.
In other words, the hypocrisy of the whole multiracial/cultural song is what is hurting Pakatan and raising suspicions amongst a sizeable section of the Malay majority not to mention a large valuable section of the Indian voting public.
This hypocrisy extends to the way how Pakatan and its supporters characterize Umno-BN (or anyone who disagrees with them) as racists, all the while engaging in the same kind of online behaviour they claim to find reprehensible.
Pakatan supporters delude themselves when they think the "majority" is with them. Forget about the gerrymandering and suspicious electoral rolls, because the hard cold reality is, that the Malay community is extremely susceptible to appeals to emotions. The opposition and its supporters are susceptible to emotional appeals too. The whole ABU (Anything But Umno) movement or at least its hardcore supporters and the symbiotic nature of ABU and Pakatan is evidence of this.
In this highly polarised atmosphere, it is easy to forget that Umno-BN does command a share of the vote and even if they are "weak" as former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad claims, those who vote BN are Malaysians but oppositional discourse never acknowledges them as such.When Pakatan kool-aid drinkers refer to them as "ignorant" or "stupid" and dehumanise people who vote BN in much the same way Perkasa and the various outsourced thugs of Umno do to their political adversaries, it just shows exactly what kind of morality powers this so-called movement of change.
Those who mock the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak for voting BN all these years have no idea of the reality of the lives they live and what compels them to vote the way they do. Same with the so-called rural heartland folks or anyone who would vote BN even though they are aware of the corruption that exist but take the pragmatic route that this is merely the reality of living a "peaceful life" without the hardships they see in other countries.
For Pakatan supporters or Pakatan itself, to think of these people as "ignorant" or "stupid" is a mistake that only the conceited would make and if votes do swing back, a lesson that could have been avoided if Pakatan had played its hand well.
Never mind that I can remember a time when we who voted for the opposition were mocked for our beliefs (and very often sanctioned by the Umno state) while the majority voted BN without thinking of the so-called principles that are bandied about now.
Umno has convinced them that the self-defeating deal they get now is better than the one Pakatan will give them. The reality of Pakatan rule in Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan which has not seen the Malay community being disenfranchised in any way is lost upon those who fear the erosion of Malay majority presence in every facet of Malaysian life.
Well, if this is the reality we are forced to exist in, then what Pakatan should do is ensure they make the best deal with every community that could contribute to their political capital. Obviously they got the Chinese vote more or less locked in and the DAP is working well with the racial script, except for the occasional blunders when they attempt to play the multiracial/cultural card.The MCA and Gerakan are a joke and the most interesting part of author Kee Thuan Chye's second letter to Chua Soi Lek is the reaffirmation that the Chinese community are better off without representation in the government if it means representation that was made by the likes of MCA and Gerakan all these years.
And this is important because minorities should get used to the idea that if the game goes badly for us, we would be left out in the cold until by luck or a paradigm shift of thinking in the Malay community, we would be allowed to re-enter the sand box.
Work with Hindraf
What Pakatan needs to do is get the Indian vote and this means dealing with the only credible players when it comes to Indian interests here in Malaysia. That's right; Pakatan should be dealing with Hindraf and the Human Rights Party.
When it comes to Hindraf, Pakatan too can claim the Umno trait of practising revisionist history. These days Hindraf is mocked as a racist party while those who do the mocking attempt to rewrite history and dismiss the significance of Hindraf. I remember when there wasn't a ceramah, either Malay or Chinese dominated, that didn't ring out with the shouts of "Makkal Sakti".
Pakatan politicians had no problem claiming the Indian emancipation cause as their own. People regardless of race were invigorated by the prospects of "taking it to the streets" and this is one of the most important contributions of Hindraf not to mention that a single ethnic group comprised of various different socio-economic classes took part in a massive demonstration against Umno hegemony.
I have written about how Hindraf made mistakes post-2008, but the fact remains that Uthayakumar and Waythmoorthy (right) are the best bet when it comes to the "Indian issue" and if Pakatan (and it is incumbent on Pakatan) can stop assuming that the Indian vote is expendable and work with these men, not only would the Indian community benefit but also the prospects of a Pakatan administration playing the race game fairly.PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat meeting with Waythamoorthy was an extremely good first step and the time has come for Pakatan, especially the DAP, to drop this whole "Hindraf is racist" narrative and deal with Uthayakumar and Waythamoorthy. As I said, only Hindraf in this whole sorry state of affairs has been honest enough to play the race game openly.
There is no doubt that the recent restriction on Waythamoorthy's movement is blowback because of his meeting with Pakatan.
This of course has been met with derision by Pakatan supporters who claim that Waythamoorthy should not have trusted (sic) Umno, when this has nothing to do with trusting Umno but rather the biased manner that the legal system works in this country. How many times have Pakatan attempted to use the system in place even though they know that the system is flawed?
If you make the mistake of thinking that the Indian vote is unimportant and that Indians should take care of their own problems, you are making a grave political mistake. Anwar and the top echelon of Pakatan should start viewing Hindraf as partners together with the other ‘Indian' political leaders in their respective parties.
Their grassroots level activism would be of great help when it comes to not the Indian vote but also to identify the fault lines in the Indian community which would make them swing back to Barisan.
The sad reality is that at the end of the day, the best we can hope for in this game is that successive hands we are dealt would be better than the last. If Pakatan has to play the game, at least we should do it openly and not aspire to anything more than the idea that Pakatan would play the game more fairly and that each community would have its place in the sun.
Until then, never mind the idealism.
S THAYAPARAN is Commander (rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy.
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