BN-Hindraf alliance: Anwar’s shame

I was terribly disappointed to learn of the BN/Hindraf alliance. What could have easily been one of Anwar Ibrahim’s most shrewd political manoeuvres has instead left him and the PR hierarchy looking like a bunch of first year amateurs. Today was when Anwar should have made amends for his past.

FMT LETTER: From Oliver Gomez, via e-mail

It could have been the day when Anwar Ibrahim finally exorcised the ghosts of Umno past. Here is a man once mercilessly betrayed by his colleagues and left to die in a hole somewhere. Had Mahathir gotten his way, it is no stretch to think that Anwar Ibrahim would have become nothing more than a footnote in the sordid history of the National Front.

Against unbelievable odds, however, Anwar defied his former mentor and two subsequent Prime Ministers to rise up, a seemingly renewed man, to finally become a legitimate challenger for the highest public office in Malaysia. It is a striking story and indeed, one that roused the imagination of the long dormant Malaysian public.

I must admit that a few short years ago, I myself was deeply taken by this awe inspiring story. Anwar Ibrahim is scarily intelligent and highly charismatic. That is of course to say nothing of his natural talent for public speaking. I can therefore understand that in the current political climate, Anwar Ibrahim is almost unimpeachable to those of us who are sick and tired of BN.

Yet let us not forget that the same man was once held up as the future of the utterly corrupt National Front. He has so many times in the past, made appearances at Umno assemblies, declaring in typically rousing fashion that he is a champion of the concept of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ or ‘Malay Superiority’. At the same time, he would appear under the banner of the National Front and claim to be fighting for the rights of all Malaysians.

This time, and for as long as BN remains corrupt and practices race based politics, my vote will be for PR and by extension, its de facto leader. One thing I will never allow myself to forget however, is the disgusting hypocrisy that Anwar Ibrahim displayed during his time with the National Front.

A day that will live in infamy

Remember this date: April 18, 2013.

I was terribly disappointed to learn of the BN/Hindraf alliance. What could have easily been one of Anwar Ibrahim’s most shrewd political manoeuvres has instead left him and the PR hierarchy looking like a bunch of first year amateurs. Today was when Anwar should have made amends for his past.

At this point, it can be said with confidence that many of us going to the ballots are more concerned with voting against BN than anything else. While on the surface this viciously anti – BN mentality does no damage to PR, there is very much the other side of the coin to consider.

In the run up to GE13, PR can fully expect to capitalize on a massive wave of public vitriol towards BN (possibly all the way to Putrajaya). The PR top dogs however must realize that this situation will not last indefinitely. There will come a time when merely pouncing on public sentiment against BN is no longer enough.

Why should PR give a crap?

In order to remain a serious choice, PR must pre – empt the inevitable softening of public opinion. Its leaders will have to take serious and measured steps to actively shore up their support base. Currently, PR is simply an alternative. In order become a solution, it must actively generate intelligent and sustainable methods of their own so as to send Malaysia back to the top of the pile in South East Asia and beyond.

For the purposes of this article, I will only concentrate on one of these methods: PR must reach out to sections of the Malaysian public most in need of help and protection. As a result of decades of institutionalized racism and sheer force of evil will, BN has made it so that this section of the public happens to be overwhelmingly Indian.

Given the extent of voter fraud, the fact that BN have the EC practically bought and paid for, as well as the ongoing ICgate scandal in East Malaysia, PR should have known that they would need every last legitimate vote to count.

In the short term, this was a golden opportunity for Anwar & Co to acquire much needed support against the BN election machine. In the mid to long term, PR could have galvanized the Malaysian citizenry by taking a lead role in championing the rights of the most marginalized in our society. If nothing else, this move would have secured a huge chunk of Indian support for PR in the upcoming elections.

Further, had Anwar and the rest of the Opposition leadership made Hindraf a priority, PR could very well have dealt a permanent and fatal blow to the ineffectual and frankly incompetent MIC. After all, supporters of Hindraf had lost untold millions to the Maika Holdings scandal. Hindraf was a potent reaction to what the marginalized Indian public rightly saw as complete neglect on the part of Samy Vellu’s MIC to their plight.

It would have been an amazing piece of history had Hindraf been convinced to shun the one alliance with a party that supposedly caters to Indians. The act alone would have highly symbolic in that it would have brought to attention the fractious and ultimately broken nature of BN’s race based politics. Had Anwar & Co succeeded, they would effectively be giving the one fingered salute to BN’s ineffectual divide & conquer style of politics.

Instead, we bore witness to PR’s awful complacency towards the people who are in the most need of PR’s help. Through sheer inaction, Anwar and the PR leadership practically herded an entire section of the Malaysian public right back into the mouth of the lion.

Hindsight is a gift & curse

By promulgating long term measures aimed at closing the wealth gap, as opposed to the typically weak MIC response of blaming the symptoms of the wealth gap, PR could have easily brought the entire Hindraf movement onto its side of the fence. It isn’t as if it would have been difficult to begin with.

Remember that PR has on a number of occasions voiced its concern over the continued implementation of the racist New Economic Policy. To this end, PR even performed tentative research into a needs based version of the NEP. PR could have very easily committed a few reasonable and intelligent minds to draft a detailed plan of this scheme. This could and should have been done months ago. Had this been so, it would be a very foolish person to bet against Hindraf immediately aligning itself with PR.

This could have even marked the beginning of the end for the internal strife that has torn through Hindraf in recent years. Anwar Ibrahim and his fellow PR leaders had a gilt edged opportunity to become the catalyst for a new unified Hindraf – one that is propped up by the enticing prospect of a needs based affirmative action program. This could have been Anwar’s 9th Symphony where the Indian community in Malaysia is concerned.

Where to from here?

There is little doubt in my mind that Anwar & PR’s unreasonable behaviour will come back to haunt them. Whether it will cost them the upcoming general elections, or if some as yet unknown fate awaits in the future, I suppose none of us will really know for now.

What I can say with confidence is this: If Najib still manages to retain Putrajaya, or if someone rises up from within Umno to overthrow Najib, the Hindraf buck will inevitably be passed down the chain of command. Before long, Hindraf will rest on the head of MIC’s current President, Palanivel, or whoever it may be when the time comes.

Palanivel will of course do everything he can to crush Hindraf as he would never allow a similar interest group to compete with MIC under the BN flag. He may or may not succeed in this endeavour. Regardless, the final result will be the poor and marginalized finding themselves in the very position they tried to escape from under Hindraf.

The poor and oppressed will be violently put in their place. The MIC thugs will make sure of this. Examples will be made of those who dared upset the status quo. Those who fight to reverse the mistakes of the past will be silenced. Those who fight for the future of their children will be crushed. The worst thing is that most of this will never reach the newspapers.

It will finally end for those who truly need PR’s voice and Anwar’s leadership. Those whom society tend to fear associating with will be beaten down and forced to live in overpriced ramshackle houses, working at back breaking jobs for a pittance and fed some line of poorly constructed horse crap. This will be their fate, and the fate of their children. Again.