Kadir Jasin: Pigs are lethal political pawns that could make or break the Madani gov’t

 

IT seems that the Madani administration is staring at a delicate balancing act with pigs hogging the limelight in contemporary Malaysian  politics.

This is considering that at one extreme, Pakatan Harapan (PH) can ill-afford “to stubbornly continue to side with pigs” while on another, “there is fear of upsetting DAP which is after all the lifeline of the Madani government”.

Stressing on the need to thread with caution, blogger and veteran journalist Datuk A. Kadir Jasin warned in a Facebook post:

I assume this is the first time in Malaysian history that pigs have occupied the highest spot in the country’s  political agenda.

If we’re not careful, this pig issue could bring down the Madani government. In Selangor, it has reached the Palace. His Highness the Sultan is outraged for he doesn’t consent to the rearing of pigs.

If we miscalculate, the Selangor Madani government could lose power. Even without the pig issue, Pakatan Harapan (PH) was badly beaten in the 2023 state election.

Pleasing DAP

Kadir went on to acknowledge the position of DAP as the Madani mainstay with 40 seats considering that “PKR already split in two and Barisan Nasional (BN) indulging in bermain kayu tiga (being unfaithful)”.

“It seems as if DAP’s assertiveness in Negeri Senbilan is saving the situation while the Malay parties seem to have lost their way,” observed the National Journalism laureate.

DAP is a party of majority Chinese and non-Malays. The majority of pork eaters are Chinese. In the Peninsula, it can be said that all the farmers are Chinese. So pigs are an emotional and legitimacy issue for the Chinese.

Logically, DAP would of course want the farming of these animals to be allowed, let alone on a large scale in the form of a modern industry as proposed by the Selangor Madani government.

Here, Kadir was somehow dumbfounded as to why the Madani government is so eager to pursue pig farming in Selangor as evident by the recent controversial statements by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil after PMX’s courtesy call on Selangor ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.

“From a demand and supply perspective, it seems that there’s no life and death problem if Selangor doesn’t rear hogs. Their needs can be obtained from other states,” justified the former group editor-in-chief of mainstream New Straits Times.

Sarawak has happily expressed its willingness to expand the pig farming industry to meet the supply of the Peninsula, including Selangor.

Since the Sarawak state government is now planning to buy Bintulu Port and other assets from the Federal government, it’ll then be easier for all kinds of goods to be shipped to the Peninsula and the rest of the world.

In fact, expanding pig farming in the autonomous state is more logical. –  Focus Malaysia