Lessons from Friday night basketball

 

 Politics is a funny thing, and not just in the sense that it is amusing for us to observe and comment about. I’m sure everyone can attest that even among friends or family, the discussion around politics can be very intense. So, navigating conversations around it needs a certain tact and sensitivity.

Every Friday night, I play basketball with my old university friends (some of us have known each other for more than 30 years). We play for only two hours but will end up at the mamak for four hours chatting and only go home at 4am.

We all have diverse backgrounds and the things that we talk about can be pretty diverse (funnily enough, basketball is the thing we talk about the least). We all have different interests and beliefs, so the opinions that come out are diverse too.

Within our small ecosystem, we can already observe how some people are more liberal and leftists and how some are more conservative and rightists. We can also see how each of us responds to differing thoughts and opinions.

Some are more open-minded and tolerant while others can be uptight and narrow. But we’ve all been friends for so long that nobody in our group wants to jeopardise it, so we have found a balance when we discuss things.

The behaviour and beliefs in my basketball group can be extrapolated to represent how the unity government is. We have a mixture of everything and everyone, and it is important that we want to maintain a certain level of harmony.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his Pakatan Harapan coalition did not win enough seats to form the government in the last general election, and neither did any other party. No one coalition or party had enough to declare an outright win.

So, Anwar had to enter into a confidence and supply agreement (CSA) with the others, BN being the main coalition that he had to open discussions with. It worked, and so he managed to form an administration.

In a government like this, it becomes hard to execute any plans according to whatever manifestos the political parties had before because of the balance that needs to be attained for all the parties coming together to agree.

As I have mentioned in previous writing, everyone needs to make compromises, and hence, the government becomes tame. As voters, we need to understand this and probably manage our expectations, at least till the next elections.

CSA govt

The only problem is that for a country like Malaysia that is in desperate need of reform and change, a CSA government makes it difficult to happen. This is especially so when the parties coming together find it hard to get on the same page.

If they are constantly bickering and politicking amongst themselves, then they are just a stalemate government that will bring us nowhere. At the moment, that is exactly my observation, ever since the state elections in Johor and Negeri Sembilan happened.

For a CSA government to work, all those who are involved need to understand that they are there to administer the country for the benefit of the people. They are not there for their own benefit of wanting to be in power and hold positions.

If a leader initiates a CSA government, then he needs to understand that he is forming more or less a caretaker government because he obviously does not have a majority mandate. The country is basically split, and that’s why the situation is as it is.

He needs to act responsibly and be a mediator amongst all those involved so that the country can move forward instead of remaining stagnant. The others who have agreed to join the CSA government also need to understand the situation clearly.

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They are also in the same boat because they don’t have any clear mandate to lead either. They need to act responsibly too and realise that they are not there to jostle for power and position. None of them is in any position of advantage.

All of them need to be able to discuss how best to represent the people in a split situation. Prioritise the promises they made to their voters and see what can be done together, no matter how little, because that’s better than not moving forward at all.

A CSA government needs to come together and merge their manifestos and negotiate to execute what is important for the people. They shouldn’t be using these promises they have made to voters as bargaining chips to broker for power.

Honestly, if we aren’t happy with our government, we have no one else to blame but ourselves. The reason things become systemic is when the majority allows it to happen, and so with elections, the majority has decided.

Whether there is a clear winner or not, the government formed is the government that the majority has voted for or not. It is a reflection of who or what Malaysia is. We can be in denial that we are like that, but ultimately, the dominant beliefs and values prevail.

Coming to a balance

So, if I go back to reflecting on my group of basketball friends and our Friday night sessions, we work hard to come to a balance, and it took many years for all of us to value what we had built or were trying to build.

We respect each other, and we know that the most important thing is to remain friends so we can continue to play basketball. If we stop being friends, we will lose players and hence not be able to play basketball.

With that objective in mind, we work on our relationship with each other. We don’t offend each other and are sensitive to each other’s feelings. We aren’t too calculating with each other, and we let go of things that are petty.

Just like my Friday night basketball crew, our political leaders need to keep their eyes on the objective. For us, it’s preserving 30 years of friendship so we can keep playing ball. For them, it’s delivering progress for the country and the people.

If a group of opinionated friends can set aside egos, navigate ideological differences and compromise for the greater good, I’m sure it isn’t that difficult for the leaders running our country to do the same.

A CSA government isn't a court for power plays and petty bargaining. If our politicians refuse to learn how to play together for the benefit of all Malaysians, they risk blowing the entire game for us, the people.

Maybe it’s time we also take stock of who our political leaders are and whether they are the right people to represent us as a nation and as a people. If we want to change the system, we need to change the dominant beliefs and values. - Mkini

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ZAN AZLEE is a writer, documentary filmmaker, journalist and academic. Visit fatbidin.com to view his work.

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