The Barisan Nasional disease

Leave Umno aside. Forget about Mahathir. We must now declare war on Pakatan Rakyat. In just one year Pakatan Rakyat has become what took Barisan Nasional 50 years to transform into. If Khalid can’t manage Selangor then he has to go, and go now.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The Selangor State Government must promote competitive and transparent tenders for public services, and condemn political patronage in the award of such contracts

The DAP views the expose by MBPJ councillor, A Thiruvenggadam, alleging that the state divides Alam Flora's waste management contracts to political parties – 40 percent to PKR, 30 percent to PAS and 30 percent to DAP, as reported in Malaysiakini yesterday, with grave and serious concern.

The Selangor State Executive Council must immediately investigate the veracity of these claims, which poses serious credibility threats to the Pakatan Rakyat state government. We would like to call upon the executive councillor for infrastructure and public amenities, Datuk Dr Hassan Mohd Ali, who is in-charge of Alam Flora waste management services to confirm or deny the allegations.

The allegations, if true, will put us on a slippery slope to become a Government which condones patronage and cronyism, no different from Barisan Nasional.  If the allegations are, however, found to be false or misguided, then Thiruvenggadam must apologise for his allegations.

The DAP strongly condemns any move which condones political patronage where politicians get to decide the contractors who get the jobs for public services contracts.  We are firm in our belief that these contracts must be tendered to all qualified parties in an open, transparent and competitive manner.  Only then will the rakyat receive the best quality services at the lowest possible prices.

The DAP-led Pakatan Rakyat Government in Penang has taken great pains to ensure that politicians are not put in a position to indulge in political patronage, which promotes corruption and nepotism. Even in the face of strong political opposition within the Pakatan Rakyat component parties to reserve plum positions such as MPSP or MPPP president's post, the Penang government has stuck to its guns to promote worthy civil servants instead. This serves to ensure that our policy of competency, accountability and transparency (CAT) is not only preached but practised.

Hence, regardless of the allegations, the Selangor Government must dismiss any lingering suspicions over the manner in which sub-contracts by Alam Flora are “allocated” by announcing implementation of a competitive tender, even if it's limited to Class F contractors, to ensure that corruption and cronyism will not take root under Pakatan's administration, and the rakyat receives the best deal.

Tony Pua

Pakatan Rakyat facing first crisis of confidence since its formation after the March 8 political tsunami last year

Pakatan Rakyat is facing its first crisis of confidence among members, supporters and well-wishers since its formation after the March 8 political tsunami last year.

I had made a short comment to reporters on the theme of the speech of the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang after the opening ceremony of the 55th PAS Muktamar in Stadium Melawati, Shah Alam on Friday.

I said that the theme Hadi had chosen for his opening speech, “Islam Memimpin Perubahan”, would be a great challenge for PAS to become a national party capable of representing the rights and interests of all citizens in plural Malaysia at a historic moment in the nation’s history undergoing unprecedented political change.

Some of the speeches of PAS leaders and resolutions at the 55th PAS Muktamar like the focus on Umno-PAS “unity talks” and the call for the ban of Sisters-in-Islam have however an opposite effect, creating a crisis of confidence in the Pakatan Rakyat among members, supporters and well-wishers.

UMNO Youth leader, Khairy Jamaluddin and other UMNO leaders are trying to press home the advantage of using the Umno-PAS “unity talks” to split Pakatan Rakyat and undermine public confidence in Pakatan Rakyat.

This is a test of the wisdom and capability of DAP, PKR and PAS leaders to measure up to the expectations of the people as expressed in the March general election last year to advance the cause of Pakatan Rakyat.

Lim Kit Siang

I do not rear fresh water fish but I was told that if your fish are wiped out by disease then you can’t just go buy new fish fry and put them back into the pond. You have to abandon the pond because the pond would be contaminated and the disease would spread to the new fish fry as well. In other words, it is not just the fish that are diseased but the environment as well. So you need a new environment for the new fish fry.

As I said, I do not rear fish, so I really don’t know if this is so, but this is what I was told by those who are in the business of fish rearing.

I have said this before, many times in the past: PAS, PKR, DAP, and what have you, are political parties. Each of these political parties may have different ideologies but their agendas are all the same. Politics is about the pursuit of power. This is what political parties do — they seek power. And they will attain power the best way they can.

Do you know why rivers meander and never flow in a straight line? This is because water always finds the path of the least resistance. Water will never flow upstream or up a gradient. It will meander around the gradients and flow downstream. This is the path of the least resistance and this is how water flows and this is why rivers meander and never flow in a straight line.

In politics it is the same. Politicians and political parties too look for the path of the least resistance. Why try to flow upstream and up a hill when you can meander (what the Malays would call putar belit) and look for the easy route? All you want to do is to arrive at your destination. And you will look for the easiest route to that destination. And the destination of politicians and political parties is to get into power. And you do this the easiest way you can, which may not quite be the best or honest way.

A few days after the 8 March 2008 general election I wrote about the Unity Government. I was whacked by the readers good and proper. Many even accused me of being a traitor and said I was selling out. Some even pointed to my association with the pro-Mahathir Umno group, in particular the Blogging community, and offered that as proof that I had switched camps and was now working with the other side.

The debate was of course confined within Malaysia Today. This was not discussed outside the comments section of Malaysia Today. But it was clear I had courted the displeasure of the readers and they made this displeasure very prominent in the manner they attacked me for my suggestion that the future of Malaysian politics would be to eventually see the emergence of some form of Unity Government running this country.

Some leaders in PAS and Umno were actually already talking about this barely hours after the 8 March 2008 general election. The voters may not have known about it as the secret talks were going on behind the scenes and were never made public. Malaysia Today even mentioned the names of some of those involved in the talks.

As usual, however, the readers interpreted this as an effort by Malaysia Today to sabotage the opposition and smear the reputation of certain opposition leaders. They would not accept the fact that maybe there are some opposition leaders who are not committed to the cause but are in politics merely for purposes of attaining power.

But PAS is a political party just like any other political party, opposition or ruling coalition. What PAS wants is what a normal political party wants, political power. So why should PAS not also make secret deals if that is the best route to attaining power?

Malaysia Today revealed that Umno had offered PAS the post of Menteri Besar of Perak. Umno also put icing on the cake by agreeing that Islamic laws be implemented in Perak if PAS agrees to form a new Perak state government with Umno. PAS would be a minority in a Pakatan Rakyat state government. PAS would still be a minority if it formed that government with Umno. But Pakatan Rakyat would not agree to the implementation of Islamic laws in Perak while Umno would. That is the extra PAS would get if it teamed up with Umno instead of DAP and PKR to form the new Perak state government.

Nizar, however, declined the offer. His loyalty is with DAP and PKR even if they can’t implement Islamic laws in Perak. Nizar will not sell out his partners just to gain Islamic laws.

Now, all this is not new information. Malaysia Today has written about it more than once before this. But the comprehension of the readers was so poor and the quality of the debates so low that most, if not all, missed the wood for the trees, as usual.

It has come to a stage that even I no longer read the comments in Malaysia Today. Except for one or two, most of the comments not only miss the point and are out of context but are also emotional raving and ranting that do not add value to the news report or articles.

What many Umno Bloggers and anti-opposition people say about those who comment in Malaysia Today is actually quite true. The comments are not worth reading and are mostly hentam Umno or Barisan Nasional out of hatred and nothing more. There are hardly any constructive suggestions as to how the opposition can improve itself and in that same process improve the situation in this country.

When the issue of the Unity Government first surfaced more than a year ago we should have maturely and rationally debated the matter and tell the political leaders what we thought of the idea. Calling those we dislike names is not quite proposing how this country should move forward. But that is all we do. Until today most comments are name calling like calling Mahathir Mamak and pointing out the 22 years damage he did to this country. But how do we move forward? What are the formulae needed? No one says because no one cares and no one knows and all they want to do is to let off steam by whacking Mahathir and calling him Mamak.

Even if I agree that Mahathir is bad, is he bad because he is bad or because he is Mamak? What has the fact that he is Mamak got to do with it? We used to think that Pak Lah is bad and now we think that Najib is bad. But they are both not Mamak. So does the fact that Mahathir is Mamak have anything to do with the issue? However, reading the comments in Malaysia Today would give anyone the impression that the problem with this country is we had a Mamak as a prime minister and that and only that was the problem. Does this mean if Mahathir had not been Mamak then Malaysia would have faced no problems?

PAS has forgotten the Umno and Barisan Nasional campaign in the run-up to the 8 March 2008 general election. Then, it was not to form the Unity Government with PAS. Then, it was to ensure Pembangkang Sifar (Zero Opposition). The ruling coalition plan was to deny the opposition even a single seat in Parliament and all the State Assemblies.

Malaysia Today predicted otherwise. Malaysia Today said that Barisan Nasional would lose five states and its two-thirds majority in Parliament. In fact, this was the gist of the ceramah I gave at various places during the election campaign. But Umno and Barisan Nasional were confident they would achieve Pembangkang Sifar. They never once said they are thinking of forming Unity Governments with PAS either at Parliament level or in any of the states. They wanted to totally wipe out the opposition and deny it even one seat. But within hours of the results of the 8 March 2008 general election they quickly started talking to PAS to propose the Unity Government idea.

Umno and Barisan Nasional were not thinking of the nation’s interest. They wanted to see how to get back control of the five states, or at least some of the five states, as well as get back its two-thirds majority in Parliament. Barisan Nasional was short of a few seats and if the 23 Members of Parliament from PAS and some of the 31 Members of Parliament from PKR joined the Unity Government then Barisan Nasional gets back it two-thirds majority in Parliament plus probably Kedah, Perak and Selangor and maybe even Kelantan. Then only Penang would remain an opposition state. But Penang too could eventually fall since it was a ‘Chinese’ state government and Malay sentiments could be played up to bring the Penang government down.

PAS has not forgotten its earlier marriage to Barisan Nasional almost 40 years ago. But there are some in PAS who are more concerned about their own positions rather than what will happen to their party if they go to bed with Umno. Sure, the party will suffer. But they will benefit, personally. And that is what matters to some of these PAS leaders. They are, after all, politicians, and politics is about attaining power any way you can, foul means or fair.

Malaysia Today said that Perak is just the first of the five Pakatan Rakyat states that will fall back into the hands of Barisan Nasional. In fact, Malaysia Today appealed for the Perak State Assembly to be dissolved two weeks before the state fell. Kedah and Selangor are next on the list. And Penang and Kelantan are not safe either.

Kelantan will see a serious internal conflict within PAS. The groundwork for that was laid in the recent PAS general assembly. So it will be PAS versus PAS is Kelantan, which will eventually see the state fall. And Penang is headed for a serious DAP versus PKR-PAS ‘racial’ crisis.

Selangor is facing another kind of problem. Selangor’s problem is an incompetent state government and an even more incompetent Menteri Besar. The question that many ask is whether Tan Sri Khalid is just downright incompetent or whether he is a Trojan Horse aimed at bringing down the Pakatan Rakyat state government.

There are some who feel that Khalid has a lot of hidden scandals from his Guthrie days. I too have heard the same thing but have not seen anything concrete thus far. Umno, however, is not dragging all this to the surface — at least not just yet. Instead, they are said to be using this as a ‘threat’ to force Khalid to cooperate in the move to undermine the Selangor state government.

Is Khalid just plain stupid and not really selling out to Umno in the move to make Selangor the next state to fall back to Barisan Nasional? I would like to believe it is stupidity rather than something more sinister. But whatever it may be it still spells doom for Pakatan Rakyat. And with certain PAS Selangor leaders talking to Umno and harbouring thoughts of a new Selangor Unity Government with Umno — with the promise that PAS would replace Khalid as the new Menteri Besar — this means the Pakatan Rakyat state government is living on borrowed time.

The people are beginning to see that the one-year-old Pakatan Rakyat Selangor government is no different from the Barisan Nasional government before this. We are just seeing the same shit, only on different days. I suppose the pond is so contaminated that the new fish fry has been afflicted with the disease of the old and now dead fish. Changing the fish is not enough. The new fish need to be put in a new pond because the old pond is already a total write-off.

Forget about all this name-calling. It has nothing to do with the fact that Mahathir is Mamak. It is all about the Pakatan Rakyat leaders suffering from the Barisan Nasional disease. It is about politics. It is about attaining power the best way they can. And Selangor is rapidly becoming just another state run by people who serve their own interests and not that of the rakyat.

Leave Umno aside. Forget about Mahathir. We must now declare war on Pakatan Rakyat. In just one year Pakatan Rakyat has become what took Barisan Nasional 50 years to transform into. If Khalid can’t manage Selangor then he has to go, and go now. We need to force Pakatan Rakyat to appoint a new Menteri Besar for Selangor while we still have time. If we wait for Selangor to fall like what happened to Perak before acting then it would be too late.

And Penang, Kedah and Kelantan are equally dicey. These states are not out of the woods either. The inter-party and intra-party bickering may see the end of the Pakatan Rakyat government in these states as well.

I have lost patience with those who comment in Malaysia Today a long time ago. In fact, I am even considering closing down the comments section because they add no value to the issues being discussed. Everything about Barisan Nasional is bad. Everything about Pakatan Rakyat is good. Actually, Pakatan Rakyat is no better than Barisan Nasional. And we are finally beginning to see this. But is it too late? Is this already the beginning of the end for Pakatan Rakyat?

I hope not. But unless we grab the bull by the horns Pakatan Rakyat’s days are numbered and it will be only a matter of time before all the states fall back to Barisan Nasional just like what happened to Perak.