MCLM’s 13th general election manifesto
There should be no resistance to what we have outlined because our plan is all-inclusive.
Should a Snap-UBF-MCLM alliance be successfully forged, MCLM hopes to be able, with its alliance partners, to work out a further alliance with the other non-Barisan Nasional parties in Sabah, Sarawak, and Semenanjung with one objective in mind: to forge a coalition to displace Barisan Nasional in the next election and to install a pro-reform federal government in Putrajaya.
Popular blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin is the MCLM chairman. He is presently living in the UK. This article was exclusively written for FMT.
Raja Petra Kamarudin, Free Malaysia Today
I want to keep it simple.
In 27 words, I want to spell out for you the MCLM Manifesto for the 13th GE:
“End the marginalisation of all human beings, by seizing federal power through the 13th general election and, through the 13th federal government, implement the Rakyat Reform Agenda”.
That’s it.
Why all human beings, and not just all Malaysians?
Well, whether you want to admit it or not, there is a large migrant force in the country and, again, whether you want to admit it or not, they have played and are continuing to play a significant role in the development of the nation. And, like so many marginalised Malaysians, many of these migrants live in sub-human conditions.
The marginalisation of both Malaysians as well as the migrant community must stop. And, in order to do this, the Rakyat Reform Agenda (RARA) must be given effect to. And, in order to give effect to the RARA, we must install a reform-oriented government in Putrajaya post the 13th GE that will use the federal powers at its disposal to implement the RARA.
This begs two questions.
First, how do we displace BN at the 13th GE and install a pro-reform government?
Second, what exactly is comprised in the RARA?
Let’s tackle the matter of taking BN out in the next GE first.
Realistically, Pakatan Rakyat cannot do this on its own. In fact, no one political party can do this on its own. What is needed is a collective of all pro-rakyat, pro-reform political parties working together with the Third Force, made up of reform-oriented NGOs and the rakyat who are ready to work for change.
On Dec 12, 2010, MCLM launched its Barisan Rakyat Independent Candidate Initiative. To-date, we have announced the details of four independent candidates. And we intend to offer 30 in the 13th GE.
Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan have 57 seats in Parliament. As I said in my earlier article, Sabah and Sarawak are critical to our having a chance of forming a reform government in Putrajaya post 13th GE.
MCLM has been hard at work with the Sarawak National Party (Snap) in Sarawak and the United Borneo Front (UBF) in Sabah in trying to build an alliance with forces in Sabah and Sarawak. We hope in the coming days that we will be able to announce the formation of such an alliance.
Should a Snap-UBF-MCLM alliance be successfully forged, MCLM hopes to be able, with its alliance partners, to work out a further alliance with the other non-Barisan Nasional parties in Sabah, Sarawak, and Semenanjung with one objective in mind: to forge a coalition to displace Barisan Nasional in the next election and to install a pro-reform federal government in Putrajaya.
It is hoped that with these alliances in place, straight fights in the forthcoming 13th GE will be assured and that any three-corner contests are Barisan Nasional’s own doing.
Reform agenda
Let me now take you to the RARA.
It has four parts.
The first is about honouring the agreements made by our forefathers in 1963 when the Federation of Malaya entered into agreement with the independent states of Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak to form the new Federation of Malaysia.
Singapore left the federation in 1965, leaving three partners: Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak. Yet, today, Sabah and Sarawak are being treated as the 12th and 13th states in the Federation of Malaysia.
We must set this right.
This is the first reform that must be effected by the new reform government post 13th GE.
Second, the national institutions that were intended to serve the rakyat but which have, for some time now, served their political masters, must be restored to the rakyat. These include the judiciary, the Election Commission, the police force, and the Attorney-General, amongst others.
MCLM has a plan to restore these institutions to the rakyat during the tenure of the 13th federal government but, for obvious reasons, will not disclose the same here. This will be discussed with its alliance partners.
Third, the liberties guaranteed to the rakyat under the Federal Constitution must be restored to the rakyat during the term of the 13th federal government. This means that the ISA, the OSA, the PPPA, the UUCA and the Sedition Act must be repealed. To this end, the MCLM Reform Agenda team is at work drafting the necessary bills to facilitate the repeal of these draconian laws during the first sitting of the 13th Parliament post 13th GE.
Additionally, the MCLM Reform Agenda will also draft a Race Relations Bill and what we are now tentatively calling the Malaysian Social Inclusion Action Commission Bill, which relates to the fourth part of RARA.
