Liew Chin Tong

COMMENT | I get that Johor DAP chief Liew Chin Tong needs to gin up the base but I believe framing the conflict between Umno/BN and Perikatan Nasional (PN), as an existential crisis is way past its expiry date.

Goliath is not BN or even PN. Goliath is the system.

The system is the horse manure social contract, race-based political parties and the don’t spook the Malays political strategies.

The system not only corrupted the once agitating DAP but ensured the Bangsa Malaysia kool-aid, a new kind of political evangelism, something which the MCA and MIC never managed to pull off, was drenched into Malaysia’s body politic.

Liew (above) acknowledges that voters ”… demanding that the opposition actually act as a government and be prepared to govern, be prepared to offer long-term solutions”, and this should be the only narrative that matters.

Unfortunately, all Pakatan Harapan seems to be doing is protecting individual fiefdoms and ensuring that they do not lose to an adversary that remains relevant only because Harapan is its own worst enemy - but more importantly, perpetuating a system that keeps racism and toxic religiosity front and centre.

Liew talks about finding a new model - as if a model for victory is separate from the ideological basis that political parties are supposed to have. He is one of the smarter political operatives in the game.

However, like most political operatives balancing party politics and pursuing a federal mandate, Liew talks in generalities, like he did two years ago when he claimed that Malaysian politics needed a new operating system.

What I want to know is how do the non-Malays not spook the Malays? Does stating clearly that the opposition is secular and egalitarian makes the situation better or worse?

Or is it better doubling or sometimes tripling religious funds, mucking about in religious spaces of the majority in demonstrations of kumbaya, do more damage?

Liew has publicly admitted that Harapan did everything that former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin wanted or needed.

The DAP played by the rules – unfair though it may have been – and let down its base when it came to various hot button issues, and yet this was not enough for the gang from Sheraton and even Malay power structures in Harapan.

Remember how Harapan had all these select committees, which turned out to be impotent bodies waiting for the old maverick to tell them what their purview was? Or how about all those supposed bipartisan initiatives that never materialised?

And I get that the base hates Muhyiddin but when he offered that olive branch, which was way better than the current MOU, what did Harapan do?

Keep in mind that Liew was right when he wrote this: “The simple message all politicians need to remember is that today, while you are the government-of-the-day, you may end up as opposition very soon, and vice versa. The rotation of power should not be an excuse for governments to be mediocre. Far from it, all governments should strive to be ambitious in their agenda to bring the nation forward. The point is to govern with as much bipartisanship as one could.”

When arguing about why Tony Pua was correct when he wrote that Harapan should consider this deal, I wrote this: “Ever wonder why many Umno and PAS political operatives have a fear of normalising working with the DAP? They fear it because if the base sees how the DAP is working independently with Malay power structures, the effects of the brainwashing and propaganda begin to slowly erode.”

Policies and ideologies

Partisans often blame the majority Malay polity for always voting these Malay race-based parties into power and perpetuating the system.

The problem with this kind of thinking is that there has never been a clear demarcation between the policies and ideologies of BN and Harapan.

All this Malay uber alles government has demonstrated is that they cannot lead the country, which is why Umno propaganda is about returning to some sort of equilibrium with the non-Malay polity that abandoned BN.

When Anwar Ibrahim talks about how championing Malay rights should not be at the expense of the non-Malay community, how do you think this plays out?

Firstly, it seems that he is pandering to the non-Malay community but more importantly, those voters who put stock in such ideas, wonder why they should bother voting for a clone when Umno can give them everything they want and still throw crumbs to the non-Malays, much like what Harapan did.

Observe how, because of the forthcoming Johor election, the supposedly “brave” opposition is silent about the alleged kidnapping and unilateral conversion of the children of Loh Siew Hong.

And remember when Harapan was in power, they abandoned Indira Gandhi when before they were happy to use her as a political prop.

Ever wonder why Abdul Hadi Awang says things like how Malay youths should not fall for Muda because it is a creation of the DAP?

Well because the DAP latches on to any organisation that it thinks will secure the Malay votes and if you look at the propaganda they put out, they quote verbatim, words used by DAP political operatives, confirming such.

That Harapan has latched on to Muda, which has not spelt out what it stands for and is playing the same kind of opposition game that has always been played in this country, should alert non-partisans of the shape of things to come.

Why some people assume that young people would reject Umno or any other legacy political parties is beyond me but the real game-changer would be when people - or at least a sizable minority - reject legacy parties thereby disrupting the system.

I get that there is a vocal presence on social media that blames the Sheraton traitors for everything but you do get there are people out there who wonder why the DAP, PKR and Amanah were not telling the truth to the people or standing up to the old maverick. Which then translates to voter apathy.

People like to say that Umno had decades to destroy the country but nobody ever asks why the DAP, after decades of “brave opposition”, never managed to gain populist Malay appeal.

Now, sure that you can blame this all on the indoctrination programmes of race and religion? But the reality is that somewhere along the way, the DAP decided that winning the hearts and minds of the Malays is too difficult, especially if it meant ditching federal power.

And this is a charitable way to look at things.

The only way the system is going to change, the Goliath slayed, is if Malaysians are presented with two different possibilities of how this country could evolve.

I know Umno/BN’s idea but I am still hopeful that younger Harapan leaders (since we are discussing Harapan) could offer an alternative.