May 13? What May 13?

Another issue that is utmost sensitive to Malaysians, in particular to the non-Malays, is talk of May 13. Rest assured this will be one subject that will also be exploited to the hilt. As it is, the Umno-owned newspapers are already classifying the results of the March 2008 general election as a repeat of the May 1969 general election.


Raja Petra Kamarudin

Keng Yaik criticises DAP's stand

Gerakan adviser Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said he could not understand why DAP supports a menteri besar from Pas for Perak when Pas' objectives for a theocratic Islamic state remains unchanged.

His comments came as the new Perak menteri besar, Pasir Panjang state assemblyman and Perak Pas liaison secretary Muhammad Nizar Jamaluddin was sworn in before the Regent of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah, at Istana Iskandariah in Kuala Kangsar yesterday.

He blamed the younger party leaders in DAP for going against the principles set by older party stalwarts.

"Karpal has said 'over my dead body' before when Pas propagated its Islamic state policy.

"Immediately after the naming of a Pas menteri besar for Perak, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang called for the boycott of the swearing-in ceremony by its party members.

"Why are they now supporting a Pas menteri besar?"

He added that it did not matter if it was the Perak royalty's choice, since the consensus was in the hands of the state assembly members.

"They could have pulled their weight and opposed it even though the palace picked Muhammad Nizar. Instead, they went ahead and supported it."

On another note, Dr Lim said he was surprised to hear comments by Pas vice-president Datuk Husam Musa that the opposition party was confident it could soon set up an Islamic federal government and that there was growing support among the Chinese and Indians for the party's political struggle.

"I find it hard to believe that the Chinese and Indians in Perak want this.

"I will fight against this policy till the very last, in keeping with our objective as a party which cuts across all racial lines." - NST

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NST Editorial: Accepting the people's verdict

IN conferring on the rulers the right to appoint as menteri besar a member of the state legislative assembly who is likely to command the confidence of the majority of that body, the state constitutions seem to make it quite clear that the rulers have to accept whichever single party, or coalition of parties, that commands a majority in the state legislature.

In normal circumstances, the sultan has no choice but to appoint the person who is in the best position to receive the support of the majority in the state assembly. However, circumstances have been far from normal this past week.

In the case of Perak, it stems from the inconclusive outcome of the March 8 polls, in which no single party emerged with an outright majority. In the case of a "hung assembly" like the one in Perak, there was an element of choice because it was not clear who could command a majority and there appeared to have been three people who could claim to do so. In the event, the Regent of Perak performed his constitutional duty as a disinterested arbiter with dignity and distinction.

While the developments in Perak have been an electoral and constitutional rarity, the situation in Terengganu and Perlis should have been clear-cut cases where there should not have been any doubts about what needs to be done.

As it happened, it was the challenge to the custom that the national party leader has the final word on the appointment of the menteri besar, not a defiance of the constitution, that appears to have created all that uncertainty in Perlis. It is fundamentally a problem for the party. In any case, this is a matter of convention, rather than law, which does not have to be accepted without question.

The same cannot be said of the formal constitutional rules that define the ceremonial and official duties of the rulers. The written constitutions set out the limits to the discretionary power of the rulers in appointing a menteri besar.

Whatever their personal preferences and assessments, and whether or not they regard that person as the best man for the office, they are bound by the constitution to choose the individual most likely to command the support of the state assembly. As constitutional monarchs, they should not be dragged into political disputes.

Certainly, they have every right to be consulted on the appointments. But the rulers cannot arbitrarily make and unmake governments. This right properly belongs to the rakyat.

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Pas should give up its avowed aim to turn the country into an Islamic state if it came to power, DAP national chairman Karpal Singh said yesterday.

Karpal said Pas should be realistic. "The Federal Constitution, clearly reflects that Malaysia is a secular state, not an Islamic state."

Karpal, who welcomed the clarification by Pas vice-president Husam Musa that his party would not be setting up an Islamic government at the federal level, added: "I call upon Pas to publicly state that Malaysia is a secular state."

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A couple of days after the initial shock of Barisan Nasional's 'defeat' in the 8 March 2008 general election had worn off, Umno held a post-mortem at its headquarters. The meeting was chaired by Umno's Secretary-General and the purpose of the solemn gathering was to find out what went wrong.

In a pre-election meeting in Sabah a few weeks earlier, Prime Minister and Umno President Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told the gathering of Umno chiefs that 'this election is going to be the first election in 50 years since Merdeka that the voters will vote based on candidates'. The voters will decide who to vote for based on the background of the candidates and not based on which party the candidates represent, argued Abdullah, so the candidates Barisan Nasional fields is going to be a very important element.

That has now been proven terribly wrong. If you consider some of the candidates that the opposition fielded, you can't help but wonder, out of 26 million Malaysians, or at least 15 million Malaysians of voting age, aren't there any other suitable candidates they could find? To be fair though, overall, many of the opposition candidates are more capable and more qualified that the Barisan Naisonal candidates. But there are a handful who leave much to be desired. Surprisingly, however, these 'lesser' candidates managed to beat the higher-profile Barisan Nasional candidates.

This election was not about the candidates at all. It was not even about the strength of the opposition parties. It was about 'anyone but Barisan Nasional', as Hishamuddin Rais put it. But who was the one who gave Abdullah this misinformation? Was this a deliberate attempt to mislead Abdullah? It appears like there are certain elements within Umno, or probably within the intelligence agencies, who wanted to lead Abdullah up the garden path. Abdullah's reading of the voters was totally off. Barisan Nasional made a tactical blunder and this blunder was because of the misinformation that was presented to it.

PAS, however, appears to be more savvy and in touch with the ground. It knew that Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor would fall and it transferred many of its key players to these four states. It also knew that Terenggnu was an uphill battle so PAS advised its candidates to forget about Terengganu and instead focus on Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor where they would be assured of winning. PAS also knew that it would gain more ground in Kelantan and that Kedah would be added to the states under PAS control. That was why it was ready to form the government even before Malaysians took to the polls, and which is why there was little delay in forming the new governments in these states. If anyone was caught off-guard it was DAP and PKR, and of course Barisan Nasional.

DAP's Lim Guan Eng did not have such optimism and he almost did not contest in Penang. He was very undecided and only after persistent coaxing from his many supporters in Penang did he eventually take the plunge -- but even then not really knowing whether he was committing political hara kiri by contesting in a state they were not sure whether they would be massacred or emerge the victor. His wishy-washy decision to contest in Penang paid off though and now he is the Chief Minister of that state. The same went for Karpal's Singh's son, Gobind Singh Deo, who almost contested in Johore -- whereby if he had he would not, today, be the Member of Parliament for Puchong, Selangor (or a Member of Parliament at all for that matter). Comparing PAS to DAP, PAS knew exactly which seats in which states to contest whereas DAP was wishy-washy and kept changing its mind many times, not really sure which was the best decision to take.

This is probably because of the different aspirations of PAS and DAP. PAS contests the elections with intent to form the government whereas DAP just wants to deny Barisan Nasional its two-thirds majority so that Malaysians can enjoy the benefit of a strong opposition. Yes, PAS wants to be the government whereas DAP just wants to be a strong opposition, but still an opposition nevertheless. This is the difference in 'culture' between PAS and DAP. And PKR, of course, just wants to ensure that Anwar Ibrahim becomes the next Prime Minister of Malaysia by any and all means possible.

It is very difficult to reconcile the three different 'cultures' of PAS, DAP and PKR. But, today, their paths have inevitably crossed and, whether they like it or not, their fortunes are intertwined and just as inseparable as Siamese triplets. They need one another to be able to have a big enough majority to form the government in most of the five states the opposition now controls so they need to continue being Siamese triplets or die.

But the problem is, PAS, DAP and PKR do not share the same brain. Because of this, each thinks differently. What a dilemma they face when their hearts beat as one while their heads tell them opposite things.

And this is what the government-controlled mainstream media is going to exploit to the hilt. Since PAS, DAP and PKR share the same heart but think differently, can they drive a wedge into the three and cause their hearts to separate as well? If this can be done, then the opposition coalition will collapse because once their hearts move away from one another the coalition will certainly die an untimely death. Reading the above news reports from the mainstream media tells the whole story. Keng Yaik is raising the spectre of Islam and is attempting to put DAP on the defensive. NST's editorial slams the Rulers in a hope that the hate campaign will escalate. In short, Islam is bad, the Chinese have sold out, the Malays are losing out to the Chinese, and the Rulers need to be put in their place.

It started with The Star reporting Husam Musa as having declared that Malaysia will be turned into an Islamic State once PAS gains control of the federal government. That is at least what the heading in the news report said although if you read on you will not find any mention of it in the news item. What The Star hoped would happen is that Malaysians would read the heading without actually reading the news report and based on this heading alone the non-Muslims will rise up in anger.

The government knows that some DAP leaders always react to mainstream newspaper reports in spite of most Malaysians no longer believing what the government-controlled media says. And, true to form, Karpal Singh did react and demanded that PAS make a public declaration that Malaysia is a Secular State and will remain so.

Instead of demanding that PAS make this public declaration, it would make more sense if Karpal takes a deep breath, count to ten, and then come out with his rebuttal of the news report by the MCA-owned newspaper. Being a prominent lawyer and long-time politician who never asks nor gives his adversaries any quarters, Karpal could have easily torn The Star to pieces.

I have personally seen Karpal in action in both the courts and Parliament and he could have easily ripped The Star into a million pieces even while sitting in his wheelchair. But he did not do that. Instead, he aimed his sights on PAS whereas he could have aimed it at The Star and this is exactly what the government spin machinery anticipated he would do and he did as anticipated.

Karpal could have brilliantly argued, as he always brilliantly argues in court and Parliament, that PAS contested merely 65 Parliament seats and won less that half the seats it contested. It would need at least 150 seats in Parliament to amend the Federal Constitution of Malaysia to allow it to transform Malaysia into an Islamic State. Alas, Karpal did not do this and instead demanded that PAS declare they harboured no ambitions of transforming Malaysia into an Islamic State.

If Karpal had 'defended' PAS by rebutting The Star report and by declaring the news report as a pack of lies, the perception created would be that DAP and PAS are of one heart though they may think differently. Now, the opposite perception has been created and Barisan Nasional knows that if it mentions 'PAS' and 'Islamic State' in the same breath that would get the DAP leaders hot around the collar.

The opposition, in particular DAP, has to know how to separate fact from spin and not react too fast to any mainstream media spin. Even before the five opposition-led state governments could take their oath of office, a plan was hatched to sabotage the state governments and drive a wedge into the fragile opposition alliance. All Barisan Nasional needs is for just one of the three opposition coalition members to break away and the state government of Perak and Selangor would fall. And this will ensure that the disgust of the voters will achieve the rest come next election when the other states would be given back to Barisan Nasional as well, save maybe for Kelantan.

Another issue that is utmost sensitive to Malaysians, in particular to the non-Malays, is talk of May 13. Rest assured this will be one subject that will also be exploited to the hilt. As it is, the Umno-owned newspapers are already classifying the results of the March 2008 general election as a repeat of the May 1969 general election. Though the newspapers did not quite say so, a 'whispering' and SMS campaign has been launched to give an impression that a similar 'post-1969' remedy to the ruling party 'defeat' is in the cards.

The police have responded by warning the public that any 'rumour-mongering' of race riots a la May 13 will be severely dealt with. Actually, not many Malaysians have heard this rumour. However, since the police 'warning', many who were not aware of this rumour have now been made aware of it. And Malaysians are such. Rumours are believed because most rumours in Malaysia have in the end proven to be fact. When Abdullah denied the rumour that Parliament would be dissolved and the following day he did just that, that proved rumours are not rumours but fact. When Abdullah denied he was getting married and soon after that Malaysia was entertained to the thrills of a 'first family' wedding, that too proved rumours are not rumours but fact. So, all you need to do is to deny the rumour of an impending race riot and most Malaysians would rush out to buy extra stocks of rice and sardines.

It is easy to fool Malaysians into believing rumours. Just spread the rumour far and wide and get someone in authority to deny it. Thereon the rumour becomes the gospel.

The opposition is no help either. All this talk of 'no to an Islamic State' and 'no more NEP' are stuff discontentment is made of. After all, it is not the government that is saying all this but the opposition itself. Therefore, all they need to do is raise issues like Muslims are restless and Malays are unhappy and this is all it takes to start the rush to stock up with rice and sardines.

But 1969 was different. In 1969, opposition meant Chinese and Indians and ruling party meant Malays. So, if you separate Malaysia into opposition and ruling party, then the country gets separated into non-Malays and Malays as well. Therefore, when the ruling party loses and the opposition wins this also means that the Malays lose and the non-Malays win. This is a perfect formula for racial conflict.

Today, ruling party and opposition can no longer be separated by race. It was the non-Malays who suffered most in the recent general election when the ruling party got trounced in many states. And the opposition that trounced it is a mix of Malays, Chinese and Indians. The ruling party loss was not a Malay loss and the opposition win was not a non-Malay win. In fact, four of the five opposition-led states have Malay Menteris Besar. How can you say that the Chinese won these states? Furthermore, in states like Selangor and Perak, Chinese votes alone could not have delivered the states to the opposition. The Malays and Indians helped as well. It was either a partnership of all races or nothing at all.

The Malays realise that with the fall of the five states they have lost nothing. The Chinese and Indians also realise that the Malays are very important to the cause and that a unity of all races is crucial to an opposition win. Furthermore, Malays, Chinese and Indians all realise that state governments can only be formed and kept in place if PAS, DAP and PKR stay united and don't break up. It is not to the interest of the Malays, Chinese and Indians to start anything. Anyway, there is no reason to start anything because no one has lost out in the new formula.

And this is where the Mamaks come in. Mamaks are Indian Muslims. Some years back, the Indian Muslims and Indian Hindus in Penang clashed over the proximity of a temple and a mosque which both sides alleged was 'disturbing' them. Resulting from this misunderstanding, some bloody clashes erupted which threatened to turn into a blood bath such as what we have frequently-enough witnessed in India. Anwar Ibrahim was forced to personally go down to the ground to prevent what was about to turn into another 'May 13'.

Last Friday, 1,000 or so Mamaks organised a demonstration in front of the Penang State Government headquarters. They were upset that a 'Chinese' Chief Minister had announced the end of the New Economic Policy in Penang. The Malays were not upset. The Malays did not come out to protest. In fact, PAS even endorsed the announcement and said that it agreed with the proposal. But the Mamaks were upset and they demonstrated their displeasure last Friday.

The Mamaks want the government to pass a law that makes calling them 'Mamak' illegal. They want laws passed so that those who continue calling them Mamaks can be sent to jail. And they want a new law passed to declare all Mamaks as Malays and to call them Malays and not Mamaks from thereon.

The Mamaks, therefore, have to demonstrate that they are more Malay than the Malays and more Muslim that the Arabs. And to prove this they came out to demonstrate against Lim Guan Eng's announcement that the NEP in Penang would end even if the Malays themselves could not be bothered and even if PAS supports Guan Eng's announcement. In a nutshell, the Mamaks are ashamed that they were born as Indians and insist they be classified as Malays.

But the Malays will not respond to the Mamaks' call to take to the streets, in particular the PAS and PKR Malays. In fact, the only reason the PAS and PKR Malays come out is to ensure that the Mamaks do not run riot and start spilling Chinese blood. Yes, May 13 can never happen again in spite of the rise of the Mamaks. The Malays will ensure that no wannabe Malay Mamaks will upset the peace, stability and tranquillity that exists between the Malays, Chinese and Indian Hindus. As for the Indian Muslims.....well, they need to earn their Malayness so allow them this little sideshow to enable them to go to the government and say, “Are we Malay enough for you now?”