Open Letter to Hindraf Makkal Sakthi: Borneo-based and led national 3rd Force in Parliament

Borneo-based and led national 3rd Force in Parliament

We have at present a disloyal national Opposition, one which doesn’t know where party politics ends and good government begins. We need a loyal national Opposition i.e. one loyal to the country.

Selvaraja Somiah

Open Letter to Hindraf Makkal Sakthi

Borneo-based and led national 3rd Force in Parliament

Dear Waytha and Uthaya,

Johore may be set for interesting times as it faces an uncertain future as an Umno bastion.

Muhiyiddin is reportedly trying to do a number on Najib here by planning to get rid of Ghani in a bid to prepare for the post-13th General Election period. He must think that Johore’s and Mahathir’s support alone are sufficient to help him mount a successful challenge against Najib for the Umno presidency.

The Sultan should continue to remain above politics and not agree to bring in, as rumoured, Khalid Nordin.The MB should be free of palace control.

The national Opposition alliance meanwhile is spreading any number of rumours on its political foes.

Among these rumours: infighting in Umno (also in BN over seats); MIC will be alloted less parliamentary seats and state seats than it won the last time lest the Opposition wins even more seats from the party — MIC is set to lose Segamat, Tapah and Hulu Selangor — and the party to be compensated by other non-elected positions in government; the companies in the submarine case in France will be found guilty of giving out bribes for the deal. Mahathir, Mukhriz and Muhyiddin — the 3Ms — will be jumping up and down with joy as they will finally have an opportunity to oust Najib before the GE; Ananda Krishnan’s money meant for the GE has been frozen by India for money laundering (That does not seem to have prevented Astro from giving out RM 500 million to RTM a few days ago to improve services.); Syed Mokhtar’s money alone is not enough to finance the GE; Najib has either finished his RM 500 million from the submarine deal or is not willing to part with anymore money for politics just in case he loses the GE; Mahathir is not willing to part with any money for the GE; Daim Zainuddin is willing to finance individuals, not parties, provided they can be useful to him in some way.(How is he going to finance anyone without knowing who will be selected as candidates?) Taib’s money meant for the GE was frozen in Switzerland after the Bruno Manser Foundation tipped off authorities there; Umno branches have squandered the money given to them for the GE etc

In retaliation, one word from Umno making the rounds is that Azmin Ali is trying to get rid of Nurul Izzah Anwar from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and politics “because he fears that she’s eyeing his deputy presidency which she can win if push comes to shove”. Here, it seems that Anwar is keeping mum because Azmin has a “hold” on him. So, it seems that fugitive blogger-cum-fairy-tale writer Raja Petra Kamarudin — “I will eat my beret if I am caught lying” — is trying to unilaterally mount some sort of heroic one-man campaign for Nurul against Azmin. (Petra seems to be more disappointed that the blogs did not claim that he’s having an affair with Nurul and is instead giving that credit to that “ugly bugger” Tian Chua “when he — Petra — is more handsome”. He forgot to mention old and senile in describing himself.)

If politics in the country is in the shithouse, it’s a different picture on the economy.

Malaysia in fact will do very well but always in the long-run as it keeps bouncing back and not just on paper. This would be despite the politics and politicians because it’s tied to China and increasingly to India and it’s not just on the economy either but also on security which is the most important factor in creating and maintaining wealth..

We are no longer putting all our eggs in one basket or banking on the west and Japan.

However, we have yet to give the Indian community a place in the sun.

This factor, more than anything else is annoying India and the diaspora in more ways than one and thereby undermining our national security, and by extension, our economy and future.

By short-changing the Indian community for no rhyme or reason, we are literally sabotaging the economy in an act of high treason.The deprivation of the Indian community is Malaysia’s loss as it stifles potential and doesn’t do anything to unleash the creative genius of the victimised. The Indian community can produce more hotshots like Tony Fernandes and Ananda Krishnan if the Umno government stops squatting on them. All the country needs is another two or three people like Tony Fernandes and Ananda Krishnan to propell it into among the best in the world in other fields.

The Indian community nevertheless has turned away from PKR — over Anwar consistently denying the community’s role in the political tsunami of 2008 and labelling community activists as racists — but is unlikely to return to the BN. It remains with Dap and Pas because it probably sees them as the lesser of the two evils, the other being PKR/Umno.

So, Najib will hesitate in calling for the GE as long as he can hesitate for any number of other reasons as well but not, as stated before, the economy. So, the economy is not a factor at all in deciding when to call the GE. Najib’s alphabet soup recipes on the economy — GTP, ETP, PTP, NEM, NKEA, NKRA, NEAC, EPP, KPI etc — are just so much cosmetics, gimmicks and hype, if not pure, unadulterated BS.

Najib’s fear of losing the GE is there and real. He has been reported as saying that the next GE date is a secret like the Coca Cola recipe. Coke has kept its recipe secret for well over a century and will never reveal it. Is Najib trying to say that he will never reveal the GE date because it will never be held under him?

In Sabah and Sarawak, Umno’s electoral Fixed Deposit states, Najib is taking things for granted.

He has done nothing to bring Taib in Sarawak under control or reach out to Jeffrey Kitingan in Sabah by at least giving him a hearing on Malaysia.

Jeffrey is “equally dangerous” as Taib, if not more. He’s quite capable of pulling out the proverbial rabbit from the hat in the quest for the tataba, the magical wand of power which Umno wrested from his elder brother Joseph Pairin Kitingan in 1994. The brothers are working together — “blood is thicker than water” — across the political divide.

Jeffrey, under his Plan Z, would go for all 60 state seats in Sabah and 26 parliamentary seats including Labuan. He expects the multipilicity of issues to favour his party even if the opposition in the state fails to agree to take on the ruling BN one-to-one.

Star is still work in progress in Sarawak under the United Borneo Alliance.

Regarding the national debt, the national Opposition alliance would of course continue to politicise the situation but the fact is that it’s not at all even a bit scary although our money is at present fleeing to Singapore on its way elsewhere.

If the Malaysian ringgit is at present falling against the Singapore dollar for example, blame it on the continuing national Opposition alliance’s rhetoric on the national debt.This is economic sabotage tantamount to sedition and treason. The national opposition alliance is meanwhile claiming that it’s Umno money that is fleeing to Singapore and weakening the ringgit against the Singapore dollar.

Perhaps that’s why Anwar Ibrahim and Azmin Ali have been hauled to Court for their allegedly “wink wink” participation in Bersih 3.0. If they can’t be clobbered for their “sins” elsewhere, the modus operandi seems to be to throw anything and everything at them …failing to pay parking tickets, glaring at Mahathir on TV etc etc

The issue is not the national debt level per se but our ability and willingness to pay which is not in question right now but may definitely be so, as in Greece, if the national Opposition alliance is not careful with its mouth if and when it comes to power. We saw what happened in Greece. The Greek problem is economics only in the immediate and long run but more about politics in the short-run.

The national Opposition alliance in Malaysia, like in Greece, is likely to politicise the national debt level in order to knock Umno/BN (by then in Opposition if crossovers take place) in a bid to prevent it clawing its way back to power.

Values — property, shares, currency — will all definitely fall if a PR Federal Government is loose-mouthed in the short and immediate-run.

This is because we have at present a disloyal national Opposition, one which doesn’t know where party politics ends and good government begins.

We need a loyal national Opposition i.e. one loyal to the country.

In any case, some people with money to spare for rock-bottom bargains will be set to make a killing when values pick up — as they will — in the long-run. Perhaps Pakatan Rakyat (PR) can then collect 20 per cent royalty on such capital gains and windfalls.

Public and investor confidence in the short-run would nose-dive under a loose-mouthed PR Government, the foreign lenders would get jittery and recall their loans and given “the run on the bank situation”, Malaysia would have to run to the IMF for aid but not necessarily under a “tail between the legs” Federal Government. It must also be remembered that the systemic problems in the economy were not resolved by avoiding the IMF in 1997/98.

Fortunately, most of the government debt is domestic.

But what about the local lending institutions invested in Government securities which by then may be PR’s responsibility?

What the IMF would do, as with the other countries, is to take over Malaysia’s foreign debts to prevent a contagion effect on the lender economies.

Then, Malaysia would owe the IMF — in fact the Treasuries of the foreign countries/companies which lent Malaysia the money and not the IMF itself — and would be subject to strict supervision until the loans are repaid. It means no AliBabaism and Umnoputeraism (or rather PRism) and Government contracts and procurements would have to be open to all.

If the national Opposition alliance doesn’t politicise the national debt when in power, there would be no problems. The economy will not be affected then by the fall of Umno/BN from power.

Another, and more worrying issue is that the national debt is presently being incurred not in the genuine interest of the people and the nation but because the ruling elite are busy plundering the Public Treasury for themselves, albeit indirectly, while “if necessary enticing the Sultans in the process for political reasons”.

There’s a sort of “make hay while the sun shines” syndrome at work.

PR is waiting to emulate Umno/BN on this in Putrajaya but no doubt after the IMF, if invited, has left the country. They are all waiting to become super rich overnight at the expense of us all. Blame it all on the pervasive culture of corruption of the process and system.

So, the more things appear to change, the more they will appear to remain the same if we have a two-party system in Parliament.

It’s not enough to have regime change.

There must be system change.

That’s why we need a Borneo-based national alliance to lead a 3rd Force in Parliament to steer evenly between PR and BN, both the latter Peninsular Malaysia-based alliances/coalitions. Besides, the 3rd Force will be the best guarantee for Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia. This can be done by the 3rd Force getting the Federal Government to comply with the four constitutional documents and/or conventions on the membership, partnership and participation of these two states in the Malaysian Federation i.e. the 1963 Malaysia Agreement; the 20/18 Points; the Inter Governmental Committee Report; and the Cobbold Commission Report. Non-compliance renders the partnership of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia inoperable to the extent of the non-compliance.

This is where Hindraf comes into the picture as a crucial element in the 3rd Force and to focus on the 67 parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia where the Indians decide.

There are also other 3rd Force elements in these 67 seats i.e. the Orang Asli, the Christians, other minorities and the fence-sitters who can help to make a difference for the better.

However, Hindraf needs to work together with Dap and Pas, if not PKR, on the 67 seats. It can contest under a Peninsular Malaysian chapter of the State Reform Party (Star), as earlier envisaged, to truly ensure the emergence of the 3rd Force in Parliament. Waytha’s intended return from political asylum by Nov 25 this year for the Hindraf National Convention at the Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur should provide a kickstart.

The national Opposition alliance should give way to the 3rd Force not only in Peninsular Malaysia but also Sabah and Sarawak or risk Umno/BN winning the GE by default.

If the national Opposition alliance refuses to play ball, hopefully the issues will carry the day for the emergence of the 3rd Force. The longer the GE is delayed, the greater the prospects for the emergence of a more respectable 3rd Force in terms of numbers.