Big trouble in little Malaysia

Everybody relax, I’m here.

– Jack Burton (Big Trouble in Little China)

It is percipient that Bridget Welsh framed her excellent piece "Restoring Harapan?" as a question because folks, we are in for a bumpy ride. Welsh’s analysis of the leadership trap (amongst other issues) in Pakatan Harapan takes on an added dimension when the old maverick, as Joceline Tan points out, is on the warpath and apparently in true establishment politics fashion, a fishing expedition. 

Joceline writes – “The former prime minister has his charismatic and witty side, but his longevity in politics has been due to his killer instinct, and this dark side of his personality is currently on full display in his mission to unseat yet another prime minister.” 

In a Reuters interview, Dr Mahathir Mohamad claimed that he was going to shove trouble down Muhyiddin Yassin's throat every single opportunity he gets, which means that the backdoor prime minister will not be able to get anything done in Parliament.

Now, of course, when has anything ever been done in Parliament but I digress. Will this scorched earth policy work out for Harapan? And of course, will the rakyat benefit from such opposition, or will this merely firm up support for the Malay uber alles government?

Keep in mind that not only has the now quarantined prime minister has to deal with Mahathir, he also has to deal with Umno, PAS, whatever problems crop up in Sabah and Sarawak and the other parties and personalities that make up his wafer-thin majority. Also, keep in mind that while Umno and PAS have their respective bases who are more than willing to stick with them, Harapan has been haemorrhaging support because of voter apathy and factional politics.

Now as the opposition leader of Harapan, where does Anwar Ibrahim (photo) fit into the old maverick’s agenda to remove another prime minister? As the leader of the opposition, is he going to be the old maverick’s ride or die or is going to take his role as leader of the opposition seriously which basically means objectively reviewing policy proposals instead of merely objecting to everything the prime minister brings to the table.

As Nathaniel Tan points out in his recent article – “I don’t think Muhyiddin came to power in a good way, but if his government brings a good initiative to the table (a scenario I will personally go so far as to say is not particularly likely to happen often, if at all), should those who have problems with him jump up and down in anger and opposition based on the fact that it was Muhyiddin’s government that proposed it, rather than based on the merits or lack thereof of the initiative itself?”

Tan hypothesises about “good” policy which I will take to mean “good for all Malaysians” policies which are interesting but what if the Malay uber alles government decides on a policy which is good for the majority, which basically means good for their respective bases?

It would be interesting to see how Mahathir objects to policies that would benefit the Malay/Muslim base which he is supposed to represent. On what grounds is he going to object to those policies – egalitarian grounds? – or is he just going to shout, corruption and backdoor government, while Perikatan Nasional propagandises that Mahathir (in concert with the DAP) are still selling out the Malays?

If anything, the recent public comments by Daim Zainuddin, a Mahathir loyalist, point to how the Malay political establishment is well aware of the cancerous effects of race-based politics but did nothing to correct the trajectory that Malaysia was on. Indeed the Mahathir and post-Mahathir eras are a narrative of continuing of policy decisions that did the opposite of what Daim (photo) is advocating now.

When the old maverick goes on about corruption - when any Malay leader goes on about how corrupt the PN government is - I really want to laugh. All these people supported Zakir Naik and what kind of Islam does Zakir propagate?

Zakir says that God will take care of Muslim (leaders) who have sinned in the afterlife but it is the duty of Muslims – Zakir cites the Quran – to vote for corrupt Muslim leaders over righteous non-Muslims or non-corrupt Muslims in a coalition with non-believers.

Zakir claims that it really does not matter if a non-corrupt Muslim leader provides a better existence because of how long are Muslims living in the world. What is paramount is that Muslim unity trumps anything else.

So what do you think that the legion of Zakir’s acolytes see when they see Malay leadership flocking to Zakir and their belief systems when it comes to corruption?

And what about the leader of the opposition? Is Anwar going to object to policies that disadvantage the non-Malays? Keep in mind policies that involve entitlements and economic aid to disenfranchised Malays, are going to be a major concern during this pandemic.

Does being a leader of a multiracial opposition trump “don’t spook the Malays” doctrine? Consider also if PN is smart and dresses these policies as “needs-based” policies, is the opposition going to object?

Forget about Bersatu for a moment and think about Umno/PAS. If the PM brings to the table something that would be useful to their base and they are on board, what do you think the narrative is going to be about those who oppose it?

More importantly, will Harapan fold when the racial and religious stakes are raised? This ties into what Bridget wrote about how once a galvanising tool for Harapan has now been blunted – “A majority of non-Malays supported Harapan and they have few concrete substantive policy areas that they can identify with the Harapan government – around education, discrimination and inclusion, to name a few arenas. Harapan core supporters were taken for granted and, in fact, beaten up on as Mahathir failed to respect the voters that put him into office.”

The Malay uber alles government does not have to worry about the non-Malays. All they have to worry about is how to carve up the demographic so that each gets a slice of the pie. This, of course, is where it gets tricky. Umno and PAS may at the moment be simpatico but will they be when it comes time to divvy up the seats?

Mahathir always goes on about how the majority of the Malays do not trust Anwar. Of course when it comes down to it, the majority of the Malays – looking at recent by-elections and the way how the last elections played out – don’t trust him either. 

Muhyiddin is not the only person in big trouble, citizens who consider themselves Malaysian first (and I use this without sarcasm or irony) are also in trouble.

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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