The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

Posted: 27 Sep 2011 04:31 PM PDT

SEPT 28 — Middle Malaysia is elusive but it is clear that whichever coalition that is able to win across the traditional fault lines of race, religion and regions takes Federal power.

Barisan Nasional is now the world's oldest elected government still in office. Its predecessor, the Alliance party, first won the Federal election for self-government in 1955.

BN's longevity in government can be attributed to successful manipulation of the carrot and stick. Carrots range from contracts for big tycoons to rural patronage for the Umno base while the sticks are really big – dissenters can be put behind bars without trial for years while the mass media are muzzled.

But there is something deeper: there is no alternative.

Or more precisely, the ultimate use of the carrot and stick is to ensure that no BN-clone is allowed to exist.

Instead of fighting a single opposition, BN perpetuated a structure which has two flanks — PAS for the Muslims and DAP for the non-Malays — and styled itself as the indispensable pseudo "centrist" coalition that caters for the interests across racial, religious and regional boundaries.

Without a clean and fair electoral system and an unbiased mass media, the moment a moderate centrist coalition emerges it is destroyed without mercy.

Elections in 1964, 1974, 1982, 1995, and 2004 saw a general swing of all ethnic groups in favour of Barisan Nasional for various reasons. Elections in 1978 and 1986 witnessed Barisan Nasional winning across the races but losing heavily among ethnic Chinese voters.

A general anti-establishment swing across races in various degrees towards the Opposition occurred in elections in 1959, 1969, 1990, 2008 while the 1999 election was an oddity with Malays swinging massively towards the Opposition while more than 50 per cent of the supposedly more anti-establishment voted for the ruling coalition out of fear of the Islamic state claim and copycat violence a la Indonesia's anti-Suharto days.

The de facto centre plus two flanks structure was almost broken in the 1990 general election until the final days of campaign when BN depicted Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as a traitor to the Malays for wearing a Kadazan headgear with a symbol that looks like a cross. At the time, the majority of the ethnic Chinese and nearly half of the Malays were psychologically ready for a change of government.

Since the 2008 general election, BN's formula to win the next election is not to recognise the two-party reality that it received only 51 per cent of popular votes. In fact, only 49 per cent in peninsular Malaysia voted for BN.

Instead, apart from starving the Opposition of material resources and fair mass media coverage, the strategy is three-pronged – to destroy Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's credibility as the alternative prime minister at all costs, to lure PAS' leaders into the Malay/Muslim exclusivist discourse and to paint DAP as an extremist villain.

It is no small feat that for the last three-and-a-half years since the formation of Pakatan Rakyat as a consequence of the March 2008 election, it has so far been able to hold Middle Malaysia.

The alternative media channels are more mature compared to two decades ago while 70 per cent of Malaysians are now living in the urban areas which allow greater exposure and access to alternative views. In 1980, only 35 per cent of the population live in urban areas.

Umno has also effectively ceded Middle Malaysia to the Opposition since the waving of the keris by Hishammuddin Hussein in July 2005. Its right wing is now dictating policies.

And, to the credit of Pakatan Rakyat, it has stayed in Middle Malaysia all this while.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

The Raya that was

Posted: 27 Sep 2011 04:27 PM PDT

SEPT 28 — It started with my seeing from afar, a friend of my mother's, with a bag of multilevel marketing products, at the gate of a link house.

MLM marketers are not an uncommon sight, but seeing a woman, close to her 70s, selling supplements, was a jarring sight. One could say that she was a symbol of industry, for even at her age, she was still active and working. Didn't work stave off Alzheimer's? But the point is precisely this: at her age, shouldn't she be resting and enjoying the fruits of her labour?

What a sombre Raya. I see some friends of my parents and older relatives, not just depending on their children's charity, but having to do small businesses, selling this and that. Quite a number have resigned themselves to the fact that they will die in debt, despite insurance. Old age, and health woes are their constant worry, and lack of money is their bedside companion.

The main question at the few open houses I attended was this: Are we Malaysians destined to just survive financially? And that to earn an income more than RM8,000 a month would mean that there would be no work-life balance?

When you hit your 40s, all this comes to the forefront, and you wonder, as you observe the moneyed and beautiful young, and rich, whom a friend calls The Concession Generation... you wonder if you and your friends will have that comfortable life or end up in your 60s trying to sell madu tualang to your neighbours.

My friends and I — we come from every race and economic class — wonder if our efforts are enough. It's never enough. There's a child to feed, a parent to care for and yourself to clothe and feed. Living in KL and Malaysia is not about gathering wealth. It is about surviving. Sustenance. Perhaps we may not even be comfortable in our old age. Who's to know?

Friends in the media have opted for the public relations route, and let their lives sap away as they burn through even more hours meeting deadlines and dealing with one crisis after another. Some have joined the corporate world, but in private, shake their heads at the ethics.

For us women, no matter how educated we are, how high we rise, in the end, some of us take that easier route: By dating well-to-do men, who often than not, are married. But can you blame them? Judge them?

Kuala Lumpur can be such a cruel place to be in. It is not your ethics and morals that will take you places. It is your connections, your status, your power and if you have it, beauty. When you have all that, you can do whatever you want, to the point of destroying others, but you are forgiven, because that is how it is here.

Hard work? Don't be stupid. It doesn't get you anywhere. It is at times like this that we question ourselves. Are our morals just too antiquated? After all, there seems to be no karma for the ones who erred. They're the ones who will lead a comfortable life. Not like us, who will slog to our deaths.

Ramadan has been a truly interesting month. A friend who has worked so hard to attain the little she had, lost everything except her looks. A good girl, as we say. Faced with a family to support, she asked me what I thought of her becoming a mistress to a wealthy man.

When I was in my 20s, I would have cut her off from my life. I am now in my 40s and have seen enough.

"Whatever you decide, don't tell me. You're a big girl now," I said. I am not god. Who was I to judge, when if fate may play a joke on me and I may face similar circumstances?

Well-meaning friends tell friends and me this.

You got to learn to position yourself, play the game. You can't think of the other person's family; your family comes first. Kill.

You have some face, flirt je lah. Apa susah? Bukan you tidur dengan dia pun.

Late at night, our Blackberries ping messages. We discuss our work, debts, savings, everything. A friend texted to say he prayed so hard, his forehead was getting black. He didn't think his prayers would be heard in Malaysia.

"Kita cakap je Malaysia ni negara Islam, tapi tengok lah! Aku tak minum, aku tak zina, aku kerja keras. Tapi aku bodoh, tak reti office politik. Sebab tu aku berhutang, jaga family aku."

Ethics. Most of us walk away from what is not right. But is it to our personal detriment?

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Rabu, 28 September 2011

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

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