Keadilan is nothing more than a protest party
By MOHD HAFIZ NOOR SHAMS
It wasn’t too long ago that I viewed Keadilan favourably. But lately my opinion of the party has changed from support to ambivalence. The more I learn about Keadilan, the more I find the party confusing. It is becoming increasingly clear to me that Keadilan is undecided about where it stands ideologically.
It is a patchwork of this and that, and is neither here nor there. Its members are too ideologically different and they probably band together for one purpose: to protest.
At the beginning, during the reformasi period in the late 1990s, the party was established as a response to the sacking and the imprisonment of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.
To its party members, everything was black and white.
The good guy was Anwar Ibrahim, who fought social and political injustice, and the villain was former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. Day in and day out, the party’s fixation on Anwar Ibrahim intensified. Keadilan’s main purpose at that time was to free him.
But some Keadilan members and sympathizers later realized that the party’s only purpose was to free-Anwar and promote an anti-Mahathir sentiment. They criticized Keadilan for lacking vision and pushed for more party development. But at that time, Anwar Ibrahim was so popular that changes were not necessary. The 1999 general election would reaffirm that.
If the 1999 election proved that critics were wrong, 2004 proved that they were right after all.
By 2004, Anwar Ibrahim became so irrelevant that Keadilan almost lost all of its seats. The party managed to secure one seat after votes were recounted.
And then, the final blow came. Mahathir Mohamad resigned and soon afterward, Anwar Ibrahim was released. With that, Keadilan lost its cause, just like how a special purpose vehicle is useless after achieving its goal.
To be fair, the party is reinventing itself. Through my limited interaction with those in the party, I found that its members have found a new cause. Unfortunately, that new cause is similar to that of the Democrats’ during the 2004 election. If the Democrats chanted for anything but Bush, the people in Keadilan are saying anything but Barisan Nasional (BN). Just like how the Democratic Party appealed to voters against Republican administrators and legislators, Keadilan wooed voters against BN. But while the Democratic Party has become more than a protest party, Keadilan, on the otherhand, is unchanged.
What else could explain why there are so many different factions within Keadilan that are working together despite their differences.
Surely liberals and lefties would argue till kingdom come. Add the Islamists to the equation and, boy, it is a recipe for a Krakatoa. The ideological difference between each faction is too great to go unnoticed or ignored. I would think that if BN was wiped out of the equation, those factions within Keadilan would turn onto itself.
So, what holds Keadilan together? What binds these factions so tightly that differences are set aside?
I can think of two factors. One factor is the shared dissatisfaction of BN. Another is the initial raison d’être of Keadilan - Anwar Ibrahim.
A friend told me that Anwar Ibrahim is one of the few politicians who could talk to both liberals and Islamists comfortably. How is this possible? Has he managed to connect liberals (and possibly socialists) with Islamists? I guess he has. But how?
By using pragmatism?
In the face of vast ideological differences between groups, I favor pragmatism as an explanation. But how did that come to be?
We are friends if we share the same enemy.
Anwar Ibrahim plays this to his advantage and unifies factions that are discontented with the presiding government. And that’s everybody across the board.
It seems to me that like John Kerry, Anwar Ibrahim is trying to please everybody. Because of where he draws support, Anwar Ibrahim has to please every faction - liberals, socialists, Islamists and the populists - within Keadilan.
He cannot afford to offend any faction.
And as a result, the party is unable to form solid ideological stance. Keadilan will lose its relevance if it does not evolve into something more than a mere protest party.
–
MOHD HAFIZ NOOR SHAMS is a contributing writer for theCICAK.
Hafiz believes that he is famous. This is not entirely untrue because there are impostors running around the web masquerading as him. He could be found dancing nakedly among the trees at maddruid.com.
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Part 1: Creating a new manifesto for Malaysia
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How far would you go if your lover cheated on you? Be honest.
Comment of the week
I defend my right as a Malaysian to talk about anything that concerns Malaysia.
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The makings of the first postmodern political party in Malaysia? Hehehe
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at this rate, i’m going to make a full time career defending the opposition on the cicak
republished from Hafiz’s blog:
I think a step back might be useful.
How important is ‘political ideology’ - as intellectuals might define it - to Malaysia and Malaysians?
Is the heart of Malaysia’s woes due to tensions between capitalism and socialism? Liberalism and conservatism? (or whatever the opposite of liberalism is..)
I humbly don’t consider myself particularly stupid, but I barely know the real meaning of some of these words.
I do know what too many people close to me experience in their lives as Malaysians:
- the trauma of being robbed, hurt in a snatch theft, frightened into being unable to walk the streets at night.
- the feeling of being second class citizens, denied of opportunities made available to select others.
- the burning frustration that so much money, resources and opportunities are cheated from us, almost in broad daylight, through corruption that runs in the veins of every level of government.
I agree with Nik - the opposition is not as rudderless or blur as people think when it comes to having alternative policies and an ideology.
But really, how much does ideology have to do with the problems above? Parliamentarians, bloggers and the rakyat can shout till they’re blue in the face, but is change possible without a change in government?
If being serious about anti-corruption, abolishing the NEP, and making our streets safer doesn’t count as an ideology, then how important is an ‘ideology?’
*
Yes, PKR rides quite a bit on Anwar in many ways, but does PKR begin and end with Anwar?
I think to suggest so is to not do justice to the other PKR leaders and members on the ground trying to do every little thing they can to make life a bit more bearable for people; leaders and members who have built reputations for integrity and leadership qualities worthy of states(wo)men.
*
I’m interested in change, I’m interested in running the country some day, and I’m interested in doing a better job of it.
As I surveyed the political spectrum, I found PKR - and PKR alone right now - to have the ingredients necessary: the makeup of its membership, the profile and (importantly, vis a vis FL2020
the long-term vision of its leadership, AND it’s ‘ideological’ beliefs with regard to ethnicity, religion, etc.
To me, these are the Special Purposes of the Keadilan Vehicle. To me, this is the best path available towards actually changing the government and making lives better.
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Hafiz, you’re right. PKR has no ideology. I’m glad it doesn’t because ideologies can breed unthinkable evils. The most famous one is to uphold ‘ketuanan Melayu’. I believe we’ll be seeing some kerises very soon.
What good is an ideology when people want to see results instead? People want to see promises being delivered not just listen to cock-talk. We can all advocate world peace but carry on spewing hate online or care for the environment but burn our fuel like there’s no tomorrow. Ideologies should always come second to what is actually being done by the party.
If PKR isn’t good enough for you, then vote BN in the coming elections. We’ll see if BN with their ideologies alone can stifle you into submission. Indeed it is a case of picking the lesser evil - but at least a choice exists.
That’s what it is really. PKR already serves its purpose just by existing. Ideologies are overrated. Only academicians and idealists have time for it. There is no perfect ideologies either - what ideology should PKR have to best suit your interest and to get you to vote for them?
Let’s start hearing some constructive views and see some pro-action now shall we?
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I think keadilan is playing their cards right. their strategy is to appeal to those who want an alternative to BN. BN has been ruling the country all this while….what do you expect the opposition to do? Protest la!!! =)
We aint like britain. Mr cameron there actually has a realistic chance to form government……
Give your votes to the opposition for once la people…..let them have a chance to form government….its exciting……if it doesnt work out then vote BN again the next election……
Change the chef, i dont wanna eat the same food over and over again.
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It would be disastrous to have those clowns run anything. At least BN has some experience running the country (mostly by not making too many mistakes, the results of which you can see here http://www.matrade.gov.my/matrade/matradeMedia032007.htm ).
If the government in Malaysia is lame, the opposition is lamer still by several orders of magnitude. Give them stewardship of the country? BANG! You’re dead! Wrong answer!
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Stewardship of the country does not come instantaneously. The Opposition parties will have to gain a few seats here and there in one election, deliver results, maybe gain a state in the next election and deliver even better results yet again for it to have any hope. By then, your view on them being unexperienced might change.
Ideologies are important because it tells us what the general stance of a political party is; how they will decide on certain issues, policies, etc. With almost everything being given a racial slant in Malaysia, it really is hard to classify parties according to the left-right spectrum really.
Which is why I think that, if the Opposition is going to have a serious shot at the elections, they might have to mirror the setup of Barisan Nasional. Since BN is essentially 3 major parties for the 3 major races together with other component parties, they essentially ‘delegate’ the representation. What if the Barisan Alternatif consisted of three major racial parties as well? I think that might just be the way to go. Each party promises to fight for the rights of the particular race, but BETTER than BN.
‘If you can’t beat them, join them.’ Leaders have for years been trying to set up a non-racial party, i.e. IMP, ADMO, Keadilan, etc., all without much success.
Concerning Keadilan, I’ve heard Anwar speak very recently, and he dodged quite a lot of questions from the floor. Especially questions on his stance on certain issues. The only thing he makes clear is that he is dissatisfied with the government and that he thinks Keadilan can do better. For example, he thinks the NEP is flawed but at the same time promises that the special rights of Malays will continue.
Personally though, from hearing him speak, he kind of gives me the impression that he may still be a little bit vengeful for what happened to him, and thus in my own personal opinion, might not be truly capable of leading a nation yet.
However, I still think he is a very good candidate to strengthen the Opposition. Malaysia truly needs a good Opposition if pure democracy is to exist.
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i think the article hits the nail on the head with this paragraph:
It seems to me that like John Kerry, Anwar Ibrahim is trying to please everybody. Because of where he draws support, Anwar Ibrahim has to please every faction - liberals, socialists, Islamists and the populists - within Keadilan.
He cannot afford to offend any faction.
at the risk of being absolutely trite, you can try to please everyone, but in the end you will please no one.
*****
while i am sympathetic for anwar being misimprisoned and bashed up and what not. i still don’t trust him yet. to me, he has absolutely not proven himself worthy of my vote.
but the crux of the matter is, anwar was both a creator and/or an active enforcer of the horribly flawed system that he is “fighting” against right now. the internal security act, the universities and university colleges act, umno hegemony over other bn parties, moral education. fun stuff.
he has not apologized for the policies he pursued, nor given plausible explanations of why he did. neither does anwar succeed in conveying his supposed sincerity to empower the alternative, non-bn voices of malaysia to me. if he is dodging questions from the floor even now, i wouldn’t put my money on him to not dodge more pertinent questions from the rakyat if he is elected.
and i don’t think anwar is going to be better than badawi. show me proof. all the evidence i have now tells me that in power, anwar (and mahathir to a huge extent) exploit it to their ends. only when they’re not in power do they make noise about changing the system.
*****
Nathaniel asks: Yes, PKR rides quite a bit on Anwar in many ways, but does PKR begin and end with Anwar?
this is why i have a lot more support for keadilan than anwar. i do see sincerity in most of the other keadilan leaders - many of them civil society leaders and intelligentsia. they do want to change malaysia.
but the reason they joined keadilan wasn’t because it was good, but rather for a LACK of a political alternative. joining the dap would mean joining a sino-centric party. pas? hahahaha. therein ends our list of opposition parties. keadilan was just a platform, an avenue for them to reach their ends.
i’d vote for keadilan, but not for anwar.
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PKR is a party that fights for equality. Therefore, it’s continuous struggle to win votes is not based on race nor religion.
That, in this country of ours, is the problem.
Malays in general don’t want to give up their Bumiputera privileges. The Indians and Chinese want this abolished.
Muslims want to continue stating Islam as the official religion, with some of them going so far to declare that Malaysia is an Islamic state. The other religions, especially Christianity, want to spread their teaching and build their churches without fear of persecution. The Hindus want to maintain their temples, even if it is illegal.
Some want moral policing to be even stricter, whilst others want the whole idea of such absurdity abolished.
PKR tries to please all of these factions, and that will be their downfall.
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Dear Tikus,
There are many ideologies; it does not have to be related to the racism.
On talking cock, I apologize for saying this but that is exactly what Keadilan is doing right now, especially so with their economic policies. So far, Keadilan’s economic policy has been rather populist. It takes the flavor of the day just to be popular. No coherence, no ideology, no point. Being a populist is usually a recipe for economic disaster. Just look at Venezuela.
If that is how Keadilan campaigns, I fear for Keadilan’s future. Also, there are more than Keadilan and BN out there. What makes you think Keadilan is the lesser of all evils?
No ideology is perfect, true. But for a political party, it needs a real reason to exist. Being a party of disgruntled gentlemen (and ladies) is hardly a reason for existence.
Yes. Let’s talk about action but I wonder what Keadilan’s action would be without political coherence?
Here and nowhere?
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Keadilan is obviously a vehicle for Anwar to create chaos in Malaysia. I mean if he is truly honest and kind and was being conspired against, he would not have created chaos in the 1997 by holding demonstations that keeps the nation in chaos. He is truly someone who is not worthy and hold grudges against our Malaysian government for sacking him from his deputy prime minister post.
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i’m not currently able to respond in depth, but hafiz - our ever energetic critic - let me just ask a very simple question:
what would you have conscientious young m’sians who wants to see political change in this country do?
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That’s simple, nat. Vote more independents into Parliament.
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Independents are akin to headless chickens to me. I don’t see them running the country. Indeps usually only harp on single local issues.
Aput, if you ask me, the solution is still largely Keadilan, despite its perceived as well as real weaknesses. Better still, a Keadilan-DAP pact.
The is reasons why political parties are still a dominant aspect is political spheres around the world. Parties provide policy coordination, leadership, and funding for groups of like-minded people to gain power peacefully in democratic processes.
I don’t like Anwar, but I like Keadilan. Anwar-haters should just forget Anwar and think of all those other dedicated and idealistic people in Keadilan such as Dr Syed Husin Ali, Tian Chua, Irene Fernandez, etc and vote Keadilan for them instead. We will never get a perfect party that fulfills our every expectations. Naively waiting for it will gift BN another 50 years of ruling Malaysia. Make do with what we have now, and give the alternatives a chance.
After all, like what Khairy J… Oops said, if you don’t like the alternative, just put BN back into power in the next GE. Simple as.
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http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/58041
http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/65838
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On Anwar, I don’t exactly trust him all that much either. He WAS part of the government, he was complicit in a lot of its bad policies, he hasn’t fully explained fiascos such as the huge Bank Negara forex losses…
But the PKR I see is not ‘Anwar’s party’. It is not the man that matters, but the message. Fine, many policies need to be fine-tuned, many issues need to be clarified, and a clearer stand taken. But at least on one central issue, the game-plan is clear, and Keadilan has not wavered from it: the NEP must be overhauled, and replaced with an affirmative action policy that does not target the Malays alone, but rather all the poor regardless of race. It means shifting the money from the fat cats of the UMNO-putras, to the farmers, the fishermen, the rubber tappers, the struggling small-town businessman, the mee hawker down the road, the town of 40000 in Sarawak which is still only accessible by heli, the town in Bario which almost starved a couple of years ago. No more blindly giving contracts to selfish, incompetent contractors, no more giving scholarships to sons of multi-millionares, MARA and PNB transformed into organisations no longer advancing the lot of the Malays alone, but the lot of all Malaysians living in absolute and relative poverty. For this alone I would support PKR.
You may call it naive, you may call it impossible, you may call it a lie - but I choose to believe that it can happen. And long after Anwar has gone from the scene, his successors will continue championing the cause. That is why I support PKR - not so much for the present it promises, but the future it implies - there are a lot of very talented and passionate young Malaysians in PKR, and they, not the weasels of Umno Youth, are the future.
And lastly, please, do not succumb to the trap of BN racial politics. The other main reason I support Keadilan is because it is a glorious experiment - they are doing their best to reject the ‘Malays fight for Malays, Chinese fight for Chinese, Indians fight for the Indians, no one fights for the rest’ mentality that is crippling our progress. I, a Malay, can care just as much for a Chinese mee seller or an Indian rubber tapper or a starving Penan family as I can for a Malay fisherman. That is PKR’s message, and as long as they stay true to it, I shall continue supporting it.
Hope that helps.
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sorry if i m off-topic
5 states have turn over to new leader…
after the General election…Sarawak DUN will be the stage to fight for positions as the gov…
i agree with sigma
Make do with what we have now, and give the alternatives a chance.
like us here in sarawak…the ruling aprty is OVERULING now…
example…just to put one example the parking system in kuching…the council is appointing one of the crony in gov to manage the parking in kuching…however this company is only emphasizing on profit which contradict with the purpose of having a council body…this company only paint and mark the area they want to charge u and didn’t even upgrade them… even worse is that that, they purposely put quota in buying the seasonal parking coupon…funny isn’t it bcos in that way they can compound you, make u guilty and earn more money. even if you want to buy the seasonal coupon also can’t as they are limited with purpose. this compound can drag you for thousands of ringgit if any delay…compound which worth rm0.53 for half hour can become rm10 for late payments within 3days time.. and usually it drags peolple up to thousands… purposely make u guilty…by not selling the seasonal…
isn’t this is called over ruled…
oooo save us please…DUN is coming is this our only chance to save money from being taken by the council….
saya memohon…bagi sesiapa yang berada dalam mana2 parti alternatif agar menggunakan isu tempat letak kereta sebagai salah satu senjata menawan rakyat di kawasan bandar kuching…terutamanya di kawasan bt3, satok, dan sekitarnya yang melibatkan kesengsaraan beribu2 rakyat di sini…silalah beritakan kepada pemimpin pas, keadilan, dap yang akan turun padang klak agar membangkitkan isu ini…
senario sekarang:
pihak DBKU/MBKS (majlis bandaraya kuching utara/selatan) mewakilkan sebuah syarikat swasta (pastinya kepunyaan kroni TAIB) menjaga tempat letak kenderaan sekitar kuching…padahal majlis bandaraya sepatutnya berkhidmat untuk rakyat, setelah si subkan kepada swasta, sudah tentulah keuntungan lah sasaran utama mereka…
masalahnya, tempat letak kenderaan tidaklah di naiktaraf tetapi mereka sekadar mengecat dan menandakan kawasan untuk di kenakan bayaran…masalah yang lebih besar adalah mereka meletakkan kuota yang sangat kecil bagi pembelian kupon bermusim…yang bererti mereka sengaja ingin mengenakan denda kepada rakyat yang mana keuntungan nya lebih besar…sehingga mencecah beribu ringgit yang kian bertambah sekiranya tertunggak…bayangkan…seorang beribu di darab beribu orang…betapa meletak kenderaan pun mereka mengaut keuntungan sedemikian…sengaja mewujudkan senario di mana rakyat lah bersalah kerana tidak meletak kenderaan dengan betul padahal kupon parking bermusim sengaja dikuota agar tidak mencukupi…rakyat bergelut2 seawal 6 pagi membeli pada satu hari yang ditetapkan setiap bulan…tetapi kebanyakannya pulang dengan hampa…
Ya Allah…bebaskanlah kami dari masalah yang menyiksakan ini….
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Looks like we are having a field time here discussing the results of the recent elections. For me the phase of discussing the elections is over. We should now be fully concentrating on monitoring and providing feedback to both the ruling and opposition parties. We should be lauding GE Lim for his visionary action of appointing Kah Choon to be with him doing due governance. Differences have to be put aside now as progress of the state or nation must be put above everything else. I can see how clearly GE sees Kah Choon as a valuable asset for his experience and integrity. I also believe that the Pakatan must be leading by example as it will take some time for the BN to get used to this alien but effective style. As for DSAI we have to give him all the credits for achieving this huge success almost single handedly but unfortunately he has forgotten to change gear. He seemed to be still in third gear. I was there at SSC and DSAI seemed like still fighting for his survival though the election is over. It would be more pleasant for the ears if he had spent the precious time given to explain his vision and plans for the due governance of the state or nation but instead he was spending more time blasting at his opponents and foes. Looks like he was trying to overkill.
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