DO WE SETTLE FOR LESSER EVILS?

Hafidz Baharom, The Heat Malaysia

This question has been nagging me for some time, especially since there are people who walk up to me and say we should just support Pakatan Harapan blindly and see how things turn out after the next general election.

To which I retort simply that this is exactly what got us in this quagmire of having the same government in power for 60 years. It is true to a point that Malaysians will settle for a lesser evil, even Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2013 said it was better to vote for “the devil you know”.

In my last piece, I pointed out that Umno is a party with a membership that doesn’t like to rock the boat. However, is this true for the majority of the Malaysian population as well?

Are we truly a population of 30 million who do not have an appetite for risk when it comes to changing the government simply because of an unproven track record of the Opposition?

Amanah chairman Mohamad Sabu seemed to think so, going so far as to brand Malaysians “cowards”, throwing a microphone and storming off stage. But maybe it is a deeper issue at hand. Maybe, just maybe, the people have no trust in whatever the Opposition is promising.

Maybe, the double standards of the state governments are part and parcel of the problem.

On one hand, Selangor banned all billboards with “1Malaysia” slogans, saying it was “political”. On another, now the state put up billboards calling to “Free Anwar” with the PKR party logo as if it was not a problem.

Similarly, Penang said it would care more for the environment. And yet, it is now being reported that hillside forests are being cleared and land reclamation plans are progressing.

At the same time, after criticising the demolition of Bok House in Kuala Lumpur in the 1990s, the DAP-led state government did the same just recently in allowing the demolishing of the ancillary Runnymede Hotel complex buildings.

If you wish to talk about how both the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan parties deal with dissent internally, both sides are equally draconian to some extent. Pakatan with Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim in Selangor, BN with the change of Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir in Kedah. Pakatan and the censorship of Cheubard, BN with the treatment of its dissenters in Umno.

It raises the question, do Malaysians view these as double standards, or just rabidly back a Pakatan government since it is still a lesser evil?

And come GE 2018, will we still see it simply this — it isn’t Umno, it isn’t Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and therefore we should vote for them?

It’s a very disturbing concept in national-level decision making, truth be told.

If we are truly serious about having a change in a national-level ruling government, it has to be so broad that it isn’t a half-and-half decision. Even with a resounding majority of 52 per cent, it is and won’t be enough — that was one of the many lessons learned in 2013.

Both sides of the political divide need to understand that non-partisan voters are getting more objective and more demanding. At the same time, governments on national and state levels, both BN and Pakatan will have to do better to justify their actions.

BN sees itself using federal law to censor anyone critical of it, while Pakatan deals with it by letting everyone talk to the press and voice out its own thoughts. Both of these have their pros and cons of building trust with the electorate. One looks at the electorate as sheep, the latter would make the electorate question if they truly are a united opposition.

Malaysians should be critical of all sides. Don’t settle for any less. Demand better. In the end, for better or worse, we are the ones that determine our fate.