AUGUST 13 — If we are to look back at the past when the technology and access to the Internet start to widespread, Malaysians begin to realise more than what were being told on televisions, radio stations and newspaper that were either controlled by or simply relied on the government.

We may not know back then that many Malaysians with access to Internet at that time were united to “overthrow” the corrupted regime even if that would mean voting for DAP for Malays and voting for PAS for non-Malays.

Malaysians, hoping for the ideals of democracy and good governance, for the first time has denied the two-thirds majority of the ruling BN as well as making Barisan Alternatif (now Pakatan) succeeded to rule five states — PAS’ Kelantan and four other states at the 12^th General Election.

We have witnessed performances as well as challenges to the governance of the Pakatan newly-ruled states at that time. The Perak and Kedah affairs, considering also the BR1M and mainstream media factors may have caused the people of the states to “punish” Pakatan that time. At least by perception and impression, Kelantan, Penang and Selangor seemed to progress well and prosperously, with Selangor’s RM3 billion reserve being one of the examples.

Pakatan at Selangor have gained more seats from DAP and surprisingly, PAS when their seats at Parliamentary level are actually decreasing. Nevertheless, Pakatan in Selangor did manage to gain two-thirds majority in the state assembly.

Selangorians were seemed to be convinced that the governance and management of the state was and is going to be better under the rule of the very Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, before the 13^th GE. But then, it didn’t take Umno for the fact to be proven “misleading”; it was (and is) PKR itself.

Starting from the Kajang Move, we can smell something is not right with their rakyat-centred politics, calling out a by-election as to “reinforce the position of Pakatan” for upcoming “attacks from Umno”. It didn’t stop at that; they now admit they really did plan it to replace the MB, contradicting what they claimed before the election!

Things just got even more complex when the MB really did lose moral ground to run the state when he lost his party support, even at its own constituency. The party affairs might not interest the people but then, the sudden out-of-court debt settlement raised a reasonable doubt on integrity when the terms of the deal are not disclosed to the public, given that he is an MB, not a regular corporate or citizen. It got even weirder when he was fighting so hard not to sign the water deal that involves Langat 2 construction, suddenly, shortly after the announcement of Kajang Move, he signed it! I remember how they campaigned really diligently at a Pasar Malam here at Kuala Kubu Baru.

To worsen the fiaco, PAS’ president personal stance, contradicting the Pakatan decision to remove the MB under his “personal capacity” clearly didn’t help relieve the situation. Having not expected it, the drama of conservatives versus Erdogans, pro-UG (Unity Government) versus pro-Pakatan as well as “you-must-give-your-full-wala(unconditional obedience)-to-your leader!” now takes place, smearing the dirt to the Islamist Party. Definitely, the “who-state-their-stance-the-loudest” contest and pointing fingers in public just happens to complete the fiasco into a disaster in PR!

We are now starting to be more sceptical (and confused) on politics; are we willing to compromise with principles or ideals of politics and governance just to remove BN? And most importantly for all of us, are BN and Pakatan the only alternatives we have? We hate it that our system only allows us to choose only one out of two when other sides we like less might have very good policies they offer. It’s frustrating to now accept the reality that under the Westminster democracy, we only elect our representatives (party, to be more precise), not exactly the top-post leader.

We trust the party we elected, but we did not expect that they will play politics all day long while the rakyat just helplessly watch, forced to believe things and stuff and not having the power to change anything!

But then, are we that helpless?

Remember back then that we as society have developed to a level when we know more than what mainstream media had been telling us. Our realisation started to develop. But is it enough to stop at that?

Let the Kajang Move case be kept aside for a while; do we the people especially the Selangorians even care to read the explanation brought forth by PKR to justify the sacking of Selangor MB? While we talk of the MB’s performance, do we realise that it is different when an MB settled his million-ringgit debt out of court and an inference on integrity may arise? For the other side, if we believe Khalid is not suited to continue as an MB, do we have other really reliable candidates of at least at par with Khalid? Of course, gender is not an issue here.

In order for politics to be on the side of the rakyat, we cannot only rely on Pakatan to do the checks and balance; we ourselves have to also do the checks and balance. We cannot blindly support any side by sentiments nor should we surrender with all these disasters just because we “we don’t understand” and it “does not interest the rakyat” just because we did not even care to read, analyse and being critical of both sides, with sound information. We want new politics, remember?

Now is the time for us to not naively get trapped in “I’m tired of all of this”. In fact, this should be a realisation for us to be even more aware that politicians, even the ones we favour, might not favour us all the time. It’s time for us to develop civil society within us by starting to join critical and informative discussions as well as taking part in questioning the policies, so that we can choose wiser and become a valid pushing force for both sides. We cannot rest until it favours the people and more importantly our kids and grandkids.

We once united to be free of blind indoctrination by corrupted regime. Let us unite again to develop the civil society as a third force to fight against people-unfriendly political moves by realising the reality of politics, what we, the rakyat knows and wants and how to balance them hand in hand in order for us to revive the dignity of politics, people and the society. Let us together ignore the differences for a while and unite for a strong third force for a more sensible check and balance, for a better Malaysia. Let us reclaim our nation!

* Wan Salman Wan Sallam is a member of Sectretariat of Politics for IKRAM Siswa Nasional.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.