The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| It can be fun being the opposition! Posted: 19 Dec 2012 04:10 PM PST DEC 20 — While the rest of mankind may justifiably feel — after December 21 — that the end of the world has been averted for another millennium at least, Umno leaders are likely to stay in the doomsday funk for a tad longer as their stay of execution shortens with a nearing general election in 2013. Smile, my friends in Umno, not all will be lost when you lose the polls; always look at the bright side of death. While I may appear smug, I readily concede that an election should be entirely about the will of the people and Pakatan Rakyat is completely entitled to lose too. All of us can win or lose the mandate of the people. Just that Pakatan leaders have lost many, many times before. We've got oodles of practice, while our colleagues in Umno will go chart a course into the great unknown when they are ousted. Things like winning voters with ideas not handouts and asking BN volunteers to work for free, frightening! So we care, I care, about these Umno men lost at sea. When I say Umno men, I am not referring to the millions of people living or dead, real or fictional listed in its membership directory, but the thousands who live off the party's largesse through the control of government, state companies and ownership of businesses with "guarantees." How would these Umno men carry on? Since this is Christmas, a season to give, let's list down the positive flip-side of being in the federal opposition. There are some upsides, stretch your imagination a little. And then there'll be things I will work to ensuring the opposition Umno gets access to; all part of being in the happy family of a democracy. The cussing ends... for a while It's been raining without respite the last month in the Klang Valley, it can be annoying. Therefore, Klang Valley residents can sense somewhat how it feels to be an Umno operative; it has been an unrelenting typhoon shower since somewhere in the start of the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi administration. The good times are still the good times (the contracts are always there), but the national moan about the excesses of the Umno community can be off-putting. During the tail-end of the Mahathir years, the tales of unaccountability and high-handedness was pointed at the man who doesn't give a flying teacup when criticised, but since he took leave of office — maybe not power — the Malaysian public have turned their swords on Umno. Mind you, Malaysians may still vote Umno into power again, however the collective spite will return after the euphoria of electoral victory. A classic case of the cancer cells returning with verve after a short period of remission. So as an operative, think of it as a short planned holiday. Power is desirable, but so is popularity, so in a bid for the latter Umno men must go on a sabbatical, like Luke Skywalker in "Empire Strikes Back" — without the sliced hand ending. Come back rejuvenated and righteous and tell people why Pakatan is not fixing quickly all the problems you have engineered and executed over decades. Use old methods, accuse Pakatan of creating the problems. Causality does not matter in politics, only present realities. Stand on the moral high ground with your new south-of-France tan, and pontificate about two years of Pakatan is two years too long. And in a year you can use the most original line of three years of Pakatan is three years too long. Keep in touch, vote away from home The overseas vote will be realised under Pakatan, so a million-odd Malaysians with education, worldliness and experience in other democracies will vote. Guess which way they'd vote, Umno? On a brighter note, those who are now just MPs or no more — actually it doesn't matter either way if you are not in the coalition that wins — can now spend more time in their beach houses and country homes away from Malaysia. Because you can vote without having to fly back. The kids won't treat you like a paedophile Selangor might have been a Pakatan state for the last four years and houses most of the public schools in the country, but Pakatan MPs never get invited to the schools. The state also is the home to most of the premier public universities, but Pakatan leaders can't officially sniff the campus lawns. I'm not about to claim there is an elaborate and dishonest policy to shut out Pakatan leaders from all public educational facilities, but you can say our official invites never get delivered by the mailmen. Selangor does have one tertiary institution, Universiti Selangor, the single oasis for your Pakatan leaders to mingle with young voters in a campus. Worry not Umno, universities and schools can invite you as they please. No point teaching civics and social responsibilities if the guy responsible to carry your political mandate is not allowed in a classroom. No point telling kids that a democracy is about choosing when they have no valid way to weigh all their choices. And it is just downright mad to let children pay the price of all political decisions and then bar them from interacting with the key players of the field of decision making. It is akin to manufacturing indifference and possible ineptitude in our children, and then in their adulthood demanding a refund because the unit has no opinion. Sorry Umno man, saw you yawning, here's the cliffnote: you can talk to the kids, even about your archaic, vitriolic and unproductive race-hate discourse, we'll focus on making them smarter. If they can't see past your simplistic notions of might is right, then we've done a lousy job with the education and they do belong with you. Show the right stuff at your states, run a tight ship Kelantan has had a 22-year run as a renegade state in the eyes of BN, it would be good to see how long a state like Johor would have under a Pakatan government. However, fear not those set to run BN states in a Pakatan federal government, there'll won't be the "interruption to normal service" and standoffs. If Lim Guan Eng can plod along despite being called a man who walks around like the Gestapo for Malays, and not implode; and instead outperform all expectations, I'm sure Umno can outshine Lim when they are in similar situations under Pakatan's Putrajaya. And there is so much more I can go on and on, waxing lyrical about all of which Umno will be getting on our watch, but the short of it is that Umno will get everything we should have been having a crack at if this were a level playing field now. How it is supposed to be. But I have to admit, I will miss what is now becoming a norm, to blame all the endemic wrongs in the country on Umno. I mean there will be a time, not much longer after Pakatan takes over and when the bloodletting in Umno is complete, that people will ease off on Umno. It is the nature of people. No functioning state can fill its day with blame and the past. It would be fun to see Umno struggle to perform basic political work as we do because they are suppressing us now, but wanting that on your opponents is just mean. And being mean is not how you make things better, make Malaysia better. Which is why, Umno is about to have an easier ride as the opposition party. Good enough? Adjust dude, all said and done, it is a fall. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. |
| Posted: 19 Dec 2012 03:19 PM PST 20 DIS — Ucapan tahniah buat Teresa Kok yang memenangi pemilihan Jawatankuasa Pasat DAP dan kemudian terpillih pula menjadi Naib Pengerusi DAP. Ia adalah satu penghormatan kepada perjuangan wanita di Malaysia dan sekalian wanita wajar berbangga dengan pemilihannya. Dan dengan kedudukan itu, kiranya Pakatan Rakyat berjaya menawan Putrajaya pada PRU13 nanti, Teresa diduga akan duduk dalam kabinet. Saya tidak menduga seorang gadis muda yang datang ke pejabat saya di pejabat Harakah berbelas tahun lalu adalah seorang pimpinan penting DAP hari ini dan mungkin menjadi seorang tokoh nasional yang ke depan. Teresa dan seorang wanita lagi datang ke pejabat saya beberapa tahun sebelum dia menjadi anggota Parlimen Siputih. Dia tidak memberitahu saya yang dia adalah aktivis DAP. Pertama kali saya menemuinya itu, dia meninjau pandangan saya tentang Aung San Suu Kyi, wanita ikon demokrasi Myanmar yang ditahan rumah lebih 20 tahun itu. PAS adakah bersama sekalian pejuang kebebasan demokrasi di seluruh dunia menentang penahanan itu. Dia mengaku ada hubungan langsung dengan penyokong wanita itu dan ada asas jalan darat melalui Thailand untuk sampai ke tempat tahanannya. Dia tanya saya apakah saya mahu menemuinya? Jika saya mahu, dia boleh mengatur perjalanan bersama kedua wanita itu pergi mengunjunginya melalui jalan darat. Ia mungkin mengambil masa seminggu untuk pergi dan seminggu lagi untuk balik. Saya sendiri tertarik untuk pengembaraan seperti itu, untuk mencari pengalaman dan untuk melihat desa dan hutan rimba wilayah-wilayah yang dilalui. Kalau saya setuju, dia sedia untuk menyusun perjalanan dan mengatur pertemuan itu. Saya setuju pada dasarnya. Dia minta saya menghubunginya jika saya bersedia. Kemudian datang fikiran saya telah masalah perjalanan lama dengan wanita-wanita muda pula. Banyak fitnah yang menunggu. Terutama Teresa itu orangnya amat peramah. Oleh kerana saya rasa saya tidak cukup merdeka dan tidak terdaya mendekati fitnah, saya tidak menguhunginya. Satu hari saya menghadiri pertemuan dengan belia NGO di sebuah rumah dekat dengan pejabat DAP di Petaling Jaya. Saya jumpa Teresa di situ. Jika saya tidak silap, dia tinggal di rumah itu. Masa itu baru saya tahu dia aktivis muda DAP. Dalam satu seminar di Universiti Malaya, saya jumpa lagi dia di situ. Kata Syed Azman, pensyarah di situ masa itu, Teresa adalah penuntutnya. Syed Azman adalah ADUN PAS Terengganu sekarang. Kemudian dia menjadi calon DAP di Parlimen Siputih. Dia menang. Lepas itu kerap saya menemuinya di Parliman. Semasa Ustaz Fadzil Noor menjadi ketua pembangkang di Parlimen, Teresa selalu ada di pejabat ketua pembangkang itu. Dia memang peramah, sentiasa senyum, mudah diajak berbincang. Dan pandai pula bergurau. Kira-kira itulah watak yang esok untuk menjadi wakil rakyat kerana caranya itu mudah menarik pelanggan. Bila tiba waktu solat kami selalu solat di bilik Ustaz Fadzil itu. Bila Teresa ada dia melihat kami solat. Bila tiba waktu solat ketika sedang berbual dengannya, saya berita dia saya hendak solat sebentar dan dia boleh duduk di situ dulu. Kerana dia seorang yang senang berkawan, saya tidak terasa segan solat semasa dia ada, dan pernah bergarau, "Teresa mari kita solat bersama!" Sambil senyum dan bersahaja dia menjawab, "You solat dulu." Kami tergelak. "I sungguh anak you solat sama." Jawabnya, "Tak apa you solat dulu. Nanti I solat pula..." Sudah lama tidak ke Parlimen dan tidak bertemu dengannya. Semasa Kongres DAP di Pulau Pinanag itu dia jadi orang penting mengendalikan persiapan Kongres. Sekarang dia sudah jadi Naib Pengerusi DAP dan pengerusinya ialah Karpal Singh. * Ini adalah pandangan peribadi penulis. |
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