It is time for reconciliation, not fist-waving

If we listen to the liberal ‘Bangsar Bubble’, prime minister Anwar Ibrahim must undo all the wrongs of the past 65 years by next week. The impatience is palpable, and at every turn, brickbats keep getting hurled at PM10.

It’s perplexing that even after the last Pakatan Harapan (PH) government came crashing down after only a short 22 months, the liberals want instant change. Each time our new prime minister makes a decision that resembles a compromise, the progressives in our country get riled up.

What did we learn from PH’s first round in government?

Well, going in with all guns blazing, ripping up old narratives and bulldozing past indoctrinated beliefs will get this PH-led unity government booted out faster than the last time around. Trying to initiate change brazenly, even though we all know is for the good, will invite political chicanery akin to the infamous Sheraton Move.

And, this time around, the situation is even more precarious. This is a delicately woven unity government with intricate sub-plots.

What happens if Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is challenged at his party elections and loses? Will Barisan Nasional (BN) pull out from this unity government? If BN pulls out, will the ever-agile Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) also pull out?

In 2020, the PH government’s wheels came undone through an inside-job. We all know the ‘traitors’ who orchestrated the move to topple the administration. This time the government is being shadowed by a robust opposition, which secured a sizable percentage of the popular vote.

There is incessant moaning by our liberals about the selection of ministers and deputy ministers, and the appointment of losing politicians as senators, simply to route them back to ministerial roles.

Of course, to the erudite, getting the losers from GE15 to take on jobs as ministers, is wrong. And, under ‘normal’ circumstances it would be very wrong. How can a prime minister justify picking those who lost their seats to be in government?

But we live in ‘abnormal’ times.

Don’t people realise this is all political stratagem? The prime minister has given positions to those awaiting trial in the courts of law, and to the losers at the last elections. But this is a government cobbled together to keep the ‘enemy’ at the gates, isn’t it?

Much has been written and pontificated upon by the intelligentsia of Malaysia about the phenomenon they are calling ‘the green wave’. This is about PAS being the single largest individual party in parliament. With 43 parliamentary seats, the Islamic party forms about 20% of the legislature.

The signs are ominous that the country is heading towards greater divergence.

From once being a moderate ‘poster child’ for the rest of the world to see what a multiracial nation should be like, there is no doubt that Malaysia is on a sliding slope towards religious extremism. This is clear by the voting trends in the last general election.

Parliamentary seats in the hinterland and the rural states all went to the ultra-nationalistic and religious Perikatan Nasional (PN). The divide is definitely widening.

Conventional wisdom dictates that by the lowering of the voting age to 18, it would bring a more balanced and broadminded electorate that eschews unwanted racial and religious sentiments.

Instead, this was a bad ‘road accident’. Systematic indoctrination over time made our young voters even more polarised than the old fellas.

Malaysia really seems to be at the crossroads.

Do we emulate Mahatma Gandhi’s sentiment that to believe in something and not live it is dishonest? Or do we, as a nation, pay heed to what Nelson Mandela said about his country in 1995, when he sought to heal a splintered nation.

Mandela said, “…reconciliation does not mean forgetting or trying to bury the pain of conflict, but that reconciliation means working together to correct the legacy of past injustice.”

I think it is time to realise that Malaysia is a fractured nation with profound fissures. And the time for taking up haughty and sanctimonious stances are long gone. For the sake of bringing back sanity and good governance to the country, we will all have to get down from our high horses.

The Loke Siew Fook led DAP seems to best exemplify this spirit of reconciliation for the nation. It is the single largest party in the unity government, but accepted a meagre four ministerial posts. And earlier, Loke personally went to Sarawak to say sorry to the GPS leadership to smoothen the path towards forming the new government.

Yet DAP lawmakers, by and large, have remained calm and allowed the prime minister to go about the business of healing and sorting our nation out.

In a deeply divided nation, fist-waving and uncompromising stands will inevitably lead to further cracks. The nationalists as well as the progressives must set aside their differences, and get together to find solutions to heal the country.

I cannot pretend not to be nervous about the state of our nation. But with Anwar Ibrahim,  Loke and the current PH stalwarts, I do feel there is ‘harapan’ or hope in the horizon for Malaysia. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.