THERE are many lessons to be drawn from the Melaka state election last Saturday but it is counter-productive to zero in on any personality by putting all the blame and faults on Pakatan Harapan leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, said an MP.
According to DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang, the days of political hegemony by UMNO should have ended after the 14th general election (GE14) when Pakatan Harapan toppled a seemingly invincible UMNO-hegemonised Barisan Nasional (BN).
However, the recent Melaka state polls seemed to herald a return of the Malay-centric party’s political hegemony, he added.
“This is not the case as can be seen by the votes secured by the three coalitions from the total votes cast – Barisan Nasional 38.39% or 122,741 votes; Pakatan Harapan 35.65% or 113,968 votes and Perikatan Nasional 24.47% or 78,220 votes,” Lim remarked.
“Political analyst Bridget Welsh has debunked two interpretations of the Melaka state election, firstly that UMNO had returned to its hegemonic past and that MCA and MIC – which won two and one seats respectively – are making political come-back.
“This is not accurate. In the first interpretation, UMNO has not returned to its hegemonic past as UMNO had only secured 38.39% of the votes during the Melaka state polls although [the party had gained] five additional seats and won 18 seats in total.
“In the case of the second interpretation, MCA had lost ground marginally (from 10% to 8%) while MIC kept to its 1% of votes when compared to GE14.”
No political party can exercise political hegemony
Lim went on to note that the country is facing a new political situation where no political party can exercise political hegemony.
However, he contended that coalition political mindset has yet to be developed as the current political mindset is currently set on the contention that political hegemony of a single political party still exists.
“Although the Pakatan Harapan government should be the first to explore the new coalition political mindset in Malaysia, it failed to do so and was mired in the hegemonic mould of the Barisan National government of the past half-a-century.
“The Prime Minister of a coalition of equals like the Pakatan Harapan should operate differently from the Prime Minister of a Barisan Nasional based on UMNO political hegemony, but this mindset continued in the 22-month Pakatan Harapan government from May 2018 to February 2020.”
In a coalition based on the hegemony of one political party, the Prime Minister decides on everything subject to the acceptance level of the other component parties.
Lim further pointed out that in a coalition of equals, the Prime Minister.
In a coalition of equals, the Prime Minister would have to consult and secure the agreement of the other component parties on the minister to be appointed, the ministry to be allocated and the policy to be followed by the coalition government.
“The confession by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin during the Melaka general election campaign highlighted that in the ‘hegemony’ mould of the coalition government, it was possible for component parties of the coalition to work at cross-purpose from the coalition objectives.
“The coalition mindset can only be developed under the Pakatan Harapan coalition and not the hegemony-based coalition of the Barisan Nasional.
“Pakatan Harapan should also accept an unanimity rule for decision-making by its presidential council.”
Lim opined that such a rule would avoid the Pakatan Harapan blunder that saw the coalition accepting “political frogs” which was decisively rejected in the Melaka state election.
“Pakatan Harapan should never lose the moral high ground of integrity, public service before self and being Malaysian First in a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation,” he said. – Nov 22, 2021
