By Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria
Politics in Malaysia has changed radically since March 8, 2008. The BN has fallen from its once strong position as the people’s choice government. Prior to this the Alliance and later the Barisan National with representatives from all the communities was the only real option at both the state and federal levels.
This situation has changed with the loss of two third majority in parliament and five states to Pakatan coalition. Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim in his dynamic leadership style has made a tremendous comeback in a huge way capturing the imagination and hearts of people. His recent victory at Permatang Pauh and entry into Parliament further enhances his position as alternate national leader.
These are Dato Seri Anwar’s achievements which the people have given him. They were not secured through political manipulation but inspite of the heavy odds against the Pakatan the ordinary voters gave to him and his team. However the current attempt to do ‘a political coup’ by getting forty Members of parliament to cross over to his coalition is an act which is not respecting the wishes of the people.
A foundational leadership quality is patience. Waiting for your time is most critical. Patience is a real virtue but more that this leadership quality is respecting the wishes of the people. This is the most sacred democratic principle. Political expediency in a manipulative way will never be long lasting. We have to learn the lessons from many countries that have undergone military coups. Respecting democracy and democratic principles is fundamental.
Dato Seri Anwar and his team of politicians must never underestimate the people. On March 8, 2008 the voters did something that most Malaysians did not imagine would happen. The transition of power at the state government went on smoothly. But Anwar’s team does not have the mandate for the federal government and therefore his attempts to undertake a coup by Sept 16, 2008 is not in the best interest of the nation.
In the interim period to the next general elections, the opposition leader and his members in the parliament must devote much attention of being an effective opposition including establishing a shadow cabinet. Articulating alternative public policies, challenging existing ones, monitor performance of Ministries and their delivery systems is urgently needed. Be the voice and conscience of the nation in parliament. Organise public gathering to articulate public concerns and remedies.
But most of all settle policy differences among the various component parties within the Pakatan on critical matters pertaining especially to religious freedom, fundamental liberties, and alternative development plans which are inclusive for all Malaysian. Run the five Pakatan states differently from those run by the Barisan National upholding your promises and venture to undertake independent impact assessments of projects undertaken illustrating difference in governance, integrity, public accountability and public participation both at the State and local government levels.
Capturing the federal government through a General election is a more honourable way rather than just getting MPs to betray their party, their constituencies and their conscience.
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2 comments:
Is 50 years enough?
Irene Fernandez | Sep 12, 08 6:15pm
Article was posted in malaysiakini.com
I refer to the Malaysiakini article
Anwar, please accept democracy
Is Dr Dennison saying that Anwar is not practicing democracy? Why did he wait so patiently to complete his six years of political exile to contest at Permatang Pauh to become a member of parliament, if he did not believe in democracy.?
Dr Dennison, maybe your kind of democracy is different from Anwar and PKR’s? What Anwar and all of us believe is that democracy is about fundamental liberties and rights guaranteed in our constitution and enshrined in the international instruments. Democracy is about good governance and accountability where the pillars of democracy, the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary are independent.
As a human rights commissioner, Dr Dennison, you know that a simple feedback on the status of rights of the rakyat to parliament by the human rights commission, Suhakam, has been denied. If this in itself is controlled by the Executive, then there is no democracy but dictatorship.
The main argument you raised is that the people have made a choice on Mar 8 during the general elections and we should respect that decision. We should wait for the next 5 years and then get back to the people for a different mandate. I will accept this if it was free, fair and just elections. But the way general elections are held in Malaysia, it is nothing but a facade of democracy.
The election commission is not independent. The electoral roll is manipulated, unclean and false where the dead have risen to vote. The opposition has no access to the government /people’s media. Ceramahs need permit from the police force that is riddled with corruption and biased to the status quo.
The police function seems to be to issue warnings threatening the rakyat. It shows its force and instills fear with large numbers of FRU personnel. Is this the democracy you ask Anwar to practice? I am sure as a human rights commissioner, Dr Dennison, you can see beyond these parameters and recognise genuine democracy.
Do we wait for five years for a new mandate to release our grassroot leaders under the ISA? Do we wait for more people to be arrested and threatened with the use of Sedition Act, Printing Presses and Publication Act or the Official Secrets Act? Do we wait for 5 years before Refugees are recognised and are free from torture, arrest, whipping and detention?
Do we wait for five years for workers to get a minimum living wage? As a human rights commissioner, Dr Dennison, you will know these forms of rights violations must be halted as soon as possible. The incarceration of persons through such draconian laws cannot be tolerated as the liberties and security of persons are threatened.
And I will take your argument that people “have made” a choice. In this choice on Mar 8, 2008, the rakyat in 5 states chose the opposition where Pakatan Rakyat is the government of the day. But democracy does not work.
The federal government hordes the funds. It refuses to give money to these state governments. A classic case is the action of the tourism minister. A number of tourism programmes by these state governments have not got funding from the federal government.
In short, the federal government denies the voters in these states their right to the funds for development. The control and conflict between the federal government and the five states reveal that such democracy by BN strangles the rakyat’s growth and development.
And so Dr Dennison, do we wait and continue such a form of dominance that the rakyat suffers from the abuse of the federal government or liberate them through a process of legitimately taking over the federal government through a new decision by MPs who now realise that the rakyat and the nation come first before themselves. And what’s wrong with this process if at the heart of the change is the rakyat?
Is it morally wrong to move forward the process so that we practice genuine democracy, we fight corrupton and instill good governance, we protect the rights of the people, we ensure our resources and our land is protected not just for ourselves but for our children and we free our women, children and ourselves from the violence of the state institutions? Is this transformation immoral?
What is wrong now must be put right. I am sure as a human rights commissioner, Dr Dennison, you will agree to this principle. And this is exactly what Anwar, the party and Pakatan Rakyat are working on, putting right the wrong so that genuine democracy reigns. This is the form of leadership we yearned for, worked for and struggled for in the last 50 years, not just March 8, 2008. We have waited too long.
Of Pakatan, people, principles, patience and prudence
Martin Jalleh | Sep 17, 08 10:54am
With each passing day, Umno, which has very arrogantly declared it would bury Anwar Ibrahim politically, continues to dig its own grave.
MCPX
The results of the by-election in Permatang Pauh sounded the death knell to the supremacist party. It was the last nail the party drove into its own coffin.
After the general elections in March, it becomes evident that Umno is not short of leaders like Ahmad Ismail (left)who desperately seek to write Umno’s obituary.
Sharing this privilege is Dr Mahathir Mohamad, whose self-deceiving sarcasm puts him in a state of denial especially over the fact that Umno started decaying and decomposing during his days!
Umno’s colleagues in the Barisan Nasional whose parties are also disintegrating have made it clear that they can no longer swallow nor stomach Umno’s political vomit and venom.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi increasingly looks like a lame duck, kept afloat by a pool of ministers like Najib Abdul Razak, Nazri Aziz and Syed Hamid Albar – experts at offering lame excuses.
It is against this dark despairing scenario that Anwar and the Pakatan Rakyat offer much-needed hope. There is great urgency to bring about real and radical change.
Anwar has made it very clear, and no one can accuse him of having a hidden agenda, that he wants to lead this country out of these turbulent and trying times, as the prime minister.
And why should he not be PM – he has the intelligence, the interest of the people at heart and the kind of inspiration that spurs people to heights of glory as a nation.
But the method with which Anwar employs to change the government and to take his rightful seat in Putrajaya, does not sit well with some of us who are supportive of Pakatan.
People paramount
The nation is at a crossroads and one seriously wonders whether a government set up by crossovers is the answer! Will they be at cross-purposes not long after?
Defection is a defective way of setting up a government. Floor-crossing creates instability – rogue MPs can easily pull the rug from under the new Pakatan government.
The Pakatan is a "people’s party". It is a party formed by the people, for the people and with the people. Time and again we are told that the people come first. They are the boss.
We even hear of the people’s parliament, people’s court – the people’s wants, wishes and will! The "tsunami" of March 2008 and Permatang Pauh were a "people’s victory".
The very essence and reason for Pakatan’s existence is – the people. If the people are paramount then Pakatan must respect the will of the people as expressed in the last general election.
The choice and will of the people must not be negated or substituted by the will of an individual or a group of individual -- no matter how noble the intention.
Party hopping, crossovers or floor-crossing ignores the decision of the majority of the people. It is synonymous with the BN and it is against the very soul and spirit of Pakatan.
Hopping does not bring hope. It only sets a bad precedent. With money politics so rife, there is no guarantee that the hopper may not one day hop back into his/her original "hole".
Crossovers may produce a "crossbreed" of politicians who end up engaging themselves in crossing swords rather than serving the people.
Principled politics
In their great and genuine desire to bring about change, Anwar and Pakatan must be guided by democratic principles and allow the democratic process of March 2008 to run its course.
A principle is an absolute. It defies compromise. It is not a sliding scale to be altered at whim or will. Pakatan must choose the moral high ground and not resort to Umno’s lowdown tactics. Two wrongs do not make one right.
If a principle is bent, even "just a little bit" out of whatever justification, it may one day boomerang or backfire on those who have compromised. We are not short of examples.
The BN itself is now haunted by the very tool and "trick" it used when it successfully enticed MPs from the PBS to cross over to the BN in the 1994 Sabah state elections.
Dr Mahathir and his son Mukhriz are now complaining very vehemently about the 30 percent quota for nominations in an Umno election.
According to former secretary general of Umno, Mohamed Rahmat: "That quota was put there (by Dr M) to ensure no one challenges Dr Mahathir. It is not democratic."
Thomas Jefferson offers us much wisdom: "So long as [the principles of our revolution] prevail, we are safe from everything which can assail us from without or within".
Consider the observation of Charles de Montesquieu, a French political thinker: "The deterioration of a government begins almost always by the decay of its principles."
Yes, these are revolutionary times. Anwar and Pakatan have created a "revolution" indeed. It is crucial therefore that it be faithful to its starting principles so that this revolution may go from strength to strength.
Patience and prudence
According to well-respected Irene Fernandez it is "good to jump ship so that genuine democracy will be a reality". She adds: "Let’s stop being myopic."
Crossovers will only create a "genetically modified" democracy, not a genuine one! Let us not be blind to its long-term implications and possible repercussions.
Perhaps the senior leaders of the DAP who have quite consistently taken an anti-defection stance could share their wisdom with Anwar and their colleagues in Pakatan.
DAP chairman Karpal Singh has said he was dead set against a government shored up by kataks and "kangaroos". Party advisor Lim Kit Siang proposed an anti- hopping law as far back as 30 years ago!
Some say Kit Siang has been curiously coy about Anwar’s crossover plan because he harbours hope of being a deputy PM! Frankly, he does not need such a position.
Having lived and suffered for his principles, Kit Siang has reached a stature that commands the kind of public respect no high office or honorific title can provide.
I fully agree with social commentators Ong Kian Ming and Oon Yeoh that it would be "much wiser for the Pakatan to concentrate on governing the five states which it currently controls and to show voters that it can govern at the state level effectively."
Ong and Oon were spot on when they added: "By playing the role of a loyal opposition, at least for now, Pakatan can find its feet and learn what it is like to work as a united team through the formation of a shadow cabinet, for example.
"By showing that they can indeed work together as a coalition, it will only increase the voter’s confidence that Pakatan is a government-in-waiting rather than a temporary opposition alliance of convenience."
For the sake of the people of Bolehland, may patience and prudence prevail in Pakatan Rakyat as it journeys towards Putrajaya!
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