Efforts by the state to normalise the coup

“My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that.”

- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

To stop PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim from becoming prime minister, the charlatans who make up the current government brought down a democratically elected government. There is more to it than that, of course, but stopping Anwar is the official narrative. It is the acceptable narrative because it means that this was about personality, rather than about "ketuanism" (supremacism).

The far-right and agents of the fascist state have been gleefully retelling how PAS, for instance, was used to troll Pakatan Harapan and sow mistrust in an attempt to make this coup out as something that happened organically, instead of a sustained plan to attack the democratic process and bring down a federal government.

Talking heads and so-called pundits are now “evaluating” this cabinet as if they were a product of a legitimate democratic process instead of the unholy by-product spewed forth by plotters who brought down a government. This is not a government of consensus, but rather a government of connivance.

Some folks say that we should put aside our partisan bickering and look objectively at the situation. Give this new government a chance, they say. First off, if the current prime minister survived a no-confidence vote, then this would have been an acceptable outcome to this fiasco. Forget about what brought us to this place. The fact that the current prime minister went through the democratic process and legitimately assumed power would have been the first “good” move this regime did.

Secondly, I have no idea what Perikatan Nasional (PN) stands for. I know (from public statements) that their agenda is to stop Anwar from becoming prime minister, upholding Malay rights which they claim Harapan was derelict in and hating and blaming DAP for everything. Beyond that, there is nothing that points to coherent strategies and policies.

Now, of course, Harapan blamed Umno for everything too, but the difference here is most Harapan partisans blamed Harapan for not correcting the mistakes of Umno and continuing the blame game while PN – Umno and PAS – are essentially blaming DAP for decisions made by the Harapan collectively and colluding with the very people who abandoned the Harapan manifesto.

I was (am) critical of Harapan because they failed to live up to their manifesto and their supposed egalitarian ideas that would save Malaysia. However, with these new guys, they don’t seem to have any ideas beyond claiming that the DAP – read Chinese community – were destroying “Tanah Melayu” and that for some reason Anwar is an existential threat to their survival. When it comes to Harapan’s dereliction of duty, when it comes to “Malay” privileges and rights, Harapan and nearly every non-Malay political operative are bending over backwards not to spook the Malays.

The DAP, despite criticisms from activists and outlier Malay voices, poured millions into Islamic institutions. Furthermore, unlike what someone like the mufti of Perlis claimed that Harapan “bullied Muslims”, they created opportunities with their Malay counterparts in terms of education and employment for the Malay polity.

Does anyone really think that the mufti, Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, is unaware of the things the Harapan regime has done for Muslims in this country? Does anyone think that Asri was unaware of the looting of Islamic funds that was going on when the former PM Najib Abdul Razak's regime was in power? And the DAP were still hankering for his friendship.

Have there been screw-ups? Of course, with gutting subsidies and et cetera, but compare this to the kind of looting that was happening during the heyday of the Najib regime and the foundational years of Mahathirsm, and well, you decide “objectively” if Harapan needed to be overthrown by these goons to "save Malaysia".

Don’t get me wrong, I am not attempting to justify Harapan’s track record, but what I am doing is asking those folks who say give these bandits a chance, and I really mean this, sincerely. Why? It’s not as if we have a choice, right?

It’s not as if the democratic process played out, and we just have to wait for the next election cycle. I have no idea what these people are capable of because traitors and charlatans are capable of anything to sustain their treachery and deceit, including eroding and dismantling what’s left of our democratic institutions.

People say, well Harapan went after Umno and now it is Umno’s turn to go after Harapan. Take what Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan said, that the new government will investigate former finance minister Lim Guan Eng for adding direct debts and the sale of assets. Really? This is the racial persecution that “objective” non-partisans think is acceptable?

Now Lim made his case against the racist comments of Mat Hassan calling for Muhyiddin to be investigated too, but I want pundits – especially those who blather on about giving these nincompoops a chance – even if what Lim did conformed to what Mat Hassan said, what the Umno vice-president is asking for is for Lim to be investigated for carrying out his job and the then government’s economic agenda. And you want people to have faith in these bigots?

Online, people are picking apart the new cabinet which is what happens, especially when you stage a coup. But what really sticks in my craw is the appointment of Takiyuddin Hassan as a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (in charge of Law). I guess the search for Indira Gandhi's (below) kidnapped child will be put on hold now.

Keep in mind that this was the political operative who, along with 13 PAS MPs, stopped the then BN government’s move of Section 88A, which would have effectively put an end to the practice of a Muslim convert parent also converting a child and then seeking custody at the Syariah Courts. This always led to tussles between Muslim and non-Muslim parents, and setting the civil and syariah courts on a collision course. Takiyuddin claimed that Muslim converts also suffered.

Have Muslim converts had their children unilaterally converted to a religion which the child cannot renounce when he or she comes of age? Have the Muslim converts been denied justice in the civil courts? Have the Muslim converts had their children kidnapped and then had the state claim that they would not interfere because the ruling of the civil court conflicted with that of the syariah court?

Has the Muslim convert watched in horrified anger and grief over the years as the child is indoctrinated to a state religion which, if the child attempts to leave, he or she would be sent to a rehabilitation camp where more alleged abuse awaits the now-adult child?

So, tell me again, why I should give this cabinet a chance? And forget about finding out what really happened to the missing pastor Raymond Koh and Amri Che Mat. Keep in mind that this cabinet got the endorsement of Asri, so you know what kind of agenda is at play here.

Then, of course, there is the favourite propaganda tool of using the case of fireman Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim. The Seafield riots engineered by Malay thugs, we now know by the judgment of the coroner, and the inaction of the police, political operatives are claiming that they want “justice” for him with this new government.

Umno at the time wanted a slew of investigations into Indian political operatives because they were "spreading misinformation" when we now know that it was the state security apparatus which was doing so during the early days of the "riot".

You can rest assured that the LTTE "threat" would rear its ugly head again and who knows, some bright spark may perpetuate the theory (already making the rounds online) that former attorney-general Tommy Thomas purposely dropped the cases against the LTTE because he was part of an Indian conspiracy.

Like everything in this country, we normalise what should be anathema to democracy.

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. A retired barrister-at-law, he is one of the founding members of Persatuan Patriot Kebangsaan. - Mkini