Political chess a necessary evil?

As Khalid is stubborn and stingy, PKR's mission to strengthen the state is a necessary move although it is fraught with risks.

COMMENT

PKR’s move to have opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to contest the Kajang state seat is a strategy to enhance Pakatan Rakyat’s grip on Selangor state. It is a risky strategy but a necessity in the light of current events in the opposing side where there are many undercurrents going on.

Commenting on the current political situation, Shah Alam MP, Khalid Samad of PAS said, “Someone may be deposed and someone may come back”.

Therefore it is better for Pakatan Rakyat to launch a move to shore up one’s defences before anything untoward happens.

As Sun Tzu has said in The Art Of War: you must know your enemy as well as knowing yourself. When there are rumblings in the BN camp, Pakatan must take heed and act accordingly before it is too late.

Although Khalid Ibrahim has done a good job as Menteri Besar, he is too stingy and has hoarded up RM2.9 billion in the state coffers. Being thrifty is good but there is no need to be stingy.

Moreover, politics and polls are unpredictable. This means that if Pakatan loses in the 14th General Election, all the hard-earned money in the state coffers can be claimed credit by BN.

It is therefore wise for the PKR-led Selangor state government to be more generous towards the rakyat as the state coffers can well afford it. In fact after GST (Goods & Services Tax) is implemented next year, the Pakatan Selangor state government must give out more shopping vouchers to the low income group to help cushion the impact.

As Khalid is stubborn and stingy, PKR’s mission to strengthen the state via the Kajang by-election is a necessary move although it is fraught with risks. Still, PKR hopes that the Kajang voters understand this strategy and will not fall prey to BN’s campaign promises.

Khalid is also not politically savvy. This too is a problem as the state administration is always under siege by its political foes. One has to remember that the death of Teoh Beng Hock was due to shenanigans by Pakatan’s foes to undermine the Selangor state leadership.

One has to be politically cunning to play the game as race and religion is used to trap the Pakatan administration and to put them in a bad light or in a difficult position or both.

Thus to be a Menteri Besar or Chief Minister in a Pakatan-held state, one has to be politically astute. Otherwise, BN will recapture the state. Kedah is an example of this.

Political games

Look at Kelantan which has been held by PAS since 1990. Make no mistake about it but the PAS Spiritual Advisor and former menteri besar, Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat is one of the most politically savvy persons around.

Kelantan has been financially starved out due to not receiving its rightful oil royalty payments (amounting to more than RM10 billion now) and yet the state is still in PAS’ hands.

Even the Chinese in Kelantan do not mind the implementation of hudud Law. This is a testimony in itself that Nik Aziz has administered the state well despite all sorts of shenanigans thrown at PAS including the dirty water ploy.

One has to note that Nik Aziz still managed to hold on after the 2004 general election when PAS was standing by one seat – what a cliffhanger!

However, not much is known about the current PAS Kelantan Menteri Besar, Ahmad Yakob so we will have to wait and see but if he is not politically sharp, Kelantan will fall to BN in GE14.

Even in Penang, there is a lot of nonsense being thrown at the Chief Minister, DAP’s Lim Guan Eng. Issues pertaining to race and religion always crop up in Penang to trouble him.

In the Malaysian political scenario, bigwigs in Pakatan have to play political games because the other side has initiated the games. Pakatan refusing to play the game will cause the downfall of the state administration as one will be outplayed, outwitted and outmaneuvered and played out at the end of the day.

If the rakyat go back to supporting BN because they dislike PKR’s strategy, then Pakatan might as well close down.

Let BN be the only existing party in Malaysia, forget about a two-party system. In the context of Malaysian politics, the rakyat has to see the game, read the game and understand the game to be able to really grasp what is going on.

Even if Pakatan were never to be the federal government, Pakatan must still exist as a strong opposition watchdog for the sake of check and balance in order for some semblance of good governance to prevail. If not, then where is the nation heading to?

Selena Tay is a DAP member and a FMT columnist.