Of shattered dreams and renewing hopes for a caring Malaysia for all

Umar Mukhtar

In the aftermath of PRU12 and PRU13, the opposition takeover of Putrajaya seemed imminent. It’s just a matter of time. But now we are looking at scenarios where BN will be the tenant of Putrajaya forever and ever.

What happened? It’s only been three short years and that U-turn seems a real likelihood now.

Two things happened. Anwar Ibrahim was sent to jail and Pakatan Rakyat broke up. Whether the latter could have been avoided had the former not happened can be debated till the cows come home. The BN architect of the two happenings seems to know that these two things would spell the death-knell of any challenge to BN dominance in Malaysian politics.

Let’s not give too much credit to Anwar’s prowess at mounting a challenge to the status quo. The break-up would have happened anyway even if Anwar had been around. He could have delayed it a bit, yes, but a break-up was inevitable. In fact, Anwar was the cause of it, believe or not, and that’s why he was the only one who could have delayed it.

Anwar gave birth to a house of cards plastered with band-aids. But it was enough to stand upright to inspire the electorate for a short time until a real maestro strengthens the foundation and fixes the plumbing. Anwar had no patience and resolve for that kind of tedious tasks but had relied on his charms, sweet double-talk, lies (tipu sunat), unbelievable promises and the occasional hugs to steer the tempest away from the alternative vehicle of his dreams.

If PRU13 had resulted in PR capturing Putrajaya, maybe Anwar could have resolved the outstanding fundamental differences between the partnering parties, for Anwar works best when he is in control of the levers of power. Alas, that was not to be, perhaps by divine intervention, and just before he commenced a tacking manoeuvre of a loser, he got sent to jail.

Without someone to hug them and to promise them a rosy scenario when that someone comes to power, the implosion started, ostensibly over an Anwar political move that led to old wounds being re-ruptured. One wonders how such a drastic consequence could have happened so easily when Putrajaya was already within reach. The answer was simply that the band-aids needed constant pampering and the master procrastinator was gone. PR was just a facade of cooperation.

So now it’s back to the old days of split votes and battling two opponents instead of one. And there will be a time when parties will contest not to win but to be a spoiler out of vengefulness, to the glee of the real enemy. It is this U-turn by default that guarantees BN invulnerability. For how long more will the opposition cut their noses to spite their faces?

One opposition leader dreams of the opposition’s single-bloc days while another dismissed the notion that multi-cornered fights are the cause of their defeats. What a confused lot. Both missed the mark by a bit with the latter being still in school and did not experience the silly days of every man for himself and having no answer to the Alliance and BN multi-partnered team.

The mark is as clear as daylight for those who are up to doing service for the people. Is it so difficult to be a sincere, capable and credible alternative for the voters? There will be a real alignment that will give BN a run for their money. As it is now, kiasu opposition leaders with egos sky-high dominate the scene and scandals and fights for money-making public offices fill the air.

The people sense the insincerity and have been disappointed by the traits similar to the BN style that they are supposed to be tired of. On top of that the voters are not too sure of the opposition’s ability to rule, judging by its apparent inability to resolve silly petty quarrels. Fighting racial and religious politics with the same shit shows the opposition’s lack of imagination and prolongs the cancer that the people want removed. Do not underestimate them.

So what now? I dream that when these old cocks are all gone, there will emerge strong leaders who work hard at educating each party at stooping to conquer, who deal with apparent and conflicting interests head-on, who delve into issues close to the people’s heart, who fixed seat allocation as soon as possible where partners lose some and win some, whose admirable loyal opposition stance set standards, yet with the single-mindedness to defeat a common enemy without distraction.

It’s a tough call, I know, but otherwise BN will continue to be in power and we are to be blamed for that and nobody else. The Seenivasagam brothers of Ipoh were the closest we ever came to a loyal opposition multi-racial leadership and they were sincere and worked hard like mad at making Ipoh an exemplary town. After them, it was racial politics all the way, thanks to DAP. My father who was a PAS member voted for D.R. and S.P. Seenivasagam with pride. It did not make him less of a Malay Muslim.

Right now, the opposition does not offer much of a choice, forcing the people to vote for the devil they know and they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Please change your ways.