Between 'Belacan' politics and 'Ah Beng' politics

The weakest link in the Pakatan Rakyat is now the DAP. Swollen-headed by its success in Sarawak, it looks well on the way of becoming what former premier Mahathir Mohamad had warned about - that the DAP is a chauvinist Chinese party. Anyone that questions it is trying to "narrow our vision to such a parochial outlook is to stoop to the same kind of politics practised by the BN!"

Sounds familiar? Yes, those were tactic employed by PKR renegades Zaid Ibrahim, John Soh and Salehuddin Hashim. Anything to do with PKR is Umno and BN-linked and should therefore be avoided. Strange that in the end, it was the ex-PKR trio that moved over to the BN side of the divide. And with the DAP in Sarawak befriending them, it was not surprising that state chief Wong Ho Leng echoed words of a similar script.

But can a call by Azmin Ali and Baru Bian to diversify the Chinese-dominated Sarawak shadow Cabinet be considered "parochial" when it sought to broaden the lineup and better reflect the composition of the racial groups. Surely, it would be more accurate to call Wong Ho Leng, the draftsman of the shadow lineup, Chinese chauvinistic and BN-infiltrated rather than Azmin and Baru parochial and BN-minded!

Much more than just a Sarawak tussle

With DAP chief Lim Guan Eng giving his Sarawak leaders so much 'face', the tussle has become more than a tiff over a shadow lineup and disgruntlement over Wong Ho Leng behaving like a political "cowboy".

Like all humans, the Chinese have their bad traits - the famed cunning and boastfulness, in short, the 'Ah Bengness' that horror of horrors Malaysians of all colours should shun being goverened by.

Mind you, this has got nothing to do with discrimination but rather, is a question of wisdom. Why should Malaysians jump from the frying pan to the fire and exchange one form of stupidity for another of boorishness.

Like the 'Belacan politics' that Umno has been accused of, 'Ah Beng politics' should also be shunned. Both are low culture and if to the Chinese, Ibrahim Ali is an overweight sewer rat, so too might Wong Ho Leng appear to the Malays.

If Umno has been accused of not 'seeing' the non-Malays, cannot the DAP be accused of being insensitive to Malays? For instance, have they though of how the Malays in PAS and PKR feel - why should these groups continue to defend the DAP, "No lah, they are not anti-Malay", yet across the seas on Borneo island, Wong Ho Leng is making fools of them.

Umno pulling the strings

Consideration and respect must always be extended, and when it is not, plots like the latest Umno-inspired drama about the DAP wanting to overthrow the King and put in place a Christian Prime Minister will seem real to the people it is aimed at.

Now, it is seditious to want to get rid of the King but there is nothing wrong for a non-Malay of whatever faith to be PM. Whether the Malays and Muslims are ready to accept this fact is actually irrelevant. What is relevant though is timing.

Why is Umno suddenly playing this up? It was very obviously an orchestrated move. The first inkling came from Pembela, which declared on Wednesday that Islam was under seige. Initially, most pundits including Christian leaders throught the group just wanted publicity for its conference on Saturday.

But to everyone's horror, Utusan and the two blogs Big Dog and Marahku set the issue afire across the Malay community. BN-friendly news portals helped to smoke it up. Then, Perkasa dutifully lodging a police report while Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein right on cue darkly warned against those responsible for it.

Where there is Hisham, you can be sure Prime Minister Najib Razak will be peeping somewhere from around the corner. The cousins work hand in hand. So to talk about the death of 1Malaysia is the silliest response. 1Malaysia died a long time ago, if ever it was sincerely meant to be, in the the first place.

Pakatan in a spot

The Christian-versus-Islam drama will again put the Pakatan in a spot. It may look like the DAP has been handed a nice big ang-pow but it is actually a time-bomb. Yes, Umno is actually quite smart. You don't rule a country for 50 odd years without learning a trick or two!

The more the DAP screams and shouts about constitutional rights and Umno deviousness, the more Chinese support it will receive and rightly so. But so what?

DAP can take all the Chinese votes but it still won't be able to form a Malaysia for all Malaysians. Even if DAP manages to convince the other non-Malays, it can only be a vote spoiler at worst or a commander-in-chief of the minority at best. That is, if the Indians, the Ibans and the Kadazan want to support it, in the first place.

And this is why DAP is the weakest link. It lacks vision, it does not have leadership. How it now responds to the crisis which to a large extent it is responsible for will show whether it has the class to rule.

DAP has to accept that it needs to work together with the Malays and the Malay leaders simply because the community forms the largest portion of the population. It is no point in having all the brains in the world or all the smart-alec answers, the long and short of it is - can you make the Malays trust you?

If DAP can't, what right does it have to ask the Chinese and the other races to vote for them? As a protest vote against the BN - yes. So that DAP can rule and take Malaysia forward - no. How can DAP ensure a better Malaysia when it can't make all the races visualize the same future or feel the same hope? As the Hong Kong people say, if you can't do 'big things', don't waste our 'gas-sie'!

Time is running out

Time is running out. From the speed at which Umno is dealing out all its cards, the 13th GE is already at the doorstep.

Do the Malays trust DAP? Are its leaders doing enough to make the community trust the party? To be fair, this question should be viewed from 2 time phases. Did the Malays trust DAP before the current Utusan Christian-versus-Islam blow-up? Do they trust the DAP now, having been 'informed' by Utusan they plan to make Christianity the official religion?

Hell, no! Especially when they see Wong Ho Leng throwing his weight around in Sarawak. And this is just with 12 seats. Even PKR and PAS will be thinking twice. In the past, leaders from both parties had generously rushed to defend DAP against Umno's barrage of accusations. Not just because DAP was part of the Pakatan team, but often because the accusations hurled were simply too crazy.

But despite standing on the right side of the righteous, Anwar Ibrahim, PKR, Nik Aziz and PAS have suffered tremendous political damage. While they have gained the respect of the non-Malays, their standing amongst the Malays has been chopped down painfully.

Does the DAP appreciate their give-and-take? Or will it just take and now that it has - as Mahathir had predicted - used the PKR and PAS to the maximum, abandon them for the likes of John Soh and the BN.

- Malaysia Chronicle