War clouds over Penanti

This must indeed be another sign of the kind of new politics that has arrived in Malaysia.

Before 2008, whenever a by-election is pending anywhere in Malaysia, the punters would have put their money on Barisan Nasional. They were those sad times that even if you put the BN symbol on a cow, I would still expect the poor animal to win the by-election hands down!

After the March 8 general election however, the BN traditional formulae of racial posturing, media manipulation, development Maggie Mee, and downright vote buying seem to have lost their magic, as they lost four by-elections in a row within one year in West Malaysia.

The forthcoming Penanti by-election looks like another losing battle for the BN. This kind of anticipation in favour of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat before a by-election was unheard of just a few years ago.

It is also unprecedented that the BN chairperson and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has floated his idea that BN should stay out of the Penanti by-election.

This is a good sign. It means that the Election Commission will not rule the PKR state assemblyperson for Penanti Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin’s resignation letter as invalid. One can never be sure about such thing in Malaysia.

Najib’s reticence about BN participation in the Penanti by-election, at least in his public statements, seems to have arisen from his feeling that the Malaysian public are by-election fatigued.

By-elections are expensive, as the mainstream media are quick to echo. The BN government has to concentrate on managing the nation’s economy within the frosty winter of an economic meltdown. The by-election is unnecessary, and so on.

The chief Chinese representatives in the BN cabinet, Ong Tee Kiat of the MCA and Koh Tsu Koon of Gerakan, immediately purred in concurrence. I will be surprised if they do anything otherwise.

The real truth behind Najib’s unwillingness to engage BN in another electoral tussle with the Pakatan coalition is simply that he is afraid to lose another by-election to the opposition, thereby giving steam to the opposition machinery in a long-running precarious war for the hearts and minds of Malaysians.

Having been nurtured in a political greenhouse, perhaps the second generation of any political family dynasty can never display the kind of iron in the soul as shown by the first generation of political leaders. That kind of fighting spirit cannot be transmitted through the biological genes.

Do we need this by-election?

Is the Penanti by-election necessary? That depends on your political ideology.

I have not met this Fairus chap, but in the past year, there have been incessant complaints about his incompetence in this important job as the deputy chief minister of Penang state.

He must be one of those young chaps swept into office unexpectedly by the political tsunami of March 8 last year. Some new young YBs learn faster than others, I suppose.

Finally, he was investigated by the MACC for some shady deals. We know that MACC can be selective in their investigation of public complaints. You can choose to ignore them, until you are charged and convicted in a court of law.

In this case, Fairus chose to resign. You can interpret this act as PKR holding their elected representatives to a higher moral standard than BN. Then, the by-election is indeed necessary, in support of a cleaner, more transparent and more accountable type of politics.

(In the case of Elizabeth Wong in Selangor, her decision to continue on as elected representative and executive councillor is morally acceptable, because she is a victim of a crime, and not a suspected criminal.)

So the die is cast. There will be a by-election in Penanti, unless the EC comes out with a ridiculous ruling to prevent one.

Then, even in these early days, we hear discordant voices from both the belligerent parties, offering Malaysians valuable lessons in understanding party politics on our curious land.

Having been properly rehabilitated into the Umno fold by the Najib’s ascendancy to the pinnacle of power, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has opined aloud that BN and Umno should indeed plunge headlong into the Penanti by-election on pains of being seen by Malaysians at large as fearful and cowardly.

He even offered to head the fight himself. His sentiment has been echoed by the Penang Umno people as well.

(Someone on the Internet has suggested that Mahathir be nominated to be the BN and Umno candidate for Penanti. Wouldn’t that be something to watch and write about?)

Now I wonder. If Najib goes along with Mahathir that Umno should indeed face down the opposition challenge in Penanti, he will just entrench the perception among many netizens that he is just a stooge PM to his puppet master. His prestige and glamour as the newly-minted premier of 26 million Malaysians will be vastly diminished.

On the other hand, if he persists with his initial unease, and decides eventually to stay out of the Penanti by-election, he may incur the wrath of the former prime minister and draw a stream of sustained attack from this self-appointed gadfly of Umno.

Why, he may even go down the path of his predecessor! Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown indeed.

What’s happening within Pakatan?

Meanwhile, DAP secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng proclaimed very publicly of his great displeasure about how he was kept in the dark about Fairus’ resignation.

This sparked off a very unsightly war of words between the DAP and the PKR luminaries in support of their respective party supremo.

As an old man watching from the sideline with some knowledge of the inner working of political parties, I cannot help but be amused.

If what Guan Eng claimed is true, then PKR top bosses had indeed erred.

Out of respect for Guan Eng and inter-party protocol within a vibrant political coalition, he should indeed have been consulted and informed beforehand, even if you could argue that this is an internal matter within PKR.

On the other hand, you could argue that Guan Eng is no longer just an opposition leader, but the chief minister (Zai Siang) of the Penang state. As the old Chinese proverb says, the stomach of the chief minister should be big enough for you to row a boat in it.

He could have just swallowed this slight from PKR, and seek private channels of communication within the Pakatan coalition framework to remind PKR top dogs the need for future mutual consultation. Or are there inner channels of communication inside the mammoth Pakatan structure?

One should not be surprised that the supporting casts of both DAP and PKR leading lights jumping into the verbal exchange. Party men are a bit like members of the Mafia underworld. When their godfather is under attack, they form a ring around him out of their instinct of undying loyalty to protect the boss of bosses.

Meanwhile, the PAS people in Penanti have also expressed their interest in contesting in the by-election.

For those of us who are used to Umno’s monolithic voice monopolising all BN narratives, this Pakatan internal discordance is both worrisome and refreshing.

The faint-hearted supporters of Pakatan would be worried sick that the opposition coalition is not really sustainable.

Other more adventurous souls will herald this spate of public disagreement between Pakatan components as yet another sign of this new politics, and welcome this diversity within the coalition as proof that the opposition parties are more democratic, playing out their disagreement in the public space rather than sweeping them under the proverbial carpet.

Meanwhile, within the bowel in the nadir of the ruling class of Malaysia, there is this noise jostling for prominence, claiming for the election laws to be amended, to avoid “unnecessary” by-elections. The question then is: who is to say whether any by-election is “necessary” or not.

In retrospect, I have to conclude that the people do not really like the Pakatan Rakyat all that much. Fortunately for the opposition, people just dislike the BN more! Mkini

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SIM KWANG YANG was MP for Bandar Kuching in Sarawak from 1982 to 1995. He can be reached at kenyalang578@hotmail.com.