Will the opposition learn from Sarawak?

By MT Webmaster Last updated May 14, 2016

So you see, they scream about saving Malaysia. But they remain very quiet regarding the issues that are threatening to tear Malaysia apart if a race-religion civil war erupts. Pakatan Harapan is not trying to save Malaysia. They are trying to take power. And they are using Mahathir to take power. And Mahathir hopes that in this entire scheme of things taking power would include his son as Prime Minister.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The turning point for the opposition in Malaysia was 1999. That was the first time in Malaysian history the opposition united across racial and religious lines and the first time in Malaysian history the opposition formed a formal coalition. And 1999, too, was the first time in 30 years that the opposition really became a threat to the ruling Barisan Nasional.

The opposition coalition that was called Barisan Alternatif won 42 parliament seats and two states, Kelantan and Terengganu. It also managed to deny Barisan Nasional its two-thirds majority in the Kedah State Assembly during a by-election one year later when Saifuddin Nasution won the Lunas state seat.

Surprisingly, PAS won 27 seats (plus controlled two states) while DAP won just 10 seats and PKR 5 seats, a total of 42 seats. Combined, however, the opposition won 40% of the votes, which was not really too bad. They said the opposition could have done better had the Chinese and Indians also swung like the Malays did.

But then MCA won 29 seats, with 7 seats going to MIC and 6 to Gerakan — also a total of 42 seats just like Barisan Alternatif. So, assuming MCA, MIC and Gerakan got wiped out and all their seats went to Barisan Alternatif, the opposition would have won only 84 seats with Barisan Nasional still winning 109 seats.

In short, if the 2008 ‘Tsunami’ had happened earlier in 1999, the opposition would still not have taken over Putrajaya and at the most win maybe just six states (but then PAS would have had to increase its state seats in Kedah while PKR would need to win more seats in Selangor, Perak and Penang).

And that was 1999. It had the ideal situation. The opposition was united. They actually had a formal coalition. The hate-Mahathir factor was at its peak. The sympathy for Anwar factor was at its peak. People were disgusted with the ‘mata lebam’. People were taking to the streets by the hundreds of thousands. Mahathir’s and his cronies’ corruption were fully exposed for all and sundry to see and exposed by none other than his ex-number two and ex-Finance Minister, Anwar Ibrahim.

It was almost like France of 1789. There should have been nothing to stop Anwar’s march to Putrajaya. Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was about to face the same fate as Marcos of the Philippines and Suharto of Indonesia.

But it did not happen. And even if the Chinese and Indians had swung it would have still not happened. Whatever you might say about the reason why it did not happen the bottom line is it did not happen. That is the long and short of it all.

The situation was ideal for change. The ingredients were all there. Yet it appears like there was still one ingredient missing. So the cake did not rise. It fell flat. What was it that was missing?

In the following general election five years later in 2004 the opposition discovered that one missing ingredient. And that one missing ingredient was love.

The relationship between the opposition and the voters was not based on love. The voters did not love Barisan Alternatif. The relationship between the opposition and the voters was based on hate. The voters were being told that if you hate Mahathir or you hate Umno then vote opposition.

So, in 2003, when the hate factor, Mahathir, was removed, the voters all flocked back to Barisan Nasional and the opposition saw its worst ever defeat in history.

Now, this is not the first time we are talking about this. We have, in fact, discussed this many times before. But then the opposition still does not listen. They still keep making the same mistake even after telling them about it so many times.

Over the last 18 months since December 2014 the opposition repeated the same mistake that it made over 15 months from 1998 to 1999. They played up the hate factor and hoped that this would be enough to topple the ruling party.

Just like 1999 was the peak and the best time for Barisan Nasional to get ousted, 7 May 2016 was also the peak and the best time for Barisan Nasional to get ousted, at least in Sarawak. But it did not happen in 1999 and it also did not happen in Sarawak yesterday in spite of everything that they did.

I know what we did in 1999 because I was one of those doing it. And let me assure you, what they threw at Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak over the last 18 months is far, far worse than what we threw at Mahathir back in 1998-1999.

I mean, it was like America dropping those two atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And after dropping those two bombs if Japan still does not surrender that would mean nothing is going to make them surrender.

Mahathir and his ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) in alliance with DAP and PKR have thrown everything they can think of at Najib. They really cannot think of what else to throw at him. And they are already out of ammunition but Najib is still standing. It is basically already game over.

The 1MBD and RM2.6 billion issues are already basi. They need to drop those issues and invent some new ones. However, the allegation that this whole ‘save Malaysia’ thing is really about making Mukhriz the next Prime Minister is not going to go basi. And that is because Mukhriz is bringing this issue to court so it is going to be kept alive all the way till the next general election in 2018.

People are going to say that Mukhriz was not in the Umno supreme council and yet he contested an Umno vice president’s post but he says this is not because he wants to become Prime Minister. In that case why contest?

People are going to say Mahathir wants Najib ousted as Prime Minister and yet he will not name who will take over once Najib is ousted. Who then does he want as the new Prime Minister and why does he refuse to say whom?

Yes, no one believes that the so-called ‘save Malaysia’ campaign is about saving Malaysia at all. If they really want to save Malaysia then they first need to undo everything that Mahathir did when he was Prime Minister for 22 years.

For example, in 2010, Lim Guan Eng signed into law the banning of the use of 40 ‘Islamic’ words, Allah included, by non-Muslims in Penang. Selangor, in fact, has that same law that was passed much earlier during the time of Mahathir.

If DAP and PKR really want to save Malaysia then they should first repeal those laws in Selangor and Penang so that Christians and Muslims can live together in peace and not fight over religion.

DAP and PKR team up with Mahathir to ‘save Malaysia’ and yet they remain silent on this. So how to save Malaysia if Christians and Muslims are having a cold war that is threatening to become an active and open war?

Mahathir raised the status of the Shariah court to be at par with the common law court and this has created a mess ever since. Take the mess regarding conversions and child custody as one example. Why has Pakatan Harapan remained silent on this when they know it is a serious problem that needs solving (and a problem that Mahathir created)?

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK