Shall we have a summit?

Recent political developments in the country have certainly not been conducive to improving relations amongst the ethnic groups, and might even be harmful in the long term to the nation’s stability and security. In most places where civility reigns, you would find both the winner and the loser of a general election shaking hands and congratulating one another before proceeding to their respective offices to carry out what is expected of them. The Prime Minister would outline his grand vision for the country to the Cabinet and the key issues they need to resolve. The Opposition Leader would marshal his best Parliamentarians to be his shadow Cabinet. Politicians from both sides would lock horns in debates about the country’s state of affairs and the people would judge them as they always do.

In our country, unfortunately, what we have had are silly exchanges between the two camps. One side opened by saying something along the lines of “This is not your father’s country” and the other responded with a similarly mature, “It’s not your father’s country either.” Some suggested a boycott of Chinese goods / shops to punish Chinese support for the Opposition, although the difficulty here is knowing which Chinese supported DAP and which voted for MCA (some even supported UMNO candidates). Then we heard the normal retort from angry UMNO Malays: close vernacular schools and live elsewhere if you are so unhappy. These same Malays, however, did nothing when their leaders gave millions to these schools before the election. If the Chinese and the Indians really were to leave I shudder to think what the Malays would do with this country. They would probably fight one another non-stop, like the Pakistanis and the Iraqis do.

Meanwhile, the Opposition’s decision to continue protesting the result of the election by holding a series of rallies is equally provocative and unnecessary. Collect all the evidence by all means and present the petitions to the courts. I know from first-hand experience how difficult it is to win election petitions in this country but what other choice do we have?  We need to win these battles through peaceful means and having non-stop rallies does not honour the spirit of this approach at all. By all means, hold the occasional rally to say thank you to the people, but don’t fuel anger about electoral fraud and cheating when the evidence is still being looked at. Everyone must cool things down.

I suggest that our top leaders Najib and Anwar show some class and grace—put a stop to all this aggravation. A meeting between them would be a gesture that supporters from both sides would appreciate. During the meeting, Anwar can raise the issue of electoral cheating or irregularities and Najib must be man enough to agree to investigate them. The country could then move forward and hopefully, the tone of possible cooperation between the Opposition and the Government would be set for the next five years. There is no need to send each other to another country. We all can live together peacefully, as one people. - Zaid Untuk Rakyat