AUG 12 — Gerakan was registered in 1968 and the founders were listed as Professor Syed Hussein Alatas, Tan Sri Dr David Tan Chee Khoon, Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu, Professor Wang Gungwu, V. Veerapen and Dr J.B.A. Peter. They were socialists of varied leanings but the more common thread was — flagrantly anti-Alliance.
Some 15 months later, the party took over the Penang government.
Next, they embraced the Alliance and then became a member of the Alliance-evolved Barisan Nasional.
That’s politics — no permanent friends or permanent enemies, the cynical (or realists) will add — only permanent interests.
BN, BN Baru or PR Baru?
The GE13 results read Umno peninsula 74, MCA 7, MIC 4, and Gerakan 2 (including the Teluk Intan by-election) totalling 87 seats. Sabah Umno 14, PBS 4, UPKO 3, PBRS 1, total 22.
Sarawak BN comprises PBB 14, PRS 6, SPDP 4 and SUPP 1, totalling 25. Combined BN is 134 seats.
The Opposition has 88 seats, comprising DAP 37, PKR 30 and Pas 21.
What if the GE14 results read BN peninsula 68 seats, Sabah BN 18 seats and Sarawak BN 25, totalling 111?
Umno and the peninsula coalition are expected to take a battering. But Umno remains the single largest, with say, around 80 seats?
And the opposition pact (DAP, PKR and Gerakan Harapan Baru) secures 103 seats with PAS taking 8 seats, totalling 111?
The BN in the peninsula is likely to exist in name only. Do we see a BN Baru with a new coalition lineup? Not possible? Do read the preamble above, again.
If any of the opposition pact parties collaborate with the BN, will their vote base disappear?
Gerakan was returned in GE4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. Tun Dr Lim as the Gerakan chief minister of Penang founded the Bayan Lepas Free Trade Zone, which attracted massive foreign investments and opened up hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Good governance works. He stepped down after losing his seat in GE8.
When his party had fewer seats than Umno in the state assembly, the third chief minister sort of miscalculated his political positioning by becoming neither a substantially Gerakan representative nor an Umno lackey. That’s when his leadership stature started floundering.
How about if the opposition pact secured the majority? Yes, I believe there will be a peaceful handover. It is probable that Umno will still keep Terengganu, Perlis, Pahang and Malacca, and Sabah BN the state.
Sarawak would already be firmly in Sarawak BN’s hands on or before Aug 20, 2016. Malays will continue to form the dominant leadership through GHB and PKR. The Chinese and Indians have already been well represented in this pact like in the Alliance and in the early BN days.
As society progresses
Whether it will be a BN, BNB or a PR Baru government, PAS, with her dogmatism will most assuredly be a fringe party, like it was prior GE12.
I grew up with no second thoughts about Umno being a Malay party because it was taken for granted that the government would be Malay-led, even though I spent my formative years in Penang.
Then from the late eighties/early nineties a Malay government became apparent as opposed to being Malay-led.
Did it not cross the Umno leadership that in overplaying the Malay supremacy card or pre-eminence or whatever one calls it, their BN partners will pay the price? And as society progresses Umno will pay, too?
More and more Malays, with exposure and education, wouldn’t buy the “Malays need eternal protection” foolery anymore.
The NEP has provided such a terrific legs-up to Malays on educational and business opportunities that Umno should do right by easing the community into a merit-based environ.
Actually, if Umno had moved to focus on “Malaysian-ness” instead, is there another party that can challenge Umno’s “Malay-ness”?
Didn’t any of the critical thinkers in Umno suggest that Malaysian-driven policies were an infinitely more sustainable political ideology than being Malay-driven? Malaysian-driven is just an inclusive term for Malay-driven, realistically. Missed the wood for the trees!
I think PKR have taken that mantle. The Progressives wanted PAS to, but failed. They will use their new vehicle GHB that stresses good governance — war against corruption, embezzlement, leakages, wastages, which are all un-Islamic and against Syariah.
They lament the over-stressing on hudud and punishment, which made people fearful of Islam.
DAP’s role to reinforce this inclusive model is apparent. It was clearly demonstrated during the formation of the Perak (2008) and the Selangor (2008 and 2013) administrations.
They are realistic enough to appreciate that the larger community has to take the lead. Social justice for all Malaysians must always remain the bigger issue over helm ship ethnicities.
Postscript
This caught my eye recently.
“Islam is all about justice, mercy and wisdom … anything which transgresses the principle of justice or mercy or wisdom has nothing to do with Islam” — Ibnu al Qayyin Al Jauziyah (Arab jurist 1292-1350).
Nearly seven centuries later we repeatedly hear from a “learned” noted state mufti contrarian thoughts — the sheer incredulity!
The transfer of the two senior MACC officers has been rescinded. It seems the reason for their immediate transfer was because of service conduct infringements.
Now why wasn’t this made known in the first place? Did no one from the chief secretary or the PSD’s offices appreciate the temperature of the ongoing investigations?
Didn’t it cross their minds that people can think the transfer was for sinister motives?
Or they actually did, but had to menurut perintah (follow orders)?
Best wishes to my buddy, Dr Lee Chee Peng, who turns 54 today.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
