Defacing Mahathir: A move to take unity out of the picture

I must admit, something moved me when I read about Pakatan Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s picture being cut out of billboards in Johor.

It wasn’t outrage or anger. I suppose it was what I felt it symbolised.

The recent ruling by the Election Commission that allows only the images of the candidate and the president and deputy president of the party he or she represents to be published on campaign materials is, of course, extremely arbitrary and biased. It is an obvious move to stymie the personal popularity of Mahathir.

I think the move goes deeper, however. I feel it is part of a decades-long effort to continuously divide Malaysians and perpetuate disunity.

The BN model is essentially a colonial one. On the peninsula particularly, keep the Malays in one box, the Chinese in one box, and the Indians in one box, and you maintain your precious grip on power.

I feel that the powers-that-be have gone through so much energy and effort to retain this balkanised version of Malaysia, and that the greatest threats to BN hegemony have occurred when this model was closest to being shattered.

Bridging gaps

GE 13 saw the worst performance by BN in history. I think it is no coincidence that these elections featured an opposition coalition that represented what might be the broadest cross-section of Malaysia ever, especially for the peninsula.

DAP and PAS had been mainstays of the opposition for almost as long as Malaysia has been around, each (primarily) representing a very different demographic - urban non-Malays, and rural Malays respectfully.

To me, bridging the gap between DAP and PAS was not only a political matter, but a significant and important step towards national unity as a whole - a step that is probably often underrated.

This is because of the vastly different communities and ideologies these parties represented. When they work together, it opens the door for communities to break out of their self-contained prejudices, and start reweaving the social fabric that has been ripped apart by decades of divide-and-rule.

This made it all the more tragic that Pakatan Rakyat broke up in the aftermath of the Kajang Move, plunging PAS back into its anti-DAP rhetoric - which at the end of the day becomes mostly just anti-Chinese or non-Muslim rhetoric.

The DAP has not gone as far back, probably because it recognises to some extent that no matter what, they will need a strong Malay-based party at the forefront, should they wish to form the national government. Thankfully, as we near the election date, they thus seem to be mostly ignoring PAS.

Defacing Mahathir

In this context and backdrop, I believe that the literal defacing of Mahathir is not merely an acknowledgement of how much BN fears the Mahathir factor.

I believe it is also part of the ongoing primary ethos of BN strategy: Divide and rule.

Under this ethos, any form of gap-bridging in Malaysian society is to be attacked virulently.

I feel that when BN candidates put their face next to caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s face on posters, what they are trying to communicate to their voter base is: This is the big boss; he feeds me, and I will feed you.

This is not completely the same for opposition candidates, because they generally do not have quite as much to give out.

Instead, it seems like the message of say, putting Mahathir’s face next to a local candidate’s (especially one from DAP, posters of which seem to have been the primary target of the defacings), is: Behold this historic and unprecedented partnership!

A novel alliance

The novelty and significance of this particular partnership may turn the heads of more than a few fence-sitters, especially if we stop to think about what Mahathir represents - especially among older Malaysians.

Mahathir was the face, the soul, and the spirit of Umno for decades. Perhaps more than anyone else, he - for better or worse - has defined the party, and all of its Malay-centrism.

The two most logical conclusions as to why he would now join the opposition would probably be: He has gone completely mad; or something must be really, really wrong with Umno and BN to force him to take such a drastic step.

If Mahathir - himself a one time ultra-Malay and iron-fisted conservative - could stand together with the rest of Pakatan Harapan, this once again opens the door to the bridging of many gaps within our divided society.

It remains to be seen whether Bersatu in Pakatan Harapan represents more bridge-building than a more liberal PAS in Pakatan Rakyat back in the day. It also remains to be seen whether the joint venture will stand the test of time (one electoral loss may be enough to sink the coalition as a whole, much like Pakatan Rakyat).

Regardless, it is still quite a momentous alliance, at least for the here and now; judging by how far the authorities are going to literally take Mahathir out of the picture, it would seem that they agree.

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NATHANIEL TAN was heartened by Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man’s exhortation to slow down attacks on individuals who choose a different political path from their family. - Mkini