Warning to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak

Let me put it another way, Datuk Seri. I propagate liberalism while you uphold conservatism. Hence, during the first half of the 1800s, people who think like me battled against people who think like you. Then, in the second half of the 1800s, those who think like me, the liberals, won. And not only Europe but also the whole world changed. In short, in the end, people who think like me are going to win against people who think like you.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Dear Datuk Seri,

It was announced last month that the government is prepared to engage NGOs and civil society movements. I think that is a good move. Can I be so bold as to suggest that this ‘engagement’ also be extended to conscientious citizens? I know you may regard conscientious citizens as mere individuals but we must not forget that it were the ‘conscientious objectors’ of the 1960s who opposed the Vietnam War and triggered a global ‘revolution’ that gave birth to the term ‘the ugly American’.

Actually, the 1960s ‘revolution’ did not invent that term. The Ugly American was the title of a 1958 novel by William Lederer and Eugene Burdick about a nation called Sarkhan, an imaginary country in Southeast Asia that somewhat resembles Burma or Thailand, but which was meant to allude to Vietnam.

The book describes the United States losing the struggle against Communism -- what was later to be called the battle for the hearts and minds in Southeast Asia. And the US lost because of its arrogance and its failure to understand the local culture. The title is actually a double entendre, referring both to the physically unattractive hero, Homer Atkins, in contrast with the ugly behaviour of the American government.

Then, in 1963, it was made into a movie, starring Marlon Brando as Ambassador Harrison Carter MacWhite, about the experiences of Americans in South East Asia, in particular in Vietnam. The film was a hit mainly because of opposition to the Vietnam War at that time. The movie was shot in Hollywood and various locations in Thailand, including the Chulalongkorn University.

The late Kukrit Pramoj, a Thai politician and scholar, was hired as a cultural advisor to the film. He also played the supporting role in the movie as Sarkhan's Prime Minister, Kwen Sai. Sarkhan and Kwen Sai were all fictional, of course. But do you know what? In 1973, Kukrit Pramoj became the Speaker of Thailand’s House of Representatives and in 1975 he really did become the 13th Prime Minister of Thailand. Quite ironical, don’t you think so?

Anyway, as usual, I am digressing so allow me to come back to the matter I really wish to talk about. What I want to talk about is that The Ugly American was about the fatalist policies of governments that do unpopular things and how even more fatal it would be for governments to lose the battle of the hearts and minds of the people.

The British knew this. The Americans did not. And now, instead of acting like the British, your administration is acting like the Americans.

Datuk Seri, if you had studied Malayan history, in particular the era of British Malaya, you will know that the Emergency was the period of the Communist insurgency. The British, in their wisdom, realised that the war against Communism could never be won with guns and bullets. To beat Communism they had to win the hearts and minds of the people. And this was what the British did and was also why Malaya never went the way of many other countries of that time, that is became a Communist State.

Say what you like, the British were more successful at the colonial game than many other superpowers. In fact, if you had to be colonised, it was better you had British colonial masters than, say, the French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, or whatever. If not for the British, 1957 would have been a bloody Merdeka and the post-Merdeka era would have seen a period of civil war. Thank God we were spared all this mainly because of the wisdom of the British.

Datuk Seri, if you want, I can e-mail one of your special aids or advisors, such as Lat Shariman, various links to The National Archives in Kew Gardens so that someone can research this matter. I have done some research myself. You will find some very interesting exchanges of letters and reports between the British government of Malaya and the British Colonial Office in London, now declassified, regarding strategies and policies. You will be surprised to know that the British had their hands on the pulse, so to speak.

Yes, hands on the pulse. That is the key here. And this is what your administration does not appear to have, its hands on the pulse. And unless you have your hands on the pulse of the nation your administration is going to fail. Now, note one thing, when I say ‘fail’ I am not talking about losing the elections.

Politicians normally equate success and failure to winning and losing the elections. This is not the success and failure that I am talking about. Adolf Hitler won the German elections. Does that make him a successful leader? You too can probably win the next general elections expected by June or July this year. But that would not make you a success. Elections can be won in many ways, not always the fair way, as you yourself have discovered in 1999 when your loss turned into a win through a sleight of hand involving 2,000 army votes -- or so I was told by a little bird.

The failure of many renowned leaders is that they do not have their hands on the pulse. These types of leaders live in the past or in a fantasy world. They are also surrounded with advisors who are idiots and only serve their own interests. Invariably, leaders like to surround themselves with ‘good news’ advisors. Hence the Emperor is always wearing clothes even when he is naked, as what these advisors would have you believe.

Allow me, Datuk Seri, to take you for a weekend walk down memory lane, 200 years ago to be exact. 200 years ago, the European leadership failed to read the writings on the wall. They treated the 1789 uprising in France as a localised matter. They underestimated the global impact of the 1789 uprising.

In 1815, after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, they held the Congress of Vienna, which was attended by the nobility of Europe and dominated by Metternich. Basically, the most powerful nation then, the Hapsburg Empire, wanted to ensure that notions of freedom, equality and fraternity, which started in France, would not spread throughout the rest of Europe. In 1819, Metternich came out with the Carlsbad Decrees to counter the 1793Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.

The main focus of the Carlsbad Decrees was to ban nationalist fraternities, remove liberal university professors, and expand the censorship of the press. Basically, the Carlsbad Decrees was meant to stifle freedom of speech, assembly, and association and to control what the people think, say and do. Other countries followed suit and for the next 30 years there was a battle for the hearts and minds of the people. Basically, it was a battle between liberalism and conservatism.   

Let me put it another way, Datuk Seri. I propagate liberalism while you uphold conservatism. Hence, during the first half of the 1800s, people who think like me battled against people who think like you. Then, in the second half of the 1800s, those who think like me, the liberals, won. And not only Europe but also the whole world changed. In short, in the end, people who think like me are going to win against people who think like you.

Today, we take many things for granted. What we do not realise is that until the second half of the 1800s many things that we take for granted today did not exist yet then. For hundreds of years, governments the world over tried to stem the march of liberalism. But they all failed. It may have taken time. But in the end the liberals always won the battle. 

Datuk Seri, this is about winning the hearts and minds of the people. You can’t win the battle of the hearts and minds of the people with guns and bullets. Force can never succeed. Force just strengthens the resolve of the people. History has proven that time and time again.

Now, Datuk Seri, before you brush off what I say as mere ramblings of a Pakatan Rakyat supporter, let me assure you that this cannot but be further from the truth. As many now probably already know, you included, I regard Pakatan Rakyat as merely the lesser of the two evils. And I know if I were to address this article to the opposition instead of to you, they too would just brush it aside. Hence the opposition is not really that much of a proponent of freedom of speech and opinion any more than Umno is. But the thing is, you are the Prime Minster, not someone from Pakatan Rakyat. Hence I have no choice but to address this article to you. If Anwar Ibrahim were the Prime Minister instead of you, then it would be his name in the title of this article and not yours.

The ball is at your feet, Datuk Seri. You are the Prime Minister. The question is: do you still wish to remain the Prime Minister? You can remain the Prime Minister only if you win more than 111 Parliament seats in the coming general election. If you don’t then you will become the new Opposition Leader in Parliament. And those who will determine this are not the 30% government supporters or the 30% opposition supporters. It will be the 40% middle ground that is non-partisan but just want to see good governance and a fair election.

The era of when governments can stop its citizens from speaking and from expressing themselves is long gone. Changes are sweeping Asia and the Middle East. Yes, you may say that the Arab Spring has not really succeeded. Well, they said this in 1848. However, one generation later, the so-called failures of 1848 proved successful.

And that is what happened in March 2008. March 2008 was Malaysia’s Europe of 1848. And my Wawasan 2020is: by the 14th General Election, say in 2017 or so, what started in 2008 during the 12th General Election is going to see maturity. Hence you either change now, in the coming 13th general election, or else Wawasan 2020 is going to be the era when Umno Baru and Barisan Nasional are as dead as Umno ‘Lama’ and the Alliance Party.