Walla on the future of Chinese politics post Sarawak

A: 'Like a cruise missile, our blogger has quickly homed in on the key impact of the Sarawak state elections, Sir. Any comment?'

 

B: 'Your lovely eyes mesmerize my lonely heart, Sofea.'

 

A: '(eyes roll, lips twist). Sir, your attempt at distraction is lost on me, well, today anyway. Please stay focused on this grave matter.'

 

B: '(sighs, but with a twinkle) Ok, Sofea, i think the impact is more than just about the Chinese voice in BN politics. I think it's about the irrelevance of BN politics itself.

 

We all knew one day it would come to this. Our Chinese brethren would vote for what they see as needed to arrest the slide of the country. Global relevance, administrative integrity, execution efficiency and principle-based fairness have all slid precipitously.

 

Despite knowing that an Umno-run BN will take it out on them for their resisting stand, they have been as consistent today as they were in 2008. You can't deny they have shown sterling maturity as thinking and principled citizens even as we know they should have been given more in terms of policy support because what they have been asking are congruent with national interests in the long run.

 

From their disgust and dismay at the way this country has been run into the ground, they have stood their own ground and are braving themselves to face a future without BN by defending universal principles of good government out of clean and pragmatic politics. You tell me which right-minded government cannot appreciate and should not support this.

 

Now let me ask you back - how different is their political situation from that of the majority of their Malay brethren in Umno who have been marginalized by the political machinations of its own ultras and elites?'

 

A: 'Is that why you're saying our BN politics is irrelevant, Sir?'

 

B: 'BN politics is race-based politics. It is party by race leading to horse trading. This cannot work anymore because the more the ultras react to the Chinese stand in this country, the greater will be racial polarization fueled by politics.

 

When that happens, our Malays will carve for themselves more political power and this they think they can still do because they still think they hold all the cards of government. They will then marginalize parties like MCA and MIC whose voters will swing to DAP and others.

 

Remember what Nazri and company had said about the MCA? Remember how Taib had told off Chan in a SUPP dinner?

 

But it is a big mistake. Because it will cause reaction by our non-Malays to avoid having anything to do with BN.

 

The final result is the country will be split first politically, then socially, and finally economically. Lacuna and diaspora will be created in every nook and cranny and at every level. And investors with capital, technology, markets and employment will look at our country and say we're only good for short-term. With that, all investment and development plans will be thrown out of orbit. And the only high incomers of our Malay community in the end will be Umno ultras who will be parking their ill-gotten gains in offshore accounts after getting the cabinet to go down on its knees before the saudi's.'

 

A: 'So you're saying the Awang Selamats of Umno are being short-sighted when they clamor for more Malay-ism in BN politics? More political power to counteract the resurgence of our Chinese and other non-Malays in national politics?'

 

B: 'Exactly. They should think one more step and ask themselves the simplest of questions and then answer it publicly. And the question is this:

 

How can a government be the private sector?

 

Frankly if you look at the way Umno has been running its GLCs, it's a total freaking failure opening up to rampant abuse and bleeding the national coffers.

 

So how can race-based politics work? It will polarize politics and economics but how to carry on after that stage?

 

I hate to say this but the trouble with our Malays in political power is that they are extremely short-sighted.'

 

A: 'Sir, perhaps their short-sightedness is only for the masses. Their own sight is long, deep and glittering with the sheen of gold.'

 

B: 'Since robbers won't arrest themselves, the stand of our Chinese citizens looks even more relevant and pragmatic by the day. In fact the indirect result of their stand is to support the needs of the moderate masses of our Malays by making sure our country remains relevant to the world.

 

A: 'I am sure our PM knows all this and he is trying his level best to transform things.'

 

B: 'You really think so? Then explain to me why he persisted in punishing the folks of Sibu for rebuffing his horse trading offer. Not only flood mitigation but also the airport, i understand.

 

How can the PM of a country try to bribe rakyat using their money and then when they rebuff the offer, punish them by ignoring their plight and development? Bribe followed by blackmail is double jeopardy, you know.

 

That single exposure tells us all the actual character of someone raised with a silver spoon, trained overseas and who has rubbed shoulders with world luminaries.

 

He took it personally. He labeled those who were not for him as against him. Why, is he a fan of Bush?'

 

A: 'Sir, maybe he is just sacrificing them for the benefit of his Umno carrot-and-stick tactic to try and draw more support from voters so as to realize a bigger and grander vision for Malaysia.'

 

B: 'Amboi, my dear, open your eyes. You see all those youtube and twitter pics on the Sarawak elections? See the poor folks queuing up, potholed roads, the drab surroundings, the tin-sheds and furniture of the fifties in the polling stations? Except for a handful of places in Peninsular, is our Malaysia that developed and important after half a century of BN rule that we are even qualified to talk about grand visions as sly justification to push and bully our citizens around by using their money to press-gang them into voting for a regime that is not only corrupt but also a syndicated divisive political mafioso in all but name?

 

Next time he and his cohorts should just take the easy way out. Why not just say if you don't vote for BN, i will red-tar your house doors?

 

Sofea, what's the difference between Umno's vote-currying tactics and the arm-twisting's of the a-longs?'

 

A: 'Sir! You're too angry!'

 

B: 'Sofea, maybe it's because i am old and my eyesight is bad so that this doesn't look good:

 

http://is.gd/jAyX4c

 

Like an old diehard, i tried to frame a doubt in my mind. But the puteri's shown didn't look as though they were show-acting. They looked exactly like the bored and race-minded officials you would see at the desks of some of our local uni's boothing at the job-fairs in the city. What kind of a customer service and culture is that? What kind of supervision was behind it? What kind of future will we have from the impressions that all would have collected by now of what Umno produces? Do you read me, Sofea?'

 

A: 'Sir, i read you loud and clear. But if you were in his shoes what would you do?'

 

B: 'I would do all the right things, Sofea. Even if it finishes me and Umno Baru off. Then maybe Umno Version 3.0 can be published.

 

If we really care for our country, we must really care for our country without preconditions for our own selves. After all what can we carry to our graves?

 

We lift our hands in supplication when we pray but what will people say of a country where the question of who ordered the hit has yet to be answered. For that matter how the wife of the one in the vortex of that hundred million euro commission can possibly know about submarines when she was just a magistrate before.

 

Sofea, there are still so many pressing questions given the round-about in the rakyats' minds! Why can't the present government answer them clearly and with finality?'

 

A: 'I sense your doubts, Sir. And i agree it's not because of the Chinese or other non-Malay element in today's political equation. It's all about doing the right thing. When we look into the eyes of any Malaysian, it's all about righteousness.'

 

B: 'Umno Baru just won't do, Sofea. It hasn't changed. It is pretentious about discarding its arrogance. It is just prancing on the tightrope of race but there's no safety net below in the circus. And the rakyat have had enough all the charade and shenanigans. The game's up, the show's over. The rakyat know.'

 

A: 'I feel the same too, Sir. Just look at the PPSMI saga. Now they say they want to do a study. One would have thought that would have been the first thing they would have done. Who's the fcuked up minister involved?'

 

B: '(eyes popped out). Sofea! Please, i am trying to mend my old and testy ways!'

 

A: 'hehe. Sorry, Sir. I just get riled by everything that's not going right, that's just spin, that's just angling to win votes by all means and at all costs.

 

On which score, do you think BN should launch the GE soon?'

 

B: 'Let me answer that indirectly. Umno Baru will ignore what we have said in much the same way Placido Domingo had first ignored the reversion issue. And then find out the full cost of its arrogance.

 

And we all know how electoral delineation is loaded for the incumbents. Just look at some of the constituencies. Their results were known earlier because those places had so few voters. But a seat is still a seat in the state assembly so that many small constituencies mean many more seats. No wonder they can talk about two-thirds majority, what with the cash and kind.

 

I think we should change the government. Maybe then the dayaks of Sarawak can get free potable water.'

 

A: 'But there are still some who have lingering doubts about the Opposition, Sir.'

 

B: 'They should ask themselves whether it's because they have been indoctrinated to express gratitude for their morsels to the incumbents while the big rip-offs are taking place in the quiet elsewhere. Remember Toyo's mansion and how it had come about? Taib's sidekick's mansion under construction is even bigger.

 

And they should ask themselves what the faith has taught them about human beings, about the insignificance of the notion of race, about the need to make principle-based progress and be fair to all.'

 

A: 'I sense it will be the dirtiest general elections ever in the history of our nation, Sir.'

 

B: 'Let's not waste time on the obvious, Sofea. I have no confidence in our institutions which are supposed to protect independence and integrity. I can't tell you more but you can guess as much. There's no smoke without fire.'

 

A: 'Is there a future for our country, Sir?'

 

B: 'Our Malays will have to answer that. The ball is in their garden. That question is at their doorstep. The others have moved on to do their own things. Our Malays should ask ourselves why the others have taken step to ignore BN. And, honest answer, please. The reckoning for all the excesses and stupidities of Umno all these painful years will come soon enough.'