WHILE all Malaysians who voted against the kleptocrats that have been deeply embedded in the power structure built around the long tenure of UMNO and Barisan Nasional (BN) ought to be applauded for bringing down former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his influential wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, there are more political bigwigs that must be brought to justice.
One must also not forget that none of these efforts was at all easy and that it was the people’s will during the 14th General Elections (GE14) that made this happen.
I recall how the alliance between Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim went south months before the Sheraton Move.
The former was too adamant in staying on as the prime minister, in turn, “refusing” to give way to Anwar as the former had said and promised to Malaysians in many of his public lectures and interviews.
That’s not forgetting the many Pakatan Harapan (Pakatan) presidential council meetings, especially the one on July 14, 2017, during which the transition agreement was signed (although the 24-month tenure was not written specifically, it was agreed in that meeting that it will be 24 months before the transition takes place).
Yet, for the sake of the nation’s future, both political individuals decided to unclench their proverbial “fists” to transform into an all-round pact to unseat the then prime minister Najib, who constantly parried away the accusations that he was the fount of various astronomical corruptions, including, although not confined to, 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
Other opposition politicians such as Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng, Mohammad Sabu, Datuk Seri Shafee Apdal and many others all agreed to come on board.
Just as importantly, all the relevant stakeholders in civil society, be they in the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF), TINDAK, Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0), Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Centre) and so on, do concur with the people’s disgust with the endemic corruption, which has reached astronomical proportions.
While the judiciary has delivered fatal blows to the extent to which Najib and Rosmah can continue to wield their sway over the country, nothing is more defiant and resilient than a united opposition pact that can reclaim the mantle of Government.
“Strong values”
Thus, Malaysians’ prospective electoral behaviour during the 15th General Elections (GE15) should be based on strong values. For instance, that corruption that has been perpetuated by UMNO/BN or any other bigwigs is wrong.
Such corruption simply placed the country on the path of systemic and sub-systemic corruption, where there is an inner “cartel” working in various and across various agencies almost to no end.
Values, while almost, must match and cross the 82.32% of the electoral turnout of May 9, 2018.
In this context, these values must be matched with immense volumes that can cut across racial and religious divides once and for all.
The issues confronting Malaysia are not just the rise in the price of food, beverages, fuel, animal feed and fertilisers but a smorgasbord of issues that are due to the cascade of problems from COVID-19 that has gone endemic, an education system that has triggered a potential loss of active and consistent academic training and an ecology that has been transformed by climate change.
Between December 15 to 18, 2021 alone, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor registered more than 2500 millimetres of rain. That amount of rain is equal to all the rain Malaysia received in the entire of 2020 altogether.
Research from the National Auditing Department has also shown that there were a total of 48 flash floods in these two states between 2011-2020.
While the Pakatan Government was in power from May 11, 2018, to February 23, 2020, their tenure was too brief for them to take all the blame.
Remember, it was indeed the push and pull factor that ended the tenure of the Pakatan Government, first triggered by the resignation of then prime minister Mahathir, defections of MPs from PKR and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) to form a new alliance called as Perikatan Nasional (PN), which included UMNO/BN and PAS.
“Every vote must count”
As the nation is looking at another potentially intensively fought GE15, all eligible voters in Malaysia must know how to register themselves, tally the address of their voting booths and make sure there is no margin of error.
Every vote must count if we want to restore the rule of law and end the vested interest that has continued to wrap its hands on the Government and the respective states.
However, before another historical breakthrough can be achieved, all politicians in Pakatan must not assume that each and every party is entitled to a certain number of ministerial positions.
What Malaysians want to see is a comprehensive and complete national self-renewal based on the rule of law.
As such, politicians, before obliging themselves into entering GE15, must ensure that they are devoid of their ego, narcissistic and manic behaviour. They must place their interest above and well beyond that of the people from Kangar to Kota Kinabalu.
In other words, enter an ego-free zone for the sake of the people and the nation.
If they don’t, UMNO and BN – knowing that their future collective survival counts on “enchanting and or buying” every gullible voter they can find – will garnish every electoral pledge with an empty promise and incentive with which they cannot, and will not, fulfill anyway.
All Malaysians must now rise above the parapet, especially now, with the words of the judiciary ringing loud and clear: corruption of any domestic and foreign nature must not be allowed to take root in Malaysia.
Not only must Malaysians register to vote but they must also come out to vote in the spirit of GE14 to save this nation once more.
Remember, while we do have anti-hopping laws now, though they may not be perfect yet, sufficient obstacles for convenient horse trading remain. – Sept 5, 2022
Dr Rais Hussin is the CEO of EMIR Research, an independent think tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main pic credit: Getty Images
