AMNESIA or the double-standard within the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition seems pretty clear when it comes to the use of Merdeka slogans and themes.
This is because the unity government has forgotten that not too long ago when PH was in the opposition, it showed resistance to follow the directives of the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) Federal government on the matter, according to former DAP state assemblyman for Perai Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy.
“PH states such as Penang, Selangor and Negri Sembilan deliberately chose to ignore federal government directive on the use of slogans and themes for the Merdeka celebrations,” he hit out in his latest Facebook post.
“If unity was not an issue a few years back, why should it be an issue with the PN states organising the Merdeka event under their respective themes or slogans. It is not that PN by following its own themes might create disunity in the country.”
Added the former Penang chief minister II: “How come when the PH states sought to have their own slogans and themes, there was no talk of disunity.”
Yesterday (Aug 20), PN Youth came under fire after it unveiled the opposition coalition’s official PN National Day logo and theme.
PN Youth head Ahmad Fadhli Shaari who presented the logo on social media said the coalition could not rule out the possibility that the state governments under PN namely Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu would also use the same theme as this is strictly under the prerogative of the state government.
Commenting further, Ramasamy opined that Merdeka themes and slogans are not objective and neutral for “they often reflect the political and ideological desires of those in power”.
“I don’t think that the differences in the themes of two political coalitions are going to create political disunity and discord in the country. The very fact that unity government and PN are in the opposite side of the political spectrum itself suggests that there is little or no political unity,” he observed.
“However, despite the political discord leading to the adoption of different themes for the event, unity is not at stake. Disunity in the country is not about celebrating the Merdeka event with different themes but about the increased racial and religious polarisation in the country.”
In fact, Ramasamy reckoned that accusing each other on having different themes or slogans “sounds petty and frivolous”.
“I don’t think state level differences in the celebration of the Merdeka event is going to cause problems of huge and unsurmountable problem for the country. I would think the more the differences in themes or slogans are good for the spirit of Merdeka,” he added. – Aug 21, 2023
