2010: We’ll almost not miss you

Go on, say it. No one is particularly unhappy to see the back of 2010. It has been frustratingly incomplete.

My prognosis for 2010 was that it would be the middle act of a play not quite ready to reach a climax. And it fell well into that category.

You saw that?

I got the GST (Goods and Services Tax) Bill wrong as the government did a U-turn on it to keep a populist line, fuelling even more polls talk. But they were not fuelling everything, as subsidies have been consistently slashed according to timetable. The rakyat are therefore still saddled with a higher living cost.

Najib Razak has had less dissent within his ranks, but his mind may not be at ease since his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin has not been rankled despite his draconian approach to the tightrope Education Ministry. The Johor man remains the strongest deputy prime minister since Anwar Ibrahim.

Strength may have deserted the former Umno man running Pakatan Rakyat, seemingly. I suggested that the key objective of the Anwar prosecution was to remove the momentum from Pakatan Rakyat, and it has been a living joy for Barisan Nasional (BN). The case has been up and floating for almost 30 months and no one relishes it anymore. It just throws the word sodomy and Anwar in the same sentence over and over.

I was fed information a previous transport minister would be prosecuted and sure enough former MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik was arrested and charged. Free again, there is little to suggest media hype will lead to any meaningful conviction, same might be said of the other doctor, Khir Toyo.

Their arrests make an interesting read but the confidence in the prosecution, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the courts remains low.

So much has happened in 2010 and I do not want to repeat analyses, therefore the focus will be on observations often left untouched.

Newsmaker

But first the plaudits or “needs a shoe thrown at them award”, you decide: Newsmaker of 2010.

A very assuming Ibrahim Ali.

The symbol of right-wing indignation of a world trying to break down divides and emphasising equality.

Ibrahim finds there are few things more dangerous than that, because if people can’t tell each other by race but only by personal traits then his life work would become meaningless.

That is not the reason he tops the table. He tops it because almost anything which happened in the year ends up being examined through the lens of Perkasa, his ultra-right outfit.

His supporting cast has been stellar too — Utusan Malaysia and Mahathir Mohamad. The triumvirate have a distinct advantage, they have nothing to lose, and for them the concept of “going a little too far” is poppycock.

They’ve weighed in on all subjects and taken exactly what they needed, a confused electorate bothered by more uncertainties.

Here we go...

Anwar’s world has not been all sodomy, the rest of it has been APCO.

The Permatang Pauh MP is barred from Parliament for half a year, but the real summary is we as a nation can be miffed for so long over anything Jewish. What is the long-term implication for Malaysia, irrespective of who runs it the next 20 years? A nation — people and leaders — willing to exhaust words, rallies and political capital to disassociate from Jews.

It was not that 1 Malaysia was a concept consultants erected from their Powerpoint slides, or that money may have transferred. I just came down to word association, just like sodomy.

Israel captivates Malaysians, even if most don’t know where it is on the globe. So much for universal education.

Perak dream ends

The time of tree summits, Speaker’s robe disrobes, coppers on the assembly floor, the multiple lawsuits, an evasive state royal house and midnight conferences have ended. A long funeral for the most colourful period of Perak politics, even if tragic for many actors.

Former Mentri Besar Nizar Jamaluddin is now only one of the six PAS MPs in Perak, and the DAP confronts its own demons in the form of political factions. There is no single Pakatan Rakyat leader for the whole group now.

The silver state is diverse and the respective PR parties will have strengths, but winning Perak will come down to the coalition’s brands coalescing with state consciousness.

PKR elections

The direct elections on the face of it at its inception seemed a simple way to hijack the “participation” agenda from all BN and other PR parties (the DAP has the Vatican-like top leaders’ caucus meeting, and PAS reels under the thumb of the clerics’ council).

It did not quite work out as such.

Why was Dr Molly Cheah picked to head a national direct election with so small a team to carry out the process?

The confusion which ensued begs simpler questions: Were the respective divisions consulted and was a method developed by everyone inputting, or was a process enforced on all?

It seems that if Zaid Ibrahim was consulted along with a score of other leaders, there might have been less discontent.

It was the fixation that telling everyone had a vote (which I support still on principle) was the same as empowering all processes of participation. The insular and centralised commonality of PKR with Umno was exposed.

No more than when secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution had more of the final word and Dr Cheah missing in taking charge.

The third force

A by-product of the PKR fiasco, but its frontliners have long had firm ideas about their independence. These are people opposed to BN, but uneasy with PR.

The liberals, you might say, looking for a platform. However, convention tells in a dictatorship there are only two sides. Those with the despots and those opposed to tyranny. Then there is a marketplace of ideas.

Can they peddle unique ideas now?

The key point here, the fringe those feeling there is no place for them in the political spectrum are now entering, this alters the political conversation, even if it befuddles it.

This is a story in progress.

The Facebook group

The one million Malaysians against the mega tower is an organic phenomenon. Set up hours after the Budget speech in response to the prime minister’s announcement of the monster construct. The PM later denied it being a government initiative but rather PNB’s, mostly due to the pressure from this Facebook community.

It is not the medium or the group name that tells the tale. The real face of this initiative is of millions of Malaysians who are not politically inclined but are concerned about living in a system where their thoughts and opinions are secondary.

They are sick of being left out. They are not sure how far they want to be involved, but they want to be heard. So the mega tower is just a trigger.

The group’s name might become soon inadequate to cover the host of issues those who ticked like to this group might be.

It is salient to point out the group totals only 279,076 so far (on the early morning of December 28, 2010), so they are not quite the million accounts. But these are people willing to place their names to their feelings therefore there’d probably be three silent supporters to every signed-up account.

The voice of a quiet segment is appearing.

The Felda debate

The Hulu Selangor by-election brought to the centre the debate over the Felda vote, as a unique vote, not as just the general Malay vote.

It was fleshed out that the issues of the Felda folk are different from other Malays, and that those issues specifically have to be handled since they are the kingmakers in a series of rural-inclined seats.

And as the rural seats become less so with encroaching urbanism, the pockets of Felda settlements are vote banks for one side or the other.

P. Kamalanathan won by having Umno-led Felda votes, and since BN has set up pro-government Bapak to usurp the activism of pro-opposition Anak.

All said, Umno can only lose further ground since it monopolises the votes now. The only count is by how much.

Nationally this might be the start of concentrated targeted lobbying for votes, a move away from the traditional broad-stroke campaigning.

Najib

The son of Felda’s founder is seemingly the potion seller, moving from city, town, village and anywhere else they let him to sell his magic potion. And like any minstrel moving from town to town, the sale is built on the look of the package and the verifiable witness to its potency.

1 Malaysia is the wagon cover, and all kinds of exciting things like Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), High Income Economy, Pemandu and the 100-storey mega tower adorn the interior.

The evidence is in the number of ministers, friendlies and controlled media telling that is it verifiable, like Rais Yatim going out to say 84 per cent of Malaysians understand what is 1 Malaysia.

If sound-bites made the leader, then he is par-excellence.

But the most telling thing about the PM in 2010 is that he will be conspicuously silent on the most challenging issues facing the nation.

Characterised by the fuel increase of 2010, the page prioritisation of the largest selling English newspaper in the country the next day said it all.

The PM was page one telling us again (lost count how many times) that we are firmly on the way to becoming a high-income economy. Buried in page 16, the subsidy removals — even though every home in Malaysia was to the affected, more so the lower-income families. Their incomes in real purchasing power just went down.

But that the prime minister won’t talk about.

Introducing Teoh Lee Lan...

The Teoh Beng Hock case has gone through several evolutions with time-buying a key component. There is the side debate on who has the better forensics expert backing their opinion and the government’s legal representation was a little asphyxiated at times.

Irrespective of the subterfuges involving Dr Pornthip, whether she ever is going to be seen in Malaysia again, or is worried about cross-border relationship, the public indictment of the whole matter is, the nation is divided.

Granted there are more strongly in the view the lad was a victim of foul play, the vote bank has not altered. The people who detest the situation have already decided not to vote BN.

Teoh’s sister Lee Lan has become the face of the family’s campaign to gain justice. How much traction the group has might come down to how far and long the family is willing to carry on.

MIC and MCA

They hit bottom, and the referee is counting.

MCA lost its president Ong Tee Keat to comeback kid Dr Chua Soi Lek. Bottomline: Those that are more in line with the Umno message are likelier to survive and independent mindedness will be the end for anyone in the BN family.

The Chinese vote is not with the party.

S. Samy Vellu has left the building. The single thing everyone falsely thought held back the minor party is no more. The G. Palanivel era might be a short one.

The Indian vote looks like it is back with BN, but not necessarily with the MIC.

Police

They intimidate, they kill and you stay away from them. You are probably better off with the Ghostbusters, even if they are fictional.

And in that climate the government issues low crime stats. The proof is in the pudding. Malaysians generally do not file a crime report, they only file missing wallet reports. There is no action as far as any of us have been told.

The policing is shoddy. The number of patrolmen increased helps, less at the desk help, but those on the job have to act like they are on the job.

For the Kugan and Aminulrasyid deaths the A-G had to be brought dragging and kicking to act.

Public perception in this matter might be the last to improve.

That’s all folks

There is little mention about the by-elections, because they may not be the bellwether for where national votes sit in a single snapshot election.

But as the issues above look, they are either new developments or old ones trudging along. Right now it is the 800m mark of a 1,500m run, and I’ll admit there is worrying distance between BN in the lead and the rest. But there is enough in the race for an exciting sprint in 2011 or 2012.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Opinion

Praba Ganesan is here to build a country. He needs your help. More of the topics discussed & follow-on chats about them at prabaganesan.wordpress.com. You can also contact him at prabaganesan@hotmail.com.