Defeating the people’s will

by Aliran on 7 April 2013

Tota urges the people of Perak to teach the BN a lesson at the polls for subverting the will of the people expressed in the last general election.

In the GE12 held in 2008, the people of Perak voted for a Pakatan Rakyat state government. The Umno-dominated BN decided to use dirty politics to subvert the people’s choice.

Many evil forces – BN, led by Najib, the state secretary, the police, parasites with power, and immoral and unscrupulous political frogs – conspired, connived and colluded to steal the rightfully elected government allegedly through bribery and corruption.

GE13 will be held soon. As a patriotic Malaysian, I see the people of Perak placed in a unique position to ensure once and for all no politician or party would again dare to defeat the people’s will through crooked means. Such an opportunity does not come often to a state to make history. Vote every BN candidate out. Better still ensure everyone of them loses his/her deposit!

This will send the strongest message to political scoundrels that if they ever break the people’s will, they will be punished mercilessly. Let Perak lead the way. It will be Perak’s greatest contribution to ensuring that Malaysia is a genuine democracy where elections are free and fair.

Come on, people of Perak, show that People Power (Makkal Sakti) is supreme and that people are the boss and politicians are their servants. Let Perak be the heart of true nationalism and patriotism.

I quote below M Bakri Musa, noted surgeon and writer:

The lack of political sophistication and wisdom gets worse as we examine Mahathir’s successors. More recently there were the political crises in Perak and Selangor, both the consequence of the political tsunami of the 2008 general elections. Again, both demonstrated the failure of Malay leadership. In Perak, the Sultan proved unable to escape his feudal mentality. He treated his ‘People’s Representatives’ in the state assembly as his henchman, ready to do his bidding, – legality and political ramifications aside. The political crisis quickly degenerated. Instead of being part of the solution, he was quickly reduced to being part of the problem, and a very significant one at that.

The Perak crisis demonstrated another significant point. It is often assumed that if only we have qualified and experienced people in charge, then no matter how battered or inadequate our institutions are, these individuals will rise to the challenge. In Perak, we have a sultan who by any measure is the most qualified and experienced, having served as the nation’s top judge and later, King. Yet his critical decision following the 2008 election, which demanded the most judicious of judgment, proved unwise and premature. And that is putting it mildly and politely.

The principal political protagonists there were Barisan Nasional’s Zambry Kadir, a Temple University PhD, and Pakatan’s Nizar Jamaluddin, a professional engineer fluent in multiple languages. The election saw the defeat of the incumbent Barisan government with Pakatan’s Nizar taking over as Menteri Besar. The state of affairs was short-lived. Through shady machinations, Barisan successfully persuaded a few Pakatan representatives to switch sides. That triggered a political tussle that quickly degenerated into a major constitutional crisis. It did not have to end that way; the wise course would have been to call for a formal vote of ‘no confidence’ in the assembly and then have fresh elections called.

The Barisan folks, however, were unsure of their standing with voters. There were real concerns that voters would not approve of the ‘representative buying’ and Barisan risked even greater losses. So, in cahoots with the Sultan, Barisan concocted a novel scheme where he, the sultan, would decide which party had the citizens’ confidence dispensing with a formal Assembly vote.

From there it was a short but steep slide to seeing the Pakatan speaker of the Assembly being manhandled and dragged out, with chairs thrown all round. The sultan (actually his representative, the crown prince), was reduced to cooling his heels in an adjoining room, unable to address the Assembly because of the mayhem.

The pathetic part to the whole ugly spectacle was the despicable behaviour of members of the permanent establishment, form the sultan’s counsellors and State Secretary to the Legal Advisor and Chief of Police. They should have played an impartial and mediating role, to act as an effective buffer mechanism. Instead they too became thickly embroiled, getting hopelessly ensnared in the mess through their highly partisan performances.

As for the judiciary, it failed to appreciate the urgency or gravity of the crisis. The case did not merit an expedited hearing and was left to meander through the usual slow judicial process. By contrast, the lawsuit triggered by the 2000 American presidential elections over the Florida ballots ended at the Supreme Court for a definitive decision in a matter of days, not months.

When you examine the credentials of the principal players in the Perak mess, they were all impressive. In performance, however, they were no different from the thugs in an ugly street brawl. Their impressive diplomas meant nothing; they only looked impressive when framed and hung on office walls.

Excerpt from ‘Liberating the Malay Mind’ by M Bakri Musa.

P.S. Every Malaysian must read this excellent book to understand the serious ailments plaguing our beloved country.

Tota is the pseudonym of an occasional contributor to Thinking Allowed Online.