Déjà vu

Now you know why we need a Third Force. Sometimes politicians, even those from the opposition, forget what they promise us and go back on their word. And we, the voters who put them into office, have to suffer and pay the price for their forgetfulness.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

“Kedah entertainment ban resurrects Barisan Alternatif ghost,” said Debra Chong in her article in The Malaysian Insider today. You can read the full text of the article below.

Anyway, the matter has since been resolved. The PAS-led Kedah state government will not be banning entertainment in the state during the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan after all. Instead, only Muslims would be banned from patronising these establishments. The rest can continue to enjoy themselves the whole year around instead of just 11 months in a year.

But I am sure the matter will not end here. The government-owned mainstream media will continue to talk about this to ‘poke fire’ in an attempt to create a rift between DAP and PAS. And PKR, who is caught in between, will continue to maintain a deafening silence.

What caught my attention was Debra’s (or The Malaysian Insider’s) choice of heading: “Kedah entertainment ban resurrects Barisan Alternatif ghost”. She did not fully explain what she means by this other than state: “in what could be a repeat of the momentous split between the secular party and Islamist PAS in 2001”.

Maybe some of you do not understand what this means or are not too clear about what happened ten years ago in 2001. Well, allow me to enlighten you.

Soon after the 1999 general election, the then Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, declared that Malaysia is already an Islamic country so we do not need PAS. Dr Mahathir also said that Umno is the largest Islamic party in the world, much larger than PAS, which is only a quarter or less the size of Umno in terms of membership.

This started the ‘I am more Islamic than you’ one-upmanship game between PAS and Umno.

Then Dr Mahathir goaded PAS by saying that the Islamic party promises all sorts of things before the elections, but now that they are running two states, Kelantan and Terengganu, they do not deliver on their promises. “Where is the promise of Islamic laws?” screams Dr Mahathir.

PAS sudah tak tahan. Dr Mahathir has been goading them and laughing at them and is calling the party a liar and a hypocrite. PAS had to demonstrate otherwise. So it unilaterally announced -- without the consensus of its other three coalition partners in Barisan Alternatif (PKN, DAP and PRM) -- that the Terengganu state government is going to introduce Islamic laws in the state.

And with that the Menteri Besar announced that they are going to introduce the ISD (Islamic State Document). This more or less replied to Dr Mahathir’s allegations and proved that PAS is sincere about Islam and it is not mere lip service and political talk.

But what is the ISD? How is it going to work?

The ISD was only an aspiration (hasrat). There was no clear plan yet on how it was going to work. In other words, they had no blueprint on its implementation but were merely stating an intention.

What PAS was doing was merely to reply to Dr Mahathir in an attempt to silence him and win the ‘I am more Islamic than you’ argument. And this got DAP upset. So it left the opposition coalition in a huff and became an independent opposition party.

DAP felt that the move by PAS was going to hurt them big time. Certainly Chinese support would erode and DAP would lose votes. So DAP had to leave Barisan Alternatif to protect itself.

Ten years on and Kedah is doing what Terengganu once did -- make a unilateral decision without consultation with the other coalition members and without consensus.

If you can remember, Barisan Alternatif before this, and Pakatan Rakyat now, had announced that everything within the opposition coalition is done based on consensus. A simple majority is not enough, they said. It must be all or nothing. Now, PAS Kedah accuses DAP of ‘interfering’ in the state administration.

Back in 1999, the Menteri Besar of Terengganu said that the Terengganu state government is not a PAS government but a BA government (in spite of PAS dominating the State Assembly and DAP not having even one seat). Whenever Hadi Awang announced anything he would say, “Kerajaan Barisan Alternatif Terengganu…..” He would never say, “Kerajaan PAS Terengganu…..”

But when they announced the ISD it was PAS and not BA that did so.

That was the bone of contention and which upset many people -- DAP in particular.

But then, should DAP keep making threats that they are going to leave Pakatan Rakyat every time things do not go their way? And should PAS keep saying that “we rule Kedah” or “we rule Kelantan” just because they have a majority in those two states? Would we be happy if Lim Guan Eng announces that DAP rules Penang so PKR and PAS just shut the fuck up and don’t interfere in Penang?

I just want to know one thing. Is DAP running Penang, PKR running Selangor, and PAS running Kedah and Kelantan, or are these four states being run by Pakatan Rakyat? And do they run these states based on consensus and unanimous decisions (and not based on a simple majority) or can one party in the coalition do things with total disregard for the other coalition members?

Now you know why we need a Third Force. Sometimes politicians, even those from the opposition, forget what they promise us and go back on their word. And we, the voters who put them into office, have to suffer and pay the price for their forgetfulness.

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Kedah entertainment ban resurrects Barisan Alternatif ghost

Debra Chong, The Malaysian Insider

Despite warm and strong ties, DAP publicity chief Tony Pua has suggested his party pull out from the three-year-old Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact, ostensibly over a spat with ally PAS’ state-enforced entertainment ban in Kedah during the Muslim fasting month.

DAP leaders discussed the issue at a national leadership retreat yesterday, in what could be a repeat of the momentous split between the secular party and Islamist PAS in 2001 when both first joined forces under the short-lived Barisan Alternatif (BA) to counter the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

Pua aired the matter in a Twitter post yesterday, saying he “is of the view that we shouldn’t be part of a coalition if our concerns are not heard or heeded. Don’t want to become like MCA or Gerakan in BN.”

Contacted by The Malaysian Insider, Pua declined at first to elaborate on his tweet except to say it was his personal opinion and not the party’s official position.

But he admitted that the subject of cutting off ties with its political allies had been raised at the party’s retreat in Seremban and will be discussed further when the PR leadership meets on Tuesday for its strategy session.

He also played coy when asked to elaborate if he was upset over the Kedah ban or if it was a build-up of frustration of working with PAS, posting a smiley icon of an angel with its eyes closed in the Blackberry messenger chat.

Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, political secretary to Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak, issued a strongly-worded statement yesterday that the state government will not withdraw the ruling despite opposition, saying the government was just enforcing a 1997 law.

“Ustaz Azizan will not back down! That is his stand on this issue,” said Sanusi in the statement carried by PAS website Harakahdaily.

However, the national PAS leadership has asked the Kedah leader to explain the ban in a meeting to be held later today.

Several other social media users, however, appeared to have formed their own conclusions about DAP-PAS ties as seen in their response to Pua on both Twitter and Facebook, where the debate carried on.

Replying to Pua on Facebook, Richard Yong remarked: “YB, i know which issue u referring to.. shld stress more on team work and get the respective top leaders to deliberate on it.”

Another Facebooker, Simon Poon posted the following“but YB , how do u see the current problems surfaced at Kedah? Is the coalition going to have a joint conference as to provide a clearer guideline and picture so that the public understand well instead of just asking us to send u all to putrajaya”.

On Twitter, a user going by the name “xyplyx xyplyx” challenged: “then how DAP wan 2 rule M’sia?” prompting Pua to shoot back “whts d point? If so desperate to rule, might as well join BN. Must win w/principles. Not win at all costs juz 2 become Minister”.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP later said to The Malaysian Insider that it would not be the first time DAP has broken off ties with its political allies, in a nod to the Chinese-majority party’s withdrawal from the BA in 2001, after a similar falling out with PAS over the latter’s insistence on setting up an Islamic state in then PAS-ruled Terengganu

The DAP last locked horns with PAS in January this year over Selangor’s proposed ban on Muslims from working in premises that sell alcohol.

The Selangor government later claimed the ban was merely a guideline before withdrawing the ruling pending further study. Following that debacle, PR leaders have promised to consult each other on issues that could affect their pact which has survived three years.

DAP and PAS are in the PR pact together with PKR that was formed after the three parties won four more states and more than one-third of the federal parliament. The three parties have applied to form a coalition but the Registrar of Societies (RoS) has yet to give his nod.

PR parties received a boost in the past week after the BN government clamped down hard on the Bersih 2.0 rally calling for free and fair elections. Analysts and diplomats agreed the harsh security move cut some of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s popularity especially in the urban areas and among the middle-class, a key voting demographic in the country.

But the pact could suffer if DAP and PAS continue to bicker over the Kedah ban, several PR leaders conceded toThe Malaysian Insider.