Crouching concern, hidden dagger
The national reconciliation proposal thrown this time around sounds astonishingly similar exactly 40 years on, like an alchemy to be unleashed passed from father to son.
By Syed Nadzri Syed Harun, FMT
Tun Daim Zainuddin was brutally right again and by now should already be Malaysia’s No1 political pundit. His main predictions of the 13th general election (GE13) actually came true — that Kedah would be back with Barisan Nasional (BN) and that the Chinese would lose crucial representation by totally choosing to desert BN.
After a mind-boggling forecast that was spot on regarding the political tsunami of the last round, the former finance minister got everyone talking when he turned out to be convincingly accurate about BN regaining Kedah after five years and especially about the shaky Chinese ground.
While Kedah is quite straightforward, the “Chinese tsunami” phenomenon that lashed through the Malaysian political landscape when the results came in the wee hours yesterday requires deep thinking on all fronts.
The scenario: BN won 133 parliamentary seats, 88 through its Malay affiliate Umno. And on the other side, a large chunk of the seats secured by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) was through DAP, a mainly-Chinese party. The MCA and Gerakan, the Chinese-based partners in BN, were nearly wiped out.
Coupled with MCA’s assertion that it would not accept any Cabinet posting since it has fared worse than 2008 (seven parliamentary seats this time against 15 in the last round), it may all come to this now: a predominantly Malay federal government against a Chinese dominated Opposition.
Exactly what Daim had cautioned against. A very unhealthy situation.
Even Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak wore that worried look when he spoke about this at an early morning victory press conference yesterday.
He underlined the need for the BN government to embark on a national reconciliation process as part of a move to heal the racial and political divisions that have sparked in the wake of GE13.
“We (BN) are still trying to absorb the results, but we will be looking forward to reject political and racial extremism, and work towards a more moderate and accommodating environment,” he said.
Deja vu? The talk of national reconciliation brings back uncanny parallels of the past involving no less than Najib’s father, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, when he became prime minister not long after the milestone 1969 elections that brought in similar situations about Malay-Chinese and urban-rural divides.
With so much challenges before him, Abdul Razak rode on a “national resilience” (ketahanan rakyat) agenda then to bring together adverse forces to drive the country forward.
The national reconciliation proposal thrown this time around sounds astonishingly similar exactly 40 years on, like an alchemy to be unleashed passed from father to son.
DAP in federal government?
Back then, daddy fortified Alliance, the ruling coalition, in forming the BN by bringing in the Opposition Gerakan, a mainly Chinese- and urban-based party, and the Islamist PAS into the fold.
Gerakan, despite going through internal problems at that time, appealed to the young middle-class intellectuals. But in one master-stroke Abdul Razak, it was reported, institutionalised coalition politics in Malaysia to reduce undesirable communal politicking. On June 1, 1974, the BN was formally registered to gear up for the forthcoming elections.
