Sayonara to the Sad State of Malaysia's Politics?

Anwar Ibrahim has finally been sworn in as the 10^th Prime Minister of the country. Can we say sayonara to corruption, rent-seeking, racial divide, and religious radicalism?

The results of GE15 reveal the true extent of racial polarization in the country. Anwar’s own party could only garner 31 seats; his politically very promising daughter Nurul Izzah even lost the family turf of Permatang Pauh to a hardly heard-of PAS preacher.

Of course, the greatest loser is UMNO, which under Zahid Hamidi, could only claim 26 seats. The biggest winner of all is PAS, which has helped Perikatan Nasional (PN) swept the northern and eastern states of the Peninsula. With 49 seats, PAS will be the biggest party in the Malaysian Parliament. However, its supposedly senior partner, Bersatu, could only secure 24 seats. Regardless, the results are very alarming to non-Malays.

The Palace has tasked Anwar to stitch a unity government. At the point of writing, how this will take shape is still largely anybody’s guess.

There is one more hurdle for Anwar to hold on to the trophy. He must be able to survive a motion of confidence in Dewan Rakyat. But I believe this is not difficult, given the fact that lesser parties tend to scramble to align with the anointed one.

Although PN has declared that they would like to remain as Opposition, Sarawak’s GPS-PBB and Sabah’s GPS and Warisan support have expressed their preparedness to throw in their support to Anwar. Some are saying that PN may be able to spring a surprise, but I think they are unlikely able to succeed.

But we must accept this uncomfortable fact: The next government of Malaysia is going to be very unwieldy – a coalition of coalitions-plus, several leaders amongst them are hitherto either-you-die-or-I-die enemies (especially those from the UMNO ranks in BN towards DAP. MCA and MIC’s voices are quite inconsequential, despite their hostility with DAP.)

Absurd as it may be, save for the PN supporter, Malaysians are sighing a big relief with the installation of Anwar. The twists and turns before this happened were so mind-boggling and disheartening!

Two extremely uncomfortable facts that I would like to discuss here: the new strength of PAS, which won 49 seats out of 70 contested and DAP, which now commands 40.

The easy one first: the status of DAP.

The main reason for Bersatu and PAS to pull out of the Harapan government formed after GE14 was their intolerance for DAP. Riding on the tide, Lim Guan Eng lost his humility and common sense. In his overzealous effort to clean up the previous government’s acts, he frightened the Malays who have yet to wean themselves from the affirmative action handouts. And his loose tongue also caused hurt to the proud Sarawakians. He was so thoughtless to the extent that even Chinese were upset with his Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TARUC) fund allocation decision. But Chinese only have two choices: DAP and MCA. Under Wee Kah Siong, MCA has managed to repair its image a little, but its affiliation to a corruption tainted UMNO is fatal to constituencies which are non-Malay majority. Until today, it is still unable to get rid of this unwanted baggage.

DAP is therefore their Hobson’s choice.

Anthony Loke is a grassroots leader. From his pronouncements, he is not a concept man; however, he can relate well to the masses. And he understands egos, prides, and sensitivities. One of his first acts was to tone down euphoria. No celebrations! (He had a big do in Seremban after his GE14 win!) And the second, which is crucial – was to publicly apologise to the premier of Sarawak Abang Johari for Guan Eng’s uncalled-for remark about the state of Sarawak’s finances a couple of years ago.

DAP has learned a hard lesson. Despite its numbers, it cannot hope to play a commanding role in Anwar’s government. But the journey to make it acceptable to the Malay masses is going to be a long and arduous one.

Now, my second point on PN in general and PAS in particular:

PN without PAS is quite toothless. Personally, I harbour no adverse feelings towards Muhyiddin Yassin. He was a reasonably competent minister. He was prepared to be sacked after he disagreed with Najib, even though he was already the deputy president of UMNO. I was more uncomfortable with those frogs that had jumped from PKR and UMNO into Bersatu’s fold; fortunately, the more notable ones, including Azmin Ali, failed to make the grade this time. Azmin Ali, who was a prime driver in the Sheraton Move. But I am extremely concerned about the emergence of PAS as the most dominant force in the new parliament. PAS under Hadi Awang is no longer the PAS that Tok Guru Aziz used to head. It is openly quite intolerant of anything non-Islamic and non-Malay. As an ethnic Chinese, it is just natural for me to feel concerned. For the same reason, PAS is no-no to many Sarawakians and Sabahans.

Anwar in his earlier political career had also been deemed somewhat an extremist by people like me. He was a year or two my senior in the same university. We actually feared him, especially in the aftermath of the May 13 riots in 1969. Of course, people change. After so many trials and tribulations, including two stints in jail, he has gained a lot of wisdom and seems capable of statesmanship. He was supposed to take over from Dr Mahathir Mohammad after the latter had served two years after their GE14 victory. But the Malaysian Machiavelli would not let him have it. It was all down the hopeless ravine for Anwar after that – until Zahid, in the wake of some by-election successes, made the wrong call.

The Muslim young in the northern and eastern states have largely thrown their support to PAS in this General Elections. (Many would also remember Anwar was the man who zealously promoted religious education for the Muslim young during his earlier ministerial career. Much of PAS’s success this time can be attributed to Anwar’s earlier efforts.) Economically, the northern and eastern states are generally the laggards in the country. PN has successfully sold them the “No Anwar, No DAP” ticket. But in their takes, what have Anwar and DAP done that makes them hate these two so much?

I am reminded of something I read recently about Pope Francis. Apparently, he is said to have responded to someone who was trying to demonise China by posing some silly questions on China this way: What has China done to you to make you hate China so much? I am not sure if this is true, but it certainly sounds logical and can possibly come from this incredibly wise religious leader,

Faith versus Prejudices

When my children were young, their more-or-less-the-same-age cousins attended Sunday schools. I have been a born-again freethinker since I started work and even though my wife was more Christian inclined at the earlier part of our marriage life, we thought it was not wise for us to expose them to religions during their formative years. When I was growing up, my parents were firm believers of the Ru-Fuo-Dao practices. I cultivated many prejudices and even today, I still hold latent superstition in respect of some of the things I encounter. I know the fear or the prejudice is nonsensical, yet it still sticks with me many a time. (But there is also the positive part of this aspect of superstition: The fear of retribution, which makes one to refrain from doing things that are ethically or morally unacceptable.) My two children, who are already in their 40s, are totally areligious.

The point I want to make is: There is nothing unacceptable about most religions. They are moral and spiritual compasses that help to rein in bad desires. But humans are humans, we build prejudices and we act out on them – because we have difficulty accepting or tolerating beliefs or acts that are weird to us. It is usually the mine-is-superior-to-yours-or holier-than-thou kind. From many of his pronouncements, I feel Hadi Awang is one who holds many such prejudices against non-Malays and non-Muslims.

The Way Forward

To make inroads, less enlightened politicians sell on racial and religious prejudices. This is frightening in a country that needs all the races to work together to make the country prosper in the increasingly challenging world. Indonesia under Jokowi understands this and are steering the country in a very inclusive manner. He should be a good example for politicians in our country to follow. (Anwar can forget about Paul Wolfowitz!)

We may be sick of the image the previous government seemed to have given to the world, i.e., a country where corruption is rampant, but vulnerabilities in certain cultures are a fact. Pushing hard to eliminate corruption and rent-seeking-ness at this juncture will turn the country into another “majority fearing the minority” situation for race- or religious-based politicians to exploit. Anwar must bear with this cancer for some time.

If Lim Guan Eng’s time as Finance Minister is a lesson to be had, then affirmative actions, unwelcome as they may to many, have also to be tolerated. The focus of the new government should therefore be on the economy of the country and the livelihood of the men-in-the-street. The new government should also take a leaf from China’s campaigns to eliminate poverty and create a moderately prosperous society. Maybe someone should on a full-time basis be made to watch CCTV4 and prepare pointers and findings for the government to emulate.

I have come to know an unsung philosopher. His name is AB Sulaiman. Even though he has published three books, he is not quite known in the literary world. I happened to be introduced to him by a mutual friend. He has given me his books. He writes about the fallacy of religion-based truths. He advocates Science-based thinking and reasoning. But I suppose he is too ahead of his time in Malaysia and not many Muslims or fellow Malays will take kindly to his revelation about the Malay psyche. He is a rare gem. Unfortunately, there are not may AB Sulaimans in Malaysia.

A good, enlightened education policy that is capable of preparing our young for the 21st century is the only right answer to all this. Does Anwar have the wherewithal to embark on this journey? Or can he survive another Sheraton coup?