Politics - play safe, play the race

Much as I may wish, I personally doubt Pakatan will form the next government, EVEN if it wins the majority of the seats in the next general election.

Huh? You may exclaim at kaytee’s strange assertion above.

For a start, I am troubled by many factors – UMNO’s advantage of incumbency, our remarkable EC and other state apparatus (which performance had been amply demonstrated in Perak, Selangor and during the earlier days of the Pakatan-governed Penang), increasingly royal political activitism, the judiciary, etc.

But the most worrying factor has been the centrifugal policies and behaviour of Pakatan itself.

We witnessed a sampling of this in the period of campaigning leading to the last Sarawak state election and its sour-grapes aftermath, PAS increasing reversion to its intrinsic hudud-inclined stripes, as well as in recent remarks by PKR leaders.

The new PKR ethnic hero is Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, its Youth Chief, who has borrowed (or inherited) a leaf from his mother organization, UMNO Youth, by selling his and his party’s appeal on a Malaysian sure-fire best-selling platform, definitely one to warm the cockles of the heartland, namely, Ketuanan Melayu or Malay-supremacy.

While UMNO Youth under KJ has quietened down a wee bit (perhaps because KJ wants to present himself as a less crude and more cosmopolitan politician, or because UMNO Youth has already farmed out its brown-shirts and steel jackboots to Perkasa), PKR Youth has instead eagerly adopted its ethno-centric tactics.

The acorn sure as hell doesn't fall far from the oak tree.

According to Malaysiakini Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin called for a constitutional amendment to state that only a Malay can be appointed prime minister.

Jettisoning his party’s mantra of (wakakaka) reformasi, he justified his ethnocentric persuasion, stating: "The lack of such a constitutional provision allows irresponsible quarters to manipulate Malay anxieties about their future (should a non-Malay be appointed PM). This is because of the suspicions they have of those from other ethnic backgrounds. Such manipulation can cause them to feel unsafe and create tensions. This way, the Malays will always pin their hopes on these so-called Malay champions, who turn out to be the real enemies."

And he comes even complemented with a very supportive BN-type lapdog in the person of his deputy Chan Ming Kai, who stoutly defended his Taikoh’s siren call to the heartland.

The term ‘political prostitute’ was recently aired to pinpoint someone who was usually referred to by the 'whore’ synonym, but I wonder whether we can use this term, ‘prostitute’, as a verb (instead of a noun) to describe Shamsul’s racist proposal, .....

..... that in calling for a policy which is 180-degrees in direction to his party’s claimed ideology, he has 'prostituted' PKR’s credentials for rewards, to shore up his personal popularity (pre-election) as an ethnic warrior and his hope for heartland votes.

We also recall all too well The Great One’s support of Pak Haji Nik Aziz’s proposal to implement hudud in Kelantan. 'The Renaissance Man' became unashamedly 'The Reneging Man', all just for attention because at that time he was racked by anxiety over what he perceived as his diminishing relevancy as Pakatan’s de facto (wakakaka) leader and that of his party in the loose coalition.

Bigotry as a 'whatever it takes' justification to win seems to be a prevalent mentality in PKR, because I recall that in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 elections in Perak, its 'Lost Socialist' demanded, in most unexpected, unbecoming and unbelievable behaviour for a so-called ‘socialist’, that the State exco must be made up of an ethnic composition that was representative of the Perak population by ethnic percentage, meaning the PKR-PAS bloc (effectively PKR) ADUNs should get the lion’s share of the exco position.

So, with such an ethno-centric proclivity in PKR and an equally dismal religio-ethno-centric mentality in PAS, I doubt Pakatan will remain cohesive as an alliance to form a new government even if the component parties manage to resolve the pre-election division of parliamentary seats and win majority rule.

Dr Hasan (PAS Selangor) and the Mufti of 'Malay Unity' may yet realize their dreams.

Do not be surprised by the butterfly metamorphosing into a slug (caterpillar).

Dirgahayu Bangsa, Pordah anak Malaysia.