22/01: Trojan Horses in the opposition ranks

Nothing would be more fantastic than PAS, an Islamic party, offering the HINDRAF 5, Hindu activists, seats to contest under its party banner. The HINDRAF 5 need not convert to Islam or become PAS members to contest a seat under the PAS party banner.

CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Civil Society Ready for Regime Change

By Baradan Kuppusamy

29 Dec 07 (IPS) - As the year draws to a close no solution is visible for Malaysia’s worsening ethnic and religious divide, either from the political establishment led by an indecisive Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi nor a judiciary tainted by charges of corruption.

“People are disappointed, disgusted and alienated by the lack of direction and vision and the missing political will to make the tough decisions the country badly needs,” said Steven Gan, political commentator and editor of Malaysiakini.com, an independent on-line news magazine. “We enter 2008 on a very discordant and very uncertain note,” he told IPS.


The year saw two major demonstrations that shook the country, revealing that behind the superhighways and gleaming tall buildings that dot the urban areas lurks biting poverty, insecurity and deep alienation. One protest by urban Malays, on November 10, demanded fraud-free elections and a rewriting of policies that presently favour the ruling elite. The second protest, on November 25, by ethnic Indians, a minority that forms eight percent of the population of 26 million, decried what is perceived as official marginalisation and exclusion from socio-economic development.

Instead of sympathy and a willingness to listen, harsh police action was unleashed on the protestors, including use of the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) that provides for indefinite detention without trial. Five ethnic Indian leaders are now being held without trial, accused of having links with terrorist organisations such as Sri Lanka’s separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), while over 100 others of all races have been charged with illegal assembly. Many were imprisoned for weeks without trial and only released on bail after public anger spiked against the administration’s misuse of judicial authority to incarcerate protestors.

Badawi has not offered any evidence to back charges of extremism or terrorism, though the action has been condemned by top opposition leaders. “The harsh police action is clearly intended to cow the public from protesting against government inefficiency and corruption and failure to solve the major problems the country faces,” said top opposition leader Lim Kit Siang. “The country is at a crossroads,” he told IPS. “There is rampant corruption, no accountability, and major promises by Mr Abdullah are not fulfilled. The talk is there but the political will to make the necessary changes is missing.”

Political Islam gained throughout the year at the expense of constitutionally-guaranteed secular rights and is set to make a bigger impact in 2008 as the Islamisation of Malaysia’s multi-ethnic society takes deeper root. In June, the country’s highest court ruled that a Muslim cannot opt out of Islam, closing the doors on a tiny group of Muslims who want to convert out of conviction, marriage, or migration. In December, the same court ruled that a Hindu woman cannot stop her estranged husband from converting their youngest son to Islam, adding another strain to the social fabric and heightening non-Muslims fears that majority Muslims were trampling on secular rights. The court held that since the husband has converted to Islam he is therefore governed by Islamic or Shariah law.

Conflicting family laws have become an emotional battleground among the country’s multi-ethnic communities that may worsen in 2008 as several highly-emotional cases come up for hearing. It is not just Hindus and moderate Muslims who are upset over 'creeping Islam' but also the long silent Christian community of 2.5 million adherents, mostly ethnic Indians and Chinese. Christians have been ordered not to use the Arabic word 'Allah' in their publications. One weekly magazine of the Catholic Church has been banned for that reason and many publications with the word were seized by the internal security ministry, headed by Badawi himself. In a rare protest, the church has filed a suit against the government to keep their right to call god 'Allah' and to stop the government from seizing Christian text with the word.

More repression lies ahead in 2008, going by a new government policy to disallow any form of public protest and reverse Badawi’s 'sunshine' policies on dissent while taking power in November 2003. The government-controlled mainstream media is now being unashamedly used to prop up Badawi and the repression he has unleashed against pro-democracy activists and civil society movements.

“We expect the government to resort to more repression in 2008 because it is facing serious setbacks and would suffer badly in the upcoming a general election,” said Yap Swee Seng, executive director of SUARAM, a prominent rights NGO. “The public mood is to vote for the opposition, especially after the harsh police action against peaceful demonstrations,” he told IPS.

The general election in 2008 is expected to be rough with a shaken administration facing angry voters, unhappy with the lack of direction and political will to solve not just contentious issues but also ordinary problems like rampant crime, corruption and mismanagement of public resources. Opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim has publicly urged Badawi to investigate the root causes of the country’s malaise, from disrespect for human rights to a slowing economy and rising ethnic tension. “Don’t treat the bark when the roots need remedy,” he told supporters at a recent opposition rally. “Show the leadership and vision, walk the talk.”

That’s exactly what Badawi has been struggling to get right for the best part of 2007, but with mixed results. On the political front, he has not succeeded in closing the widening gap between the races. On the economic side, foreign direct investment (FDI) has slowed dramatically and his 'regional growth corridors' for the north, east, and south of the country -- sold as the final solution to the economic malaise -- have not taken off in the way it was intended. Badawi said last month he needs another five-year term to carry out all his plans to success, but increasingly voters are not buying it.

“I know voting for the opposition is not going to solve the country’s malaise but it will tell Mr Abdullah that we are unhappy with his administration,” said Vincent Wong, a retired engineer at an opposition forum last week. “We want to send him a message -- 2008 is when we do it,” he said as the crowd of 800 people applauded.

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A pretty accurate analysis of the mood on the ground by my good friend, Baradan Kuppusamy, whom I have known for some years now. But it takes more than just a ruling party on self-destruct mode to decide the outcome of the general election. It also needs a united, well-coordinated, and level-headed opposition. But the opposition has not quite got its act together yet. So a floundering ruling party does not help if the opposition is even worse. And this is where the problem lies. The opposition is no better than the ruling party.

Are the voters, therefore, being offered any choices? Granted, there is much that is to be desired from the ruling party. But after 50 years of an Umno-led government, about 15 or 16 years of that under the Alliance Party (Parti Perikatan) and the rest under Barisan Nasional, there does not appear to be any good alternatives on offer. This is the problem facing the voters. What are the alternatives?

We were blessed with good news last week when it was announced that the opposition had already come to an agreement on the seat allocations for Penang Island. We were told that PAS, DAP and PKR had agreed on how to carve up the state. And in the event that the opposition does win enough seats in Penang to form a state government, then DAP would be given the post of Chief Minister.

Okay, that is only one state, and a 'Chinese' state at that. But what about the other states such as Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Perak, Selangor and Sabah where the opposition also has a good chance of either winning outright or at least of denying the ruling party its two-thirds majority in the State Assembly? Has an agreement been reached for these states as well?

Before this question could be answered, DAP surfaced to officially declare that the party does not have any electoral pact with PAS. Why the need to deny that an agreement has been reached for Penang? Okay, maybe Gerakan had 'revealed' that a secret pact between PAS and DAP exists. But the voters were elated. They were happy that an electoral pact, secret or otherwise, had been made. The voters expressed no problems with the announcement that DAP has 'gone to bed' with PAS. But DAP appears to see this as a problem and has publicly denied it.

DAP's reason for 'keeping its distance' from PAS is because PAS represents the face of Islam. DAP's rejection of PAS, therefore, is to maintain the spirit of rejecting Islam. How does DAP think the Malay voters would take this? Islam is dear to the hearts of the Malays. A rejection of Islam means DAP is taking the religion of the Malays as the enemy. Does DAP now expect the Malays to vote for it?

PAS has demonstrated a very tolerant face of Islam. In its 18 years rule in the state of Kelantan, PAS has been very accommodating to the other religions. Pigs, which during the rule of Umno could not be slaughtered in Kelantan, now can. Invariably, pork is easily available anywhere in the state. Kelantan has the biggest Buddhist statue in Malaysia while the Umno-ruled State of Sabah has issued a fatwah (religious decree) declaring Buddhist statues as haram (forbidden) and has banned the erection of Buddhist statues. The Umno-led government has banned the use of the word 'Allah' in Malay language Bibles. In fact, they are even trying to ban Malay language Bibles altogether. When PAS first came to power in 1990, the Menteri Besar called the Hindus for a meeting and offered them approval to build a Hindu temple in the state -- while Umno-ruled states like Selangor demolishes Hindu temples, which triggered the HINDRAF protests.

If DAP opposes PAS because PAS represents Islam and PAS' brand of Islam has been unjust, unreasonable, discriminatory, etc., towards the non-Muslims, then it would be quite understandable to reject PAS merely because it happens to be an Islamic party. But to reject PAS just for the sake of opposing Islam would certainly rub the Malay voters the wrong way. Is PAS being made to pay for the sins of Umno? If Umno is the culprit why should PAS be made the whipping boy? This is what is most perplexing about DAP's paranoia against Islam which PAS is being made to pay for.

There are hardly any Chinese majority constituencies. There are hardly any Indian majority constituencies. But there are many Malay majority constituencies where the Malay voters exceed 90% of the voting population. Almost all the Chinese and Indian candidates win with the help of the Malay voters. So the Malay vote is very important. You can form a government, although with a mere simple majority, just on Malay votes alone. But you can't form a government, or even win a seat, with just Chinese and Indian votes alone. And Ali Rustam, the Chief Minister of Melaka, said it very bluntly during the PPP state convention that Umno has ruled this country for 50 years and can rule for another 50 without Chinese or Indian support. In fact, added Ali, Umno does not even need Sabah and Sarawak as well.

So what is DAP's game plan? Is DAP committed to the opposition cause or is it but a mere Trojan Horse? It boggles the mind that we, those who are not in the front-line of politics, can see the need for racial unity while the DAP leaders have this impression that all it needs is Chinese support and the Malays can go to hell. DAP can't even form the government in a 'Chinese' state like Penang with just Chinese votes and without the support of the Malays. We 'simple' people can see this. You mean to say that the politically-savvy DAP leaders who have been playing politics since when we were still mere school-kids can't?

The opposition has been plagued with Trojan Horses since the opposition parties were first formed. Not only DAP but all the opposition parties suffer from this. PAS has split many times because of this and PAS splinter parties have cropped up from time to time. Hamim, Berjasa, etc., were created to bring down PAS just like how Semangat 46 was launched as a nemesis of Umno. Some PAS leaders even left the party to join Umno to prove, in the end, that they were planted in the party by Umno to work as the enemy within. DAP too has seen people like Lee Lam Thye and others eventually leave the party to go back to work for their real boss, Barisan Nasional.

The question is, have all the Trojan Horses in PAS and DAP already left the opposition or are there many still around? Looking at the way the opposition is conducting itself, it appears like there are still many enemies within whose task is to ensure that the opposition stays disunited because a united opposition would spell the doom of the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional.

PKR, of course, is not spared this same problem either. Take the case of Nallakarupan. He was almost allowed to contest the recent Ijok by-election. At the eleventh hour he was dropped in favour of Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim. No doubt, many thought that an Indian should have contested that seat and the fact that the Indian was sidelined in favour of a Malay attracted allegations of racial discrimination. But Nallakarupan is a known pimp who procures women for the rich and powerful, in particular rich and powerful politicians who walk in the corridors of power. And he is an Umno Trojan Horse. Dropping him was probably the best decision Anwar Ibrahim has ever made in four years.

Nallakarupan now has his own 'Indian' party that is backed by no less than Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. Rosmah would be best advised to limit contacts between Nallakarupan and her husband lest she wants to see some Bollywood bombshells land on her doorstep. It is no secret that Nallakarupan was almost sent to the gallows ten years ago if not for the fact that he has a fat bank account and was able to pay all and sundry a total of RM100 million to be allowed to walk free. But RM100 million is a fraction of the money he has stashed away in Singapore and staying alive to enjoy the balance of your money is a better proposition than being hanged by the neck until you die.

Barisan Nasional is in trouble. Umno is being torn apart by internal bickering. MCA too is, yet again, going to be split into two. The Team A and Team B factions that ripped MCA apart awhile back has now become Team A, Team B and Team C. And the Chua Soi Lek pornographic DVD controversy has not ended the political career of the one-time Minister of Health. Instead, it has just made him more determined to oust the MCA leadership and he has embarked on an aggressive nationwide campaign to take over the leadership of the party -- which will happen later this year and thereby place him in a strategic position to succeed the Presidency in 2012.

The MIC veterans of the pre-Samy Vellu days have got together and are accumulating 100,000 signatures to prove that the Indians no longer support the MIC leadership. MIC Youth has been ordered to embark on a nationwide road-show to regain Indian support. At the meeting with MIC members in Kulim on 6 January, 2,000 angry Indians booed the MIC Youth leader and pelted him with eggs. The police had to be brought in to restore order and prevent what was going to become a riot if left to its own devices.

The Indians have made it very clear they no longer support MIC. Abdullah Badawi agreed to meet the Indians to listen to their grievances but he wanted Samy Vellu in attendance. Samy Vellu is the problem. The problem can never be the solution. The Indians realise they do not have the sympathetic ear of the Prime Minister and the only way they are going to get justice would be to take matters into their own hands. MIC or the Prime Minister are not going to help them. They have to help themselves.

The Indians have finally woken up from their 50-year slumber. They know their future lies in their own hands. But DAP is still sleeping. Two of the five HINDRAF leaders under ISA detention are DAP grass-root leaders. DAP should have announced it is going to give the five HINDRAF leaders under ISA detention seats to contest the coming general election. If DAP can't find places for the five HINDRAF leaders, at least offer seats to the two who are DAP grass-root leaders. Surely out of the 800 or so seats up for grabs DAP can find places for at least two. Better still if they can find places for all five.

But the HINDRAF 5 under ISA detention are not being offered any seats. Okay, DAP might be stingy. But surely PKR, which does not have enough candidates of calibre anyway, can find five slots for the HINDRAF 5. Five out of 800 seats should not be that hard to find. And if PKR too is not prepared to offer the HINDRAF 5 any seats, what is to stop PAS from doing so? PAS may be an Islamic party. Maybe only Muslims can become members of the party. But there is nothing in the rule book that says PAS can't allow the HINDRAF 5 to contest the election under its banner.

Nothing would be more fantastic than PAS, an Islamic party, offering the HINDRAF 5, Hindu activists, seats to contest under its party banner. The HINDRAF 5 need not convert to Islam or become PAS members to contest a seat under the PAS party banner. And by allowing the Hindu activists to contest the general election under the banner of an Islamic party would prove that PAS does not just preach religious tolerance but actually practices it as well. That would, in one swoop, repair the damage to PAS' reputation and erase the allegation of PAS being a Taliban party. Why do the opposition leaders not see this? Or do they see this but the Trojan Horses within the opposition are bent on ensuring that Barisan Nasional remains in power forever?

The general election is just around the corner. But the seat negotiations are nowhere near settlement. While the 14-party ruling coalition is putting its election machinery together, the three-party opposition is still bickering over the spoils of war. And the war has not even started yet. In fact, the opposition is far from winning the war. But they are already quarrelling over a mere dream that may remain a dream long after we are all dead and buried in our graves. What the fuck is wrong with the opposition? Do we need to boycott the opposition and vote for the ruling party to teach the opposition a lesson?

The issue of candidates is another important factor. If you try to squeeze a round peg into a square hole, the voters will reject the opposition candidate and will vote Barisan Nasional. The opposition accuses the ruling party of propagating cronyism. But the opposition practices cronyism as well. The opposition leaders play favourites and will give their cronies the best seats. The non-cronies will be given the not so favourable seats. We will see winnable seats lost to Barisan Nasional merely because they placed the wrong candidate in that seat. Candidates should be allotted seats not because they are close to the party leadership but because they are able to win those seats. If not we will never see the opposition winning 60 Parliament and 200 State seats as what we hope will happen this time around.

This is the opposition's last chance. For 50 years we have seen the same party ruling this country. This has to change. This, in fact, can change. But if they miss the boat this time around, the opposition will not be able to try again in the next election in 2012 or 2013. They either make it this time around or else we will see what Ali Rustam said is going to happen -- we shall see Barisan Nasional in power for another 50 years.

No, I don't believe I am smarter than the opposition leaders. No, I don't believe the opposition leaders are that stupid. I believe the opposition leaders are smart enough to know what needs to be done. It is just that many within the ranks of the opposition leaders are Trojan Horses planted in the opposition by Barisan Nasional to ensure that the opposition remains divided and continues squabbling over petty issues so that a very weak Barisan Nasional can remain in power in spite of it being so weak. I just hope that these Trojan Horses do not include people like Lim Kit Siang, Anwar Ibrahim, Husam Musa and those many others who are the main decision-makers and who will determine whether the opposition continues as a weak opposition while an even weaker Barisan Nasional stays on as the government.