Tag Archives: criticisms

A path back to rule by the mandate of the majority

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Of late, there has been an increase in criticisms against Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, including calls for him to resign or take a leave of absence. Anwar’s premiership has been marked by criticisms from Day 1, but these calls amidst the criticisms have become more frequent, especially after a couple of events that paint the PM in a very poor light.

The first involved Anwar seeking a ruling by the High Court to refer to the Federal Court to determine legal questions as to whether a PM has immunity against civil suits. It may appear as a legitimate query by a PM, except for the fact that it was a sitting PM with a sexual assault case pending against him in court who was seeking such immunity.

Few bought his argument that his action was an attempt to protect the institution of the Prime Minister’s Office. Most saw through his guise.

Early this month, the High Court dismissed his attempt as “baseless claims” but Anwar is appealing.

This was followed by another court decision involving his former aide, Yusoff Rawther, who had taken the sexual assault case against Anwar. While the case was pending, Yusoff was slapped with charges of drug trafficking and possessions of two imitation pistols and held in remand for nine months but was acquitted of both charges by the High Court on June 12, suggesting they were trumped-up charges.

Soon after that, the news leaked out that a senior judge was reported to have been questioned by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) for allegedly being involved in judicial interference. The Bar Council announced on Wednesday that it was seeking High Court orders to get the minutes of the JAC meeting in May to ascertain the allegations of judicial interference.

The response to these actions has been intense. Online criticisms are heavily slanted against Anwar, with many calling for his resignation and expressing their sense of betrayal that his promised reforms were not delivered. Opposition leaders have repeatedly urged caution over these issues involving alleged abuse of power.

Two days ago, two-time former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad lent weight to the issue of judicial interference by holding a roundtable discussion by the Secretariat to Defend the Judicial System which called on Anwar to declare that he has a conflict of interest and to recuse himself from the process of appointing senior judges.

The secretariat proposed that Anwar take a leave of absence until Yusuff’s lawsuit against him was resolved.

Another event that seriously damaged Anwar’s image as a reformer with popular support was when about 100 Universiti Malaysia Sabah students held an anti-corruption rally in Kota Kinabalu on Sunday at which they burned Anwar’s caricature. The students held the rally to protest against the lack of action taken against corruption in Sabah.

In a thriving democracy, a beleaguered PM whose decisions are constantly criticised would either resign or seek a confidence vote to test his support. Or, fellow MPs will call for a confidence vote.

In Malaysia, there is no provision by law to call for a confidence vote unless the PM calls for it. There are also no procedures to follow in the event of a hung Parliament to find a PM with the support of the majority of the Dewan Rakyat. To complicate matters, the partners and allies in the current administration are bound by an MoU to keep Anwar for a full term.

But if Anwar loses the case to Yusoff, he has no choice but to resign, irrespective of the MoU. But then he leaves the premiership with his reputation gone. It would be better for Anwar to resign now and not be under pressure to use his position to find some means to stay in power for a full term.

For now, there is one way for Anwar and his government to resign and seek the mandate of the people to govern. The people who put him in power in the first place should ask him to. These are the previous king, Pakatan Harapan partners DAP and Amanah and allies Sabah’s GRS and Sarawak’s GPS.

Meanwhile, the Opposition, Perikatan Nasional (PN), should start lobbying for majority support so that a legitimate government with proof of majority support will be ready to take over the government and govern according to the mandate of the people.

This should be done for the sake of the nation and to reestablish our tradition of forming a government on the mandate of the majority.

The pointless strategy of being pro-Malay

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I think most Malaysians, if not all, will agree — when they calm down — that we are a multi-cultural society and we need to respect one another’s race, religion and background. However, when one particular race keeps harping that what other races say even on non-racial issues “offends the Malays and their religion”, I wonder what’s the real motive.

Firstly, which Malays are offended? The general public? They don’t seem so. They are carrying on as usual. Then who? The supporters of politicians? These are the trouble-makers who for their votes will make demands on their leaders to become more pro-Malay even at the slightest criticism, re: the banned comic, re: Zakir Naik, re: Tamil Tigers.

In these cases, there was no attempt to belittle the Malays in any way but facts were stated as happened and these got twisted and Zakir and the Tigers got dragged in by these supporters and to pacify them the leaders ramped up their pro-Malay and pro-Islam strategy.

The point is that’s what it is: a political strategy — not the truth. The strategy, it appears, is being used to get more Malay voters, and, particularly, Umno members, to join Bersatu, a component party in the ruling Pakatan Harapan government so that the Malay majority is represented in government. In the process, the non-Malays have been made the scapegoats.

Politicians know exactly what’s going on and they are playing their part in the game so that no one side is seen as letting down their respective race. Whatever your strategy, whatever your justification, this is race politics.

The question is: In the so-called new Malaysia should this politics be used at all?

Leaders need to ask themselves what they really want: the votes or the betterment of the Malay majority? If the former, look what it did to Umno. They used race politics to the hilt and they became corrupt and eventually lost political power.  Malays got some money in their pockets but was it real wealth?

If the leaders’ intentions are to raise the standard of living of the Malay majority, will race politics accomplish it or keep the Malays in the illusion of being in power but without real wealth as before?

If the leaders are serious about giving the majority of Malays meaningful representation in government which will translate to a better life, they should stop pandering to and indulging the Malay sensitivity of “being slighted” at even the smallest, silliest thing. Instead, they should start challenging the Malay to stand up to criticisms, hold their own and counter it with thoughtful, fact-based arguments that promote their cause — not resort to puerile, emotional claims of offending Malay sensibilities. When they resort to the latter, it simply entrenches the stereotype that the Malays are so sensitive about who they are, that even the slightest negative comment is construed as an attack when it isn’t. As if any slight offence will make them melt!

Other races take it in their stride. The Malays should be encouraged to do the same.  Equals are not afraid of criticisms by their peers, superiors or subordinates. Unequals are.  To be an equal, stand up, say your piece based on facts and face the consequences.