MARCH 5 — Will they heed the call?
May 7, 2013. As I stood by the stage in an empty MBPJ Stadium while crew members moved sound and general equipment around, that’s what ran through my head, will they show up? 4pm and it’s a Tuesday.
Sure, we lost what was the mother of all elections back then, and all kinds of improprieties were claimed, but this was the Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya’s stadium inside a park and adjacent to a lake and word went out only the day before.
Plus, it was about to rain.
Fill a stadium in a day without physical posters or banners anywhere in the state of Selangor? Improbable, it seemed.
Too little, too late for a venue too far?
The opposite happened. By half-past eight, the stadium was full and yet thousands were still streaming to the stadium. Half the state came to a standstill that evening. Mentally, all of it was.
You might have been there or met someone who was there or almost made it there — to a once-in-a-lifetime event.
No one remembers what any of the leaders said. It did not matter. They, the people, came for themselves. While all the passion in the world could not get them a federal government, they came to the stadium to know they were not alone.
At a time their psyche was crushed by defeat.
This was the only message of the night. And it came from people crushing each other in a packed arena, those waiting outside and inside cars logjammed. The message had no words.
I recollect the day, as my thoughts turn to the events which have transpired lately.
Of Malaysians disillusioned by the way one government gave way to another, a process which sits uneasily with idealists.
Today, they feel defeated, but worse, they feel helpless about it. No Kelana Jaya for them, it appears.
Because the political subterfuges and wounds of Pakatan’s internecine feuding make it great political writing but weak in romantic retelling. You can’t dance to the weight of a leather-bound academic textbook.
But there are lessons from seven years ago, which ring true today.
Excited by the support for Kelana Jaya’s post-election rally, PKR leaders lined up rallies in town after town till the euphoria eventually died down. They wanted to milk the adulation, but they lacked the imagination to build from it.
It seems our Pakatan politicians seek our presence at their shows as often as we can till progress stumbles upon them.
And if it doesn’t materialise, they’d rest awhile and start again.
The questions
Parliament sits in the middle of May, should the new government be challenged in it or outside it long before?
The latter sounds fantastical.
All the protests, gatherings and ceramahs in the obvious venues across Klang Valley to air frustrations will only highlight the urban nature of the disgust.
So, to Parliament then.
Who leads the Opposition when it convenes?
The last representation after Muhyiddin Yassin was named prime minister was led by ex-PM Mahathir Mohamad. They are both in Pribumi Bersatu.
Unless Mahathir’s sacked or resigns as a member of Pribumi Bersatu, his opposition to Muhyiddin’s hypocritical.
Then there’s Anwar Ibrahim.
The PKR president was intent on a timetable to replace Mahathir, which kicked off the whole circus, therefore should he not ask Mahathir to step back for him since this is a new clean slate?
Or are they keen for Mahathir to lead the charge, since he can draw more MPs than Anwar, and when they are back in government again, to ask when Mahathir can leave for Anwar?
PKR split partially due to Anwar’s ego, and while half the rebels have left, the rest remain. What is his message to them? “I want you here, and here’s where I meet you halfway, or as I tend to do, I’d pretend there’s nothing’s wrong.”
Yesterday saw the resignation of one exco — Dr Afif Bahardin — from Penang government but remains as assemblyman, and another — Chong Fat Full — exit the party to support the Perikatan Nasional Johor government to presumably become the “ethnic-Chinese” exco member.
Melaka and Johor change governments. Perak’s fall is imminent, many say. Perikatan Nasional is bolstered in Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan and Perlis. Sabah can’t end the rumours of a coup and Sarawak’s GPS can’t help but smile about its prospect for state elections next year. Only Penang and Selangor hold steady in the Pakatan universe.
To say it’s calamitous is an understatement.
Overnight, scores of MPs and assemblyman find their political lives turned upside down, and their futures uncertain. With them also the fates of local councillors, village committee chairs, chairs of boards/agencies/universities, and federal/state controlled companies’ directors, not to mention thousands of division operators.
If the big bosses forgot they use "live" ammunition, the collateral damage beneath them will remind them years from now. They’d all be Charlton Hestons banging their hands into the wet sand and screaming, “You blew it… damn you all, damn you all to hell.”
Parties, members and champions
Perhaps it’s as well that Dewan Rakyat only convenes in May. It gives what is left of Pakatan time to think long and hard.
PKR, DAP and Amanah are in limbo today, and what they decide, what they truly decide in the weeks will determine what they are to themselves, to their supporters and the Malaysian people.
While in 2013, in the heat of the moment from a march which began long ago, leaders were able to summon the masses, the next leg of this destination will be different.
They scaled the peak to grasp power in 2018, floundered in their own indecision and fear of failure for the proceeding two years, and now look in from the outside.
The next steps require clarity.
They can skip the lie that their parties are steeped in ideology and principles, and admit they are in essence — being derivatives of the past ensconced into relative influence due to demographical realities.
They need to choose the future, and the vehicle they need to get there.
Failed as separate parties, now heading to a grand party built on core values?
That’s for them to decide.
However, for their traditional supporter — their people — they need a clear idea to rally around.
The time of convenient parties relying on their hatred of Barisan Nasional may be verily over. After all, it’s Perikatan Nasional on top today.
In the short term, like it was before, they might be able to pull a crowd but not for the years to come till there’s a general election.
Now, the masses will only heed the call if it’s real. If only they can make it real.
Like they did that wet day, seven years ago. And if parties can strike the match of passion in them, they’d wait till dawn to walk into the polling booths. Being wet and tired would be the least of their concerns.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
