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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Crouching concern, hidden dagger


The national reconciliation proposal thrown this time around sounds astonishingly similar exactly 40 years on, like an alchemy to be unleashed passed from father to son.
COMMENT
By Syed Nadzri Syed Harun
Tun Daim Zainuddin was brutally right again and by now should already be Malaysia’s No1 political pundit. His main predictions of the 13th general election (GE13) actually came true — that Kedah would be back with Barisan Nasional (BN) and that the Chinese would lose crucial representation by totally choosing to desert BN.
After a mind-boggling forecast that was spot on regarding the political tsunami of the last round, the former finance minister got everyone talking when he turned out to be convincingly accurate about BN regaining Kedah after five years and especially about the shaky Chinese ground.
While Kedah is quite straightforward, the “Chinese tsunami” phenomenon that lashed through the Malaysian political landscape when the results came in the wee hours yesterday requires deep thinking on all fronts.
The scenario: BN won 133 parliamentary seats, 88 through its Malay affiliate Umno. And on the other side, a large chunk of the seats secured by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) was through DAP, a mainly-Chinese party. The MCA and Gerakan, the Chinese-based partners in BN, were nearly wiped out.
Coupled with MCA’s assertion that it would not accept any Cabinet posting since it has fared worse than 2008 (seven parliamentary seats this time against 15 in the last round), it may all come to this now: a predominantly Malay federal government against a Chinese dominated Opposition.
Exactly what Daim had cautioned against. A very unhealthy situation.
Even Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak wore that worried look when he spoke about this at an early morning victory press conference yesterday.
He underlined the need for the BN government to embark on a national reconciliation process as part of a move to heal the racial and political divisions that have sparked in the wake of GE13.
“We (BN) are still trying to absorb the results, but we will be looking forward to reject political and racial extremism, and work towards a more moderate and accommodating environment,” he said.
Deja vu? The talk of national reconciliation brings back uncanny parallels of the past involving no less than Najib’s father, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, when he became prime minister not long after the milestone 1969 elections that brought in similar situations about Malay-Chinese and urban-rural divides.
With so much challenges before him, Abdul Razak rode on a “national resilience” (ketahanan rakyat) agenda then to bring together adverse forces to drive the country forward.
The national reconciliation proposal thrown this time around sounds astonishingly similar exactly 40 years on, like an alchemy to be unleashed passed from father to son.
DAP in federal government?
Back then, daddy fortified Alliance, the ruling coalition, in forming the BN by bringing in the Opposition Gerakan, a mainly Chinese- and urban-based party, and the Islamist PAS into the fold.
Gerakan, despite going through internal problems at that time, appealed to the young middle-class intellectuals. But in one master-stroke Abdul Razak, it was reported, institutionalised coalition politics in Malaysia to reduce undesirable communal politicking. On June 1, 1974, the BN was formally registered to gear up for the forthcoming elections.
On nomination day, a total of eight Gerakan members were fielded on the BN ticket to contest for parliamentary seats and 18 others for the state assemblies in Penang, Perak, Selangor and Kedah. The party campaigned on solidarity, equality and justice.
In Penang, it focused its electioneering strategy on the state’s development performance and inter-ethnic cooperation.
Despite the heavy attack launched by the Opposition, the party continued to be supported by the electorate and won 11 out of the 13 Penang state seats it contested. In the parliamentary election, it won all the three Penang seats.
Elsewhere, the returns were equally encouraging. It won one state seat each in Perak, and Kedah, and two parliamentary seats in Perak.
With good backing from Kuala Lumpur, Gerakan-led Penang progressed astoundingly after that. It was a magnificent scheme that brought a win-win situation.
So, the path is laid out for Najib now but what is the national reconciliation process at his disposal?
Bringing DAP into the federal government fold? MCA and Gerakan are practically dead anyway and it is closest to daddy’s strategy of old.
Invite independent Chinese technocrats and businessmen to join? This is even more difficult.
But whatever it is, a friend provided a profound viewpoint about the Chinese votes and GE13 results, saying: “The Chinese took everything he (Najib) gave and stabbed him in the back.”
Syed Nadzri is Redberry Group media advisor

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