When PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli told Malaysiakini a few days ago that a realistic benchmark for Pakatan Harapan in the next general election would be to win about 80 parliamentary seats, a friend scoffed saying that even that was being optimistic.
This friend is a typical Malaysian – didn’t lift a finger during Reformasi, Bersih, Lawan, never active in politics, kept quiet about injustice, complained about Harapan all the time it was in power and seems willing to brush off the much greater faults of BN rule.
Thus, having never experienced differences in press freedom or being able to calculate the extent of ex-premier Najib Abdul Razak’s thievery, for example, they will say that both sides are the same.
It’s still amazing to me how they can overlook enormous atrocities of injustice committed by BN.
Anyway, thanks partially to this kind of electorate and partially to its own self-implosion, the looming axe over PKR’s head threatens to be the final blow to this generation of multiracial Malaysian politics.
In all the analysis that is floating around, we seem to have forgotten the key point that the average Malay voter, raised on ketuanan (supremacy) and siege mentality, doesn’t see much wrong with racism, happily supporting the prejudiced and backward politics of Umno, PAS, Bersatu and other tempurung (sheltered) parties.
This does not mean, by the way, that Malay voters are any more racist than others as all are guilty in roughly equal measures of racism – for example, the percentage of DAP voters who will switch to backing MCA if DAP suddenly replaces a Chinese candidate with an Indian or Malay one tells its own story.
Us Indians too have all manner of prejudice interwoven through caste, region, religion and a number of other factors.
It’s just that the demographics are skewed to make Malay racism an important electoral element and Chinese and Indian prejudice less so.
The fact is that in the last election, even with all the horrible excesses of Najib’s rule, the largest Malay party was Umno, and PAS also had its impregnable strongholds in rural backwaters.
Their combined share of the Malay voter base was 60 percent, even as Harapan parties scored so well among other groups and decently among the Malay voters to squeeze a narrow win overall.
Thus this gave rise to the false notion that a majority of Malays supported Harapan whereas we can now see they were horrified by losing their ketuanan and can’t wait to give back that dominant edge to these awful parties - thievery, racism and repression be damned.
One problem the community has is that the Malay right-wing talks and the Malay majority keep quiet. That’s it. That’s the main narrative.
Progressive and intelligent Malays are manifold – I’ve certainly met my share in PRM, PKR, NGOs, Malaysiakini and the arts and music communities – but they are largely drowned out at vital decision-making moments.
Sort out the leadership
That’s why I put so much hope in Selangor. After all, there is evidence of greater prosperity, education, urbanisation in this state, and that’s one reason why it’s the last bastion of solid PKR support.
But for how much longer?
I would suggest party president Anwar Ibrahim heed the words of his daughter who reminded of the earth-shattering consequences of the last toxic party election and pleaded for a more civil outing when votes are cast this May.
Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil said there might just be a factional cold war in the party, but things won’t get so bad this time.
I’m not so sure. As far back as the 2010 party polls, there were outright physical scuffles when Zaid Ibrahim and Azmin Ali contested the deputy presidency and I have often remarked to members in subsequent years that they spent too much time and energy viciously attacking other party colleagues.
It is also terribly sad that despite having led the state since 2008, each of the MBs is now viewed as a pariah by a majority of members with Khalid Ibrahim and Azmin joined in the chamber of disrepute by the incumbent Amirudin Shari who is seen as an odd man out – an Azmin loyalist who didn’t jump because he had a good post.
So instead of wasting time playing each other’s backside while jostling for positions in the party, the leadership should take immediate steps to cool down the temperature of the current campaign because a general election could easily follow soon after.
The party president and his team need to sort out the leadership quickly and put together a strong and visible team for Selangor so that the state exco will be an enviable combination of talent and experience.
Start with a visible and popular candidate for the MB post – maybe Rafizi himself.
Let the people of Selangor see that their woes are being taken seriously.
We have seen deadly flash floods and landslides as well as crippling water shortages, so you need some proactive leaders who can work around the obstacles instead of just pointing fingers and shifting blame.
Amirudin also presided over some dangerous and questionable anti-environmental projects like the now scuppered development of the Kuala Langat (North) Forest Reserve and the PJD Link.
All that needs to go.
PKR needs to project new ideas and fresh faces and capture the voters/imagination.
It needs strong leadership … and pronto. Or else the curtain will close, and then we Selangorians will be cast into true darkness. - Mkini
MARTIN VENGADESAN is an associate editor at Malaysiakini.
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