Nothing will compare to GE13

The 13th general election will be historical and a pale comparison to the 1948 Emergency, Merdeka, May 13 and even the 2008 polls.

COMMENT

There are not many of us left who saw the beginning of the Emergency declared in June 1948 when the Malayan Communist Party murdered those three estate managers in Perak and the end of that Emergency in 1960.

A few more of us were there with Tunku Abdul Rahman in Merdeka Stadium when he declared Merdeka on Aug 31, 1957.

Many of us remembered the 1962-1966 Konfrontasi with Indonesia for Sukarno’s promise to “crush Malaysia” – it was a minor hiccup between old friends quickly settled.

May 13, 1969, however, is too recent an event for too many of us to forget. We know now that lessons learned during those terrible times have been noted by many of us but not by our government.

Then came the 12th general election just a few years ago and we thought that would have been a watershed for this Umno-led Barisan Nasional government to change and be the change that the people had demanded.

But 2012 came and we now know that this BN government will not and cannot change even if their political life depended on them doing so.

For those of us who saw the end of the Emergency, who were with the Tunku at the Merdeka Stadium, who endured Konfrontasi with Indonesia and lived through the horrors of May 13 and then saw the awakening of that sleeping giant – Malaysian public – at the 12th general election, let me tell you that none of what we witness thus far will compare to the 13th general election.

I can tell you all that all of those times will pale in comparison against what we are to witness in this 13th general election.

And many years from now, just as I am telling you all about what I have witnessed in my lifetime, you too will tell all who will listen to you that you lived through the 13th general election and you saw the people of this nation unite, became one in their desire for change and made that change happened at the 13th general election… and you lived through it all.

Living in interesting times

You saw the end of the BN government. You saw the best thing that has ever happened to our country, to our people and for the future of our children – the end of a corrupt, arrogant and irresponsible government.

These are interesting times that we live in now.

There will be some among us that will rue these last few years as the harbinger of doom for the Malays, for Islam and for a Malaysia as we know it now because the Malays deserted Umno for Pakatan Rakyat.

Deserted Umno because the Malays were seduced into believing that Pakatan could lead the Malays to a greater good by giving up Ketuanan Melayu for the privilege of being one with the other people of Malaysia.

If you hear them say so, then you must tell them that the Malays did not give up anything for that privilege – they earned that privilege themselves by voting for Pakatan, not Umno.

Umno failed the Malays in so many ways and yet the Malays were forgiving of Umno until Najib Tun Razak allowed even the prostituting of Felda – the same Felda that his late father worked so tirelessly to make a success of.

Najib used that same Felda not for the benefit of the Malays that were within Felda but for the benefits of those within Umno when he allowed the listing of Felda Global Ventures. Najib lost many Malay votes for doing so.

There will be others within Umno who will blame PAS for contributing to the decline of Islam by being in a coalition with Pakatan when PAS should have stood together with Umno to defend Islam against the infidels who preached apostate to the Muslims and seek to convert them to the ways of the Christians.

If you hear them speak in that manner, then you as a Muslim must tell them that Islam has never been stronger nor had it ever had a stronger presence within the Malays and in this nation as it had now.

Umno has shamed Islam

Islam is the religion of this nation and Islam teaches us not to be corrupt, not to be arrogant and not to pursue greed in the manner that Umno has become accustomed to.

So it is Umno, not PAS or the Malays, that has shamed Islam and caused its decline.

For most of us, this 13th general election will be remembered most for what it will do for the future of our nation.

It will be remembered not because it was the election that resulted in the defeat of Umno or any other political party, but for the fact that the “sleeping giant”, that is the Malaysian public, had finally been awakened from its long slumber by the antics of a failed BN government.

Once stirred awake the Malaysian public will not rest until the BN government is made to understand that a quiet Malaysian public does not mean that it is showing respect to Umno or to its coalition partners in BN. Respect is earned.

After this we must ensure that not one person, not even the prime minister, will be given the power to bankrupt the nation by recklessly promising a slew of economic initiatives and government transformation programmes not because they are needed but because he thought that would win that political party the general election.

We must ensure that the judiciary remain separate and independent from the influence and control of the executive power within the government so that never again shall we have an Attorney- General or a judiciary beholden to the political masters of this nation.

Parliament shall be the arena where the nation and the people’s interests are prioritised to the exclusion of the personal and vested interests of politicians, their parties, their families and their cronies.

There will be more for us to ensure the checks and balances within our system of government to contain the human frailties, avarice and greed for money and power that flourished under this Umno-led BN government.

Our work now is to remind BN and Pakatan that the people of this nation will now dictate their terms in office, their responsibilities and their duties of office.

Just as we will give them the privilege and mandate to hold office in Putrajaya, we can and will take back that mandate if they fail to fulfil our aspirations of good governance when they take their oath of office after the 13th general election.

CT Ali is a reformist who believes in Pakatan Rakyat’s ideologies. He is a FMT columnist.