After the euphoria of GE12, what now Malaysians!

We are in troubling times. After the 12th general election (GE12) in 2008, Malaysians felt that at long last, the country managed to create a new alternative to the corrupt Umno Baru/BN coalition. That feeling of euphoria, however, has proven to be short-lived. And now it is back to square one.

The formation of the three political parties with very different and conflicting goals into a grouping that contested GE12 received tremendous support from the people. Things looked very bright for the future well-being of the country. At long last, they felt that the corrupt and the racists would be ousted.

It shook the very core of the Umno Baru/BN coalition. The Umno Baru/BN government tried to counter its fear of being pushed out of office by persecuting and prosecuting opposition leaders through the use of the Sedition Act.

But now, Umno Baru/BN has been taken by surprise at what happened in Selangor. The much touted and venerated Pakatan Rakyat was doing self-immolation. The culprit in this suicidal drama was PKR, a most indisciplined party in the grouping.

To all intents and purposes Pakatan is dead. A new beginning has to be initiated and what had happened should be used as guidelines to any future cooperation or understanding. PAS is most suspect in any future grouping. It has many conflicting factions and each is trying to exert its influence in any agenda the party undertakes.

PAS, therefore, should be left out until a dominant and more realistic group from among them comes into power or possibly if there happens to be a split, the progressive group should be the ones to be trusted.

Religion in politics should be avoided as this can bring about disunity and misunderstanding in any attempt to achieve progress. Religion and the state cannot go hand in hand especially in a multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi- cultural country like Malaysia.

There is now a need for the coming together of all progressive forces in the country to combat the current corrupt coalition and the self-centred and power crazy groups.

The pivot for the creation of this will have to be the DAP. It is the only stable and most experienced political party in the country. It managed to weather all challenges and threats posed by the Umno Baru/BN government.

It is corrupt free and has the ability to administer the Penang state government with efficiency and has created a progressive atmosphere.

The next general election will be very important for the future of the country. If Umno Baru/BN is not ousted from power, the country will have a very bleak future. Umno Baru has been practising racial and religious politics in order to maintain power. This has brought about the formation of groups like Perkasa and Isma and the tacit support of Umno Baru for these two disruptive groups will only encourage more of such elements to surface and create racial and religious chaos.

The result will be the further loss of good brains because sensible people will want peace and harmony. These elements will thwart such an environment.

Already, the country has lost a good number of talented people and the brain drain will continue to the detriment of the country. This happened because the government has not been practising the equal opportunity concept. The New Economic Policy has outlived its usefulness and yet is being retained in one form or another. This policy, which was supposed to help the Malays, had in actual fact caused them to lag behind. They have become overly dependent on government handouts. Umno Baru politics had caused the Malays to be mentally deficient.

This is a worrisome situation. Groups like Perkasa and Isma are out to exploit the situation. Their very presence and their nefarious acts are the dark forces that will wreck this country.

The political change must take place to avoid this catastrophe.

Pakatan as it is presently constituted cannot be relied on to bring about this change. Concerned citizens in the country will have to assert themselves and rally support for those forces wanting to ensure a bright future for the country and the coming generations. They need to support movements like Negara Ku and others of a similar nature.

The year 2018 is not very far away and positive steps have to be taken now.

The vanguard for this very crucial mass movement will have to be the DAP. PSM (Party Sosialist Malaysia) would probably be able to join in but the latter will have to shed its ideologue image.

Ahmad Mustapha Hassan is a former press secretary to second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and the writer of the book, “The Unmaking of Malaysia”.