CHANGE

The more I ponder the so-called changes that the Pakatan Harapan want for our nation, the more I come to a realisation that they do not really want to change the government.

Kong Len Wei

Just the other day while tweeting to Dato S. Ambiga about elections in our country, she said that if change is at all to be possible, everyone must vote for it. Her reply to me got me thinking. Change is what every sweet-talking opposition politician in the world is selling. What are the changes that Ambiga and her Pakatan Harapan allies seek?

Does she mean change the Prime Minister? The Prime Minister is the person that commands the majority in the Parliament to lead the government. The opposition does not have the requisite number of seats to do this and the latest Pakatan Harapan line up does not even account for Sabah & Sarawak where 25% of the parliamentary seat are located. How are they expected to change the government/Prime Minister?

The current Prime Minister is the President of UMNO because UMNO holds the most seats in our Parliament today. Do they instead intend to challenge UMNO and take UMNO’s seats in Parliament? DAP currently does not contest against UMNO in any constituency. The dominance of Pakatan Harapan are in urban DAP Chinese strongholds. These constituencies are not even UMNO constituencies. In fact, more than 70% of Chinese voters in Malaysia do not even vote in UMNO constituencies. In the Klang Valley, 9 out of 10 Chinese vote in non-UMNO constituencies. So what kind of challenge can DAP’s Chinese hegemony pose to UMNO?

Maybe she expects Tun Dr Mahathir to spearhead the Pakatan Harapan’s challenge into the Malay hinterland, I pondered. But Mahathir’s PPBM (Bersatu) challenges UMNO in only 51 of the most hardcore UMNO seats. What chance does Mahathir’s party, formed from mostly ex-UMNO members, have in those rural constituencies?

The opposition wants to rid the current government of kleptocracy and cronyism. However, their choice of anointing Tun Dr. Mahathir as their PM designate does not signal the change that they seek. After all, Mahathir led this country for 22 years and in his 5 terms as Prime Minister, the DAP labelled him as a dictator and a most corrupt Prime Minister. After all that, the DAP expects the voters to put him back in power on a whim.

Speaking of kleptocracy, can anyone guess which state has a Chief Minister that is charged with the exact same kleptocratic crime as Mohamad Khir Bin Toyo? Khir Toyo lost the election, was found guilty and went to jail for his crimes but the current Chief Minister is undoubtedly innocent.

The opposition wants to rid the country of dynastic politics. The son of Tun Abdul Razak cannot continue as the Prime Minister. But a quick glance at the Pakatan Harapan line up will show many parent-child combinations that signals the resurgence of dynastic politics if given power. Mahathir-Mukhriz, Kit Siang-Guan Eng, Karpal Singh’s children Jagdeep, Gobind and Ramkarpal, Wan Azizah-Nurul Izzah, these personalities are all in the Pakatan Harapan top leadership lineup.

The opposition preaches secularism and a progressive government. Yet, when they won handsomely in 2013, they did it together with PAS as their coalition partner. PAS’ only political objective is to form an Islamic country governed by Syariah Law. That has been their objective since their formation and they will work with anyone willing to compromise their principles to achieve those goals.  Even after PAS brought upon us the amendments for Act 355 Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) to expand the powers of the Syariah criminal courts, DAP and PKR still stuck together with PAS in Selangor. Despite all the objections, today PAS is still a part of the Pakatan Harapan government of Selangor, with 3 EXCOs in the state cabinet.

The Pakatan Harapan wants to put an end to racism. Yet their MPs like Nga Kor Ming and “Superman” Hew Kuan Yau constantly get into trouble with racial postings online and their ceramahs. On top of that, they are also quite disrespectful of the royal institution. Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy. How does the Pakatan Harapan hope to govern the country without the cooperation of the monarchs?

They vow to stop crony capitalism and big-ticket mega-projects yet they reclaim more land in Penang and approved the Penang tunnel and DASH highway in Selangor. They say under the present federal government cost of living has gone up through the roof but property prices are the highest in Penang and Selangor where they govern. Those are also the two states where salaries have not increased to match the cost of living.

Pakatan Harapan declares Anwar Ibrahim innocent of unnatural sex and are willing to seek a pardon for him when he is released from prison. But I haven’t heard any one of the opposition legislators willing to repeal the section of the penal code that finds Anwar guilty. Are they saying that in Malaysia, one must be of certain political status before being pardoned of unnatural sex? Why don’t they pledge to repeal the archaic law so that it cannot be misused against political opponents in future?

The more I ponder the so-called changes that the Pakatan Harapan want for our nation, the more I come to a realisation that they do not really want to change the government. The Pakatan Harapan just wants to put themselves in power of the current government. Nothing else would have changed, not even their incoming Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir.