Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia's Multi-Ethnic Coalition Near Collapse

Posted: 04 Apr 2013 10:41 PM PDT

Regardless of who wins Malaysia's 12th general election, expected to be held on April 27, the historic multi-ethnic coalition that has ruled the country since independence will have likely collapsed.

"Whatever the results, the Barisan coalition will cease to exist as we know it because the Malaysian Chinese Association, Gerakan and the Malaysian Indian Congress will be wiped out," a Kuala Lumpur-based businessman told Asia Sentinel. "Assuming UMNO forms the government with Sabah and Sarawak parties, there will be no Chinese and Indian representatives in the government. And that is not a good scenario to have."

The Barisan and the opposition, made up of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat headed by Anwar Ibrahim, the ethnic Chinese Democratic Action Party and the fundamentalist Parti Islam se-Malaysia are embroiled in what is being called the closest election in the country's history, with both sides predicting victory. One opposition strategist said the race would probably come down to a margin of 10 seats either way in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat, or parliament.

For most of the time from its 1957 inception as an independent nation, the country has been governed by a carefully engineered amalgam of ethnic parties led by the United Malays National Organization, the Malaysian Chinese Association, the Malaysian Indian Congress and, to a lesser extent, Gerakan, which has faded in recent years.

However, in the debacle of the 2008 election, the MCA was left with just 15 seats in parliament. Gerakan, the second mostly Chinese ethnic party, ended up with just two seats. The MIC was left with three. UMNO won 78.

In the upcoming polls, political analysts say the MCA could see its total seats fall to just one or two, roiled as the party is by years of major scandals and political infighting that once impelled one of the contending factions to secretly film party leader Chua Soi Lek having a sex romp in a hotel room in a vain effort to drive him from politics. The resurgent opposition Democratic Action Party expects to claim the vast majority of Chinese voters. Gerakan, whose base is in Penang, which is controlled by the DAP, could be wiped out completely, the analysts say. The MIC is equally riven by scandal and infighting, with its members and leadership gravitating away towards the Hindu Rights Action Force, or Hindraf.

This not a scenario being prepared by members of the opposition. It has been discussed within UMNO councils for months as the party has watched the other components of the Barisan drift into disaster. It is at least partly responsible for the rise in race-baiting in recent months as UMNO and its attack-dog ancillaries such as the Malay supremacy NGO Perkasa raise the spectre that ethnic Chinese, and particularly Chinese Christians in a Muslim country ? will take over the reins of power.

Ethnic Malays make up 50.4 percent of the population, Chinese 24 percent, Indians 7.1 according to the CIA World Factbook. UMNO sees its chance to keep its leadership of the country intact by winning every available ethnic Malay vote and hopefully luring ethnic Indians back into the fold.

Thus indigenous tribes, most of them in East Malaysia, with 11 percent of the population, probably hold the key to the 2013 election, most political analysts feel. The states of Sabah and Sarawak and the federal territory of Labuan control 57 of the 222 seats. The 165 peninsular seats are almost equally divided between the Barisan and Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

As the MCA in particular descended into chaos, an UMNO operative told Asia Sentinel months ago that UMNO basically decided it would have to go it alone in the 13th general election. While the other ethnic parties will field candidates in the election, UMNO will try to take as many constituencies dominated by ethnic Malays as possible and hope the component parties can have some impact.

If not, the 57 East Malaysia seats - depending on how the parties controlled by the current chief ministers fare in the election - will control Peninsular Malaysia's destiny. In both Sarawak and Sabah, the bonds of loyalty that keep elected lawmakers bound to particular parties are slippery indeed. In one case in the 1980s, when the opposition unexpectedly took control of the statehouse in Kota Kinabalu, the victorious coalition locked their winning members behind a chain link fence to keep them from being bribed away by the losers.

Should the collapse scenario actually take place, it will produce a "mono-ethnic and unelectable opposition that will be constrained to the Malay belt" in the Peninsula, where 20 million of the 28 million Malaysians make their home - without the help of the East Malaysian states. Both chief ministers have been implicated, although not indicted, in scandals involving untold amounts of money in bribery for timber sales. They would be pleased to talk to the opposition in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

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A Smiling Bully

Posted: 04 Apr 2013 11:05 AM PDT

Walking towards a Pakatan rally at Kampung Melayu Dato Sulaiman Menteri in Johor Bahru, I could hear loud music coming from the open area where the ceramah was supposed to be. Initially I thought it was the pre-rally entertainment to amuse those who came earlier but as I got closer I could see Umno and BN flags from where the mega sound system was, just 40 metres from the Pakatan truck which served as the mobile stage.

Around 30 of these flag-waving Umno supporters were hurling verbal abuses and taunting the crowd of several thousands that night who came to hear what Anwar, Kit Siang, Guan Eng and other Pakatan leaders had to say.

Scores of police personnel had to act as human barricades to separate this small group of hostile supporters from the larger crowd who to their credit was peaceful and not provoked. Rock music and Umno songs blasted non-stop for more than 4 hours for the whole duration of the ceramah.

When different speakers were on stage, abuses would come through the Umno sound system and the Negaraku was played at least five times to interrupt the speech. Anwar got it the worse and as he attempted to speak, one could hear "Penipu, pembohong" being shouted at him.

Like many right-thinking Malaysian that night, I was disgusted, saddened and ashamed of the level some segment of our society has descended to!

It wasn't my first encounter with such childish attempts to sabotage an event which the ruling government does not agree with but this was the worst case so far for me. With Parliament dissolved and official campaigning about to start, I am afraid the worst is yet to come.

Something just doesn't jive, it doesn't make sense.

In recent weeks I have been coming across billboards of PM Najib smiling sweetly with children of different faces and the text "This is Happiness" or "This is Stability". On the TV we hear commercials using well-known personalities to "advise" voters to choose wisely, to choose peace, stability, happiness and even Malaysia. Songs about choosing wisely were commissioned and sung by fresh faced, white attired multi-ethnic singers. It just feels so good and gives you the warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

The image portrayed by the mass media of the BN government is one that is peace-loving, gracious, gentle, stable, mature, tolerant, inclusive and progressive. But these are just mere images and words conjured up by some professional public relation consultants who are no doubt paid tens of millions of ringgit.

The reality is shockingly different.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Jumaat, 5 April 2013

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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