Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
The disenfranchised
majority would not be narcotised by race and religion because the
discourse defined through the ballot box would be a class-based
narrative, which is something the mainstream political establishment is
deathly afraid of.
The minority meanwhile would be protected because class by definition trumps race and religion. This is why all these Malay uber alles types want PKR/Umno and Perikatan Nasional to be the only choices for the Malays.
A young Malay PSM activist called me and asked why I thought people like incumbent Kota Anggerik assemblyperson Mohd Najwan Halimi mocked PSM as he did.
Incumbent Kota Anggerik assemblyperson Mohd Najwan Halimi
Well,
the answer is simple. Najwan is deathly afraid that more Malays would
support PSM. If a healthy Malay demographic supported PSM, this would
spell the end of the race-based politics that the mainstream
establishment traffic in.
Keep in mind what retiring PSM chief Mohd Nasir Hashim said when I interviewed him in 2019 and asked him why PSM was much admired but never won elections:
āInitially,
we would channel the plight of the rakyat through existing friendly
political parties, but they would only take it up if it jived with their
political agenda. That was one of the reasons why we decided to
participate in elections.
āIt merely means that we have to work
harder to expose the hypocrisy of political leaders and create a
situation conducive to a change of mindset.
āThis will take longer when the so-called āprogressivesā continue to flirt with race and religion for short-term gains.ā
Muda in the picture
I have to admit. Muda hooking up with PSM does sound strange.
Here
we have an urban-based political party which relies on the kind of
āprogressive rhetoricā that does not resonate with the on-the-ground
reality that PSM and people who vote for PSM deal with.
The sight
of Dr Micheal Jeyakumar who has spent his personal and political life
defining an alternative narrative to mainstream politics, sitting with a
young politician who is the definition of mainstream politics, is
jarring.
Muda and PSM leaders
Muda needs to highlight issues facing young people in Malaysia.
Still,
as the rise of young leaders worldwide has demonstrated, youth issues
are part of more significant community concerns that voters who reject
old leaders want their young leaders to address.
These more significant community concerns are the bread and butter of a party like PSM.
More
importantly, these young leaders have to also reject the morally and
intellectually bankrupt political strategies that have resulted in this
country going down the path of failed statehood.
The best way to
deal with those marginalised groups who seem cut off from mainstream
oppositional politics would be to make an alliance with a political
party like PSM.
Deficiencies in the system
Grand national narratives do not get any traction with the voting groups that PSM engages with. It is a whole other world.
It
is this way because the Umno hegemon set it up this way, and the
mainstream political establishment never had a genuine agenda to bridge
this world and mainstream oppositional politics.
While the
mainstream political coalitions are busy finding easily identifiable
āenemiesā, what PSM identifies are deficiencies in the system and
misguided policies that essentially encourage the working-class Malay
base to vote against their long-term interests.
Mudaās rhetoric
has been sterling but unfortunately, they seem to want to head in the
direction of the majority of political parties in this country.
Until
now that is. I have to admit, Muda is an incredibly tech-savvy party
and no doubt they understand the kind of reception PSM gets during
election season.
Muda president, the young Syed Saddiq Abdul
Rahman also understands the kind of politics that PSM preaches, which is
why it is surprising that with all this, he and Muda decide to hitch
their wagon with PSM.
Muda president Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman (left) and PSM chairperson Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj
Talking
about a shared vision, Syed Saddiq should keep in mind what the man he
was sitting beside said in a forum entitled New Malaysia back in 2019.
He said -āIf you stop affirmative action for the rich Malays, even the poor Malays would accept it.ā
From reportage - the former Sungai Siput MP also said that if policies
are focused on the B40 community, regardless of race, the Malays would
still benefit the most as they make up most of the lower-income group.
Syed
Saddiq said - āI look forward to working with our friends in PSM to
win. If we win or lose, I hope we can work together beyond the elections
too.ā
And this is an important point. PSM is in it for the long
haul. Their candidates understand they may lose their deposits in this
election. But this is not merely about winning elections.
This is
about genuine reform. If Syed Saddiq and Muda are genuinely interested
in the long game, hooking up with PSM could be the birth of a new kind
of politics that Muda wishes to see.
A pactthat opens opportunities
This is not only an opportunity for Muda but also an opportunity for PSM.
I have no idea what kind of pact PSM and Muda have after the election but PSM always had messaging issues.
Muda has demonstrated that for a young party, it has garnered a percentage of votes that PSM never managed to do.
Their
messaging, especially using social media, does seem to resonate. PSM
could benefit from the kind of exposure that Muda offers using social
media to highlight issues that PSM has been attempting to garner support
for.
Discouraged by mainstream politics? Do you feel your vote
doesnāt matter? Do you genuinely believe mainstream parties in this
country have monopolised the political terrain without benefit to the
rakyat for too long?
Then I suggest you vote for the PSM and Muda
candidate if you are lucky enough to have that choice. This would be the
ideal time and maybe the last chance to start a new kind of politics in
this country.
Who knows if luck is on the side of Malaysians who
want genuine reform by democratising the political terrain, maybe red
could be the new black.
