DAP does not really want Putrajaya, unless it can remain predominantly Chinese
Umar Mukhtar
The opposition is really looking forward to PRU14. They hear all the unhappiness expressed by the Rakyat about the government in power and they notice that the government is not really responding to all the bitching like a government substantively should. So they expect the Rakyat to reject Barisan Nasional and, by deduction, the opposition will be the beneficiary.
Nothing is further from the truth. Winning by default is a loser’s dream. Just because you complain about your wife doesn’t mean you are going to divorce her. There’s the children to think about and, most importantly, will her replacement or your bachelorhood be better off for you? Similarly, the opposition must address such dislocationary fears among voters before dreaming of Putrajaya.
There is this fair assumption that the opposition wants to be in Putrajaya. Maybe they really don’t! Some of them like PKR and PAS may want to be the Federal government one day soon. But can you say that about DAP? Aren’t they just happy being a major pain in the ass for the majority Malays? Power-sharing necessarily means the dilution of what makes DAP attractive to its die-hard supporters. Keep them unenlightened by playing to the gallery, has been DAP’s play.
There’s not many more Chinese voters to win over, so why would DAP want to risk losing what it has. Just rule a state or two, and growls when the greedy ruling politicians scheme something self-serving. And meanwhile this domicile is as good as anywhere else to live, without having to be bothered by the ruling assholes’ idiosyncrasies. Just humour them, pay double-entry taxes, tolerate their call to prayers, stand to the national anthem and other minor inconveniences.
The Chinese kids go to Chinese schools that have minimal government interference, with friends of their own kind. After school they hang out at their own joints. They watch their own TV channels and taped serials. They eat at their own restaurants. Most live in their general areas. And they mostly don’t speak Malay well. Why bother when there’s no advantages nor penalties and still get jobs in Chinese organisations. That’s the dual economy that DAP wants to protect so badly.
This is a laiser faire country. As long as the people are contented enough not to be violent towards each other, the leaders can be busy building their own nests than to care about nation-building and the future of our next generations. Only talk. Let them solve it when the day of reckoning comes. How these leaders got to be elected is a reflection of the shallowness of our political thinking. As if we can really do without each other.
The Chinese community is pushed to be what they are today. Without their industriousness and resourcefulness, and with the cards stacked against them, they should really be second-class citizens living in abject poverty. But on the contrary, they live better than the so-called first-class citizens. That’s why DAP don’t feel it necessary to be bothered to take care of the rest of the population, at the risk of being seen as less Chinese. No dilution by association.
DAP’s appearance of cooperating with the non-Chinese opposition is just to add up to the disguise of being a Malaysian political conglomerate. Their partners don’t know any better. DAP still remember who sent non-Chinese speakers to head the Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina. Today he is a major partner. He can appear to change his spots for whatever self-serving reasons, but as long as DAP remains the beneficiary, it’s okay. Let’s humour him.
The point is, for how long does DAP want this charade to go on? Until DAP shows true earnestness to reconfigure itself in its composition, leadership and philosophy, and it’s acceptance of a democratic majority as the basis of national rule, DAP will forever be parochial, sectarian and opposition. That’s a tough call for Lim Kit Siang. Maybe that’s what DAP actually wants to be.
Coalition politics that it involves itself presently is as much a sham as the present Barisan Nasional. That suits the ruling BN just fine. For as long as there is a bogeyman around, the Malays can continue to be subdued by BN and spoilt for a free lunch just only on account of being born a Malay, And DAP is doing BN a favour by being that bogeyman, to everybody’s eventual detriment. Well done LKS!
