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We are in a s***hole – who do we blame; who do we condemn?

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Let us forge ahead in unity and solidarity, determined in the struggle to restore democracy and create a New Malaysia, P Ramakrishnan writes.

Let me state my position clearly. This article is not written in favour of Anwar Ibrahim or to oppose him. I am just trying to be rational.

Is this the end of the road for Anwar, as some suggest? Has he reached the end of his political career, as others claim?

I don’t think so! But some politicians seem to think so; others are busy whipping up sentiments of hatred to get rid of Anwar for selfish reasons.

Some have even been arguing that he had lost the confidence of the opposition. How so? Was he defeated in a majority contest? There has been no such contest to confirm their claim.

A vote of confidence is only applicable when you have the majority, but Anwar never had this majority in Parliament. So, what is the premise for this conclusion?

Paid cyber-troopers and troublemakers have been working full steam following the passage of Budget 2021. Their target is Anwar, creating the impression that he had blundered; otherwise, the budget would have been defeated. They cite his last-minute instruction – not to support the call for a bloc vote at the policy stage – as a serious mistake.

They pretend as if the Budget could have been defeated on 26 November at the second reading stage. Let’s get real. The opposition never had the numbers to defeat the Budget. This has been amply demonstrated throughout the Budget session. All through the 11 occasions when a bloc vote was called, they did not have the numbers and the vote went in favour of Perikatan Nasional everytime. On 15 December on the 11th occasion the bloc vote was called, the opposition’s best number was 108 (against 111).

To start with, the numbers were not there and to expect the Budget to be defeated was a pipe dream. If the failure to defeat the Budget was in any way construed as a reflection of Anwar’s leadership, it is not correct. It should rather be seen as a vote of no confidence on the ENTIRE opposition! Fixing the blame on an individual for a collective failure is foolishness.

Anwar also came under fire from his opponents after he failed to prove he had the numbers in the Dewan Rakyat to defeat Budget 2021.They ridiculed him and constantly referred to his press conference on 23 September, when he claimed to possess a “strong, formidable and convincing” majority in the House.

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The truth of the matter is Anwar never laid claim to have a “strong, formidable and convincing” majority to defeat the Budget. What he claimed was that he had the majority to bring down the PN government at that point in time.

Anwar was granted an audience by the Agong on 22 September 2020, but unfortunately His Majesty had to be admitted into the National Heart Institute (IJN) as “he was feeling under the weather.” His Majesty was discharged on 2 October.

The proposed audience that was granted on 22 September provided a window of opportunity for Anwar to stake his claim, but sadly for Anwar, that opportunity was lost when the Agong was warded in IJN the previous day and the audience had to be called off. The Agong was discharged on 2 October 2020 – 10 days later.

This 10-day period provided a breather and ample opportunity for Pakatan Harapan to win over all those Umno MPs who were prepared to jump ship and support Anwar. His claim was not fictitious. This was not a fantasy but a fact that was confirmed by none other than Zahid Hamidi, the Umno president. (See this Aliran article for details.)

These unscrupulous Umno MPs switched back to PN and betrayed themselves once again for greed and gain and broke their pledge to Anwar. This was the reason why Budget 2021 could not be defeated. Budget 2021 could not be defeated because no MP from the PN or Umno side stood up to be on the side of justice and fairness.

This betrayal is no different from the one suffered by Dr Mahathir Mohamad himself. Didn’t he bring over some 13 Umno MPs into Bersatu to strengthen his power and position in PH? What happened? They betrayed him and sided with Muhyiddin Yassin, and later Mahathir himself was sacked from his own party. For these people, there is no sense of self-respect, shame or honour – it is natural behaviour! It is seemingly part of their culture. It takes people of character and integrity to stay true to their word.

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That said, why are they going after Anwar so viciously? Why are they vilifying and demonising him so maliciously, if not to camouflage their own lack of self-respect and the pure pursuit of their own gain and greed?

It is not difficult to understand. Of all the opposition Malay leaders, Anwar is seen to be the most dangerous, with enough persistence and stamina to mount a formidable challenge and threaten their grip on power. Therefore, he must be destroyed by hook or by crook. It is as simple as that!

They perceive that by going after Anwar, they hope to divert the actual situation and spare the person who was primarily responsible for the pathetic situation we are in. It is a deliberate attempt to hoodwink us and sideline the real issue.

Who is responsible for this s***hole we are in? Not Anwar! Not PH! One man is responsible! He, on his own, without consultation with PH leaders who put him in power, resigned unilaterally and caused this present mess.

Without any respect for the over five-and-a-half million Malaysians who voted out Barisan Nasional for the first time in our 61-year history, he frustrated our aspirations, dashed our dreams and crushed our hopes by throwing away what was a hard-fought victory. He nullified our mandate arrogantly.

On 16 March 2019, PH had 139 federal MPs – only nine short of the 148 MPs needed to secure a two-thirds super majority in the 222-seat Parliament. PH’s position was invincible; it was set to rule for many decades.

Reforms were creeping in slowly, but the kleptocrats were hounded mercilessly and charged in courts seriously, as never before. Many looters, plunderers and thieves were in the dock staring at inevitable convictions. All these valiant efforts and struggles were brought to nought by this one man who has ruined our democracy.

If only he had remained a man of honour and faithfully kept his word and fulfilled his promise to hand over the baton to Anwar after two years as solemnly and collectively agreed upon, it would have been a smooth transition – but that wasn’t his game plan; it had never been!

Who is this man? It’s none other than Mahathir!

Forget him, forget about ever trusting the kleptocrats, dismiss any thought of working with them, don’t ever dream of creating a united, stable nation for ALL with their help. It will never happen! Their strategy has always been to divide and rule forever!

READ MORE:  Malaysia at a crossroads: Can Anwar drive true reform?

The Opposition should rally together to save our beloved Malaysia. There is much to do – and must be done – to rescue our motherland from the clutches of the corrupt and greedy politicians.

We must wipe out corruption, save our economy and provide jobs for the unemployed and homes for the homeless. We must raise the standard of education that has deteriorated, ensure that our schools are staffed by a multi-ethnic workforce that reflects our plural society and promote peace, harmony and unity among our citizens.

We must amend our Constitution to disallow ‘party-hopping’ that mocks our right to vote for a party of our choice. We must forbid a caretaker government from announcing new policies and granting allocations to induce voters during an election campaign period through laws that are enforceable.

We must amend the standing orders of Parliament so that motions of no confidence will take priority over government bills to make democracy meaningful. A mandatory 14-day notice must be given to announce the vacancy of the Speaker’s post, to allow time for nominations to be invited before such an election takes place. Even if there was no contest, the sole contending candidate must be proposed and elected by members of Parliament – not declared as automatically elected.

We must investigate all the instant millionaires who acquired their wealth through corruption and bring to book all those who aided and abetted in the plundering of the nation’s wealth. We must ensure that those facing criminal charges involving the nation’s wealth do not go scot-free and those who had been released recently are re-charged to face the music.

Clearly there is much to be done and achieved. It calls for the entire opposition in the country to come together with the mission to save Malaysia and serve the nation with commitment.

The plea of the people is this: forge ahead in unity and solidarity, determined in the struggle to restore democracy and create a New Malaysia to be a country for all Malaysians.

Let the guiding principle be: “Alone, we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller

The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.

AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
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Dr. SNaidu
Dr. SNaidu
30 Dec 2020 2.05pm

Tks Rama.Educational with truth,facts. How can we try to help change the umno-pas guys who r creating so much harm to OUR beloved ‘Swarna’ bumi.Latest halal meat scandal shd be a revealing episode to those still supporting above parties. Many2 Ms r still poor,often ravaged by annual floods,disease, poor educational skills,Mat rempits, drug dependent, tending easily towards corruption as long as there r kickbacks.We hv seen this even in the earlier M groups too-my generation of friends,possibly they ‘don’t mind’ even being religious outwardly, to go along with the corrupt ways.Parliament,police,courts, good MSNS MUST step up before we go to the dogs.Many of us just want TO BE MSN CITIZENS as of the FED. CONSTN, RKN NEG, in d MSN moment.

loyal malaysian
loyal malaysian
20 Dec 2020 5.32am

Rama, let’s agree to disagree.
I am no paid cyber trooper but I still feel Anwar’s time with destiny had passed.
But I agree with you, wholeheartedly, Mahathir is the culprit.
He should be left alone, not even touch with a ten foot pole till he expired from Malaysian politics.
All your recommendations are excellent for improvement to our nation’s democratic system. Yet, sadly they will not see the light of day in Parliament – not under this backdoor govt. nor a subsequent Tumpas[team umno pas] as speculated.

Politi Scheiss
Politi Scheiss
21 Dec 2020 3.40pm

PH is not in good shape right now:-

Analyst sees PH left with crumbs from Umno-PAS alliance

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/12/21/analyst-sees-ph-left-with-crumbs-from-umno-pas-alliance/

No more hope in Pakatan Harapan
https://www.newsarawaktribune.com.my/no-more-hope-in-pakatan-harapan/

The powerful Reformasi wave has run its course and has lost a lot of its former oomph!

Lalitha Chelliah
Lalitha Chelliah
20 Dec 2020 5.21am

Until religion is separated from the government many countries and politics will remain a quagmire rendering the people losers who will remain divided and distracted. The time has come for people around the world to realise that the current political economic system is well past its use by date. A change is due like in slavery days, feudal days etc. The question is which country will do it first.

Lalitha Chelliah
Lalitha Chelliah
20 Dec 2020 5.17am

This is a useful article to realise that all the horse trading in the world amongst politicians cannot bring even a shade of democracy to this country. The issue here is to mobilise working class and poor Malays who are not beneficiaries to the race based policies established since the Tun Razak days which were solidified by Mahathir later. I believe that unless a party can be truly based on the people it will not succeed. In any country, to think that the people are stupid is suicide. As the saying goes ‘ you can fool some of the people some of the time but not all the people all the time”. This can be seen in the US that is now at a fork in the road. If they really believe that the Biden mob can deliver for the people then they are fools.

Politi Scheiss
Politi Scheiss
21 Dec 2020 3.32pm

Well said Lalitha.

I like that last sentence about the Biden mob.

Several hard left commentators have been ripping the Democrats apart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbZFO-pmJMo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKWbkEAFQrU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhCQ-UNZ1aA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGP2GHRSgbw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMpxhFcUqcY

In 2016, Hillary Clinton called working class Americans concerned about the economic survival “Deplorables” and Trump won.

Politi Scheiss
Politi Scheiss
21 Dec 2020 3.44pm

Of all the Democrat Party presidential contenders, the only one I really respect is Tulsi Gabbard, who wants to end US-imperialist military interventions and presence abroad. As a soldier, Tulsi understands war.

Politi Scheiss
Politi Scheiss
19 Dec 2020 9.03pm

Those united anti-Pak Lah bloggers in 2007 had a rented clubhouse in a bungalow in Damansara Heights, a prime residential area in Kuala Lumpur, whilst the National Union of Journalists Malaysia owns a run down three-storey shoplot behind the YMCA in Brickfields. The union occupies one floor and rents out the other two floors and relies on members’ dues for income.

I find it hard to imagine that those bloggers, some of whom had accepted VSS from their former paper could collectively afford the rent or lease on that clubhouse and suspect that there was a rich sugar daddy financing them.

The two-year lease on their club house expired in July 2009, after Pak Lah had stepped down on 3 April 2009. Mission accomplished ????

Politi Scheiss
Politi Scheiss
19 Dec 2020 8.13pm

This is the kind of politics of those with UMNO DNA, whether UMNO members or members of a party of ex-UMNO members and Malaysian politics since 1998 has centred around this struggle between UMNO members and ex-UMNO members, with non-UMNO/non-BN opposition parties and NGOs playing sidekick to this battle in the hope of getting elected to power.

Politi Scheiss
Politi Scheiss
19 Dec 2020 8.06pm

When Zahid Hamidi said that he could not stop some UMNO MPs from siding with Anwar, that should have been a good reason to smell a rat.

Back in 2007, a group of bloggers aligned to an anti-Pak Lah faction in UMNO united with opposition bloggers to propagandise against Pak Lah and after Pak Lah stepped down, we got Najib and then Mahathir and his comrades within Bersatu allied with Pakatan to bring down Najib, which they did and when other Pakatan ally leaders pressed Mahathir to declare a date for his handover to Anwar, Mahathir resigned, the Azmin faction split for PKR, Bersatu left, the Pakatan government fell and now we have Muhyiddin, whow a faction within UMNO and Pakatan want to oust and we could end up with an UMNO PM.

Politi Scheiss
Politi Scheiss
19 Dec 2020 7.53pm

Also, it is bad politically to raise people’s expectations only for them to be dashed, since when it happens too many times it becomes like the boy who cried “wolf” too often and the village folk did not take him seriously when ther actually was a wolf. This damages the politician’s credibility in the eyes of voters.

Politi Scheiss
Politi Scheiss
19 Dec 2020 7.44pm

Well said.

However, those UMNO MPs who said they would support Anwar to bring Muhyiddin down may have just been posing, with the intention to pull out at the last minute.

Also, Mahathir obviously used Pakatan to oust Najib, after which he would do what he wants to stay as PM.

The lesson to be learned here is not to ally with the devil for quick gain, since sooner of later the devil or devils will demand payback or just derail you.

Pakatan has to work harder in a more united and purposely focused and disciplined manner to gain voters’ confidence to eventually win.

Also, if party hopping is long in principle and a betrayal of voters, then Pakatan should not entice MPs to hop over to them for quick gain.

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