Time to call a spade a spade — PH is no different from BN

TK Chua, Free Malaysia Today

The moderates and ‘middle Malaysia’ won the 14th general election. But what has followed has been very different.

What really is the Pakatan Harapan government today? By any measure, it is no better than the Umno/Barisan Nasional government.

Other than bringing some former Umno/BN leaders to trial for corruption and abuse of power, I see nothing happening. In fact, in terms of policies, some could be worse.

For more than one and a half years, we have been waiting for more moderate and inclusive policies. But the longer we wait, the clearer we see our hopes and aspirations fade away.

At first, we kept telling ourselves to be patient. But the patience has since turned to disappointment, frustration and now annoyance.

For how long more should we want to blame the “deep state” for the predicament caused? I think the “deep state” is just an excuse, nothing more. We just fail to admit it — the policies of the PH government have shifted and changed, period.

The PH government is now just like the Umno/BN government. At least in the past, there were vociferous voices against Umno/BN. Now, we have almost none.

Before the 14th general election, I had always harboured the idea that a lot of the country’s problems, ranging from unsolved high-profile criminal cases, blatant discrimination, selective persecution and prosecution, seditious and hateful rhetoric, and corruption and idiotic public policies, would be resolved once the federal government changed hands.

But the more I look at the situation today, the more the problems seem to be the same. In fact, in some areas, they have become worse.

We have senior Cabinet ministers claiming that police did not act fairly towards certain minority groups. Is this the fault of the police or is this due to the change in core policies and intent of the government?

When the police fail to act against those who threaten others with chaos and harm, what do we do? We just blame the police but should we also blame the home minister and the government? Who really is the government of Malaysia — the police and IGP?

When we have a state employee earning his livelihood from the state coffers openly stating that “racial friction will persist as long as vernacular schools exist”, what do we do? Did the government ask this employee for empirical evidence that led him to form this conclusion?

Did the government also ask him to explain the existence of other single-race institutions in the country?

Seriously, if we are not happy with the situation in our country today, please don’t just blame the police, the state employees or the “deep state”.

Blame the government and the government is the prime minister, his Cabinet and the ruling MPs in Parliament. They could have traded our rights and interests.