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For the record, someone’s got to remind these guys that we voted “against” Umno, not “for” PAS, and that we voted “against” Umno because of various issues, which PAS leaders seem determined to repeat. By KARIM RASLAN, The Star
IT’S been a busy weekend. Friday saw the opening of the contentious PAS muktamar in Ipoh: the men in green going around in circles, while the men in dark blue look on with barely-concealed glee. Meanwhile most of the rest of Malaysia were just aghast. For the record, someone’s got to remind these guys that we voted “against” Umno, not “for” PAS, and that we voted “against” Umno because of various issues, which PAS leaders seem determined to repeat. Thankfully, reason prevailed towards the end of the party congress, as less-hardline voices rose to the forefront. This was followed almost immediately by the Permatang Pauh by-election nomination day where the men and women in dark blue (some of whom were apparently on a jihad, according to Shahrizat Jalil) were out-numbered by those in light blue and a full phalanx of Pakatan Rakyat leaders. Around the same time we had Anwar Ibrahim’s accuser Saiful Bukhari’s unexpected appearance at the Wilayah mosque and lawyer Shafee Abdullah’s showdown with blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin. Amid the dramatic swirl of events, the intrigue, the screaming headlines, the prima donna politicians, it was all too easy to miss the really important developments, most notably the “on-off-and-then-off-again” reform agenda. You know, the stuff that involves restoring the rule of law and doing something – anything – to shore-up our shaky economy. Frankly, I’ve found the best way of evaluating a leader’s performance is by judging his or her contribution and or commitment to these all-important agendas. The main advantage of adopting the reform agenda as a key criteria means that you aren’t simply falling back on what you personally like and dislike about a given leader – although, let’s face it, there’s a lot to “dislike” out there, at the moment. Of course there are many people who think that Malaysia doesn’t require any reforms, that the system, so to speak, ain’t broke. The other argument doing the rounds is that we can’t trust the Malaysian people with too much liberty and/or freedom because we wouldn’t know how to handle ourselves. However, these conservative voices in Government and civil society were proven wrong by the rakyat’s calm response to the March 8 polls. On March 9 the people of Malaysia didn’t panic or riot. Instead they woke up, took their breakfasts and went shopping. It was the politicians that panicked – something they’re still doing now, some five months on. Still, the conservatives are certain that we’d be at each other’s throats if we opened up even just a little bit. Of course, much of what they’re saying is self-serving. Most of the conservative figures would stand to lose a great deal under a more transparent and accountable regime. The “reform agenda” has been dogged by the Government’s unwillingness to relinquish control. Repression is second nature to Barisan Nasional. It maintains a constant undercurrent of fear alongside vague warnings of racial unrest and religious extremism that in turn frustrates the voices of the poor and marginalised. All this does is concentrate power ever more firmly in the hands of the elites. Let’s start with law and order. Our judiciary is widely acknowledged to be fatally weakened. At the same time, the police force appears to have lost the trust of the public at large. Moreover, two high-profile cases – one concerning the Altantuya murder and the other the sodomy accusation against PKR adviser Anwar Ibrahim – exemplify the challenges facing our legal system. With law and order so imperilled we need a stronger media to act as whistleblower for administrative and corporate misdeeds. The mainstream media needs to be unshackled from the restrictions of the Printing Presses and Publications Act. A failure to do so will only embolden the blogosphere and diminish the credibility of papers like the one you are reading now. Given these developments, a recent blog posting by Lim Kit Siang has been a welcome wake-up call. The DAP leader begins by explaining that he has “received the initial notification of the parliamentary business for the 41-day budget meeting beginning on Monday, Aug 18”. According to Kit Siang: “It is a great disappointment, for it is evident that there will be no reformist bill for Parliament in August.” The Ipoh Timor MP proceeds to outline three key areas that are in need of reform, namely: (i) the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC); (ii) the Judicial Appointments Commission; and; (iii) the Malaysian Commission on Anti-Corruption (MCAC). While it’s a short posting, I thank the opposition leader for his clarity of mind at a time of intense and largely needless political activity. Right now the most important thing for Malaysians to do is focus – focus on the really important things, the things that need to be addressed. Our political elite wants us to get agitated and upset over racial and religious issues. They don’t want us focusing on the system’s inherent frailties – frailties that they have exploited to powerful effect. Their future depends on us losing the plot. We have to reject their repressive designs in order to regain the reform agenda that has eluded us for so long.
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