“Deep State” in the Malaysian civil service
But now there is no longer any hope and mere broken promises. Hence these Umno-Barisan Nasional “sympathisers” who gave the country to Pakatan Harapan in 2018 want to take back the country. That is all there is to it. No “Deep State”. Just “Deep Regret” — regret that they trusted Pakatan Harapan based on promises that Lim Kit Siang now tells us are impossible to deliver and that Mahathir tells us were made because they never thought they were going to win the general election.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
“Our supporters are upset. People who are doing this are intending to cause political damage to PH. They are inside institutions such as the police and have loyalties to the old government,” said PKR Member of Parliament and Deputy Rural Development Minister R. Sivarasa.
Sivarasa was referring to the arrest of 12 people suspected of having links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which he said was part of a “deep state” plan to damage the Pakatan Harapan government’s reputation.
The mainly Malay civil service that voted Pakatan Harapan in May 2018 now know that the government is hopeless
Basically, what Sivarasa is saying is there is a conspiracy to damage Pakatan Harapan.
I remember in 1999 when I visited Terengganu just before the November general election or GE10. The government officers jokingly told me to not waste my time campaigning because most of the civil servants were going to vote for Barisan Alternatif — meaning PAS and PKR.
Barisan Alternatif won the November 1999 general election in Terengganu (and Kelantan).
Then, in 2004, the Umno people in Terengganu told me that the civil servants were fed up with the PAS-led Terengganu State Government. And their main grouses were regarding the economy. Money was tight and the people were suffering so they were going to give the state back to Umno.
In the March 2004 general election, Umno won back the state in the worst-ever election for the opposition — Barisan Nasional won 91% of the seats in Parliament.
The reason the Terengganu voters gave up on PAS in 2004 was because in 2000 Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad stopped the oil royalty payments to the state (at that time about RM600-800 million a year) so the state was in dire straits. The Terengganu people were told if they want the oil royalty then they have to give the state back to Umno.
In 2004 the Terengganu voters gave the state back to Umno but the oil royalty was still not reinstated.
When Mahathir cancelled Terengganu’s oil royalty in 2000 the state went broke and in 2004 the voters gave the state back to Umno-Barisan Nasional
Anyway, the point is, in 1999 the civil service decided to allow PAS to prove itself and in 2004 the civil service gave up on PAS and gave the state back to Umno. And it was all because of money. Is this what PKR’s Sivarasa means by “Deep State”?
In GE14 last year, even the military/police voted for Pakatan Harapan — and what used to be “safe seats” for Umno candidates went to the opposition (who are now the government, of course). Hence there were no longer any “safe seats” because the civil service (which includes the military and police) voted against Umno and Barisan Nasional.
So, no, this is not about “Deep State”. There is no conspiracy here, as what PKR’s Sivarasa is trying to suggest. The civil service has a mind of its own and it can make or break governments. And considering that Malaysia’s civil service is 1.6 million-strong it has a lot of sway at the ballot box.
Malaysia’s mainly Malay 1.6 million-strong civil service is a huge voter bank
Just for your information, there is one civil servant for every 19.37 people in Malaysia, as opposed to 1 to 71.4 in Singapore 1 to 110 in Indonesia, 1 to 50 in South Korea, 1 to 108 in China, 1 to 28 in Japan, 1 to 84 in Russia, and 1 to 118 in Britain. Hence Malaysia’s 1.6 million-strong civil service is very large indeed and quite a huge “voter bank”.
But then, in 2018, the 1.6 million-strong civil service (the military and police included) decided to vote for Pakatan Harapan for a number of reasons. One reason is called Mahathir Mohamad. Another reason is called 1MDB. Yet another is “no GST”. Then there was “minyak turun RM1.50 satu litre”. The promise of “cost of living turun” was one more reason. Waive repayments or moratorium on PTPTN loans was another. And so on.
In short, it was all about money. The people were assured they would have more money in their pockets once Barisan Nasional is kicked out and Pakatan Harapan takes over. They also had the impression that once Pakatan Harapan takes over they can recover RM50 billion that was stolen from 1MDB to repay the country’s RM700 billion debts and after that Malaysians can all live happily ever after.
(Somehow no one questioned how RM50 billion “stolen money recovered” from 1MDB can “wipe out” RM700 billion of the country’s debts).
But that was 18 months ago. And since May last year nothing that was promised has been delivered (short of abolishing GST and replacing it with a worse SST). So the 1.6 million civil service no longer wants Pakatan Harapan as their government.
DAP has caused a lot of self-inflicted wounds with its anti-Malay and anti-Islam stance
This is not about “Deep State”. This is about political reality. Pakatan Harapan has failed. Umno-Barisan Nasional may not be perfect but compared to Pakatan Harapan they are still better. That is the long and short of it all.
Another political reality is the Malaysian civil service is mainly Malay. And they are seeing how the Raja-Raja Melayu, Islam, the Syariah laws, the Malays, the Malaysian flag, Malaysia’s national anthem Negaraku, Jawi or Khat, Article 153 of the Constitution, the NEP, etc., are being attacked and insulted. And this includes issues such as beer festivals, LGBT, Chin Peng, the use of Allah in Bahasa Malaysia Bibles, and more — all sensitive issues to Malays-Muslims.
Sivarasa says there are many Umno-Barisan Nasional “sympathisers” still in the government and they are trying to sabotage Pakatan Harapan. Actually, it was these same “sympathisers” who gave the country to Pakatan Harapan based on all sorts of hopes and promises.
But now there is no longer any hope and mere broken promises. Hence these Umno-Barisan Nasional “sympathisers” who gave the country to Pakatan Harapan in 2018 want to take back the country. That is all there is to it. No “Deep State”. Just “Deep Regret” — regret that they trusted Pakatan Harapan based on promises that Lim Kit Siang now tells us are impossible to deliver and that Mahathir tells us were made because they never thought they were going to win the general election.
