YES, LET US CHANGE THE GOVERNMENT

So, yes, Malaysia needs change. But it must be more than just a change of prime minister or a change of coalition. In the meantime, until someone can convince me that they can offer change for the better instead of same-old-same-old change, I will stick with PAS and ‘let be’ the present prime minister, because so far all the changes we have seen — whether change of prime minister or change of coalition — have not proven to be better than the previous one.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

In 1999, we wanted a change of government. And that was why many of us joined the Reformasi movement and supported the new opposition coalition of PKN, DAP, PAS and PRM called Barisan Alternatif.

The rallying call of the Reformasi movement at that time was ‘Under Mahathir’. In short, we wanted Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to step down. Who should take over should Dr Mahathir resign was not important. We just wanted Dr Mahathir to go never mind who took over after that.

Two years later Barisan Alternatif collapsed when DAP left the coalition due to its disagreement with PAS. Then, a few months later, in mid-2002, Dr Mahathir announced that he was retiring and that he would hand power to his deputy, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The hand-over date was supposed to be 1st November 2003.

A number of us still remained with the opposition but the majority of Malaysians were so relieved that, after 22 years, Dr Mahathir was finally gone that in the March 2004 general election a few months later they voted for the ruling party that saw them win the biggest majority in Malaysian election history.

So what most people wanted was not really a change of government after all but just a change of prime minister. And they demonstrated their happiness about this change of prime minister through the ballot box.

It was not long after that when people began to realise that what they initially thought — which is anyone who takes over from Dr Mahathir cannot be worse than him — was wrong after all. Abdullah did prove worse.

So, when Dr Mahathir launched his ‘Undur Pak Lah’ movement in 2006 many of us supported him. Was it not ironical that the very man we wanted to oust earlier was now getting our support in the move to oust his successor?

We did not care about what Dr Mahathir did when he was prime minister. All that can be temporarily forgotten and forgiven as long as he is working towards ousting his successor. We will support him because we now shared a common interest.

But there was one thing that concerned us. And that concern was whom does Dr Mahathir have in mind as Abdullah’s successor? The indication we received was that the man who will succeed Abdullah would be Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. And that was fine with us.

Then Abdullah threw in the towel and, instead of Ku Li, Najib Tun Razak took over. We suspected that this might happen and that was why we asked Dr Mahathir if Abdullah does finally go whom does he have in mind as the new Prime Minister?

But Dr Mahathir did not give us a direct reply. He left it vague and said anyone who is honest can take over. In the meantime he gave us the impression that the man he had in mind was Ku Li.

Now Dr Mahathir wants us to support him in the move to oust Najib. Never mind who takes over from Najib. Anyone would be better than Najib. Yes, we remember when we were told that anyone would be better than Dr Mahathir and then we were told anyone would be better than Abdullah. Now we are being told anyone would be better than Najib.

This is the third time we are being told that anyone would be better than the present prime minister. And in the first two times they were wrong. What makes them think they are not wrong yet again?

The problem is we are just talking about changing prime ministers. We are not talking about changing the political culture and the political system. So it will be a new prime minister merely continuing the same old thing. That is called old wine in a new bottle. And we did this twice before. Should we do that a third time and yet again be proven wrong?

Some would argue that the alternative would be to not just change the Umno and Barisan Nasional prime minister but change the entire government. We kick Umno and Barisan Nasional out and replace it with a new government.

Sure, that would definitely be a better alternative if Umno and Barisan Nasional were beyond redemption. But change Barisan Nasional to what? To Pakatan Rakyat?

DAP said Pakatan Rakyat no longer exists. Pakatan Rakyat is already dead. And even if they do form a new opposition coalition to replace Pakatan Rakyat, PAS would not be invited or allowed to join the new opposition coalition.

DAP killed the first opposition coalition called Gagasan Rakyat after the 1990 general election. DAP killed the second opposition coalition called Barisan Alternatif after the 1999 general election. And now DAP has killed the third opposition coalition called Pakatan Rakyat. And each of those three times was because they were not happy with PAS.

So now they want to form a fourth opposition coalition in 25 years and PAS is not going to be part of it. And this is the new opposition coalition that they are offering us as the replacement to Barisan Nasional.

This does not give an impression that the latest and fourth coalition in 25 years is stable enough to take over the country. What guarantee do we have that this latest coalition is going to last when the three before this did not? And each time it was DAP that filed for a divorce.

So, yes, Malaysia needs change. But it must be more than just a change of prime minister or a change of coalition. In the meantime, until someone can convince me that they can offer change for the better instead of same-old-same-old change, I will stick with PAS and ‘let be’ the present prime minister, because so far all the changes we have seen — whether change of prime minister or change of coalition — have not proven to be better than the previous one.