Tony Pua’s disingenuous political gambit

 

"It is times like these that we hope we have strong independent institutions that will focus and perform their duties to meet the real needs of the people when what is essential gets blurred in a struggle for power." 

– S Arutchelvan

DAP lawmaker Tony Pua wants us to think long and hard. He wants us to think if it is better to kick out the Perikatan Nasional (PN) regime (which means the possibility of kleptocrats getting back into power ) or putting up with an incompetent PN regime “just a little while longer” until the next GE.

First of all Pua, in case you have not noticed, most people are struggling in this pandemic attempting to make ends meet all the while acutely aware that the rules apply to them differently than they do to politicians. 

When you are struggling to put food on the table, you do not really have time to ponder on the blunders of the political class beyond thinking that maybe, just maybe that the people you voted for have your back. This just goes to show you how out of touch some people are when it comes to the average Joe rakyat.

Secondly, what does Pua (above) mean by tolerating the regime, just a little while longer?

When you have hundreds of people dying a day, and the opposition claiming that the pandemic and the response to this pandemic by the state is the reason this is so, is Pua really presenting this choice of tolerating this regime - tolerating the deaths of hundreds of people - just a little while longer so Pakatan Harapan has a political advantage in the next general election against the court cluster and derhaka cluster? I mean there is tone-deaf and then there is just dumb.

Of course, all of these are false choices. There is no difference between Umno, Bersatu, Pejuang and any of the other tributaries of the Malay political establishment. This is not about the court cluster against the derhaka cluster. 

This is a fight between Malay power brokers while the average Malay on the street is discovering how little use Malay privilege and rights are when the chips are down.

The fact that someone like Pua, who is supposed to be one of the best and brightest that Harapan and the DAP have to offer, is obsessing about kleptocrats regaining power, should tell us something about the priorities of the opposition.

Keep in mind that Anwar Ibrahim, the supposed leader of the opposition, was having cosy chats with Ahmad Zahidi Hamidi, who is leading the charge to topple the current PM.

All this means that, as usual, the DAP is caught in the crosshairs of the Malay political establishment. The party seems incapable of distancing itself from corrupt charlatans because of the potential for political power and predictably failing to live up to its party’s ideals, which its propagandists shovel in heaps online to anyone who would listen and those who do not want to listen.

Here is the thing: in case you missed it Pua, all the DAP and Harapan have to do, if they really believe that PN is an existential threat to Malaysia, is to vote against the Muhyiddin Yassin regime when the time comes. Harapan and the DAP can do this, without having to work with anyone to destabilise the PN regime.

The DAP and Harapan can do this if they make the argument that when in power they are going to reform the system instead of playing footsie with the Malay political establishment, which worked out so well for them when Harapan was briefly in power.

Now, if they do not think that PN is an existential threat to Malaysia, then they should work with the government and attempt to form some sort of bipartisan partnership, and gear their rhetoric and policy decision-making with the aim of working with the federal government.

What you do not do is present false dilemmas to your political base, while the country, the economy and the people are going down a manure hole. Speaking of going down a manure hole, perhaps, what Pua should do is explain what the hell Harapan is doing in Selangor.

Or is Harapan going to lay the blame solely on PN’s doorstep for Selangor's high numbers? Is Harapan going to claim that its hands are tied and that it can do nothing for Selangor because Harapan is not in federal power? 

Is Harapan going to rely on partisan trolling on social media to deflect from the reality that it is so much easier to call PN a failed state when the reality is that Harapan has failed the state of Selangor?

The Harapan state government, in waiting beyond offering criticism, has yet to unveil its strategy in combating the virus. Its strategy in dealing with the welfare of the most disenfranchised during this pandemic. Its strategy on how to revive the economy.

Moreover, this is important because Harapan is not a stable coalition. Harapan, as Pua ably demonstrated, is making this about personalities instead of policy.

We have seen what an unstable coalition can do when it comes to this pandemic. The main reason why the handling of the pandemic by the PN government has been dodgy is that they are a dodgy alliance of political operatives, who put their political survival over the healthcare of the nation.

Do not fall for personality politics. The court cluster, the derhaka cluster and the various flotsam and jetsam of the Malay political establishment are here to stay -  unless reforms are made and there is the political will to do so. 

Do not fall for political gambits that detract from the real issues that affect the rakyat. Do not fall for false dilemmas. 

If you take away anything for this piece it should be this. Harapan is supposed to be an alternative, not a substitute. - Mkini

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - "Let justice be done though the heavens fall."

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.