The haze is hazier

Moorthy should give us the details or else we cannot see which promises have been broken. When I ‘broke’ with Anwar after 30 months I detailed the reasons why and was labelled unreasonable for expecting so much in just 30 months. Moorthy ‘broke’ with Najib after just eight months but he does not need to give details and still they say he did the right thing.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

First read Lim Teck Ghee’s piece below regarding Waythamoorthy’s resignation from the government just eight months after joining it. I have thus far not commented on the matter but maybe today I will.

I first met Moorthy in London back in 2009 and was actually quite pleased to finally meet him. I had earlier met the other five Hindraf leaders in the Kamunting detention centre but never really had an opportunity to talk to them because my request to be transferred to their block was turned down. It seems I was to be kept in solitary confinement and was not to be allowed to mingle.

I had a few sessions with Moorthy to discuss the ‘Indian problem’ but when we launched Friends of Pakatan Rakyat and organised a number of events Moorthy would not turn up. It was apparent he wanted to keep his distance with what he viewed as an opposition event.

When Haris Ibrahim came to the UK he met Moorthy twice for quite long ‘table-talk’ sessions. After many hours of what Haris regarded as a wasted effort he gave up. There is no way one can talk to Moorthy, said Haris. He is just too stubborn. He has his own ideas and would not compromise or listen to reason.

So Haris, too, gave up on Moorthy, as did Friends of Pakatan Rakyat.

When I heard that Moorthy was negotiating his return to Malaysia I told Ben Singh, one of the Friends of Pakatan Rakyat activists in London. I predicted that Moorthy would most likely go back to Malaysia just before the general election to help Barisan Nasional campaign in the election.

I can understand why Moorthy was not interested in aligning himself to the opposition. Hindraf’s cause is not the opposition cause. It is the Indian cause and hence they should not be talking to the opposition but to the government of the day, in this case that would be Barisan Nasional.

So let us not judge Moorthy or Hindraf cruelly. Their fight is not to help Anwar Ibrahim become Prime Minister (after all Anwar refused to meet Moorthy when he came to London even though I had personally requested him to). It is to improve the lot of the Indians. And to do that you need to talk to those who walk in the corridors of power in Putrajaya.

My only criticism of Moorthy is that eight months is too early to bail out. Just eight months and he washes his hands off Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. Even I waited 30 months before I washed my hands off Anwar Ibrahim. And even that I did so after the public ‘scolding’ I gave Anwar when he visited London and after Anwar publicly rejected The People’s Declaration (Deklarasi Rakyat) in his talk in Australia soon after that (which I saw on YouTube).

In my case, however, I published The People’s Declaration (SEE HERE) on the Internet for all and sundry to see and I pointed out why I am not happy with Anwar (meaning which part of those promises had not been delivered).

Moorthy signed a MoU with the Prime Minister. Many have not seen this MoU or those who have may have forgotten what it is about. And many, also, do not know which part of that MoU has not been met yet. And was there a timeframe to meeting this? Was everything supposed to have been done in just six months?

For example, in The People’s Declaration, we understand that some can be done in six months, some may take two years, others ten years, and so on. Not everything can be done overnight. There is no quick fix or fast-track when it comes to social re-engineering.

So Moorthy needs to publicise his MoU with Najib and list out which of the promises were supposed to have been delivered in six months, which he says were not delivered. Surely not everything had a six-month timeframe.

Lim Teck Ghee, too, generalises things and does not go into details regarding the MoU. What are the details and which Articles of this MoU have been violated or breached? Give us a list of these broken promises.

The government says that Moorthy’s bone of contention is that he wants the money (and we are talking about hundreds of millions here) to be put under his control and he will decide what happens to that money. But that is not how it works. And if this is how Moorthy wants it done then he has very little understanding about how governments work.

To scream that promises have been broken is not good enough. Which promises? Lim Teck Ghee said, “Basically the message that they will get from the resignation is that the PM – for whatever reason – will not honour his commitment to providing a fair deal to minority communities.” This statement requires details.

“I think the public will see this as another of the broken promises of the PM and the BN,” said Lim Teck Ghee. Again, what were these promises as laid down in the MoU are we talking about?

Moorthy said, “For the last eight months I had tried patiently to work with the PM to roll out the programmes agreed to in the agreement, but we have not been able to move even on one item in the MoU.”

Again, Moorthy should give us the details or else we cannot see which promises have been broken. When I ‘broke’ with Anwar after 30 months I detailed the reasons why and was labelled unreasonable for expecting so much in just 30 months. Moorthy ‘broke’ with Najib after just eight months but he does not need to give details and still they say he did the right thing.

Strange, is it not?

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On Feb 9 following the news that P Waythamoorthy had resigned from his position in the government, I was asked via e-mail for comments on the resignation.

The excerpts below are from my response reproduced in toto:

Will Waythamorthy’s resignation have any impact/bearing on the BN?

Yes, besides the Indian community, other minority communities especially in East Malaysia have been monitoring the progress of the Hindraf agreement with the Prime Minister. Basically the message that they will get from the resignation is that the PM – for whatever reason – will not honour his commitment to providing a fair deal to minority communities.

Should Hindraf decide to engage in a public campaign to denounce the PM and the support institutions in the civil service and other federal agencies for their cynical disregard of the Indian electorate after making use of them during the recent elections, the damage to the PM personally and BN as a whole could be considerable and long lasting.

Is this a slap on Najib’s face?

Yes! But it is a slap also to Waythamoorthy, the Hindraf movement and to the other Indian-based parties such as the MIC in the BN. Although Umno is the major partner in the BN, there has been some optimism that it will moderate its “ketuanan Melayu” stance for a 1Malaysia one. Now it looks as if the 1Malaysia concept is well and truly buried especially when other recent developments are also taken into account.

What does it do for the public’s perception towards BN and their promise to help the Indian community?

I think the public will see this as another of the broken promises of the PM and the BN. We can expect even greater distrust, cynicism and alienation even among many members of the Malay community who are concerned for political ethical standards and morality, despite the racial angle that seems to be the dominant factor in this development.

Biggest loser and biggest winner with this resignation, and why

Biggest losers are PM, Waythamoorthy and other Indian supporters of the BN. There are no winners in this unless all political parties learn that racial discrimination and injustice have no place in our political system, and are fully committed to these principles in word as well as deed.

Indian response to the resignation

Following the exchange above, I have talked to Indian friends on Waythamoorthy’s resignation and the view that Waythamoorthy has been a big loser.

Their unanimous response differs from my initial view and it is one which is important to note.

Their view is that while Waythamoorthy may have suffered a severe setback to his credibility through his inability to deliver on Hindraf’s MoU with the BN, he has in fact redeemed his, and his organization’s, honour and good name, by biting the hard bullet of resignation.

What was clear in the response of ordinary Indians (some I spoke to had asked not to quote their names) which was surprising to me was their pride that someone in their community had stood firm against the BN juggernaut on the side of justice, fair play and integrity.

Contrary to public expectations of behind-the-door deals aimed at self-enrichment of a few Hindraf leaders and self-serving excuses aimed at confusing the constituency of poor Indians on the delay in the implementation of the MOU agreement, Waythamoorthy – and in fact the entire central committee leadership – decided that he should not delay his departure.

Now, Waythamoorthy’s official public statement on his resignation has finally appeared. In it he stated that “(f)or the last eight months I had tried patiently to work with the PM to roll out the programmes agreed to in the agreement, but we have not been able to move even on one item in the MoU. I make no excuses for our failure; I take full ownership for the failure and its consequences”.

Raising the bar on political standards

Although there are members of the public still angry at the role that Waythamoorthy and Hindraf played in the last elections in mobilizing Indian support for the BN who will not be appeased by this public apology, I believe that Waythamoorthy has raised the bar for those who believe that joining the BN bandwagon or throwing in their support for the incumbent government is the right strategy to bring reform and change to the country.

Apologists for the BN in public but damning the excesses and misgovernance of the ruling party in the safety of their cocktail or lunch crowd, these self-advancement seeking BN political allies have been one of the main reasons why the BN continues to ransack the country with impunity and ruins it with disastrous policies.

In the murky world of Malaysian politics, high principles, ethical standards and moral values all too often do not count, or count for little.

It is too easy to compromise one’s integrity and honour especially when the rewards for reaching agreement with a vastly superior political force are so rich and beguiling.

In refusing to give up on Hindraf’s objectives aimed at assisting poor Indians, and in accepting responsibility for the failure of any tangible programmes to be implemented, Waythamoorthy has shown the way forward for the political ‘realists’ and ‘optimists’ who think that change towards a racially fair and just Malaysia is possible under the present government.

Lim Teck Ghee is the director of the Centre for Policy Initiatives.