If Anwar Ibrahim wants to get a second term as prime minister, he needs to do many things differently from what he is doing now and get his key ministers to support him in his efforts.
In a podcast with former Umno leader Khairy Jamaluddin, PKR secretary-general and “backdoor” Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail expressed hope that PMX would serve a second term as prime minister.
However, that will take much more than just talk. Take for instance the issue of amending the Constitution on citizenship rights, which has been deferred to the next Parliament session in June.
One of the key points was that it removed a provision for foundlings to become citizens by operation of law, requiring applications and approvals instead.
And we all know how long the National Registration Department (NRD) takes with such applications as exemplified by this case in a report yesterday, where four sisters have had their citizenship bid rejected thrice.
The foundling proposal was withdrawn after protests but other contentious points remain, and together with other new proposals, make it more difficult to obtain statehood as explained in a statement by the Bar Council.
This makes statehood still a rather onerous process very much dependent on the whims and fancies of the notoriously unsympathetic NRD officers.
When Saifuddin can’t even assist Anwar in getting rid of the stateless problem in Malaysia which has dogged some communities, including the Orang Asal, Indians, and Chinese for decades, how does he hope to garner support for Anwar and ensure another term?
(A reminder: Saifuddin had to be appointed a senator to become a federal minister because he lost in the November 2022 general election. He had, earlier that year, lost in a race for PKR deputy presidency to Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli.)
‘Threat to Malays’
Where are the other promised reforms? What has Saifuddin done to defuse the tension and take action against provocative statements by over-exuberant politicians about recent events involving a convenience store chain?
Instead, a workshop owner was arrested over an alleged threat he made, when the so-called threat was not even communicated to the politician concerned but expressed as something that could happen in a passing conversation.
The problem is Saifuddin, as with some other PKR ministers, is too much in the Umno mould and considers any granting of legitimate rights to non-Malays as a threat to the Malays, brainwashed by that infamous Biro Tata Negara, which was taken to new heights, sorry, lows, by Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
This is reflected in the ridiculous back-tracking of an earlier decision to sign Icerd (International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination) by the Harapan government, whose PM then was Mahathir in November 2018.
This made Malaysia one of only two Muslim countries in the world not to have signed. The other is Brunei.
It therefore makes it impossible for Malaysia to take cases to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the way South Africa took Israel to the court for genocide in Palestine.
This attitude, too, explains other things such as an excessive, often contrived, sensitivity towards issues of race, religion and royalty (3R), which is exploited to the hilt by every aspiring Umno leader. The home minister can do many things about this but he is not doing much.
Replying to Khairy who said that the Madani coalition did not enjoy Malay support, Saifuddin said Malay sentiments were often “emotive”, with people not interested to hear facts and figures but rather “stories”.
Further, he brushed off Khairy’s suggestion that Deputy Prime Minister and Umno head Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who sacked Khairy from Umno, was an albatross around Harapan’s neck. They are “partners in struggle” in the context of the coalition government, he said.
Let’s be clear about this. If Anwar wants to have another shot at being prime minister, he needs to get Malay support - a major swing is required but he has to maintain non-Malay support too. Malay support alone is not sufficient.
In this, he is being constantly thwarted not just by Zahid but Umno, too, through their bluster, which everyone can see through. It is a burden that Harapan carries heavy on its shoulders, a load which could break it politically.
If non-Malay support wanes and Malay support is not forthcoming, it will spell disaster for the Madani government.
Winning Malay hearts
Malays have always been smart politically. Saifuddin and PKR badly need to realise that, instead of declaring them to be emotive and taken up by stories. The Malays will vote for those who truly have their best interests at heart.
In the last general election at Bagan Datuk, Zahid retained his parliamentary seat by a mere 348 votes, winning because of split votes. Umno won a mere 26 parliamentary seats, more than halved from an already reduced 54 in the 2018 polls.
Can it claim to represent Malays? Absolutely not. You have a group of Umno leaders, including all Umno ministers in the current cabinet, baying for corrupt Najib Abdul Razak to be granted a pardon for crimes against the state and conniving to get that done.
Do you think Malays don’t realise if that’s what their leaders want, they will not be taken care of if Umno gains power? What kind of leaders ask for corrupt leaders to be pardoned unless they want corruption to continue?
The writing is clear - Malays do not want Umno. Period. Nothing has happened in the intervening period since the 2022 election to change that. In that election, they turned to the only party that offered them some hope - PAS, which is way less corrupt than Umno.
Bersatu simply benefited from that alliance with PAS - its leaders don’t have clean hands and are of the Umno mould - most being former Umno leaders looking for a new platform to gain power.
If Anwar does not show that he is serious about eradicating corruption and giving something to the Malays - and I mean things like quality education, better job opportunities, and a way up the ladder in many other meaningful ways, he will be killing his party and himself.
Why give Umno so much power?
Allying with Umno is a political convenience but why let 26 MPs be the tail that wags the dog when Harapan commands more than three times the number with 81 seats?
Why give Zahid a DPM post when there is not even a PKR DPM? Who becomes prime minister if something happens to Anwar? Why let Umno dictate terms and put them in such a position of power?
Umno needs Harapan more than Harapan needs Umno. Harapan can still survive in government without Umno - the Sabahans and Sarawakians must be more than ready to ditch Umno with all the latter’s incessant and strident racial and religious extremist rhetoric.
If Anwar does not change the political balance with Umno in favour of progressive change for all, sidelong brouhaha, racial, religious, and royal rhetoric, and buckle down to the serious task of running the country, he won’t even smell the scent of a second term, let alone get it.
Many will not only become indifferent to his fate but vote against him and his coalition. We all know who is the only possible, least corrupt of all of them who will get those votes - it will be a “Green Wave” of massive proportions in favour of PAS.
That’s what Saifuddin and others like him in PKR must realise and act accordingly - move the balance in favour of Harapan and its promises to the electorate.
He has to show that he has more to offer to most of the population than the “Green Wave” - a task more difficult than most of Anwar’s closest allies seem to realise.
Right now, there is no need for Anwar to be a lame-duck prime minister. If he is, he has only himself and his chosen leadership to blame - no one else, least of all the Malays. - Mkini
P GUNASEGARAM says the first step to meaningful change is to remove the illusions and misconceptions of those who configure and implement it.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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