Come hell or high water

Come hell or high water
9 April, 2008

Will we emulate the Kelantanese, come hell or high water? Or will we do what the Terengganu people did: give the state back to Barisan Nasional after just one term because tak boleh tahan takde pembangunan?

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

My good friend, Zaharin Yasin of Sang Kelembai, has ‘crossed over to the other side’. No, I don’t mean he is now a devil-worshiper or has joined a satanic cult. He has joined the ranks of the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi hand-kissing brigade -- literally as well as figure of speech.

That does not mean Zaharin is no longer my friend. I have many friends in Umno, MCA, MIC, PPP, etc., some of them leaders of these parties. But as long as we share a common vision and mission, then we can share the same political ‘platform’. And even if we don’t share a common vision and mission that still does not make us enemies.

Understandably, many in the opposition ranks, as can be demonstrated by the comments in Malaysia Today’s blogs, do not share these same sentiments. You are either with me or you are against me, will be the view they hold. And that is the main thing that is wrong with this world in general and Malaysia in particular.

If I believe in Muhammad, and you in Jesus, Moses, Buddha, Sai Baba, or whatever, does that make me your enemy or you mine? We scream about religious ‘tolerance’, although I for the life of me do not really understand why we need to ‘tolerate’ one another just because we believe in ‘different Gods’. Furthermore, Islam and most of the main religions believe that there is only One God, so this means we can’t be having different Gods to start of with.

Anyway, whether ‘different Gods’ and ‘tolerance are the politically-correct words to use or not, one thing that is clear is that we are diverse in religious beliefs and we have agreed to disagree when it comes to religion. And the same appears to be emerging for diversity of race as well, as the recent general election has proven.

Okay, religion and race are certainly very difficult and sensitive issues to grapple with. But we appear to be making inroads in bridging that divide and in reducing the very dangerous chasm. That is a sign of maturity and proof of Malaysians coming of age. But the political ‘tolerance’ still eludes us and I have personally witnessed husbands and wives getting divorced and fathers disowning their sons because of differences in political leaning.

Let us get one thing very clear. We, Pakatan Rakyat, are not the government. It is true we rule five states, but we are still not the government. The government is Barisan Nasional. Even in Kuala Lumpur, where Pakatan Rakyat ‘owns’ ten of the 11 Parliament seats, it is Barisan Nasional that decides and we are powerless to even collect the rubbish if the government refuses to send the trucks round to empty the dustbins.

When Bush won the US Presidency, he appointed his ‘mortal enemy’, Senator McCain, as the Chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI). In Malaysia, ‘Bush’ would have jailed ‘McCain’ on trumped-up charges of sodomy. Awhile back in Australia, ‘Barisan Nasional’ formed the federal government while every single state was under opposition control. Things worked out very well and none of the states suffered sabotage by the federal government.

That is what we call political maturity but this political maturity is absent in Malaysia. In Malaysia’s case, the federal government is currently going all out to sabotage the five state governments so that, in about six months or so from now, Barisan Nasional can grab back the states, in particular Penang, Perak and Selangor.

We must understand that all the states are running at a deficit. None of the states are self-sufficient and all depend on federal government funding. If these funds are not forthcoming, then expect the states to fall within six months, as predicted by Barisan Nasional. And this is a promise, not a threat.

Barisan Nasional is not having wet dreams or fantasizing. They know what they are talking about. Pakatan Rakyat is in control of the steering wheel but the car has only a gallon of petrol and soon it will run out of fuel. And rest assured Pakatan Rakyat will be denied petrol, which is under the control of Barisan Nasional. How, therefore, do we continue with our journey once the car is stalled beside the road with a totally empty fuel tank?

That is the crux of the matter. To add to Pakatan Rakyat’s problems, all the members of the government such as ketua kampong, JKKKK, etc., are being told to resign en bloc. This will not only cripple the government right down to the grassroots, but even if the state governments replace all these people there would be a serious continuity problem and it would take a long time for them to pick up the pieces. And that fact that the offices have been stripped off everything, including computers, furniture and fittings, means that picking up the pieces will be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Yes, the great sabotage has begun. They are now also looking at the ‘Terengganu Wang Ehsan’ model to implement in all states. This would mean federal funds would bypass the state and end up in the hands of the de facto Menteri Besar or Chief Minister like what happened in Kelantan in 1990 and Terengganu in 2000.

The federal government has 18 years experience doing this so they know exactly how to do it. The Rakyat of Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor can only stand by helplessly and watch their money go straight into the pockets of the ‘shadow government’ like how the Kelantanese have been doing since 1990 (into Anuar Musa’s pocket) and the Terengganians since 2000 (into Idris Jusoh’s pocket -- and which is still going on in spite of Terengganu falling back to Barisan Nasional in 2004).

There are two ways to solve this. One would be for Pakatan Rakyat to form the federal government. To do this Pakatan Rakyat would need no less than 112 seats in Parliament. It currently has only 82 so it is short of 30. The second would be for an ‘agreement’ to be reached between Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional.

Of course, both options are difficult. To get another 30 Parliament seats or more would mean a few Barisan Nasional MPs would have to cross over. But will they really be crossing over or are they Pakatan Rakyat candidates ‘planted’ in Barisan Nasional to start off with (sort of like Trojan Horses)? Were these so-called Barisan Nasional candidates actually people who wanted to resign from their party before the recent general election with a view to contest the election under the opposition banner but Anwar Ibrahim told them to stay in Barisan Nasional and ‘cross-over’ later once they have won their seats?

Yes, that is certainly a most-interesting question. If they were ‘sleepers’ or Trojan Horses to start off with, then they would not be crossing-over as such. They could be considered ‘opposition candidates’ sent to infiltrate Barisan Nasional with an objective to weaken the ruling party once the time is ripe. And, knowing Anwar Ibrahim, I would not put it pass him to come up with such a grand scheme. After all, do they not say: all is fair in love and war? And is not politics, in a way, the art of war?

The second option would be to come up with a truce with Barisan Nasional. Pakatan Rakyat will not ‘sabotage’ Barisan Nasional at federal level by ‘stealing’ 30 or 40 of their Parliamentarians while Barisan Nasional will reciprocate by not sabotaging the five states by denying it federal money. Then, maybe, one or two Federal Minister posts with, maybe, a couple more Deputy Minister posts will be offered to Pakatan Rakyat so that the opposition can now be part of the federal government. The numbers and ministries concerned will certainly be subject to negotiations but the concept must first be agreed before we can get down to the arithmetic and mechanics.

Too revolutionary and idealistic, you may say? Not if we want to get down to the business of running the governments. Today, we have just crossed the first month anniversary of the 8 March 2008 general election and we are still politicking. Pakatan Rakyat is focused on how to grab the federal government while Barisan Nasional is focused on how to grab back the five states. One of the two may succeed or both could still be trying without success six months from now. The politics needs to end some time and the business of running the government needs to start some time. But this can’t happen while both Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional are on war alert.

If, for the sake of the ‘bigger picture’, the voters are not too worried about the economy and about whether development in the states grind to a halt, then well and good, then let’s keep the war going. But we, the Rakyat, must be prepared to first accept the fact that a prolonged war will certainly result in adverse conditions and we must be prepared to tighten our belts and take the lumps and bruises with our heads held high and without any whining, grumbling and bitching. The Kelantanese have been doing so for 18 years. Will we emulate the Kelantanese, come hell or high water? Or will we do what the Terengganu people did: give the state back to Barisan Nasional after just one term because tak boleh tahan takde pembangunan?