Zahid is free because Harapan supporters enabled it

“The fine thing about pacts with the devil is that when you sign them you are well aware of their conditions. Otherwise, why would you be recompensed with hell?”

- Author Umberto Eco

In an attempt to deflect blame from the current Pakatan Harapan government and to give a patina of legitimacy using pragmatism to the mandarins of the state, Andrew Sia wrote a disingenuous piece laying the blame for Ahmad Zahid Hamidi walking free on the unfair weightage of the electoral system.

He also mentioned the voters of Sabah and Sarawak who support corrupt leaders, urban voters who apparently in Sia’s eyes, do not read reform-based political manifestos and of course, the “Green Wave”.

Zahid is walking free because Harapan supporters, the majority of whom are non-Malays, courtesy of the DAP, allowed this pact with “a lesser evil” in the name of pragmatism.

The people who voted for Perikatan Nasional, a majority of whom are Malays, rejected the corruption of Umno.

Now, you can argue that PN is just as corrupt as Umno but the fact remains that after decades of plundering the country, the majority shifted votes to another Malay/Muslim coalition that campaigned not only on race and religion as Umno did for decades but also on anti-corruption.

It is easy to blame TikTok videos but beneath the easy propaganda, what lies is the rejection by a plurality of Malays of the brazen corruption of Umno, and the belief that a new Malay/Muslim hegemon would course correct this country.

Sia touched bases with all the stereotypes that come with partisan politics, from handouts to TikTok, and is pleased with a “surging foreign investment” which means letting Zahid go, is purely a numbers game.

So, how much money would it take to satisfy Harapan voters, the majority of whom are non-Malays, that letting Zahid go is a pragmatic thing and good for business?

If anyone thinks that TikTok is toxic for democracy, have they looked at the social media spaces of Harapan supporters?

The claim that Harapan voters did not have a choice, is the definition of toxic politics. Harapan supporters, especially those urban voters whom Sia thinks do not really care about reform manifestos, had choices handed to them on a platter.

They had independent candidates, they had recent choices like Muda and, of course, old-guard options like PSM and the Harapan base rejected them. They instead voted in huge numbers for candidates who led them to this cliff.

Third-party candidates were demonised as spoilers for Harapan. Parties were described as “mosquitos” which would derail Harapan’s reform efforts and honest political operatives were thrown under the bus, all in the name of supporting Harapan candidates who promised reform but instead delighted in the fact that non-Malays particularly had no choice but to vote for them.

Party uber alles, remember? I would argue that this is what damages democracy, as much as the unequal weightage of votes and the mendacious manoeuvring of political operatives from PN and Harapan to limit our public and private spaces.

Bravo to former MACC chief Latheeya Koya and lawyer Lim Wei Jiet for belling the cat. While some folks want the prosecutors to make their case for the withdrawal, the reality is that this is a political decision. What else could it be?

Remember the reason why some folks wanted to reform the prosecution service was to make it free from the executive branch.

And since these reforms have not been carried out, what we can assume is that there was interference from the executive branch. Otherwise, why the need for reform, right?

Now, I am not really interested in what PKR has to say. What I am really interested in knowing is where the DAP stands in all of this. And please, Anthony Loke, you are the government. Please do not pass the buck to the attorney-general (AG).

This is cowardly and standard operating procedure for the DAP. Shift the blame knowing that the base will continue voting for you or supporting you, because what other choice do they have, right?

Some people will argue, why am I placing this on the DAP? It’s because DAP is the backbone of Harapan, the reliable vote bank, which carries the expectations of non-Malays and reform-minded progressive Malays in this country, that’s why.

DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke

People always ask me, since I am one of the biggest scaremongers of the “Green Wave”, why I would support independent candidates and parties like PSM and Muda, who could very well draw votes away from Harapan. Don’t I know the consequences of this?

I surely do. The more choices people have in a democracy is a good thing. The more choices people have in a democracy like ours, where pundits routinely claim that the only choices we have are between two devils, it becomes an even more powerful option.

We may fear the “Green Wave” but maybe it is time to not support it by voting for the pragmatic choice which is, in reality, the choice that is enabling the “Green Wave”.

All that Zahid’s freedom buys is more propaganda for PN. All it does is enable narratives that the non-Malays would support corrupt Malay leaders, in the hopes of securing power.

Clamping down on the media and attempting to counter propaganda by banning it merely feeds into the narratives by PN that this is a fascist government. Now that Zahid is free merely confirms the power-hungry motives of the Madani government.

This is the reason why I have been so hard on the Madani government. I have always reminded them that they had an opportunity for reform.

And I did not buy into their excuses of needing more time or not spooking the Malays. This was the perfect opportunity to reform the system because by doing so, they would show the people what they stood for and disarm PN of effective propagandistic tools.

Will non-Malays still back Harapan?

Zahid is free because Harapan supporters enabled it. Now that illusions of reform and anti-corruption have been stripped from Harapan, it remains to be seen if Harapan voters, especially the non-Malays stand by Harapan.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said that the Chinese built this country and that there would be no cities and towns without the Chinese. He said without non-Malay taxes, how would entitlement programmes be funded?

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has chided the lack of development in Kedah. For years, the people of Terengganu and Kelantan voted in people who have mismanaged their state to the point that environmental disasters that could have been avoided have become a yearly occurrence.

Countries led by such regimes have gone through religious and economic turmoil. Countries in this region and all over the world have hit rock bottom in order to progress forward.

We know from PN’s brief rule, what it was like. Perhaps, Malaysians need to hit rock bottom to understand what corruption, religion, and racial injustice do to a country.

Perhaps it is our turn. - Mkini

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.