WHEN there is no hope for sale, there is nothing for them to drag themselves out. It is that hope that makes them go out everyday to earn a living for their family. It is that hope that has been lost to many.
I am going to be very blunt in my assessment and what I believe is the only solution for our future for our people.
DAP is now the largest Opposition party, which means the people still have some hope for it. If it does not act decisively before the next GE, they will lose that banner of hope too.
It needs to take leadership in deciding who it thinks the rest of the Opposition constituency wants to lead them.
PKR is not up to it. We have to start afresh. Even if we do not regain the governance in the next GE, we need to bring forth true leadership for all Malaysians.
The non-Malays, Sabahans and Sarawakians need to see sincerity in the leadership that will forge together a strong coalition that has conviction.
What it sees today is a coalition that depends on a Malay leadership that even when given power was only interested in jostling to be the prime minister instead of focusing and leading the challenge on how to deal with the ills of our society such as too much religion in education and governance, and the need to free our economy from crony capitalistic bureaucracy.
In fact, this segment of our society sees the Malay Opposition bloc lead by PKR to be silent at best when faced with these issues and at worst, complicit.
They only need to see that whenever, non-Muslims’ interests are under attack by extremist elements in the Malay society, the Malay leadership in the Opposition are deathly quiet.
There is no leadership to speak out and give them hope that they and their future are being cared for.
The Malays that want to support an alternative, does not seemed to be able to hold on to a real leadership.
Today, many of the old had forgotten and the young never knew of the 2M administration of Mahathir and Tun Musa Hitam that burst onto the scene in 1981 bringing a progressive hope for a self-confident Malay society and a multiracial developing Malaysian citizenry.
That administration showed a different way to progress through science and technology, coupled with international trade and commerce. There was none of the obsession with religion and the “religious industrial complex” that has grown to what it is today.
That only came to being after Mahathir’s obsession of Islamisation in governance went on “steroids” following Anwar’s admission into UMNO to be the bulwark against PAS’ challenge.
By the way, most do not realise whenever or wherever I go to give my talks on the need for separation of religion and state to Malays, even in rural or semi-rural settings, the reception has always been positive.
It is the way it is presented that is important, to show how religion are being used to keep the Malays down for votes and for wealth by those in power.
But most of all, to even do that, one has to have the courage of leadership to know that right is might.
What the 2M phenomena of the early 1980s showed was that the right leadership is the key to success. We did not follow that through. Singapore did and we are left behind.
The Malays are now the bulk of the urban poor and this problem will grow. The Government and society will not have enough to alleviate this problem very soon in the future.
We need real leadership and that will not come from the old political warlords that we have today.
A new coalition needs to be built and a new leadership need to emerge – perhaps one comprising DAP, MUDA, Parti Warisan Sabah and GERAK Independent.
Drop the rest. We need individuals of honour, integrity and capability to move beyond our current deadlock of a viable alternative. – March 14, 2022.
Siti Kasim is a lawyer-activist and a founding member of Gerak Independent. This article first appeared on her Facebook.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
