PKR roasted in London

Mariam Mokhtar

Malaysiakini

21 Sep 2015

The remarks sounded like fingernails being dragged across the blackboard. They were made by a member of the audience, at a dialogue with two PKR executive councillors (exco) from Penang. The questioner was straight and candid. He did not mince his words, and judging by the nods of approval, a majority of the audience, shared his sentiments.

In a forceful voice, the man said, “I think you, the opposition, have missed three times. You are not able to exploit the current conundrum in the country, because you are fractured.

“So, what are you going to do, in order to strengthen yourself for what has to be done? You have missed big time, because of your situation. That is the focus. How are you going to get together, and fight them?

“Removing Najib (Abdul Razak) is not that difficult, if you are strong. He survives, because you are weak.”

These sentiments must have been echoed in a similar fashion, by around 97 percent of opposition supporters, both in Malaysia and abroad; “Najib survives because you are weak”. The words must have stung, but the PKR exco members’ faces remained inscrutable.

Abdul Malik Abul Kassim (photo), the assemblyperson for Batu Maung in Penang, and one of the PKR representatives at the dialogue, said that BN/Umno Baru had conspired to engineer the disintegration of Pakatan. PAS’ Hadi Awang was persuaded to accept the Trojan Horse, but then PAS was cheated by Umno Baru with the hudud issue.

He said, “If PAS had not broken up, the no-confidence vote would have been crucial. If PAS was with us, we would have been able to dictate, on our terms.

“Najib anticipated the break-up of PAS. Later, he jailed Anwar (Ibrahim). This is evident from the hasty conclusion of the final appeal.

“Anwar was jailed in February 2015. PAS broke-up in April/May 2015. 1MDB exploded after that. If both PAS and Anwar had been with us, we would not have got into this situation, and Najib would have been removed.”

Dr Afif Bahardin (photo), the PKR assemblyperson for Seberang Jaya, said that PKR’s analysis of rural voters shows that the rural Malays are not interested in governance, but are keen to see a credible leader from Pakatan.

He said, “During the GE13 campaign period, Merdeka Centre polling showed that, in the first week, the Malay votes were with us. In the middle of the week, PAS Mustafa Ali stated that Anwar was not a suitable PM candidate, for Pakatan. His statement caused a drop in the Malay votes, which continued till the election, and showed in the election results.

“DAP and PKR had no issues with Anwar, but PAS was not agreeable.”

Abdul Malik added, “We told the voters that if we win the next general election, we will hold a judicial review. If Anwar is cleared, he will be the prime minister. PKR will assemble an election team which will win the confidence of the rakyat. It will include Azmin Ali, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and other leaders.”

Blaming the ‘Chinese tsunami’

Briefly, 2008 was a political tsunami, when the grip which Umno Baru/BN had held since 1957 was broken.

2013 further weakened BN, but not Umno Baru, which gained 10 more MPs, increasing the total from 78 to 88. Najib blamed BN’s dismal performance on the ‘Chinese tsunami’.

In 2015, Umno Baru imploded, with sackings, accusations, exposes, factions and infighting.

PKR’s reaction to the current crisis is bewildering. Umno Baru’s rhetoric seduced PAS, so they bit into ‘the apple in the Garden of Eden’. This fruit was the hudud bill. Opposition supporters view PAS as traitors.

The most steady coalition partner appears to be DAP. So they attract criticism. Umno Baru and its thugs have targeted DAP because it of its integrity and principled stand.

Keadilan or PKR appears to be weaker than DAP, whilst PAS is like a headless chicken.

Azmin, the PKR deputy president, wants to invite PAS to form the next opposition coalition. PKR wants to include the parties which are committed to the reform agenda, and to change.

Opposition supporters see Hadi as a bad leader of PAS. His intransigence, misogyny, vacillations, overruling of the decision of the PAS central committee, absence from crucial Pakatan meetings and policy making with a religious fervour, do nothing to enhance his image.

Wan Azizah has claimed that everyone, including the new PAS splinter group Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), are welcome at discussions to form a new opposition coalition.

Hadi wants to play hard to get. He left Pakatan at the altar and has since refused to join the opposition. Despite this, PKR are still keen to include PAS.

Why should a cad be entertained? A principled PKR should show the rakyat that it has the interests of the nation at heart and not just Hadi’s affections. He is worthless.

PKR and Pakatan are currently unelectable. They must not allow sentiments to get in the way. They must pull themselves together, capitalise on the current political imbroglio and work to maintain the support of the millions of voters who oppose BN. If the voters are lost, Umno Baru/BN will have a walkover at GE14.

NB: Abdul Malik Abul Kassim and Dr Afif Bahardin met Malaysians at a dialogue, ‘What does the future hold for politics in Malaysia?’ on Sept 7, 2015 in London.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO).

Read more: https://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/312968#ixzz3mjGBwCKA

                This entry was posted on Friday, 25 September 2015, 2:28 pm and is filed under
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Playing with fire

Economist

Sep 26th 2015 | KUALA LUMPUR

Race in Malaysia

A floundering government risks igniting ethnic tensions

THE close-packed shops on Petaling Street, a dim warren in a Chinese quarter of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, often throng with bargain-hunting tourists. This month its mostly ethnic-Chinese stallholders faced crowds of a different kind. Riot police prevented a mob of redshirted protesters—ethnic Malays with a host of grudges—from marching down the street. They eventually dispersed loiterers with water cannon. One protester was filmed calling a journalist a “Chinese pig”. Some are threatening to return.

The unsettling scuffle took place on the fringes of a big pro-government rally held in the capital on September 16th. Some 40,000 ethnic Malays gathered at a park in support of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the party that has led Malaysia’s ruling coalitions for nearly 60 years. The day’s events were only the latest evidence of rising tensions between the country’s Malay Muslim majority and its ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, who make up about one-third of its citizens. Battling allegations of corruption, UMNO seems careless of the risks.

Malaysia’s broad ethnic mix, in part the result of British colonial immigration policies, has long coloured its politics. After a murderous race-riot in 1969, in which mobs burned Chinese shops, officials devised a slew of measures aimed at defusing tensions. Their aim was to reduce inequality between Malays and their richer ethnic-Chinese compatriots. Malays were guaranteed a quota of places at universities and the right to own shares in all listed companies, among other benefits. Though billed as temporary, many of the measures are still in force.

Since then Malay incomes have risen rapidly. But greater equality has come at a cost. Critics say that state-sponsored favouritism has hooked Malays on handouts and government jobs, and helped to enrich the country’s elites—at the same time as enraging ethnic-Chinese citizens, and driving some of the most talented of them abroad. There have been growing demands, among Malays too, for the rules to be scrapped, or at least refocused on the neediest regardless of their race. When he came to power in 2009 Najib Razak, UMNO’s president and Malaysia’s prime minister, sounded as if he agreed.

All that changed after a general election in 2013, when the government retained power despite losing the popular vote. UMNO itself managed to gain seats at the polls. But voters deserted the small ethnic-Chinese and Indian parties with whom it rules in coalition, fleeing to a resurgent and more ethnically balanced opposition. Instead of trying to lure them back, UMNO has focused on refurbishing its reputation as a champion of ethnic Malays and of Islam, their traditional religion. As well as losing interest in reforming discriminatory policies, it has become less disapproving of religious types appalled by pop concerts, dog-petting and women’s gymnastics. It is playing along with Islamists who are trying to introduce strict sharia punishments in a devout northern state.

Malay chauvinism has accelerated sharply amid a political crisis which began in July, when a report in the Wall Street Journal alleged that almost $700m had entered the prime minister’s bank accounts shortly before the election. Mr Najib denies any wrongdoing; Malaysia’s anti-corruption commission says the money was a legal political donation from unnamed Middle-Eastern benefactors. A hasty cabinet reshuffle ousted dissenters within UMNO, but elevated pro-Malay hardliners in their place. The party has taken to claiming that its critics are part of a plot to topple the government, backed by foreign media.

In particular, spin doctors have demonised the tens of thousands of Malaysians who called for Mr Najib’s resignation at peaceful demonstrations in August, which were organised by Bersih, an electoral reform group. Angered at what looked like efforts to derail official inquiries into the Journal’s allegations, citizens from all Malaysia’s races attended—though ethnic-Chinese protesters were most numerous. The authorities railed against a handful of rally-goers seen stamping on photos of Mr Najib; bigwigs in UMNO accused the protesters of disrespecting all Malays. In mid-September grim footage emerged of low-ranking UMNO members burning effigies of two ethnic-Chinese opposition leaders, which they had dressed in Bersih’s signature yellow shirts.

Organisers of this month’s big counter-rally—leaders of Malay organisations with links to the ruling party—lamented the sad sideshow in Petaling Street. But they insisted that the main red-shirted gathering was an essential response to the provocations and humiliations which Bersih’s protest is said to have caused. In a speech on September 18th Mr Najib congratulated participants in the red-shirt rally: he implied that Bersih’s demonstration had “slapped” ethnic Malays. The previous day his new deputy, Ahmed Zahid Hamidi, had said that Malays would “rise to defend our dignity” when “pushed against a wall”.

Most ordinary Malaysians reject racial rhetoric. But with more red-shirt gatherings in the offing, the risk of more serious altercations is rising. The spats are distracting the government from tricky and badly needed social and economic reforms. They are also worrying ethnically pluralist neighbours, such as Singapore, which frets about infection.

As this year’s chair of ASEAN, a group of South-East Asian states eyeing closer integration, Malaysia had pledged to promote a more modern and prosperous region. It is sinking deeper into its past.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 25 September 2015, 2:34 pm and is filed under
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Political ‘earthquakes’ that realigned Malaysian politics (Part 1)

 — Liew Chin Tong

Malay Mail Online

September 25, 2015

SEPTEMBER 25 — In the wake of an earthquake, tectonic plates will shift and realign. It takes time before gradually stabilising. In the process of seismic shifting, instead of hoping for a more stable surface, it would be better to reflect on the possible changes after the earthquake.

The spectrum of Malaysian politics experienced three great political earthquakes that caused shifting and realignment. After each shaking, the scenario that emerged was a previously unthinkable one. Once the tectonic plates shift, the outcome is a change that will never be the same again.

The first pre-Merdeka pan-Malayan General Election in July 1955 saw the success of the Alliance, using the UMNO-MCA-MIC formula.

UMNO’s opponents in that election were Dato’ Onn’s Parti Negara, PAS and left-wing Parti Rakyat.

When Malay Left leader Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmy took over the helm of PAS in 1956, there was a certain degree of cooperation among anti-colonial activists, the Islamist movement, the Malay Left and state/ regional champions (particularly in Kelantan). As for Chinese politics, the Labour Party was the biggest threat to MCA.

This scenario went on until the 1964 General Election, after which three political earthquakes took place.

In the 1964 General Election, the People’s Action Party (PAP) — led by Lee Kuan Yew — contested several Peninsular Malaysia seats, but was unsuccessful to unseat the existing political groupings. The party only won one seat through Devan Nair.

1969 General Election

The Labour Party boycotted the election on 10 May 1969. Two parties rose up to fill the ensuing political vacuum, namely the newly-formed Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Gerakan — which went on to capture Penang state governance under Lim Chong Eu.

This election, and the May 13 incident which took place three days after it, was a political earthquake. The political spectrum realignment in the subsequent 1974 election can be summarised in two points:

Firstly, the demise of Left-leaning parties as a Parliamentary movement.

The eventual demise of the Left (then popular in the 1960s) could be attributed to:

a) Parti Rakyat and Labour Party’s disagreement on language policy, causing the break up of the Socialist Front;

b) In response to the international climate of Cold War and Vietnam war, the government cracked down on all left-leaning parties, including the moderate Left ones. Virtually all of the Labour Party’s Central Leadership was detained under ISA. As a response, even centre-left forces were radicalised and polarised, eventually the Labour Party gave up its parliamentary struggle.

c) Burhanuddin’s long ISA detention, health deterioration upon his release, and eventual demise in 1969. Circa 1965, the de facto leader of PAS was in fact Kelantan Menteri Besar Mohd Asri Haji Muda. Asri was also seen as the champion for Kelantanese regional identity, thus began PAS’ estrangement from left-wing and anti-colonial politics.

Secondly, UMNO’s dominance in the model of Race Politics

After the May 13 incident, the National Operations Council, chaired by Tun Abdul Razak, was formed on 16 May. The incumbent Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman began to lose his grip on power and stepped down in September 1970.

Parliamentary democracy was suspended from between May 13 and when Parliament was reconvened in February 1971.

Tun Abdul Razak introduced the New Economic Policy, adopted the discourse of the Left on “equitable distribution” but practiced it in a race-based manner. Razak also courted PAS in the name of “Greater Malay Unity”.

Tun Abdul Razak altered the political spectrum, when he turned the UMNO-MCA-MIC power-sharing model into an UMNO-dominant model. The role of the other Barisan Nasional component parties became a subservient one, this included former Opposition parties PAS, Gerakan, PAP, and others.

1982 PAS internal fight

With PAS being incorporated into a coalition government with the Alliance in 1973 and into the Barisan Nasional framework in 1974, there was no major Malay Opposition party. As racial politics reared its head, Parti Rakyat was sidelined.

Although the Malay Opposition was by then a spent force, there were still anti-UMNO sentiments among Malays, particularly during the 1973-74 economic crisis triggered by the oil crisis.

Against this backdrop, Islamic Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM) leader Anwar Ibrahim emerged as an important figure in the Malay civil society movement.

PAS was expelled from BN in November 1977, it suffered great setbacks in the 1978 election, losing most of its seats and conceding the Kelantan State Government.

From the 1978 election to the 1982 election, PAS underwent internal turmoil, but it also attracted several young leaders from ABIM, including its future Presidents Fadzil Noor, and Abdul Hadi Awang.

The shocker of the April 1982 election was UMNO’s high profile new recruit with Islamic credentials, Anwar Ibrahim — who had up until then been tipped for a PAS post. Asri had invited Anwar at least twice to be PAS’ President.

PAS continued to suffer losses in the election and barely retained 5 parliamentary seats.

In response to Anwar’s meteoric rise in UMNO and UMNO’s new Political Islam, PAS sought to reinvent itself. In the October 1982 Muktamar, a group of young Turks overthrew Asri’s leadership.

Thus the era of PAS-UMNO competing to champion Malay issues evolved into a competition to champion Islamic causes.

Domestic Islamic revival movement as well as the 1979 Iranian Revolution were major influences in the fierce clashes that took place post-1982 between UMNO/ Anwar and PAS’ Young Turks (particularly Hadi).

1998 Anwar’s ouster

The period from 1982 to 1998 also saw UMNO’s Team A-Team B split in 1987 and later on, the clash of UMNO Baru under Dr Mahathir and Semangat 46 under Tengku Razaleigh.

The latter was all but wiped out in the 1990 election, after suffering another crushing defeat in 1995 election, Semangat 46 was eventually re-absorbed into UMNO in 1996.

In the 1990 election, PAS with the assistance of Semangat 46 recaptured Kelantan, laying the foundation for a more centrist PAS that would appeal to moderate Malay voters as many young and capable activists joined the party.

In the 1990 election, the emergence of Semangat 46 united the two camps among the opposition parties to work together, paving the way for the possibility of an Opposition Coalition.

However, I do not consider the contribution of Semangat 46 as a political earthquake, because it did not have a lasting impact on the realignment of political forces in Malaysia.

UMNO’s reunification in 1996 was followed by Mahathir’s sacking of then-Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim on 2 September 1998, and his eventual arrest on 20 September. The Anwar incident was the catalyst for two historical political spectrum realignments:

First, the formation of Parti Keadilan Nasional (Later PKR)

After his sacking, Anwar declined the invitation to join PAS or Parti Rakyat, instead choosing to set up KeADILan. As a result, there were four main opposition parties instead of the original trio of DAP, PAS and Parti Rakyat. Barisan Alternatif was formed on 24 October 1999 and contested in the 1999 election.

Second, the emergence of the progressive faction in PAS

Before 1998, PAS members were mostly from the four East Coast states, by and large they were from the agriculture/plantation small owners and working class.

After the Anwar incident, Malays from all states in the Peninsular joined PAS in droves, this included the professional classes. Within a year after Anwar’s sacking, PAS membership exploded from 450,000 to 800,000.

One could argue that PAS’ 2015 split is the culmination of 17 years of internal strife and failed accommodation of the “Class of 1998” and the “Class of 1982”. The outcome of the split was two parties: the original PAS and Parti Amanah Negara.

The Anwar Incident was a watershed in Malay politics.Since then, PKR and the PAS Proggressives premised their struggle on opposing UMNO’s corruption, nepotism, and undemocratic practices. This was clearly a different political orientation than that pursued by the 1982 PAS conservative cohort and UMNO.

In tracing the timeline of Malaysia’s political spectrum reorganisation, the dominant issues of the period were  the death of left-wing/anti-colonial parliamentary struggle in 1969, to the era of race-based politics, to the 1982 struggle of political Islam, to the Reformasi movement shifting the political struggle to be for all rakyat, to this new political earthquake in 2015, how will the ground shift after the 2015 earthquake?

I will discuss this in the next installment of this series.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 25 September 2015, 3:33 pm and is filed under
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Why are Police treating Jamal who is  continuing to undermine racial peace and social harmony with kid-gloves when they could be twitter-quick to deal with Opposition and NGO personalities even on non-existing offences?

Why are the Police treating the Sungai Besar UMNO chief Datuk Jamal Md Yunos who is continuing to undermine racial peace and social harmony with kid-gloves when they could be twitter-quick to deal with Opposition and NGO personalities even on non-existing offences?

Jamal was back in his old game of undermining racial peace and social harmony when he threatened on Wednesday morning about a possible riot by the “red shirts” at Petaling Street tomorrow, which is likely to result in the closure of business of many of the traders, as happened on the Sept 16 Red Shirts Rally, which caused great harm to racial peace and social harmony as well as damaged Malaysia’s international image as a safe destination for foreign investors and tourists.

There is no doubt that the police would have come down hard and fast if they are dealing with Opposition or NGO personalities immediately on Wednesday morning itself within minutes after Jamal’s press conference outside a police station, but there has been no action but only empty talk by the police up to now.

This is why Malaysians wondering about  the police double-standards in a clear-cut case of inexcusable offences of undermining racial peace and social harmony, and damaging Malaysia’s national and international image as a safe destination for foreign investors and tourists.

In fact, if the target had been Opposition or NGO personalities, the Home Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi would have roared into action. Why is Zahid as tame as a mouse in this case of blatant and  repeated threat to racial peace and social  harmony, causing  traders in Petaling Street to decide whether to close shop tomorrow?

If there is any closure of business in Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow, it would be proof of the failure of the Police and Home Ministry to be the custodian of peace, law and order in the country, and their failure will be a major issue in Parliament when it reconvenes in less than a month.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 25 September 2015, 8:18 am and is filed under
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Does Malaysia’s ringgit face 1997 all over again?

Leslie Shaffer

CNBC

Sept. 25, 2015

The sell-off in the Malaysian ringgit, already among the world’s worst performing currencies, may run further amid a toxic mix of shaky economic fundamentals and the spreading of what is being called the country’s worst-ever political crisis.

The ringgit has fallen around 40 percent over the past year, with the U.S. dollar fetching around 4.34 ringgit on Thursday. That’s the Malaysian currency’s weakest against the greenback since late 1997, when the dollar at one point fetched as much as 4.88 ringgit.

“There remains significant downside risk even after the sharp ringgit correction,” Hak Bin Chua, an analyst at Merrill Lynch in Singapore, said in a note Wednesday, noting that he sees little comfort from claims Malaysia is much stronger than in 1997, when it took a wallop from the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC).

“Some leverage indicators are much higher than in 1997, including household, public and external debt,” Chua noted, citing data showing household debt as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) is almost double at 86 percent, compared with 1997’s level of 46 percent. He noted public debt as a percentage of GDP is also significantly higher at 54 percent, up from 31 percent in 1997.

“The ringgit depreciation has not strengthened exports or improved the trade balance at all,” he said, adding he also expects foreign investors will begin unwinding their holdings of Malaysian government bonds once the Federal Reserve begins increasing interest rates, expected later this year. Foreign investors currently own 47 percent of Malaysia’s rinngit-denominated debt that is currently outstanding.

“The current currency crisis may not be a repeat of history and 1997, but it sure rhymes and is probably far from being over,” he said.

Chua sees another factor as set to weigh on the currency’s prospects: “The current political crisis, sparked by the 1MDB scandal, is the worst in Malaysia’s history.”

The 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund, launched in 2008 to promote economic development, has been in the limelight for months, amid allegations of false auditing, huge debt and, more recently, financial fraud. In July, the Wall Street Journal published a report alleging nearly $700 million flowed from the fund to Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal bank account. Najib has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Singapore and Switzerland have both suspended bank accounts tied to 1MDB and in the U.S., media reports said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating as well.

Analysts at HSBC said it’s difficult to quantify the impact of political uncertainty on the currency so far, but in a note earlier this week, they said, “politics will become more significant for the currency if policy risks and economic costs start to materialize,” especially with ratings agencies monitoring government spending.

But HSBC also doesn’t believe the ringgit’s 1997 levels necessarily offer any signal on just how far the ringgit could fall.

“It is possible for dollar-ringgit to go into uncharted territory,” the HSBC analysts said, something other emerging market currencies have already done. “This time around, the broad U.S. dollar is appreciating also on its own merits,” while during the 1990s, the greenback’s strength was largely due to emerging market weakness, it noted.

Brazil’s real, for one, has touched an all-time low against the greenback amid steep drops in the prices of its commodities exports and a drop off in demand from major trading partner China as well as domestic political turmoil.

HSBC doesn’t believe the ringgit has reached its worst-case scenario yet. The bank is concerned that prices of palm oil, which accounts for around 8 percent of Malaysia’s exports, are falling. Palm oil sales are denominated in ringgit, meaning a weaker ringgit doesn’t improve the country’s trade figures.

The weaker ringgit may already be boosting inflation in the country. Credit Suisse noted August inflation came in at 3.1 percent on-year, above its forecast for 2.8 percent, largely due to higher food prices as the weaker currency affected import prices. The bank expects the U.S. dollar will be fetching 4.50 ringgit in three months.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 26 September 2015, 5:01 am and is filed under
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Malaysia’s “riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” – how to change a Prime Minister who has locked up support of the UMNO warlords

Some 75 years ago, a statesman spoke about a “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”.

We in Malaysia seems to be in that position now – how do you change a Prime Minister, who has become the most unpopular Prime Minister in the nation’s history, but who seems to have  locked up the support of UMNO warlords and therefore the majority of UMNO/Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament, where a vote of no confidence in Parliament against the Prime Minister seems to hold no chance of success.

In developed parliamentary democracies, which Malaysia aspires to join in five years’ time, there is  no problem for  a change of unpopular Prime Ministers as witnessed the smooth and quick ouster of the Prime Minister of Australia in the middle of this month.

If Australia practises Najib style of parliamentary democracy, Malcolm Turnbull would not be the Australian Prime Minister today but would be in jail defending charges of trying to “topple” Tony Abbot as Prime Minister and for  “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy”!

Yesterday, former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir said that the country’s economy can only recover with the removal of Najib as Prime Minister.

In a blog posting, Mahathir said this is the only way Malaysia’s faltering economy and currency can be revived.

He blogged: “If the currency and the economy are to recover, Najib must cease to be prime minister of Malaysia. Malaysians must demand for Najib’s removal.

“Only his ceasing to be the prime minister of Malaysia will the economy recover, the ringgit revalued up and the cost of living go down.

“Only after his removal can Malaysians stand tall again.”

Najib is already a minority Prime Minister as UMNO/Barisan Nasional coalition only won 47% of the popular vote as compared to Pakatan Rakyat’s 52%.

If there is a national referendum as to whether the country’s economy and currency can only recover,  and the multiple crisis of confidence afflicting the country resolved, if Najib is removed as Prime Minister, I think it would be possible to garner more than 75% of the national votes in support for a change of Prime Minister – the 52% of the electorate who voted against Najib in the 13th General Election plus more than half of the electorate who voted for UMNO/BN, i.e. 52% + 23.5% = 75.5%.

In fact, if the 3.5 million UMNO members are allowed to have their say, I am sure the majority of UMNO members will reflect the wishes of the majority of Malaysians in wanting to have a new Prime Minister.

But UMNO members cannot have their say on this matter, as even the UMNO party elections have been postponed until after the next general elections in 24 to 32 months’ time.

Malaysia’s parliamentary democracy is quite unique as there seems to be a suggestion that a no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister  is not permissible at all, which would put the Malaysian Parliament in the dinosaur  class by itself in the world parliamentary democracies .

I do not think the case that a no confidence motion is not  permissible in Malaysian Parliament is tenable or sustainable, as the problem is not submitting it and placing it on the Parliamentary Order Paper, but getting it debated and decided upon, and most important of all, securing the requisite simple majority for the no-confidence motion to be passed.

The Malaysian Parliament has 222 MPs and an absolute simple majority will be 112 – are there 112 MPs from both  sides of the House who are prepared to vote in support of a no-confidence motion against Najib?

Of course, in an actual voting, it may not be necessary to have 112 MPs to vote in support of the no-confidence motion, which is only required if there is full attendance and voting by all the 222 MPs present.  Otherwise, the simple majority of whatever the total number of MPs present and voting will clinch a victory for the motion.

Although the deadline for parliamentary questions for the  25-day budget meeting of Parliament from Oct. 19 to Dec. 3 is past, I do not think there is any notice for a motion of no confidence from any UMNO/BN backbencher – although such a motion could be submitted any time during the parliamentary meeting as all it requires is 14-days’ notice.

How to ensure there will be adequate UMNO/BN MPs to support the no-confidence motion against Najib as Prime Minister in the forthcoming Parliament?

Mahathir proposed last month that the Opposition support a no-confidence vote in Parliament against Najib as Prime Minister  while still retaining Barisan Nasional as government.

It is an interesting proposition but leave important questions unanswered – for instance, how to ensure that there would not be a future Najib as the present Prime Minister is the product of the rotten and decadent  political and economic system, and how such a system could be changed for Malaysia to learn from its past errors.

The Sept. 16 Red Shirts Perhimpunan Maruah Melayu is one product of the political crisis and turmoil which had engulfed the country for months because of  the deliberate playing of the race card to shore up support for Najib as Prime Minister.

This is why the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally on August 29/30 which was attended by hundreds of thousands of Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region, gender, age or politics completely  transcending race in support of the common national objective of good governance and clean, free, fair elections was irresponsibly twisted and distorted  into a DAP-masterminded Chinese challenge to Malay political power, so as to justify the holding of the highly-provocative racist Sept. 16 Red Shirts rally – as highlighted by the Channel News Asia television documentary “A fractured nation” and the subject of the latest Economist editorial entitled “Playing With Fire”.

I want to take up what the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said in Kuching last night – denying that he is a racist and declaring that racism does not exist in Malaysia.

Lets not talk about the past, but the present and the future.

I challenge Zahid to fully commit himself, the UMNO/BN government and coalition parties as from today, Sept. 26, 2018, to forswear playing the race card or any form of racialism to resolve the multitude of political, economic, good governance and nation building crisis confronting the country.

Is  Zahid prepared to have discussions on how the country can have a soft landing instead of a hard landing to resolve the multitude of crisis facing the country?

(Media Conference Statement at Jalan Petaling, Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 26th September 2015 at 9.30 am)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 26 September 2015, 9:50 am and is filed under
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Why we need Pakatan Harapan now: Four questions answered

 — Liew Ching Tong

Malay Mail Online

September 26, 2015

SEPTEMBER 26 — I am making public my speech at the recent Opposition Leader’s Roundtable that precipitated the formation of Pakatan Harapan in the hope to enrich our public debate with more perspectives. I told the Roundtable that I would contest four oft-repeated clichés.

First, is the new coalition being formed hastily?

Pakatan Rakyat ceased to exist in June 2015 although it had been dysfunctional for quite a while, at least since the Selangor Menteri Besar crisis, if not earlier.

There is a need to have a pact sooner rather than later because the Opposition must be prepared for the possibility of Umno deposing Prime Minister Najib Razak and replacing him with Zahid Hamidi or even Muhyiddin Yassin.

There is a huge leadership vacuum in Malaysian politics and the sooner the vacuum is filled the better it is for the Malaysian public who aspire to see the Opposition as counterweight to the Umno-led Government.

Second, can the Opposition win the next election by default?

I understand that some opine that the Opposition just has to stay under one roof patiently while the Najib Government self-destructs. There is no need for us to do more than just to contest one-to-one in the next election and victories would fall on our laps.

There was this argument that “the Opposition never wins election, it is the Government that loses it.” Such view is both complacent and fatalistic.

To attempt to win by default will only give rise to the fear of a freak election that may push the voters back to Umno when push comes to shove. The Opposition has to build public support and confidence for a change of government.

Third, how to win power without PAS?

There is also a cliché that PAS held sway among Malay voters, especially the rural ones, therefore it is impractical not to include PAS in the new coalition. Yet, one must not forget that without the progressive faction, PAS would have no capacity to speak to urban Malay voters, not to mention non-Malay voters.

Assuming that the political “wind” is in favour of the Opposition, the next election will be determined by whether the Opposition can defeat Umno in about 35 to 40 marginal seats in the Peninsula. Umno has 73 seats in the Peninsula. Losing the said 40 marginal seats would spell the end of Umno as government. Those marginals are mostly semi-urban seats in the West Coast of the Peninsula and mixed in ethnic composition.

These are seats that the current Hadi-led PAS – without the progressive faction – would find it very hard to win.

Of course, Umno can try to repeat its feat in the 2013 general election by instilling the fear of Chinese in the minds of the Malay voters in the semi-urban marginals. But what worked in 2013 may not necessarily work in the next general election.

More importantly, the new Opposition coalition has to convince the Malay voters in the semi-urban areas that a new government would be a better one compared to Umno, and to be better is not to play the race card but to build trust and solidarity among Malaysians of all ethnic backgrounds for a new future.

If the new Opposition can build trust and solidarity especially among Malay youths in the semi urban areas, there may be an anti-establishment wave or even a tsunami that will sweep Umno away for good.

The next gelombang (wave) would be essentially economic. One can see from the ‘Red Shirt’ movement that it is inciting hatred out of the perceived economic inequality between Malays and Chinese. Their voice may sound racist, yet their tone was unequivocally economic.

The new Opposition coalition must convince Malaysians that it is Umno’s cronyism that deprives Malay youth of decent jobs and adequate pay, and it was never about the Chinese, DAP or any other bogeyman.

For instance, the 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers that are to be brought in into Malaysia by Zahid Hamidi over a three-year period from 2016 will certainly result in a ‘race to the bottom’ in terms of wages for Malay workers. Umno cronies will benefit but young Malays will suffer.

Moreover, it has nothing much to do with PAS, too. There is a lot of work cut out for the new coalition but PAS, under the current conservative leadership, is not interested to be part of this new movement.

Fourth, can PKR play the role of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah of 1990?

There is a misguided belief among some friends and Opposition supporters that PKR can play the role of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in heading two different coalitions at the same time. In 1990, Ku Li’s Semangat 46 was in alliance with PAS via Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah and with DAP via Gagasan Rakyat.

At that time, both DAP and PAS were confined to their conventional grounds, had no overlapping claims to electoral constituencies.

However, the case of 2015 is entirely different. PAS and AMANAH will be having overlapping claims to electoral seats. In essence, PAS is aware of the reality that AMANAH is growing at its expense at rapid speed, which PAS would not allow, and vice versa. Either party would not allow PKR to provide space for the other party.

In conclusion, Malaysia is in dire need of an Opposition coalition to fill the leadership void and to chart the future with coherent policies, and with political messages that unite rather than divide.

It is time for clarity. It is time to move on and shape a new future for Malaysia.

* Liew Ching Tong is DAP’s National Political Education Director and MP for Kluang.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 26 September 2015, 12:42 pm and is filed under
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A Fractured Nation: Malaysia At The Crossroads

Channel News Asia

Malaysia Day was an occasion to strengthen unity of all Malaysians. To the ultranationalists however it was a chance to sow discord and disunity. But why did the protests take on a racial overtone?

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 September 2015, 3:59 pm and is filed under
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Alleged scandals surrounding Malaysian PM could have several consequences

IAIN MARLOW

The Globe and Mail

Sep. 24, 2015

With a prime ministerial scandal burning away and acrid smoke shrouding huge swaths of Malaysia, one could be mistaken for thinking the government in Kuala Lumpur was quite literally going up in flames.

The smoke, of course, comes from forest fires illegally set to clear land on the nearby island of Sumatra. But it does provide a suitably gloomy backdrop for what’s happening to Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Mr. Najib, who has become increasingly unpopular, leads the United Malays political party and a coalition that has effectively controlled Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957 – partly through electoral gerrymandering and censorship of the media. Despite other actions that make him unfit to lead a democracy, such as repeatedly jailing his main political opponent (a former deputy prime minister) on trumped up sodomy charges, he now finds himself at the centre of an ever-expanding series of corruption probes that have brought Malaysian politics to a standstill – and also threaten to bring his pseudo-authoritarian rule to an end.

These investigations, which began in Malaysia and have spread to the United States, relate to a sum of $700-million (U.S.) allegedly paid into bank accounts linked to the Prime Minister. Mr. Najib has denied he has done anything wrong and said the money came from a political donor in the Middle East, though he has not provided evidence.

But after Mr. Najib quashed efforts to uncover the truth within Malaysia, the case has now been taken up by other jurisdictions. The FBI is investigating Malaysia’s state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, known as 1MDB, for money laundering.

Mr. Najib, unsurprisingly, launched 1MDB in 2009 and has since amassed $11-billion in debt. The U.S. Justice Department’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative is also now involved – after having its interest piqued by luxury real-estate assets in New York linked to the Prime Minister’s family (as well as a shadowy international playboy type named Jho Low). The Hong Kong police are also sniffing around the bank transactions.

Mr. Najib’s supporters argue political opponents are trying smear him and destabilize the government, but some of the fiercest criticism has come from former political allies. Mahathir Mohamad, who ruled as Malaysia’s prime minister for 22 years before stepping down in 2003 and who helped install Mr. Najib to his current position, has said his successor’s reign is now “verging on criminal” – and urged parliament to throw him out.

All of this alleged skulduggery matters for several reasons.

First, Malaysian politics are becoming dysfunctional. Mr. Najib has flailed desperately. He dismissed another deputy prime minister and the attorney-general, who both raised questions about the scandal, and Mr. Najib neutralized a parliamentary probe by appointing some of its members to his cabinet, thereby disqualifying them.

His government was rudderless during the Rohingya migrant crisis. And, meanwhile, the opposition coalition – made up of an Islamic party and a party that represents Malaysia’s often-persecuted Chinese minority – splintered, a situation that ratcheted up racial and religious rhetoric. “Old racist canards about the Chinese … are being highlighted once again,” Dennis Ignatius, a former Malaysian high commissioner to Ottawa, wrote in a recent opinion piece.

Secondly, Mr. Najib is launching a crackdown that has alarmed human-rights observers. He has arrested protesters and anti-corruption investigators. Two critical newspapers have been temporarily shuttered. Eight activists and opposition figures have been arrested as part of the protest movement Bersih (“clean” in Malay).

“The Najib administration has been making it up as we go along,” says Hwok-Aun Lee, a University of British Columbia alumnus who lectures at the University of Malay and who attended a recent Bersih rally. “These repressive actions are also increasingly showing up to be baseless and desperate.”

And finally, though it is not implicated in the scandal, Malaysia’s state-owned oil company Petronas – which pays a huge annual dividend to the government and accounts for almost half of Malaysia’s oil revenues – is one of the largest foreign investors in B.C. Petronas, of course, is the company behind the proposed $36-billion Pacific NorthWest LNG project in Kitimat.

Kenneth Courtis, a Tokyo-based former vice-chairman for Goldman Sachs Asia who has advised on large LNG projects in Asia, says a looming supply glut of liquefied natural gas will depress prices for years to come and make Petronas’s B.C. project untenable – and a potential scandal in Kuala Lumpur.

“If it were a commercial company, they might say, ‘We’ve screwed up, we’re going to write this off.’ But with the tremendous scandal that’s shaking the Malaysian government to its foundation – if on top of this, they had their national champion write off [their investment in B.C.], that’s a big deal,” he told The Globe this week, suggesting Petronas would begin to drag its feet, squeeze costs and seek further concessions rather than admit defeat.

The investigations, if they uncover wrongdoing, may make Mr. Najib’s leadership untenable. But not all is as grim as it sounds. The opposition parties, realizing an opportunity, have recently formed a new alliance – headed by the wife of jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. And the Bersih movement has shown that, no matter what type of intimidation, Malaysians aren’t about to let their democracy go quietly.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 September 2015, 2:46 am and is filed under
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Challenge to Najib to institute legal proceedings against five international media for defaming him or his administration – Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, New York Times, Economist and Channel News Asia

It is understandable that the new Communications and Multimedia Minister, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak is so upset that he has shot off another protest against international media reporting on Malaysia – this time complaining that Channel News Asia (CAN)’s documentary, A Fractured Nation, for being biased because the sources quoted were only from the Opposition.

Salleh had been Minister for Communications and Multimedia for  only two short months, but the number of bad press for Malaysia in the international media during Salleh’s tenure as  Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Communications czar is  already many times the bad press under his predecessor,  Datuk Seri Shabery Cheek, even putting together Shabery’s  two spells as Information Minister for 13 months under Tun Abdullah and Communications Minister for 26 months under Najib.

Who must bear responsibility for the current spate of bad international press by Malaysia, whether printed or electronic – Salleh, Najib or the international media?

Salleh complained that the CNA documentary A Fractured Nation portrayed a bad image of Malaysia.

The pertinent question is whether CNA had irresponsibly given a bad image of a good condition in Malaysia, or had truthfully reflected what is undoubtedly a bad situation in Malaysia!

Malaysians should be allowed to decide for themselves whether it is the former or latter, and I have asked the administrator of my social media to locate A Fractured Nation documentary to let Malaysians pass judgment on the matter.

Be that as it may, Salleh should explain the reason for the  current spate of bad international media, both printed and electronic, in the past few months – whether this the fault of Najib administration or is he really suggesting that there is an international conspiracy involving the international media  to demonise and topple Najib, which appeared to include even the former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir?

It is really unbelievable, Mahathir,  betre noire of world Jewry in his 22 years as Prime Minister of Malaysia,  suddenly transformed overnight and stand accused as being “hand-in-glove” with the Jewish forces of the world to demonise and topple Najib as Prime Minister of Malaysia!

What other fairy tales Najib’s highly-paid publicists and communicators want Malaysians to believe?

Najib should listen to the advice from his brother, the CIMB group chairperson Nazir Razak that the government has to provide answers to the controversies plaguing it to restore international market confidence and “change the current narrative about Malaysia with answers or legal suits”.

For a start, Najib should institute legal proceedings against five international media for defaming him or his administration in recent months, viz:

–	Wall Street Journal for its report of July 2, 2015 on the RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts;

–	Al Jazeera for its 101 East current affairs programme, “Murder in Malaysia” on Sept. 11, 2015 casting adverse reflections on Najib and his administration in the case of the brutal murder of Mongolian Altantunya Shaariibuu;’

–	New York Times for its report of 21st September 2015 that a US federal grand jury is examining allegations of corruption and money laundering involving Najib and people close to him under the Department of Justice’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.

–	The Economist for its report “Race in Malaysia: Playing with fire” on Sept. 24, 2015 on how “A floundering government risks igniting ethnic tensions”; and

–	Channel News Asia for its “A Fractured Nation” on 24th Sept portraying a bad image of Malaysia.

Najib will not be able to sue New York Times if its report that Najib is being investigated by the US Department of Justice (DOJ)  under its “Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative” programme is true.

But Najib should know the true and actual position. Can he enlighten Malaysians whether he is being investigated in the United States under the DOJ’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.

If necessary, he should ask President Obama straight when he meets the American President.

Let Najib clarify this crucial matter from the United States Government!

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 September 2015, 6:13 am and is filed under
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Malaysia needs a Communications and Multimedia Minister who has the love and passion to overcome the poor state of Internet infrastructure in the country rather  than to be the chief propagandist for Najib to fight the Prime Minister’s political survival battle

Malaysia needs a Communications and Multimedia Minister who is more concerned about the poor state of Internet infrastructure in the country than to be the chief propagandist for Datuk Seri Najib Razak to fight the Prime Minister’s political survival battle.

It has been four days since the release of the Second Quarter, 2015 State of the Internet (SOTI) Report by Akamal Technologies Inc, the global leader in content delivery network (CDN) services, showing that Malaysia is ranked poorly at 70th place worldwide and lags behind Sri Lanka and Thailand in average internet speed.

Malaysia registers an average Internet speed of 5.0 megabits per second (Mbps),  which is a  17 per cent year-on-year improvement to broadband speed, but is still  five ranks below Sri Lanka which registered a 50 per cent year-on-year improvement to bump up its average speed to 5.3 Mbps.

Thailand ranked 42nd overall with average connection speeds of 8.6 Mbps.

In the region, Malaysia is also slower than Australia (7.8Mbps), New Zealand (8.4 Mbps), Taiwan (10.6 Mbps), Singapore (12.7 Mbps), Japan (16.3 Mbps), Hong Kong (17 Mbps) and South Korea (23.1 Mbps).

The top-three countries on the global ranking are all from Asia, with South Korea topping the list with an average connectivity speed of 23.1 Mbps.

Hong Kong was second with an average speed of 17.0 Mbps, followed by Japan which averaged at 16.4 Mbps.

Singapore – which ranked 14th with an average speed of 12.7 Mbps – however, recorded the highest global peak connection speed at 108.3 Mbps.

The global rank for peak connection speeds was also dominated by Asian countries which filled out the top-five spots, with Hong Kong behind Singapore with a peak connection speed of 94.8 Mbps, followed by South Korea (83.3 Mbps), Japan (75.1 Mbps) and Taiwan (74.5 Mbps).

Malaysia’s peak connection speed topped out at 36.5 Mbps, placing it 57th globally and behind Thailand which ranked 20th with peak speeds of 51.5 Mbps.

Malaysia’s broadband adoption also lags behind its Asian neighbours, settling in 72nd place internationally with 55 per cent of its population with access to speeds of above 4 Mbps.

Comparatively, Sri Lanka – which is in the top-50 for broadband adoption – has provided access to connection speeds above 4 Mbps to 77 per cent of its population.

The top-five Asian counties under this category have provided connections speeds of above 4 Mbps to at least 90 per cent of their population – South Korea (96 per cent), Thailand (95 per cent), Hong Kong (93 per cent), Taiwan (90 per cent), Japan (90 per cent).

The percentage of Malaysians with access to speeds above 10Mbps, however, is far lower at 4.5 per cent, while only one per cent of the Internet connection speed in Malaysia  above 15 Mbps.

Globally,  only the top-10 countries have provided high-speed connectivity to at least 50 per cent of their population.

South Korea again leads the world in this category with 75 per cent of its population surfing the Internet at speeds above 10 Mbps, followed by Hong Kong (62 per cent), Switzerland (60 per cent), the Netherlands (60 per cent), Japan (60 per cent), Romania (57 per cent), Bulgaria (54 per cent), Sweden (53 per cent), Belgium (53 per cent) and Singapore (50 per cent), the only Southeast Asian country to make the top 10.

The new Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak should be very concerned about these latest statistics about our Internet infrastructure which show Malaysia in a  very poor light when compared to other countries which will have  great repercussions on  our economic growth potentials with the advent of the new economy, and even  more serious, highlights Malaysia’s fall from the frontline of the information technology powers which was the motive for the introduction of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) two decades ago!

One would have expected Salleh to be very occupied with blueprints, announcements, statements or even blogs as to how Malaysia is to return to the front-line of information technology powers as envisaged two decades ago  with the launching of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) which was announced at the time as “gift to the world”, but Salleh  been conspicuously unconcerned about Malaysia’s poor Internet infrastructure.

Salleh appeared to be only interested in his blog and FaceBook, busy with his new “toy” and Cabinet assignment to be Najib’s chief propagandist to fight the Prime Minister’s political survival battle.

In the past three days, Salleh had penned   at least four blog pieces, defending Najib and attacking in particular former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir, when as Minister for Communications and Multimedia, he should be brainstorming with his IT experts on the  proper response to the  Akamai Second Quarter 2015 SOTI Report so as to upgrade Malaysia’s Internet infrastructure after the poor statistics when compared with other countries.

If Salleh is Najib’s best choice of a chief propagandist to fight his propaganda war to survive his political trials and tribulations, Najib should appoint Salleh as a chief propagandist, (even replacing anyone of the 10 redundant Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Office), but Malaysia needs  a suitable person to be Minister for Communications and Multimedia  who has the understanding and passion to make Malaysia an Information Technology power and leverage the powers of information technology for Malaysia to become a fully developed nation.

The Communications and Multimedia Minister should be tasked with the responsibility to fully develop the  nation’s communications and multimedia infrastructure, and not to be solely concerned about  Najib’s political survival whose chief Ministerial responsibility is to write blogs and FaceBook pieces in praise of Najib.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 September 2015, 4:51 pm and is filed under
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Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak’s inevitable fall

Lindsay Murdoch

Sydney Morning Herald

September 27, 2015

Bangkok: For years Najib Razak has cut an impressive swath on the international stage, seen as the moderate and reforming leader of predominantly Islamic Malaysia.

As the British-educated and immaculately-dressed prime minister was last month shrugging off corruption allegations, Australia’s foreign minister Julie Bishop offered effusive praise during a speech in Kuala Lumpur.

“I applaud Prime Minister Najib’s leadership in promoting the moderation agenda,” Ms Bishop said, adding she was “truly excited” about prospects for deeper engagement between Malaysia and Australia, on the 60th anniversary of Australia’s diplomatic presence in Kuala Lumpur.

But Australia is set to lose its heavy bet on Mr Najib as investigations get underway in at least four countries into his financial affairs and his oversight of a scandal-plagued sovereign fund that is billions of dollars in debt.

Mr Najib has used the blunt force of his government to stymie Malaysian investigations into how US$700 million ($975 million) turned up in his personal bank accounts in 2013, while refusing to explain what happened to the money.

Malaysians have become inured to allegations of corruption and money politics during the ruling party’s six decades in power but the scale of the latest scandal has provoked disbelief at home, as Mr Najib risks becoming an international pariah, despite official visits to Europe and the US this month.

Mr Najib denies any wrongdoing or taking any money for personal gain and accuses his critics at home and abroad of waging a campaign to topple him.

But as allegations swirl around the prime minister, Malaysia’s politics has become dysfunctional.

The economy has faltered and the ringgit currency is hovering at 17-year lows.

Mr Najib’s fall – whenever it eventually comes – will impact Australia’s foreign policy priorities at a time prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is pledging to take advantage of the Asian Century through innovation, science and technology.

Australia has had more long-standing institutional and people-to-people ties to Malaysia than with any other Asian neighbour.

Clive Kessler, an expert on Malaysia at the University of New South Wales, says Australia has heavily invested in the “myth” of a moderate, progressive, liberal Najib, while at home the prime minister has unleashed the forces of Islamist authoritarianism and Malay ethnic supremacism.

He says those who will take over from Mr Najib will be much more tough-minded and adversely inclined towards Australia “since they are far more self-indulgently Malay”.

“They will not have the same sentimentality about the Australian connection and will not greatly care to flatter or court Australian opinion and Australia’s leaders,” he says.

John Malott, a former United States ambassador to Malaysia, agrees there are two Najibs, one of them fake who “talked up a good game overseas”, backed by a multi-million dollar public relations operation.

“And then there is another Najib. The real Najib,” Mr Mallott says.

“He is the domestic Najib, the man who stifles freedom. The man whose police force tear-gassed people in the streets for demanding free and fair elections … the man who arrested scores of opposition politicians and dissidents under the Sedition Act,” he says.

Mr Najib, 62, who took office in 2009, is clinging to his position with the support of loyalists in his United Malays National Organisation who have benefited from the party’s largesse.

Critics have accused elements of UMNO of using the race card to divert attention from Mr Najib, inflaming ethnic tensions in the country where 67 per cent are Malays, most of whom are Muslims, 24 per cent are Chinese and seven per cent Indian.

Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister who stepped down in 2003, says since race riots rocked the country in 1969 there has been “some accommodation among the races”.

“But what I see today is the government encouraging racist sentiments. This is very very bad,” he told a forum of lawyers in Malacca on Saturday, according to Malaysia Insider magazine. There have been turbulent episodes in the Canberra’s relations with Kuala Lumpur, particularly during prickly Dr Mahathir’s 22 year rule.

But Australia has often looked to Malaysia as a predictable and reliable friend in the region. “Thailand is always uncertain, Indonesia is fickle, hypersensitive and difficult and the Philippines just doesn’t count, really,” Professor Kessler says. “But we always have Malaysia to rely upon and turn to, or so we think, and so we act,” he says.

“We became hostage to the myth of the good, benign Malaysia, the unproblematic Malaysia…and they have learned to play, to their advantage, on our anxiety for regional inclusion and participation.”

Professor Kessler says it is time for Australia to “get started now at looking at Malaysia seriously and intelligently.”

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 September 2015, 9:22 pm and is filed under
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Proposed RM 50 million donation to Penang State Government for building student hostels

Koon Yew Yin

On 15th Sept 2015, I met the Penang State EXCO which has accepted my RM 50 million donation under the following terms and conditions:

I wish to donate RM 50 million for building student hostels to help students studying in Penang, especially students from poor families, in their access to  tertiary education.

1. All the RM50 million and the subsequent profit from the rental and other income must be used for building hostels and other associated buildings for the use of students studying in Penang. These students can come from Penang and other states in the country or even be foreign students in keeping with Penang’s need to draw on the best talent from a globalized world.

2. All construction contracts exceeding RM10,000 must be open to competitive tenders.

3. A task force will be established to take full charge of the donation programme and the implementation of the hostels. The task force is to be composed of 7 members; 4 members to be nominated by the Penang State Government and including the Chief Minister as Chair, and 3 members to be nominated by myself or by my nominee.

4. I will be appointed as Adviser to the Task Force. The role of Adviser must be spelled out and agreeable to me. This position will be a life long one. Any change to be made to this position has to be sanctioned by me or by the executors of my estate.

5. The State Government will be responsible for the following

    a) provision of state land for the hostels and associated facilities necessary for sports, parking, etc.

    b) recruiting and defraying the costs of a team of professional staff to run and manage the hostels on a commercial basis.

6. The rental rate must be competitive and profitable but at the same time must not burden the student residents.

7. Koon Yew Yin and his estate reserve the right to authorize the state government to use a portion of the net income to establish a Koon Yew Yin Charitable Foundation to help poor students through loan scholarships to study in Penang.

8. To honour my donation, I wish to have a tablet prominently displayed in the hostel complex with the following words inscribed

Recipients of Koon Yew Yin scholarships and residents of Koon Yew Yin’s hostels have to promise that when they graduate and are financially solvent, they will help other poor people.

9. The entire complex of student hostels is to be named Koon Yew Yin Residential Complex. Each hostel in the complex is to be named after the fundamental rights of citizens such as Liberty, Justice, Equality, Fraternity, Freedom, Integrity, etc.

The Penang Government has allocated a piece of land with an area of 60,000 sq ft situated directly opposite USM which has a student population of 18,000 students. USM has hostel accommodation for only the 1st year students.

The land is zoned for high rise flats up to 36 storey high.

I have appointed my wife, Dr. Lim Teck Ghee and Architect Lee Thean Hock as my representatives in the management committee.

My architect has just started planning and designing for the project.

Note:
 All my wealth is from share investment. I have written in my will that all my remaining assets will be donated for charity preferably to help poor students. I have been giving scholarships in the last 8 years and up till now, I have given about 300 scholarships. All my scholar recipients do not need to pay me back the money I spent on them but they have to promise me that when they are financially solvent, they must help other poor students.

I trust some of my scholarship recipients will continue to do charity to help poor and needy students after I die.

I believe some of my followers who have benefitted from my share investment advice, will do charity to help poor people.

We all must bear in mind that we cannot take our money along when we die. After we have given a good education to our children and discharge all our responsibilities, we must do charity to help the poor.

I know it is difficult to give away some of our hard earned money at the beginning. But gradually, we will feel happy in giving away money to help the poor to make them happy. We all must remember that our ultimate aim in life is happiness. When you see poor people happy, you will also feel happy.

I hope this announcement will encourage some readers to do some charity to make people happy.  Even a kind word can make a difference.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 September 2015, 4:22 am and is filed under
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Shrugging off ‘ketakutan Melayu’

Syerleena Abdul Rashid

The Malaysian Insider

25 September 2015

Soon after Datuk Seri Najib Razak took over the reins as prime minister from Tun Abdullah Badawi in 2009, for a fleeting moment in time, Malaysians felt somewhat hopeful that social transformations could finally happen in our country. With a new leader, came new promises and renewed hope.

When Najib launched the 1Malaysia campaign, the objectives were quite straightforward; the RM38 million (or at least the amount that was officially recorded) campaign sought to call for all government agencies and civil servants to embrace diversity and Malaysia’s multicultural society. Najib’s administration through the 1Malaysia campaign sought to heal the wounds of racial mistrust and turmoil by promoting “ethnic harmony, national unity, and efficient governance”.

Needless to say, the campaign has since met with heavy criticism from Malaysians due to the fact that ethnic relations in Malaysia have gotten worse in the last five years and the recent “red shirt” rally verified this. Of course, it doesn’t help that those from the ruling elite have since showed their true colours and forked tongues.

Thousands of red shirt clad Malaysians walked the streets while chanting racial slurs and hurled verbal threats to other fellow Malaysia; those who believed in genuine national unity (not the one backed by BTN), the non-Malay Malaysians (those who were against the ruling elite) and the opposition (especially DAP) were accused of being the real enemies of the state.

Various videos on social media have been uploaded since, racial hatred forever etched in the ambers of the internet and reminding us that the dark grey cloud of racial conflict still looms eerily above us. Although, this present administration had spend a significant amount of funds to help paint a wonderful picture of progressive modernity and moderation, the truth couldn’t be further, darker and more sinister.

Close to the surface lies a political strife embattled by decades of institutionalised racism that takes us back to the days when early immigrants were granted citizenship. The idea of inclusion and recognizing their contribution in helping the federation in its early days of infancy seemed lost amongst those who were too selfish and too insecure to share their slice of the pie.

In present day terms, we have witnessed an increased acceptance of biased ideas from those who continue to questions legitimacy of “pendatang rights” and regurgitate stale threats of a resurgence of May 13.

Much of the “dirty” work has been continuously done by ultra-right wing organisations that attempt to shatter the dream of unity our forefathers envisioned for this Federation. Needless to say, these hate mongers have helped pave the road to unruly repression, disenfranchisement and racial polarization.

For Malaysians in the 21st century, the messages that these hate mongers convey is clear: non-conservative Malays and non-Malays, in general, do not belong in Malaysian political society and had no business wielding power over the Umnoputeras.

But all is not lost.

Malaysians still have the opportunity to bridge the widening racial and religious divide and begin to reconstruct the country’s soiled political landscape. Although history tells us how difficult these task may be and that the struggle for reforms are oft fraught with peril; history teaches us that change can happen: when different groups meet converge on more level planes and slowly get to know each other, all the distrust and suspicions fades away.

Malaysians can do something to prevent this rot and we can begin by reaching out in neighbourhoods, schools, religious institutions and workplaces. We need to begin articulating a vision of a multi-cultural, multi-religious and more equitable Malaysia.

Going to the ground is important as this will enable us to build a solid foundation that promotes respect, tolerance and understanding. Once we achieve in doing so, with our words and then with our deeds, we can strike a strong blow against the political racism that haunts our country and this is just the right kind of silver lining our country needs right now. – September 25, 2015.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 September 2015, 4:26 am and is filed under
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The Big Read: On Malaysia Day, a reminder of racial politics at play

MOHAMED NAWAB MOHAMED OSMAN FOR TODAY

26 SEPTEMBER 2015

Race politics are very much alive in Malaysia, say analysts and observers. Going forward how will this affect Malaysia and even Singapore?

SINGAPORE — On Sept 16, Malaysia celebrated its 52nd Malaysia Day, which marks the birth of the Malaysian federation consisting of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and, briefly Singapore.

Malaysia Day is often a low-key affair, coming just two weeks after the splashier Merdeka Day celebrations. Yet this year, the day was marked by two important events.

The first was the Red Shirts rally by a Malay rights groups to show solidarity with Malay leaders whom these groups claimed are under attack by the Chinese community. The second event was the launch of the Parti Amanah Negara (PAN) or Amanah, a breakaway party of the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS). PAN is a moderate Islamic party which calls for the strengthening of Malaysia’s multi-ethnic and multi-religious social fabric. But for PAS leaders, PAN is just a front for the Democratic Action Party (DAP) — the opposition’s ethnic Chinese party.

There is concern within both PAS and the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) that PAN could further split the Malay vote and help propel DAP to an electoral victory over UMNO at the next general election.

With some cracks appearing in UMNO over Prime Minister Najib Razak’s role in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, the party has revived the old narrative that the Malay community’s political position in under threat in a bid to bolster its support base. These developments are a reflection of how race politics are very much alive in Malaysia, say analysts and observers. Going forward, the race card will continue to be used, and this will affect not only Malaysia’s stability: There could be a spillover effects on Singapore.

RED SHIRTS RALLY

The pro-government rally — officially called Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu — was a direct counter to the Bersih rally late last month. Bersih 2.0 (The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections) had traditionally called for electoral reforms, but this year it was rallying for the resignation of Mr Najib. The Bersih rally was seen by the Red Shirts organisers as a Chinese-led protest against the leadership of UMNO.

Notably, the police estimated that some 35,000 turned out for the Red Shirts rally, far less than the 100,000-plus turnout claimed by Bersih. Prior to the Red Shirts rally, politicians from both sides of the political divide had expressed concerns that it could stoke racial tension. Despite this, Mr Najib did not criticise it, and said that UMNO would not prevent its members from attending. The presence of a number of top UMNO leaders, including former ministers Annuar Musa and Noh Omar as well as former Malacca chief minister Ali Rustam, were clear indications of tacit support by the party for the event.

While the rally was ostensibly organised to show support for UMNO leaders, there was little doubt that it was also aimed at asserting Malay dominance. The event saw incendiary remarks and racially charged banners and placards. Riot police used water cannons on protesters who had attempted to breach the barricades to gain access to Petaling Street, also commonly known as Chinatown.

Reflecting on the rally, Dr Wong Chin Huat, the head of political and social analysis at think-tank Penang Institute, told TODAY that “the Red Shirts are showing in the most candid way what the narrative of Malay supremacy means: ‘We (Malays) are the hosts, you (the Chinese) are the guests/squatters. If we do not get what we want, we will run amok’.”

The vast majority of Malaysian Malays did not approve of the event. A survey by polling firm Merdeka Center showed that only 24 per cent of Malays supported the rally, with 53 per cent against it. Mr Najib later justified the rally, saying it was a manifestation of the rise of the Malays to defend their dignity and protect the country’s leadership from being humiliated. He added that it was a peaceful gathering.

Analysts have said that the fact that the government has turned a blind eye to the rally suggested an attempt by UMNO to divert attention from an embattled, unpopular Prime Minister by stoking racial and religious tensions. Mr Najib has been under intense political pressure over the large debts incurred by 1MDB and opaque political donations from the Middle East before the 2013 general election. The ringgit is also at a 17-year low.

The rally drew a strong backlash, particularly from the opposition. Mr Tony Pua, a DAP lawmaker, described the Red Shirts event as a “thinly masked attempt to incite race-based support for the Prime Minister using racist rhetoric and sentiments”.

In an email interview with TODAY, Mr Pua added that given how the government gave the Red Shirts a free hand to openly threaten the other minority communities, this will “increase scepticism among the minorities (against the government) and hurt racial relations in the long run.”

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng yesterday also called on Mr Najib to come down hard on those playing the race card. “That is the problem, and the direction is coming from the PM. He seems to be allowing it. He has to come down harshly (on plans like that),” Mr Lim told the media in Penang.

The backlash has also foregrounded the hairline cracks in the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional (BN). Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) president Liow Tiong Lai this week urged the government to stop these rallies as they “threaten to tear the fabric of our nation apart”, as the MCA youth wing in Pasir Gudang announced they will sever all ties with Mr Najib. But despite these differences, Mr Liow, who is also the Transport Minister, said that the MCA will remain a component party of BN to defend multiculturalism in the country.

Race politics are affecting not only BN unity, but also threatening to split the opposition parties.

THE MALAY COMMUNITY UNDER ‘SIEGE’ AS DAP RISES?

PAS today views the DAP as a bigger threat than UMNO. In an internal study conducted by PAS recently, the party concluded that the DAP is seeking to undermine the Malaysian government by dividing Malay votes. The study noted that there are as many as 85 seats in the country that have at least 40 per cent Chinese voters. These are seats that the DAP could capture if the Malay votes are split.

The DAP could either contest these seats directly or field its allies in PAN. The fear in PAS, and UMNO, is that the DAP could win the most number of seats in the next election. This would allow the DAP to dominate the government for the first time in Malaysia’s history. The announcement this week of a new opposition coalition, Pakatan Harapan (PH, Alliance of Hope), comprising PAN, DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), will now drive a bigger wedge between PAS and its former allies in the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat opposition pact formed after the 2008 general election. By teaming up with PKR and DAP, PAN has effectively taken over PAS’ position in the alliance.

PAN was formed after months of infighting within PAS between the more conservative ulama (clergy) faction and the moderate progressive wing. Following June’s party election, which saw the progressive group completely routed, a decision was made by these PAS leaders to leave and form a new party. The party’s launch was a grand affair attended by about 3,000 members and the who’s who of Malaysia’s opposition, including PKR president Wan Azizah Ismail and DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang.

In his opening speech, PAN president Mohamad Sabu stated clearly that the party will have a multi-ethnic membership without renouncing its Islamic goals. This goal was underscored by the fact that two of its central executive members are non-Muslims. PAN is believed to enjoy some traction among the urban, professional Malays who have become disenchanted with the perceived rigidity and conservative outlook of PAS and are also less comfortable with PKR’s secular approach.

Mr Wan Saiful Wan Jan, head of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, a think-tank in Malaysia, said that the PH needs to quickly make public its common policy framework. “This document must outline answers to some difficult questions from the economy to education and ethnic relations. The public wants to see leadership. They must provide that leadership and they must do it quickly,” he told TODAY via email.

PAS leaders and members have meanwhile accused PAN of being a DAP puppet. Already there are claims that PAN is bankrolled by the DAP, an accusation neither denied nor confirmed by PAN leaders.

Analysts have pointed out that beneath this rhetoric is PAS’ worry that PAN will further dilute the Malay vote. “PAS sees PAN as a competitor which erodes its hard-won urban Malay and, for that matter, Chinese and Indian supporters. PAS will see itself losing urban votes to PAN,” Dr Oh Ei Sun, a former political secretary of Mr Najib, told TODAY.

Dr Ooi Kee Beng, deputy director of Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies – Yusof Ishak Institute, added that despite the ulama wing routing the moderates during the PAS general assembly in June, the traditionalists have found that they are now the ones being sidelined rather than the moderates who were knocked out of the top party positions. “This is because support for PAS in recent years has been based on disapproval of UMNO, and not so much about Malay unity,” he said.

In this regard, despite PAN having split from PAS, the new party will also appeal to voters now that is part of the opposition pact.

The PAS-PAN conflict has taken a new turn with the formation of the PH. The decision of the opposition parties to form a new alliance without PAS will have several consequences. First, with the absence of Anwar Ibrahim as an overarching figure within the PKR and with PAS absent from the coalition, the DAP will emerge as a dominant partner in the alliance. Mr Kamaruzzaman Mohamed, press secretary to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, told TODAY: “We all know that Wan Azizah (PKR president and Anwar’s wife) is no leader. She is just a figurehead. We have no doubts that DAP will now emerge as a key partner in PH and will call the shots in all issues. Knowing this, how can we join this coalition?”

Second, PAS’ distrust for PAN and the DAP could lead to the party breaking all ties with the opposition coalition. In the state of Selangor, a PAS withdrawal will leave the new coalition with 30 seats in a state assembly of 56 seats. The razor-thin margin could lead to UMNO attempting a takeover of the state government. One PKR executive council member who is close to Selangor chief minister Azmin Ali told TODAY: “PKR cannot break our working relationship with PAS (or) the Selangor state government will be on a knife-edge.”

Third, PAS leaders who are friendlier to UMNO will be empowered to push for a closer working relationship with the government.

The Red Shirt rally and the formation of PAN on Malaysia Day have starkly different objectives. Yet, both events feed into the narrative that the Malay community is under siege. The scandal surrounding the state investment firm 1MDB, Mr Najib’s sacking of his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin for asking questions in public about 1MDB, and the attacks against Mr Najib from former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad — again over 1MDB — have weakened UMNO significantly. The formation of PAN has further divided the Malay votes by creating another alternative to PAS and UMNO. Meanwhile, the Chinese community appears firmly behind the DAP, given how weak MCA is perceived to be. The DAP controls virtually all the Chinese majority seats in the country. It is also courting Malays, as only two of its current 37 Members of Parliament are Malay.

The political unity of the Chinese was further manifested in the recent Bersih rally, which some believe was an unprecedented show of support from the Chinese community. As such, the rhetoric by some government leaders including Mr Najib that the political dominance of the Malays is under threat has found some traction.

There are voices in PAS calling for the party to establish a working relationship with UMNO to protect the political position of Malays in the country. Mr Shuhaimi Embong, a PAS activist, said that “we need to understand the Malaysian political reality. Even UMNO cannot survive on its own. What makes us think that we (PAS) can survive on our own. I personally think that we should be decisive whether we ally with PKR or form a tacit alliance with UMNO”.

IMPLICATIONS IN SINGAPORE

Going forward, politicians from both sides of the political divide will likely continue to use racial and religious sentiments to push their own political agendas, and rising tensions can be expected. This will inevitably affect the country’s stability and economy, and a ripple effect will likely be felt in Singapore, which shares Malaysia’s multiracial make-up.

Analysts TODAY spoke to were sanguine about the impact of these latest developments on Singapore-Malaysia relations. Mr Najib is known to be favourably disposed towards Singapore, and he has a good working relationship with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Flagship projects between Singapore and Malaysia, including the high-speed rail link and the Iskandar Development Region, are on track. However, the political uncertainty in Malaysia is likely to worsen the country’s already bleak economic outlook and repercussions will be felt across the causeway. A Bloomberg report this week stated that even though Moody’s rated Malaysia A3, credit default swap traders saw it six levels lower at Ba3 — a junk grade.

Mr Michael Wan, Credit Suisse economist, told TODAY that Singapore’s economy is very dependent on Malaysia, and if the latter slows down, there will be some knock-on negative impact on Singapore. Mr Wan said part of the knock-on effect could hurt the retail sector here. “With a weaker ringgit, it makes more sense for the Singapore consumers to spend in Malaysia rather than Singapore.”

Mr Francis Tan, a UOB economist, said tourist arrivals from Malaysia into Singapore could be affected this year. “Year-to-date we should already see declines because the ringgit has been depreciating throughout the year. It’s not just last month so the impact should already be there. In the tourism industry, businesses like hotels, retail, F&B — the usual things that tourists spend on — will also be affected,” he said.

Another area of concern is exports. Mr Wan pointed out that Singapore exports cater to final demand in Malaysia. “If Malaysia’s consumers get squeezed and they buy less from overseas, it accounts for about 3 per cent of Singapore’s GDP. Indonesia is probably about the same at 3 to 4 per cent of GDP. If you add up the whole of ASEAN I would say it’s maybe like 8 to 9 per cent of GDP, so it’s quite sizeable,” he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ALBERT WAI AND LEE YEN NEE

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 September 2015, 3:14 am and is filed under
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The evolution of political Islam in Malaysia

– Liew Chin Tong

The Malaysian Insider

26 September 2015

I would divide the evolution of political Islam in Malaysia into three stages: Islamic revival/resurgent which culminated in changes in Umno and PAS in 1982, the emergence of PAS’s progressive faction in 1998, and the “post-Islamism” of 2015.

I have always been reluctant to draw direct comparisons between international trends in the discourse of political Islam and Islamic politics at home, because to a large extent, politics is local.

However, international trends and labels are instructive as a window to observe domestic changes.

Of course, this is just my own perspective. In every stage of development of Political Islam, there are counter forces and voices of resistance.

One could say that the path of the discourse evolution is not a linear one, but has been a winding journey.

On the international front, the main political struggle within the Muslim fraternity from the early 20th century until about the 1960s was anti-colonialism and anti-Western sentiment. Politics within the Muslim community seemed to revolve around these themes.

Hence, the Islamist movement in those years was often combined with anti-colonialist and left-wing movements in many countries, with very few organisations actually using Islam as the basis for political action – often these organisations were weak.

In Malaysia, the first Islamic political party, Hizbul Muslimin, was founded in 1948 and banned by the colonial government in the same year. It was an offshoot of Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya/Parti Nasionalis Melayu (PKMM/MNP).

PAS was founded in November 1951 in Butterworth by ex-Umno clerics. Former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s father and grandfather were among the founders of PAS.

In terms of political compass, Hizbul Muslimin was nominally right-leaning while PAS was left-leaning.

In 1954, Umno barred its members from holding dual political party membership, the majority of the original Umno clerics who had also joined PAS then chose to remain in Umno. The former president of the banned PKMM-MNP, Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmy, became PAS president in 1956.

In the 1959 general election, PAS won the states of Kelantan and Terengganu. At that time, there was virtually no governing political party under the banner of Islam anywhere in the world other than in Pakistan and Indonesia.

Within PAS, many see the party in the image of Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation that frequently faced government persecution for the most part of the last 60 years.

One of Ikhwan’s greatest ideologues, Sayyid Qutb, was accused of plotting the assassination of Gamal Abdel Nasser and was sentenced to death by hanging.

While PAS has been heavily influenced by the way Ikhwan conducts its affairs, in many ways it was the wrong role model to emulate because Ikhwan, as an oppressed movement, focuses on survival while PAS has to win elections.

Resurgence/revival of Islam

The Islamic resurgence movement, using the slogan “Islam is the solution”, emerged as a global political wave in the 1970s. The Iranian Revolution in 1979 inspired Muslims around the world to put their faith in using radical means to obtain victory.

Malaysian Islamic politics did not develop in a vacuum, it is not immune to international developments. Islamic resurgence in Malaysia took the form of an anti-establishment movement that rose in the 1970s (with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Abim as the main player). This was followed by the 1980s which witnessed PAS and Umno battle to out-Islamise each other.

Few Malaysians received Islamic academic training prior to the 1980s, Anwar’s Abim could be said to be the cradle for the leaders of that era.

Abim emerged after the May 13 incident which saw PAS and Umno officially became allies in 1973 and PAS joining Barisan Nasional (BN) in 1974. This union of Umno and PAS left a political void that allowed the rise of Abim as a leader in the Islamic-based anti-establishment movement.

In the 1978 election, Anwar campaigned for PAS, but went on to join Umno a week before the 1982 general election. PAS internal realignment – which saw the ouster of its then president Asri Muda – took place at the Muktamar in October of the same year.

After joining Umno in 1982, Anwar strongly pushed for issues with “Islamic branding” such as an Islamic University, Islamic finance, Islamic banking system, etc.

Anwar’s strategy was (a) to push for the promotion of Islamic labels that were acceptable within the broader capitalist framework; (b) to create a brand of Islam that was acceptable under the multi-racial framework of BN.

On the other hand, the then new vice-president of PAS Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang pushed for a more “pure, true Islam” in competition with Anwar’s group. The controversial “Amanat Hadi” – first delivered in 1981 – called out Umno leaders and members as Muslims who were not sincere in the struggle for Islam, therefore falling within the category of kafir (infidel).

This declaration ignited social unease, particularly in Hadi’s home state of Terengganu. Many Muslim PAS members severed ties with their Umno brethren, some even went to the extent of performing Muslim prayer rites twice during weddings and funerals (once by a PAS Imam and once by an Umno imam).

By far the most dramatic crisis between PAS and the Umno-led state apparatus was the Memali incident in 1985, which saw a police siege and deadly clash with PAS members in a small religious sect in Kedah.

In the 1986 election, PAS contested in 90 out of 154 Parliamentary seats, thinking that the strong tide of Islamic sentiment would allow it to win power. However, PAS only managed to win one seat, the hardliners within the party declined in strength while the moderates rose to prominence as a result.

Following the bitter defeat of 1986, the moderates gained ground within PAS, led by the newly-elected (in 1989) party president Fadzil Noor. PAS worked with Semangat 46 after the 1987 Umno split and went on to win back the state government of Kelantan in 1990.

Progressives/moderates

The global Islamic resurgence inspired by the Iranian Revolution did not last long. By the 1990s, the Islamic movement in many countries experienced failed experiments in democracy (Algeria, Tunisia). It was an era of hardship, but also an era where political Islam experienced greater diversity.

After the 1989 collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern European Communist bloc, Western theorists (in particular, American political scientists such as Samuel P. Huntington) were in search of a new political “enemy”. The latter’s thesis “The Clash of Civilisations” became the canon for the school of thought that placed Islam as the new political enemy.

The 2001 Al-Qaeda (Osama bin Laden) attack on the World Trade Center was a product of radicalised Islam under siege. The counter trend was the tendency for Islamic parties, such as in Indonesia and Turkey, which had tasted power, to then move towards the center in a bid to woo moderate voters.

There were serious efforts to argue and showcase that Islam is compatible with democracy.

After the radical days of Malaysian political Islam in the 1980s, PAS’s 1990 Kelantan victory attracted some talent to join the party which later steered the party towards the middle. However, PAS’s success in 1990 in some ways also contributed to its poor performance in 1995.

The Anwar incident in 1998 garnered PAS more mass support, members, and leaders. Many non-religious technocrats and professionals were drawn to join PAS during the Reformasi movement, some even became full time political workers and leaders.

When Fadzil Noor passed away in 2002, the new president Hadi Awang abandoned the democratic Islamic campaign and revived radicalism via Haron Din’s November 2003 Islamic State Document, leading to the party’s 2004 massive electoral defeat.

In the wake of the 2004 defeat, Hadi allowed the progressives within the party to promote their political agenda to soften PAS’s image. Boosted by the informal political cooperation with PKR and DAP, PAS made unprecedented electoral gains in the 2008 general election.

Post-Islamist

The global Islamic political movement entered a period of reflection after the setbacks experienced after the 2011 Arab Spring. The Islamic political parties and movements had not anticipated the emergence of the Arab Spring uprising and arguably responded to it quite poorly.

In the post-Arab Spring process of democratisation, Islamic political parties became the most organised societal force apart from the army, these parties made significant electoral gains in Egpyt and Tunisia.

However, President Morsi’s administration crumbled within a year, it lacked capable leaders to manage transition from authoritarian society after decades of persecution extinguished its pool of leaders with technocratic background. After coming into power, it was powerless against the retaliation of the Deep State and failed to solve Egypt’s economic woes.

The Tunisian Islamic political party, Ennahda, was perhaps the most prepared in the spirit of democracy to concede administrative power and allow a technocratic government to rule.

Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan who came to power in 2003 was the original symbol of Islam’s democratisation, but after being in power for too long he became a soft dictator of sort.

The challenge faced by political Islam is the vagueness of the slogan “Islam is the solution” in addressing the actual economic, administrative and governance problems.

Is Islam a “magic pill” for everything?

Or is it time for the broader principles of Islam, maqashid syariah, be promoted to replace the superficial use of Islamic labels?

The dramatic break-up of PAS in 2015 is a product of the clash between the 1982 Islamic resurgence faction and the 1998 progressive/moderate faction. In fact, there is another level of conflict: how to promote Islam in a post-Islamism scenario.

Take hudud as an example. During dialogue with students of Islamic studies, I will inevitably be asked about my views on hudud.

My reply was this: establishing Islamic finance mechanism was an important “product” of the 1982 Umno brand of Islam.

During the 1980s Islamic resurgence, there was very little serious research on Islam and not many Malaysians who studied Islam seriously. People were satisfied with any “products” offered under “Islamic branding”. The bar was very low.

In 2015, there are at least tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of Malaysians researching Islam seriously. As a society, we have a more profound understanding of the religion compared with in 1982.

Islamic finance and Islamic bonds, sukuk, are both well-intentioned financial instruments packaged as “Islamic”.

If today, the Malaysian government chooses to issue sukuk to bail out 1MDB, is this halal (permitted) or haram (forbidden)? Usually, more than half of my Muslim audience will say that it is haram.

In the same vein, discussion of hudud in the 1980s did not involve that much of detailed contents of the laws, or giving room for debate.

In 2015, with so many Malaysians spending years studying Islam, more would be conscious of the fact that if we do not apply ijtihad, we are likely to amputate the hand of someone who stole RM42 while allowing a thief who stole RM42 billion to get off scot free. Such outcome would not fulfill the broader concept of Islamic justice.

The progressives/moderates attempted to face a pluralistic society within the framework of the Islamic resurgence.

The challenge of the 1980s was to promote Islamic labelled way of thinking within a society that was not quite “Islamised”. For instance, Islamic lifestyle (tudung), politics, economy (Islamic finance), and law (hudud) were all very novel then.

The Class of 1998 tried to break the mould of the Class of 1982. The challenge in 2015 is how to move forward in a society that are ready for more than just superficially “Islamised” labels, going beyond symbolism to address broader question of justice guided by Islam and to deal with bread and butter issues.

After the 2015 split, Hadi’s PAS is left with the discourse of 1982 Islamic resurgence.

Amanah must not only fulfill the mandate of the progressives/moderates, it must propose a comprehensive post-Islamist discourse on maqashid syariah in order to win the support of more Malaysians for a just society.

The evolution of discourse in political Islam plays a pivotal role in the realignment of the Malaysian political spectrum. – September 23, 2015.

* Read Part 1: Political quakes that realigned Malaysian politics.

* Liew Chin Tong is Kluang MP and DAP national political education director.

LZ.dpuf

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 September 2015, 6:05 am and is filed under
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