‘Perak Move’ exposes myth about working for Ummah

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‘Perak Move’ exposes myth about working for Ummah

by K. Parkaran

Call it a blow, hard-hit or otherwise, but the “Perak Move” proves just one thing. All claims by politicians that they were doing things for the unity of the Ummah or in the interest of the nation and the rakyat, to justify their wily manoeuvres, is simply hogwash.

Who would have thought that the 25 Umno assemblymen in the Perak state assembly who voted against a motion of confidence in their coalition’s menteri besar would actually turn against someone from their own ummah?

Neither Ahmad Faizal Azumu himself nor the Perikatan Nasional leadership would have expected to be stabbed in the back by their friends from the ummah. Like many others, I believe it may have been orchestrated by the Umno leadership in an obvious bid to show PPBM head, Muhyiddin Yassin, a thing or two.

They drove home the point that this could happen at the national level and a few other states with a wafer-thin majority if certain key positions and power are not given to Umno.

If their earlier exhortations, especially after GE14 — that the mainly non-Malay opposition had taken over political power and thus the need for Umno, PAS and PPBM to get together to retake their “rightful place” — was an honest rallying cry, the drama in Perak would not have unfolded.

The move by Faizal’s allies to go for the jugular when he needed them most proved the hollowness of claims by the Muafakat Nasional partners that they made the “Sheraton Move” in February to save the race and religion.

There were merely using supremacy of race and religion in quest of power and the privileges that follow.

While the DAP had its many faults when it was in the government, I dare say that the MN partners had nothing against the party other than the fact that there were “too many” non-Malay ministers and deputy ministers for the first time in Malaysian history, most of whom were from the party that has been branded as Chinese-chauvinist.

It had nothing to do with claims of Malays losing their political clout or being ousted from senior government positions because the overall numbers hardly changed. Yes, after the 2018 general election, the attorney-general, finance minister and the chief justice were non-Malays or non-Muslims for the first time in several decades.

But aside from these positions, nothing was altered. The key heads of the civil service, government-linked companies and armed forces continued to be held by Malays as no one saw a need for change. Anyway, in less than a year, a Malay Muslim took over from the Pakatan Harapan-appointed Chief Justice Richard Malanjun.

So when the PN-controlled state government of Perak collapsed, the orchestrators behind it probably wanted it to be a hard slap in the face for the prime minister whose party dominates the ruling coalition.

Umno, which is not used to playing second fiddle in politics, wanted to show who is boss, and they did it in a devastating style – 48 against, 10 for and one spoilt or absented vote in the confidence motion.

The PPBM leadership must have been reeling in shock because Faizal was not only the deputy president of the dominant party in PN, he was also Muhyiddin’s deputy, and the state coalition chairman.

Well, to former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s credit, he had warned several times that Muhyiddin would most probably be at the mercy of the Umno warlords who are trying to wrest control of the coalition and take the leading role at the federal level.

So here you go, we saw more betrayals now after the nasty “Sheraton Move” which drove Malaysian politics to the lowest levels of hypocrisy, dishonesty and charlatanism.

Soon after the abysmal move in Perak, Zahid declared that Umno is open to forming a new Perak state government by working with PH parties, even with their arch-nemesis DAP! When this news was out, it reverberated in the social media, shocking many supporters of both parties to the core.

In response, a DAP leader, none other than Nga Kor Ming, who had never failed to criticise Umno in the past, said the party was willing to work with its sworn enemy in the “interest of the people and the nation”.

So, we now have a seemingly nationalistic bunch of politicians from both sides of the divide who announce that they are willing to make “sacrifices” and be in power to save us poor rakyat from problems of political instability which in the first place was caused by all of them!

So all these treacherous political manoeuvring, party hopping, show of might and sleeping with strange bedfellows is being done “in the interest of the rakyat”, it seems.

Do they seriously expect sane Malaysians to believe them? Come on guys, get real. These politicians are sowing so much hatred and discord in our lives by their actions that Malaysians tend to get drowned in this noise, unfortunately.

Racial and religious divisions remain ripe grounds for fertilising hatred and division. Our politicians are doing just that. We will be able to see through their actions if each and every one of us imbibes a true sense of the Malaysian spirit in us.

If we fail to do this, the political charlatans will continue dividing us to rule so that they can perpetuate their narrow concept of racial and religious supremacy with their dubious claim of doing so for the sake of the rakyat and nation.