Let’s Give Pakatan A Chance

If the Pakatan Harapan government gives back Terengganu its Oil Royalty that was taken away 18 years ago (plus gives Kelantan the 5% Oil Royalty that was never given) and if the Oil Royalty for Kelantan, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak is increased to 20% as promised, then I have no reason to whack the government. And I will also support a FELDA scheme for Indians and UiTM being opened to the non-Malays.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER 

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It’s been now a month since the change of government and over this last month many of my readers have asked why I have not written anything (other than my articles in NO HOLDS BARRED). I suppose they were expecting me to whack Pakatan Harapan and say nasty things about the new government.

I feel since Pakatan has asked to be given 100 days it is only fair we give them 100 days. If Barisan Nasional or parties within Barisan Nasional want to whack the new government that is okay. After all that is what politics is all about — whacking your enemy. You may have noticed, however, that PAS has not whacked Pakatan. So, unless PAS whacks Pakatan there is no reason for me to do so.

Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah, the head of Pakatan Harapan Terengganu, met the Terengganu Menteri Besar to offer to work with the PAS State Government

In fact, Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah, the head of Pakatan Harapan Terengganu, has gone to meet the new Terengganu Menteri Besar, Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, to discuss how Pakatan can help in Terengganu.

What PAS needs to focus on now is to first of all get back the 5% Oil Royalty that Terengganu lost 18 years ago in January 2000. It seems the Pakatan Federal Government is going to do that and most likely they will even give Kelantan the 5% it is entitled to but was never given.

To me that is already a great leap forward.

The new Terengganu Menteri Besar, Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, has to first sort out with the Pakatan Federal Government the return of the state’s 5% Oil Royalty

Next, the Oil Royalty for Terengganu and Kelantan (plus Sabah and Sarawak, of course) must be increased from 5% to 20% as Pakatan promised to do if they ever came to power at federal level. With the increase in the price of oil, Terengganu and Kelantan (plus Sabah and Sarawak, of course) are going to be very rich.

The Pakatan Federal Government has not said they are not going to increase the 5% Oil Royalty to 20% as promised. So unless they officially announce that the Oil Royalty will remain at 5% and will not increase to 20% why would I want to whack the government?

Let us not be like DAP and their supporters. DAP and their supporters will whack the government for the sake of whacking and will even whack the government when there are no issues. We are not DAP so we should not act like them. We are PAS supporters — or at least I am — so we need to show we are above all that silly hentam for the sake of hentam.

In Islam, amar ma’ruf nahi munkar (uphold the truth and oppose transgressions) is mandatory. It is as compulsory as praying and fasting. It is no point you pray and fast but ignore amar ma’ruf nahi munkar.  And as Muslims that is what we must perform: amar ma’ruf nahi munkar. But performing fitnah is even worse than NOT performing amar ma’ruf nahi munkar. So, we need to be very careful that we do not fall into the category of fasiq or munafiq Muslims.

We should be more mature and not act like DAP people who oppose the government for the sake of opposing

Anyway, I do not entirely disagree with some of the ideas being bandied about. For example, years back I told the HINDRAF and MIC people that they should ask the government to allocate one FELDA land settlement scheme for Indians displaced from the estates.

Many estates have been turned into golf clubs or townships and the Indian estate workers are kicked out and have nowhere to go. That is why Indians face the most social problems. All HINDRAF and/or MIC needs to do is ask FELDA or the government to open up one (or two or three) FELDA land schemes for Indians.

Do you know what these HINDRAF and MIC people said? Nothing! Do you know what these HINDRAF and MIC people did? Nothing! Then they go and grumble and complain that the government has done nothing for the Indians. There is something very wrong with these HINDRAF and MIC people.

The Indians displaced from their estates should be given their own FELDA schemes

Anyway, now there is talk that the Indians should be given their own FELDA scheme. And I am okay with that. In fact, I have suggested the same thing many years ago. So why would I want to attack the government for doing what I suggested to the HINDRAF and MIC people years ago? Let’s first see what happens and whether the government opens up a FELDA scheme for Indians before we start attacking the government.

The UiTM issue is another issue. There is talk they may open up UiTM to the non-Malays. So, what is wrong with that? The Pakatan government has not even announced yet whether 10% or 20% or 30% of the quota will be open to the non-Malays. It cannot be 90%. So, let Pakatan first announce what the quota is. If they announce it is 90% then we whack them. If they announce it is 5% then why get upset?

The critics say that the standard of UiTM is very low and that is why UiTM graduates have problems finding jobs. Other than GLCs or the government, no one wants to employ UiTM graduates. Well, once non-Malays are admitted into UiTM we can measure their level to that of the Malays. If we find that the non-Malays are ‘far higher’ than the Malays, then that theory is true. But if the non-Malays are lebih kurang the same level with the Malays, that would mean the theory that UiTM graduates are low standard is false.

Let us see whether Malays are as good as non-Malays once non-Malays are admitted into UiTM

Anyway, the non-Malays say they will never join the ‘low class’ UiTM even if it is opened to non-Malays. So, let us see what happens once UiTM is opened to the non-Malays. Will 100,000 non-Malays rush to apply to join UiTM or will not a single non-Malay apply? I am dying to find out the answer to that question. Most likely a mere handful of non-Malays will apply to join UiTM because they consider UiTM a very low class or low standard university, as what they keep saying.

If the Pakatan Harapan government gives back Terengganu its Oil Royalty that was taken away 18 years ago (plus gives Kelantan the 5% Oil Royalty that was never given) and if the Oil Royalty for Kelantan, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak is increased to 20% as promised, then I have no reason to whack the government. And I will also support a FELDA scheme for Indians and UiTM being opened to the non-Malays. So, no need to whack the Pakatan Harapan government yet as the 100 days is not up yet and we are yet to see what is going to happen.