Their
bread and butter is racial and religious politics and like US President
Donald Trump and his acolytes, they do not care about the
bread-and-butter issues of their constituents.
If you look at this rationally, Bawani is the only candidate who is offering something different to the voters of Ayer Kuning.
BN and PN are offering the status quo which is meagre handouts and the narcotising effects of race and religion.
The
problem with politics in Malaysia and everywhere else is that
candidates like Bawani - who exemplify the kind of personality needed in
a political ecosystem to enact change - are rejected by the tribalism
that defines mainstream politics.
Of course, voters being who they
are, are not going to look at this rationally which means that PSM’s
chances are slim because not only do voters tend to vote against their
self-interests, but they have been conditioned to think that their
self-interests are the interest of mainstream political parties through
race and religion.
While the mainstream political coalitions are
busy finding easily identifiable “enemies”, 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 and the non-Malay base to enable a system which ultimately
disenfranchises them.
Muda has said that it will give ground support for PSM and this is a good thing. To put it mildly, PSM’s messaging is terrible.
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 in Ayer Kuning from the exposure that Muda offers using
social media to highlight issues that PSM has been attempting to garner
support for, but would be drowned out because of the battle between the
two ustaz.
All about the money?
Keep in mind the federal government has been pouring in aid for the disenfranchised in Ayer Kuning.
PSM
understands this type of politics and how it leads to corrupt
politicians. As another great PSM leader Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj
said about Santa Claus politics - "I asked them, 'do you want me to be clean or not?
"You
want your YB to be Santa Claus, a feudal lord giving away money... But
at the same time, you want your YB to be clean. It doesn't jive," he
said, adding that the role of politicians goes beyond just providing
cash handouts or immediate assistance.
This is why when a DAP minister
in the coalition government plays a card which for decades DAP has
decried as outright bribery, it is Bawani who has to remind voters that -
“You cannot blindly say that it wasn’t your agenda (and) you didn’t
plan it. It’s very direct - you’re blatantly giving bribes to the
people.”
We have to keep in mind what working-class philosopher
Eric Hoffer wrote - “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a
business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
PSM is also
facing PAS and as former PSM head honcho Nasir Hashim said when PSM went
up against PAS years back - “We were literally on our own and got help
from NGO friends. We were not prepared to fight PAS because they are not
our principal enemy and our actions were construed as being weak.”
Non-Malay votes
While
Umno is hoping that the browbeaten DAP would canvass for the non-Malay
vote and whatever the MCA and MIC could scrounge up, the choice of
candidates demonstrates that Umno and the PAS-led PN are going to use
religion to detract from real-world problems the voters of Ayer Kuning
face.
Umno
is of course hoping that the non-Malay community will view PAS as the
bigger threat even though both are the same kind of threat.
Umno
Youth leader Dr Akmal Saleh is as virulent or more so than most PAS
leaders and has demonstrated that he thinks the non-Malay coalition
partners in the unity government should be seen but not heard.
And
keep in mind that Malays who do reject Umno, are in fact also rejecting
Madani so there is a protest vote that could happen, just not the kind
that would strengthen the crumbling democratic infrastructures of this
country.
So not only is the question can PSM attract the
disaffected non-Malay vote but can it peel off Malay votes from those
people dissatisfied with what mainstream politics is offering?
This
is a steep hill. Non-Malay participation in elections is traditionally
low and PSM has never been the choice of the non-Malay supposedly
progressive community.
People often talk of how this country is going down the theocratic and kleptocratic rabbit hole.
But there have always been options to slow or stall this dissent. They were just never considered for tribal reasons.
PSM
may very well lose this election. However, what Bawani and PSM are
demonstrating and will continue to demonstrate is true grit.
