Towards the 14th General Election

Would PAS agree to separate religion from politics when religion is what puts them in power? Would Umno, MCA or MIC agree to separate race from politics when race is what puts them in power? Would DAP agree to drop ‘Chinese causes’ when ‘Chinese causes’ is what puts them in power? Would PKR agree to dump Anwar Ibrahim when the party’s cause is to make Anwar the Prime Minister? Would Barisan Nasional agree to electoral reforms when gerrymandering helps them get into power with less than 50% of the votes?

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I joined the Liberal Democratic Party soon after I ‘landed’ in the UK in early 2009 and almost a year before the 2010 UK general election. So I joined Lib Dem not because they won the election (in 2009 they had not won yet) but because I wanted them to win the election. And I am paying a RM50 a year membership fee (as opposed to only RM1 for Malaysian political parties).

The reason I joined Lib Dem and not Labour, the then ruling party, or Conservative, the then opposition party, is because Lib Dem is pushing for political reforms while Labour and Conservative are just fighting each other to be in power (just like Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat are in Malaysia).

Hence, while in Malaysia we are still talking about a two-party system, in the UK we already have that. Now what we want is a strong third force to balance the two equally strong parties because both Labour and Conservative are equally bad (dua-dua pun sama).

If you can remember, soon after that, also in 2010, I mooted the idea of the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM). I needed someone in Malaysia to head the MCLM because I was ‘stuck’ in the UK and that would have made it difficult for me to manage the MCLM since all our activities would be in Malaysia. I then approached various people to ask them to head the MCLM. One such person was the late Tunku Vic (photograph below).

Tunku Vic, however, could not head the MCLM yet at that time for reasons I am not at liberty to reveal. (Those who knew Tunku Vic would know why and would also know whom he was related to -- it was a family matter). I then asked Haris Ibrahim to head the MCLM and, at first, he, too, did not agree. Later, after some persuasion, he agreed, but only if I agreed to be the Chairman. 

My plan for the MCLM is that it would be a third force. But it would not be a third force in the form of a political party like Lib Dem in the UK. It would be a NGO or movement that would engage both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat to push for political reforms. Malaysia needs political reforms (such as to abolish race and religion politics) and within those political reforms would be electoral reforms (such as a plus-minus 10% seat variation and to abolish postal voting).

Haris and I agreed (which we announced during the MCLM launch in London) that all those who sit in the MCLM committee must not be directly involved in any political party or participate in the elections as a candidate. If they want to contest the elections then they must resign from the MCLM or not get involved with the MCLM in the first place.

Sad to say, both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat ignored us. In fact, Pakatan Rakyat viewed us as an enemy whose objective was to help Barisan Nasional by engaging in three-corner contests and thus splitting the votes in favour of Barisan Nasional.

Somehow they interpreted ‘third force’ as meaning three-corner fights. One DAP leader from Johor actually told me that their HQ had instructed them to not cooperate with the MCLM while one PAS leader phoned me to tell me that unless Anwar Ibrahim endorses the MCLM then PAS cannot work with us. 

I make no secret of the fact that that broke my heart. I really felt hurt. If they do not want to take us seriously that is one thing. Politicians only work with people who can get them votes and they don’t think that the MCLM can get them any votes. But to accuse us of being saboteurs was hitting below the belt somewhat. For everything that we have done for the opposition over 35 years since the late 1970s, the last thing that we deserve is to be called traitors to the cause.

And what they are not able to accept is that ‘cause’ here means political reforms and not meaning to help any particular political party get into power.

I was involved in Bersih in 2007. In fact, the late Tunku Vic, Din Merican (the Blogger) and I were the ones who lobbied Istana Negara to agree to meet the Bersih committee to accept the Memorandum for electoral reforms. His Majesty the Agong consented to receive the Bersih delegation but limited to only ten representatives.

Ten was good enough for us.

We spent months planning Bersih. I even met the Umno people to ask them to support Bersih. Many did, but ‘off the record’, for obvious reasons. Some Umno people even donated caps and T-shirts, which I distributed to all and sundry.

On the day of the Bersih march, which attracted tens of thousands of people, we successfully reached the palace gates. Then we were asked to wait outside and not go in yet. It seems some of the political leaders were coming to join us. But why did they not march with us? Why come later only after we successfully reach the palace gates (and not without incident, too, mind you)?

We waited about an hour before the political leaders arrived and ten of them went into the palace. The rest of us, all those who had worked for many months to make Bersih a success, were left standing outside the gates. After handing the Memorandum to the representative of His Majesty the Agong, the political leaders came out toceramah to the crowd.

In short, the politicians hijacked Bersih. Then, of course, they organised Bersih 2.0 and Bersih 3.0 under the patronage of the politicians. We wanted Bersih to be a people’s movement, not a tool of the political parties. And we wanted that because we also wanted Barisan Nasional to support Bersih. Now Bersih is just the fourth coalition member of Pakatan Rakyat. Would the Umno people now support Bersih like they did with Bersih 1.0 in 2007?

Because of what I viewed as the failure of Bersih (‘failure’ in the sense of not being an independent third force but rather part of a political party) I felt we needed a new third force to fight for political reforms. And that was the whole reason for the MCLM. 

But the MCLM too failed. And it failed because the politicians could not control it like they could Bersih so they refused to have anything to do with the MCLM. And the rest of the story is now all water under the bridge, which you all know about.

The 13th General Election is now over. There is very little we can do about that. We now need to prepare for the 14th General Election in the next four or five years time. But what are we going to do? And how do we do it? Plus who is going to do what needs to be done?

That is what we now need to ponder upon. 

I still believe we need an independent movement to push for political reforms. And within those political reforms must be electoral reforms. And it must be the people and not the politicians who do this. The politicians will not push for political reforms. 

Would PAS agree to separate religion from politics when religion is what puts them in power? Would Umno, MCA or MIC agree to separate race from politics when race is what puts them in power? Would DAP agree to drop ‘Chinese causes’ when ‘Chinese causes’ is what puts them in power? Would PKR agree to dump Anwar Ibrahim when the party’s cause is to make Anwar the Prime Minister? Would Barisan Nasional agree to electoral reforms when gerrymandering helps them get into power with less than 50% of the votes?

This is not a decision for me to make. I live in the UK and have no plans or wish to return to Malaysia. Another one million other Malaysians also live outside Malaysia and many also do not plan or wish to go back to Malaysia. It is you 28 million Malaysians who live and work in Malaysia who need political reforms. Hence you need to make the decision as to what you are going to do to face the 14th General Election in 2018 or so.

Your call!