Monday, March 22, 2004
318 Of extinction of KeAdilan and My Teddy Bear
318 Of extinction of KeAdilan and My Teddy Bear
The full result for the latest Malaysian general election has already been announced and the war of words seems to have toned down quite a bit.
The result of the election is no brainer – everybody, even the opposition knew Barisan Nasional would win the race before judgment day came. In fact, Barisan Nasional did win the election.
What is surprising however is the magnitude of the victory – 198 parliamentary seats out of 219 belong to the 14-party coalition!
What went wrong? Is it possible that the momentum that was built in 1999 simply vanished into thin air? My question is - what happened to Keadilan?
I could only come up with two reasons.
Reason number one is their alliance with PAS. Being too close to PAS may help Keadilan fished in some votes from PAS’ supporters. However, this at the same time shunned Keadilan from the more lucrative market – the Indians, the Chinese and secular or urban Malays.
DAP was smart enough to enter the war front alone without associating itself with PAS and in the end, managed to reaffirm its presence in the Dewan Rakyat, the Malaysian version of the House of Commons.
Secondly, the Anwar Ibrahim issue. Though Anwar Ibrahim may be the symbol for Keadilan’s struggle, those people within Keadilan needs to realize the world does not revolve around Anwar Ibrahim. There is more to the world than Anwar Ibrahim. In one of the minor manifestos written by Raja Petra Kamarudin, a well known alumnus of the Malay College and a strong supporter of Keadilan, he gave a few reasons why Malaysians should vote for Keadilan.
Guess what was the first reason?
Keadilan fights for Anwar Ibrahim.
With all due respect, nobody gives a hoot anymore about the jailed ex-Deputy Prime Minister. Well, some may care about Anwar Ibrahim but with respect to the election, Anwar Ibrahim is a non-issue.
In my opinion, if Keadilan wants to save itself from death, it will need to disassociate itself from PAS and court DAP. At the same time, quit lamenting about Anwar Ibrahim because he is, as Judge Paul Augustine would have said, irrelevant.
It is simply sad to see a party that symbolizes a beacon of hope for a more democratic society is fading away into oblivion because it played the wrong cards.
Alright. Next time, I'll be voting for my teddy bear.
Screw PAS. Screw BN. My teddy bear for Malaysia 2009!!!
p/s - after some persuasion, my teddy bear has expressed his interest for the White House! Go my teddy bear!
The result of the election is no brainer – everybody, even the opposition knew Barisan Nasional would win the race before judgment day came. In fact, Barisan Nasional did win the election.
What is surprising however is the magnitude of the victory – 198 parliamentary seats out of 219 belong to the 14-party coalition!
What went wrong? Is it possible that the momentum that was built in 1999 simply vanished into thin air? My question is - what happened to Keadilan?
I could only come up with two reasons.
Reason number one is their alliance with PAS. Being too close to PAS may help Keadilan fished in some votes from PAS’ supporters. However, this at the same time shunned Keadilan from the more lucrative market – the Indians, the Chinese and secular or urban Malays.
DAP was smart enough to enter the war front alone without associating itself with PAS and in the end, managed to reaffirm its presence in the Dewan Rakyat, the Malaysian version of the House of Commons.
Secondly, the Anwar Ibrahim issue. Though Anwar Ibrahim may be the symbol for Keadilan’s struggle, those people within Keadilan needs to realize the world does not revolve around Anwar Ibrahim. There is more to the world than Anwar Ibrahim. In one of the minor manifestos written by Raja Petra Kamarudin, a well known alumnus of the Malay College and a strong supporter of Keadilan, he gave a few reasons why Malaysians should vote for Keadilan.
Guess what was the first reason?
Keadilan fights for Anwar Ibrahim.
With all due respect, nobody gives a hoot anymore about the jailed ex-Deputy Prime Minister. Well, some may care about Anwar Ibrahim but with respect to the election, Anwar Ibrahim is a non-issue.
In my opinion, if Keadilan wants to save itself from death, it will need to disassociate itself from PAS and court DAP. At the same time, quit lamenting about Anwar Ibrahim because he is, as Judge Paul Augustine would have said, irrelevant.
It is simply sad to see a party that symbolizes a beacon of hope for a more democratic society is fading away into oblivion because it played the wrong cards.
Alright. Next time, I'll be voting for my teddy bear.
Screw PAS. Screw BN. My teddy bear for Malaysia 2009!!!
p/s - after some persuasion, my teddy bear has expressed his interest for the White House! Go my teddy bear!
