Getting into the Cabinet the Waytha Way: Just Go on Hunger Strike

This is the new politics of Malaysia. One way to be in the Malaysian cabinet is to do it the Waytha Way.By putting your life on the line and compromising your health, you get the attention of the Prime Minister. And presto, you find your way to  Putrajaya. You become a senator and almost simultaneously you get to be a Deputy Minister. You do not have to be a candidate in an election. One of a kind.I can’t blame James Masing and the Sarawakians especially the Dayaks for getting upset. They delivered GE-13 to UMNO-BN but are marginalised when it came to be in the seat of government in Putrajaya.

The other way is to use a NGO like Transparency International via its Malaysian Chapter, make a lot of noise about good governance, corruption  and abuse of power. Having achieved some prominence in civil society as champion, you will be invited by the Prime Minister to be in the Cabinet as a Minister. Then immediately after your appointment, you speak to the media like Malaysiakini and the Malaysian Insider and then tell us and the rest of the world that you are  actually powerless to do anything about the things you stood up for and need to use the stature of the Prime Minister accomplish your duties as Transparency Minister.

Which way is better? Obviously, the Paul Low Way is better and smarter than the politics of Waythamoorthy. Tell me how not to be cynical about politics and Malaysian politicians.–Din Merican

Getting into the Cabinet the Waytha Way: Just Go on Hunger Strike

by Terence Netto@http://www.malaysiakini.com

DAP National Vice-Chairperson M Kulasegaran joined in the lambasting of Hindraf Chief P Waythamoorthy whose appointment as Deputy Minister in the cabinet of Najib Abdul Razak drew broadsides from critics.

“This is probably the first time in the history of political protests that you have a leader who has fasted to get into the cabinet of a government infamous for its neglect of the cause that prompted the fast in the first place,” cracked the re-elected MP for Ipoh Barat.

“At least if he got into the cabinet at minister level, there’s something there. But he’s got in as a deputy minister. All of us know a deputy minister does not attend cabinet meetings and has no impact on policy,” opined Kulasegaran (left).

Waythamoorthy was appointed a Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, presumably to handle matters covered by the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between UMNO and BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and the HINDRAF leader days before the general election.

These matters generally relate to the alleviation of the plight of Indian plantation workers, the resolution of statelessness among Indians, and the provision of equal education and job opportunities to Indians.

These issues were part of a six-point blueprint for the Indian poor for which HINDRAF sought to obtain the endorsement of Pakatan Rakyat in return for the movement’s backing for the opposition coalition at the general election.

When negotiations reached a deadlock, partly over the Hindraf demand that Pakatan cede seven parliamentary and 10 state seats to the movement to contest at the polls, HINDRAF, with Waythamoorthy commencing a fast to draw moral support, opened a channel of discussion with BN.

Three days before polling on May 5, HINDRAF and BN inked a deal in which Najib pledged ameliorative action on four of the six demands in HINDRAF’s blueprint.

The dropped demands were for an end to Police brutality and custodial deaths, and a halt to institutionalised racism.

‘Hindraf goes easy with BN’

Commenting on the dropped demands, Kulasegaran, who has had his fair share of the demeaning epithet – “mandore” – HINDRAF regularly hurled at Indians seen to be compliant with the reigning political order that discriminates against minorities, said:

“Isn’t it time Waythamoorthy explains why the two demands in their six-point blueprint were dropped in the MOU HINDRAF signed with PM Najib?”

“HINDRAF pressed Pakatan hard in negotiations but they seemed to have gone easy with the BN, not demanding for seats to contest and shedding two demands that are critical for the alleviation of the plight of the Indian poor,” declared Kulasegaran.

He said the MOU between HINDRAF and BN was signed only days before the general election, “and so perhaps there was not enough time to explain why the two demands were dropped.”

“But now that the election is over, I think the public is entitled to know why the two demands were dropped. If no explanation is given, people are likely to conclude that the primary motive for the deal was to enable some individuals to advance their personal career interests more than the collective interests of the Indian poor,” asserted the DAP legislator. - Din Merican (DinoBeano)