To Dr Tajuddin Rasdi: 1+1=3, Not 1+1=2

Hence Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi’s formula that Umno+PAS=Racism is wrong. It is Umno+PAS=Win-Win. So, remember, 1+1 does not always equal 2. Sometimes 1+1 can equal 3. And in the Umno+PAS equation, 1+1=3.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The good professor is unable to see the big picture

Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi says Umno+PAS=Racism. Today, I am going to lecture the good professor on a subject called realpolitik, something they do not teach you in a school of architecture.

In doing a political analysis, one needs to see the forest for the trees or must be able to see the big picture. Greek philosophers such as Plato were actually opposed to democracy, which was a Greek invention, because democracy is not fair and offers you no justice. Democracy, argued Plato, is the tyranny of the majority.

Another philosopher, John Stuart Mill, in his 1859 book ‘On Liberty’, argued that the tyranny of the majority (or tyranny of the masses) is an inherent weakness of majority rule in which the majority of an electorate can and does place its own interests above and at the expense of those in the minority. This results in oppression of minority groups comparable to that of a tyrant or despot.

Note that part: “an inherent weakness of majority rule in which the majority of an electorate can and does place its own interests above and at the expense of those in the minority.” So, can the “minorities” please stop complaining? You want democracy you got democracy. Now live with it!

Thomas Jefferson, one of the authors of the American Constitution, expressed more or less the same thing when he said that pure direct democracy by the majority to elect a demagogue who, rather than work for the benefit of all citizens, set out to either harm those in the minority or work only for those of the upper echelon or population centres.

If this had happened in 2018 instead of 2019, Barisan Nasional+PAS would be the government today

Against that backdrop, you need to see what the Umno-PAS cooperation is all about.

In the last general election, Barisan Nasional won 79 parliament seats while Pakatan Harapan won 113. PAS, on the other hand, won only 18, with 12 won by others. Total: 222 parliament seats.

Now, in arithmetic, 1+1=2. In politics, 1+1=3.

If Barisan Nasional and PAS had cooperated in the last general election in May 2018, the total they would have won is NOT 79 (for Barisan Nasional) plus 18 (for PAS) to give them a total of 97. It would have been 79+18+30 to give them a total of 127. And that means Pakatan Harapan would have won only 83 seats and not 113.

Why would it have been 79+18+30 and not 79+18? Any PhD worth his salt would be able to figure that one out very easily.

So, with Barisan Nasional and PAS winning 127 seats versus Pakatan Harapan’s only 83, who do you think would be the government today?

Hence Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi’s formula that Umno+PAS=Racism is wrong. It is Umno+PAS=Win-Win. So, remember, 1+1 does not always equal 2. Sometimes 1+1 can equal 3. And in the Umno+PAS equation, 1+1=3.

But then what about the minorities? Minorities! Read what Plato, Jefferson and Mill said.