Friday Jottings: The wave of green – an expedient monstrosity
By and large, the justification repeatedly used by Pakatan Harapan for their dismal haul in the recently concluded state polls is their inability to thwart the green wave.
With PAS hauling the biggest catch, the narrative rhymes. Yet, it is an over-simplification and, in many ways, convenient and self-serving, especially for the DAP and to a large extent, other non-Malays in PH.
It doesn’t require rocket science to figure that out.
For as long as PH and the DAP can convince the non-Malays and to a large extent the self-proclaimed “liberal and progressive” Malays, that the green wave is pounding the Malaysian shores, their voters remain captive and captivated.
In one sweep, the failures and shortcomings of the Government become secondary, diminished, and trivialised in the face of the imminent monstrosity brought about by the green wave.
For years the DAP and PKR were with PAS in Pakatan Rakyat (the precursor to PH), when they surfed the “reformasi” waves and those were years when PAS was adamant about “Ketuanan Islam” (primacy of Islam) and introduced Islamic laws and codes in states under their rule – Kelantan and Terengganu – but no green wave was detected then.
If supporters of the PR and present-day PH, in particular the DAP, insist that there was none because PAS was with them, then the argument that the DAP dictates Malay leaders and parties in their midst would then hold true.
By the same token, if Umno, which the DAP had recently embraced, is no more deemed as a Malay supremacist since joining the fold, the above opinion then holds water.
It can of course be argued that the same can be said of the antagonism towards the DAP as opposed to when they were with PAS and Bersatu when it was led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
PAS had already explained that it was opposed to the DAP because it is adamant about secularism and its Islamophobic tendencies.
On the part of Bersatu and Dr Mahathir, lest the populace forgets, the PH was formed on the agreement that it accepted the formation of a Malay-based party which was Bersatu, and that the PM candidate was Dr Mahathir who was leading a Malay-based party.
In fact, that episode was extraordinary. Except for supporters of the then Government, the rest of the nation felt that the country needed saving from the kleptocrats and plunderers.
It needed extraordinary measures and the union of long-time political nemesis – Dr Mahathir, PKR, and the DAP was probably the only possible force capable of bringing down the Umno/Barisan Nasional behemoth.
It succeeded but the underlying factor leading to the eventual break up are seeds of present-day political divide.
And what is the divide? For the DAP and its ilk, the other side is the green wave. On the other side, the DAP is secular and anathema to Malay and Islam.
PKR though Malay led had proclaimed itself to be multi-racial and that in itself makes it similar to the DAP.
The only difference is that in so far as the PKR’s Malay supporters are concerned, it will always be led by a Malay when it was not Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, it was his wife Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Ismail.
Based on the hierarchy, the next replacement will be Rafizi Ramli, the current deputy to Anwar. And previous grapevine chatters seemed to point out that if Rafizi did not make the cut for whatever reason, Anwar’s daughter Nurul Izzah is in the tow.
While nepotism is obviously celebrated in PKR, the fact that it is Malay-led does not make it a Malay party and its constitution is multi-racial had kept the bigger body of Malays away from it.
By comparison, when the PH was led by Dr Mahathir, though Bersatu only managed 13 Parliamentary seats in the 14th general election, the cross-section of Malay support was more than 20 percent as opposed to the 11 percent secured by PH in the 15th election.
Though merely just over 10 percent more, the Malay votes received were enough for PH to form the Government on a simple majority whereas, Anwar and PH failed to do so until Umno agreed to be part of the new coalition to form the Government.
When Umno entered the coalition with PH, though it was devastated in the polls, it had secured about 30 percent of the Malay votes.
However, after being part of the Government and associated with Anwar and the DAP which Umno vilified during the 15th polls, its fortune went further south in the state polls.
Obviously, its association with Anwar and the DAP had sown more seeds of discontent towards Umno from both its supporters and Malays outside.
The same argument cannot be used as to why could Bersatu get Malay support when it was with the DAP and not Umno.
Bersatu then was leading the PH but Umno is to the Malays a token existence and merely to prop up the DAP, PH, and Anwar.
For that matter, even Dr Mahathir eventually suffered from his association with the DAP and Anwar as the Sheraton move was put into motion because of that very reason.
If all the fortunes of Malay parties and leaders suffered after being part of PR and PH, the common denomination that led to it is the DAP and Anwar.
It points to one thing – it’s time for Anwar and the DAP, in particular, to look within and stop fighting the green wave and Malays opposed to them.
It’s time to stop tilting at windmills. - Shamsul Akmal, 18 August TMR
