We need a principled political force
By Wan Saiful Wan Jan, The Star (iPad edition), 22 December 2010
I was tempted to comment on the establishment of the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) as soon as its establishment was announced. But I decided to wait until the closed-door briefing for invited NGOs on Sunday 19 December at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall before penning down my thoughts.
Luckily the wait was worth it because the many comments made earlier were based more on assumptions, and not on what MCLM actually intends to do.
The most common allegation levelled against MCLM is that they are a bunch of idealists who have lost faith in Anwar. The picture being painted is as if they are out there to hurt Pakatan Rakyat.
As an example, Baradan Kuppusamy, a fellow columnist in this newspaper, and one that I highly admire, concluded his column on 15 December 2010, by saying “in MCLM, we are witnessing the birth of a new and unique political venture by committed and passionate individuals who have lost faith in Anwar as the great reformer and want to stride out on their own, whatever the censure.”
Unfortunately there is one very big point that is being missed. MCLM is even more united, more focused and more committed to defeat Barisan Nasional than anything else.
In the closed-door briefing session last Sunday, MCLM made it very clear that their only interest is in helping make sure the reform agenda – currently symbolised by Pakatan Rakyat’s struggle – remains alive.
They even went to the extent of saying outright that they will only work with non-Barisan Nasional parties. Under their “Independent Candidates Initiative” they plan to identify, screen, and support candidates to run against Barisan Nasional in the next general elections. Their intention is to offer these candidates to Pakatan Rakyat component parties.
Thus, when commenting about MCLM, I think we must appreciate that they are first and foremost an anti-Barisan Nasional political force, at least for now. They are not out there to hurt Pakatan Rakyat, but to help them.
The thing that interests me the most about MCLM is their insistence on formulating a set of policy ideas which their candidates will then campaign for. This is quite new in the Malaysian political arena – we have been served with an ethnic-based politics for more than half a century. I am excited by the possibility of being offered a politics based on ideas.
MCLM should indeed work on the policy ideas they want to offer to the public. We desperately need a political force that talks about how to free the poor from poverty, improve our schools and hospitals, free the judiciary and parliament from executive interference, and liberate Malaysians from the shackles of ethnic and religious prejudices.
Once these policy ideas have been formulated, MCLM must stick to their principles and not waver. And it is here that I think MCLM still needs to think how they want to approach the political parties.
If MCLM were to be a principles-based political force, it would be wrong for them to declare outright from this stage that they only want to work with Pakatan Rakyat. For that would be making an assumption that no Barisan Nasional parties are interested in reform.
MCLM must realise that Barisan Nasional is made up of many component parties. And, within the component parties, take UMNO for example, there are factions too. And some of these parties or factions could be open to their reform agenda. I may be wrong, but the only way to find out is by talking to everyone first and deciding only after talking to them.
