Now that Bersih is over (part 1)

 

And what is the will of the people? The people want free, fair and clean elections. Only through a free, fair and clean election will the country see changes. But how do you see a free, fair and clean election if there is no change? And how would you see change if there are no free, fair and clean elections? That is what is called a Catch 22 situation. You need change to see the elections that you want. But you will never see change unless the election system first changes.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Now that Bersih 3.0 is over and the euphoria has subsided a bit, maybe we can get back down to ‘normal’ business. But then what would we regard as normal in the context of Malaysia? I suppose there is nothing that can be considered normal when it comes to Malaysia. After all, Malaysia is not a normal country so the definition of normal would not apply here.

How can Malaysia be regarded as normal when the government shouts One-Malaysia but Malaysia is not one. Malaysia is a country of four classes of people. At the top echelon is the Umnoputra, the ruling elite. Next comes the Rajaputra, the members of Malaysia’s Royal Family that can literally get away with murder. Then we have the Bumiputera or sons-of-the-soil, the race that receives preferential treatment. Finally, at the bottom of the list is what we call the non-Bumiputera, those whose ancestors came from India or China 500 years or so ago and became Malaysian citizens in 1957. 

Yes, some Malaysians are 20 generation citizens but they are still considered ‘immigrants’ while others who are second generation citizens can go on to become the Prime Minister of Malaysia. If that can’t be considered abnormal then I do not know what can.

Would the word ‘normal’, therefore, apply to Malaysia? Malaysia is a secular nation with Parliamentary elections and a Constitutional Monarchy. Absolutism was abolished when the Straits Settlements, Federated Malay States and Unfederated Malay States were abolished and merged into the Federation of Malaya when independence or Merdeka was granted by the British in 1957. Yet you can get punished under Malaysia’s Sedition Act if you criticise the Crown just like during the time of Henry VIII or Elizabeth I hundreds of years ago in England when the Monarch was ‘appointed by God’ and absolutism ruled the realm.

Malaysia is certainly a contradiction of the highest degree. And only in secular Malaysia can God’s law be imposed on Muslims and punishment meted out for crimes against God like just like during the time of Henry VIII or Elizabeth I hundreds of years ago in England when the Monarch was appointed by God and absolutism ruled the realm.

Hence, what is normal? Normal is what the ruling elite says is normal. And one man’s meat is another man’s poison.

Malaysians are faced with a Catch 22 situation. And if you do not understand what Catch 22 means then go look it up. We need to see major reforms in Malaysia. Malaysia is still living in the past. As the ex-Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said, Malaysia is a country with first-world infrastructure but third-world mentality.

This is actually very true. If you were to read the comments in Malaysia Today made by so-called ‘progressive’ Malaysians you can see that these are comments by people with a third-world mentality. Right can be wrong and wrong can be right as long as it suits their agenda. They would readily apply the rule of the ends justifying the means when it is in their favour and oppose this concept when it works against them. The Malays call this‘matlamat menghalalkan cara’. 

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak understands and appreciates this. After all, he is very westernised in his thinking, as is his entire family. But understanding and appreciating it is one thing. Whether he can do anything about the matter is another thing altogether.

Yes, Najib knows what needs to be done. And he realises that if he does not do what needs to be done then Umno and Barisan Nasional are at the end of their days. But he is not at liberty to do the right thing. And he is not at liberty because he is not really the Prime Minister. He is merely a de facto Prime Minister. But then was this not the dilemma faced by many leaders over the last 200 years since the late 1700s who had to allow circumstances to dictate what they do and paid a heavy price for resisting the will of the people?

And what is the will of the people? The people want free, fair and clean elections. Only through a free, fair and clean election will the country see changes. But how do you see a free, fair and clean election if there is no change? And how would you see change if there are no free, fair and clean elections? That is what is called a Catch 22 situation. You need change to see the elections that you want. But you will never see change unless the election system first changes.

It is almost like a chicken and the egg situation. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? Which comes first, changes or free, fair and clean elections? Without changes there will not be any free, fair and clean elections and without free, fair and clean elections there will never be change.

And this is not the dilemma facing just Malaysians but also Najib’s dilemma as well. Najib is not stupid. After all, he studied in England. He knows the history of the Congress of Vienna of 1815. The Congress of Vienna was a move to defend the rule of absolutism and to deny the people democracy and self-rule. But that same Congress accelerated the downfall of absolutism and triggered the revolutions of the 1840s and the creation of republics all over Europe during the second half of the 1800s.

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. Najib knows this. But can you change the course of history? They thought they could, 200 years ago in Europe. But history has shown us that you can’t. Ultimately, the people’s will decides the course of history. And, today, Malaysia is where Europe was 200 years ago.

And that is how I see Bersih 1.0, Bersih 2.0 and Bersih 3.0 last weekend. I will stop here for now while you digest what I have just said. But I am certainly far from finished. So stay tuned where I will take you through the second and maybe third parts of this analysis. In Oxford they only allow you 1,000 words for your essay and my essay has already exceeded this word limit by almost 50 words.