Now the battle shifts to east Malaysia

By admin-s Last updated Nov 19, 2024

In 2025 and 2026, the most important battle that will engross the minds of Malaysians, is the battle for the fate of the federation that Anwar and PH will be engaged with the parties of Sabah and Sarawak.

Nehru Sathiamoorthy

Gerakan has recently urged Perikatan Nasional to make a declaration that addresses the concerns of non-Malay communities, and allay the fear that the non-Muslims have of PAS, which is the largest component party within PN and the party that holds the most seats in Parliament.

“So, let’s make a declaration that Bersatu defends the rights of the Malays and PAS the Muslims, but both will not interfere with the rights of other races,” he said during his speech at Gerakan’s 52nd convention at Menara PGRM here.

“The non-Muslim community said that previously PAS talked about establishing a welfare state. Now, it speaks of creating an Islamic state.

“In the past, PAS didn’t prohibit (non-Muslims) from drinking alcohol, gambling or wearing shorts.

“But now PAS says gambling, drinking alcohol and wearing shorts are forbidden. The (non-Muslims) fear being subjected to hudud laws.

“This is why non-Malays and non-Muslims are fearful of PAS,” Dominic further explained.

The way I see it, there are a few reasons why Dominic has said what he has said.

The first reason is that Dominic must be sensing that the Malays, who form the bulk of PN’s support, might be losing faith in PN and are inclining themselves to support PH instead. Seeing that the PN is losing support of the Malays, maybe Dominic believes that PAS and the Bersatu, might be inclined to attract the support of the non-Malays, to boost their flagging fortunes.

The second reason is that maybe Dominic just doesn’t understand why PN speaks of such things as creating Islamic state and banning alcohol in the first place. A coalition that is composed of a religiously inclined party like PAS and a Malay nationalist party like Bersatu, cannot compete with PH parties like PKR or DAP on the basis of pluralism or multiculturalism any more than a crocodile can chase after the gazelle on dry land. Just as how the dry land is the terrain of the gazelle, multiculturalism and pluralism are PH’s terrain. If PN wants to win against PH, it must drag PH into the water, not chase after the PH on dry land.

Even if PN is failing to drag PH into the water, and drown it by getting it embroiled in a racial contest between the Malays and the non-Malays, it will be foolish of it to come out of the water and chase after PH on dry land, by attempting to go toe-to-toe with PH on a multiracial and pluralistic basis.

If PN does do as Dominic says and attempts to become more multiracial and pluralistic in order to court the non-Malay, it might be good for Dominic’s party Gerakan, which is a junior party in PN, for it will raise Gerakan’s stature from being an extra to the supporting actor within PN, but what is the point of raising Gerakan’s stature, if all it will end up doing is cause PN’s to go from being a flop to a box office disaster.

If PN is to become more multicultural and pluralistic, the party that will have to do the heavy lifting for PN’s transformation from a malay-muslim-centric coalition to a more multiracial coalition is Gerakan, but Gerakan is the scrawny little kid at the gym, who cannot even do 10 push ups, what more compete with the big boys at the squat rack.

The Chinese are not even giving face to MCA, their signature party since Independence, so what more can Gerakan expect?

PN banking on Gerakan to engineer a multiracial rebranding that will turn around its fortune is akin to a gambler betting 10,000 ringgit at the roulette table after losing 10,000 ringgit at the slot machine. The gambler might believe that changing his playing position from the slot machine to roulette table will enable him to recoup his losses and maybe even allow him to return home a winner, but all it is likely going to end up doing is get him in trouble with his Ah Long.

Dominic however, is not the only person who still believes that PN still stands a chance to topple PH and rule the country in the foreseeable future.

Other than him, P. Ramasamy, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Penang, was also inexplicably optimistic that all it will take for PN to reverse its declining fortune is to make some overtures to the non-Malays, and the non-Malays will leave PH by the drove.

“Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim remains entrapped in the ethnic and religious hegemony of the Malays.

“It is not that he is captive of the political circumstances but rather obsession with power and the vaulting ambition to stay in power has found a convenient route in race and religion,” Ramasamy opines, to indicate that the non-Malays are extremely displeased with Anwar and the PH.

“In this respect, the PN while standing for the ethnic and religious rights of the Malays are in better standing to woo the support of the non-Malays.

“It is not that the non-Malays might not vote for them but then the political overture must come from them.

I think the Indians are slowly warming up to the PN leadership although the Chinese are still reluctant,” he added.

Well, at least Ramasamy’s assessment had some semblance of realism in it, when he admitted that the Chinese are still reluctant to embrace PN.

I would rather term it as “the Chinese are allergic to embrace PN,” but at least Ramasamy was willing to concede the fact that PN will likely have trouble in attracting the Chinese, even if it does do as Gerakan urges it to do, and make a declaration that addresses the concerns of non-Malay communities

As for Ramasamy’s view that the Indians are slowly warming up to PN’s leadership, I reckon it is mostly wishful thinking on his part than it is an accurate assessment of the situation on the ground.

It was indeed true that for a while not too long ago, the we Indians were probably a little miffed with Anwar and PH over the way they were overlooking us, after all the support that we had given them, but today, I think that the Indian’s view of Anwar and PH can be best summarised in the words of Guilio Andreotti, the former Prime Minister of Italy: “When we look at Anwar and PH, we see their shortcomings, but when we look around, we also see that they are not exactly walking amongst giants either.”

PMX Anwar and PH, we feel, might be fumbling through their reign every now and then, by doing things like using the the k-word or berating a young Indian girl over a rather pedantic matter or even firing someone like Ramasamy from the job, but like Captain Jack Sparrow and the crew of the Black Pearl, when push comes to shove, we also feel that we have no one better to count on to keep us from drowning in this ocean of nothingness that we call life and help us reach port in more or less one piece, other than Anwar and PH.

In any case, I believe that the Battle for Putrajaya between PH and PN that was ongoing for the last two years is over, with PH clearly coming out as the victor.

Khairy Jamaluddin might think that the impending two year’s anniversary celebration that the unity government has prepared in KLCC is an extravagant waste of fund, but I reckon that from the public’s perspective, PH has probably earned the the right to throw itself a party, on account of the fact that it has indeed won the battle of Putrajaya with PN, and as the winner, it has the right to a triumph.

Even PN likely realises that all is lost against PH, and the only thing that PN can do for now is sue for peace or retreat to regroup.

That Pas President Hadi Awang was resurrecting an old story about how he met the Prophet in his dream is an indication of how dire the situation is with PN. When you have to invoke the supernatural in order to boost your chances, you are scraping the bottom of the barrel.

As for PN chairman and Bersatu President Muhyiddin Yassin, I can’t even recall a single occasion when I heard him coming up with an offensive position against PH or Anwar. Muhyiddin has no fight in him – he had no fight in him even when PN was in a position of advantage, so what can be expected of him now that PN is in the doldrums. When it has such a weak and lethargic captain leading the charge, is it any wonder that his PN’s second in command, Hadi Awang, is resorting to miracles to have any chance of making a turn around?

Around this time last year, talk was heavy about how Anwar was going to lose his reign through a political manoeuvre that was widely dubbed the Dubai Move. One year is an eternity in politics indeed, for one year after, Anwar has gone from almost being outmanoeuvred by the Dubai Move to winning the battle for Putrajaya against PN.

Since Mahathir resigned in 2002, a string of weak leaders in Putrajaya has emboldened the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak to formulate a separate destiny and carve a separate identity, which is threatening to break up the Federation.

Now that Anwar has proven himself to be a strong leader, it will be incumbent upon him to launch a digvijaya to the east, to temper Sabah and Sarawak’s separatists desire and unify the federation.

When Anwar fights for the fate of the federation in the east in the coming years, Malaysians in Semananjung – be they of Chinese, Malay or Indian descent – and regardless of political persuasions – are almost certainly going to rally behind him to support his efforts.

In this battle, PN, which has no part to play in the politics of East Malaysia, will likely be left even further behind by Anwar and PH, as Anwar and PH establish themselves as the only government that can be expected to rule and unify the federation.