By P. Gunasegaram
Even as PM Anwar Ibrahim launched a tirade against Umno for threatening to contest against Harapan, he was facing a far more serious threat as former ministers Rafizi Ramli and Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad resigned from PKR,throwing their weight behind a resurrected Parti Bersama Malaysia.
It was a masterful stroke by the duo which threw a huge spanner into the Madani coalition and raised serious implications for the next elections – GE16 – which is very likely to be called soon to, among other things, stop the new Bersama from gaining quick momentum.
They announced plans to contest the seats under Bersama at by-elections or general elections. Bersama will field candidates in the elections wherever candidates are not good enough.
That may mean a good portion of parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia and even crucial state seats. It’s thrown already shaky predictions out the window, the outcome dependent on how much support Bersama will get in the little time it has.
A place in the sun
The message the duo put through was a strong one against racism and a major commitment to multi-racialism where there will be a place for everyone to live in harmony under the Malaysian sun, with the song “A Place in the Sun” playing in the background as the event unfolded.
This is contrary to the tone of most other parties, which basically played the race card and are looking out for the interests of the different communities they represent – Umno, Pas and Bersatu for Malays, DAP for the Chinese/non-Malays and PKR, although in theory multi-racial, trying to regain Malay support.
Rafizi outlined a situation where non-Malays (see video), if the present system of communal politics continued, would be sidelined from political representation because of an increasing Malay population, unless there was a multi-racial alternative.
Otherwise, he made the prescient observation that in 20 to 30 years, non-Malays may form 25 per cent of the population but have probably only 10 per cent political representation.
Reminiscent of reformasi
In a move reminiscent of PKR when it was first formed out of the 1998 reformasi movement in the wake of Anwar’s arrest by the Mahathir Umno regime, Bersama took a very strong multi-racial stance, calling for everyone to improve the lot of all Malaysians.
While many thought that this kind of appeal cannot succeed in the Malaysian context, Harapan’s success at GE 14 in 2018 showed it to be doable. That move ended in failure when the most racist prime minister Malaysia has known in round two of his leadership did all he could to prevent Anwar from ascending to the top position.
Both Rafizi’s and Nik Nazmi’s addresses also dwelled at some length on this, in addition to the need to bring development to all and on the need to get the young to lead, with both of them saying they did not care if they lost their deposits – what mattered was creating a platform for ordinary people.
As if that were not already enough for one day, Rafizi announced that Bersama was ready to take new registered members, already has bank accounts for donations, and what appears to be a sort of an agenda which looks suspiciously like a manifesto as well. All this in a slick website with a kancil (mousedeer) logo.
Here’s a sample:
This roughly translates as every Malaysian is entitled to aid based on household income, age, and dependents on a monthly basis without application.
Other items on the agenda included limiting foreign workers, universal education beginning from 4-5 years, eradication of rent-seeking, to be in the first quartile for the PISA education assessments, establish institutional independence especially for enforcement, and a targeted economic growth per year of five per cent.
There were clear indications at the event that other PKR leaders are going to do the same in the days to come. With at least seven PKR MPs, including Rafizi, behind this, it poses a significant threat against PKR especially and its other partners such as Umno and DAP.
Rafizi said: “We don’t care if the seats are held by PKR, DAP, Amanah, Bersatu, or Umno – if there is a need for us to fight, we will do so.
“We want to bring in a new political culture (and) we will offer good candidates consisting of youths and experienced individuals to contest in seats where we believe there is a need (for a change in representatives),” Rafizi added.
Sang Kancil at work
The whole thing is a rather comprehensive, well thought out strategy, and on reflection it is perhaps the best they could have done given the constraints put on them, especially officialdom likely denying them a new party.
This was overcome through using Bersama, a party already in existence, to push through with their plans, dusting it out, putting in an agenda, a new website, setting up the infrastructure for registration of members and donations and even a brand new logo, the kancil, which also adorns Bank Negara Malaysia’s logo.
In Malay folklore, Sang Kancil is a wily little creature which out-thinks and outsmarts its larger, more lethal opponents like the tiger and the elephant to get its own way and survive in the treacherous jungle, avoiding becoming food or being trampled underfoot.
With Harapan already fighting with Umno, and Anwar issuing dire warnings if they are to contest against Harapan candidates, the battle lines seem to have already been drawn, made doubly more complex by Rafizi, Nik Nazmi and Bersama throwing their hat into the ring.
Bersama is a fresh breeze flowing into the Malaysian political arena, wafting a scent of change into the atmosphere. Question is, will it turn into a raging storm, wiping away decades of racist, inconsequential policies more based on politics and the desire to stay in power rather than positive change?
Let’s wait and see. After the utter disappointment of PKR and Harapan and its return under Anwar to old Umno-style politics, it would be a welcome change indeed.
P Gunasegaram says that change does not come without pain.
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