reduced and recycled

A friend of mine said today he wouldn’t vote for PAS if they were the only opposition candidates in his constituency. I guess that sentiment prevails amongst voters who fear the institution of Islamic-styled governance in Malaysia. With the threat of Islamization given coverage last year in which religious sensitivities were mauled by Islamic authorities - Lina Joy comes immediately to mind - who can blame him?

And in the run up to the elections, I’ve watched several videos on Malaysiakini.tv, in particular RPK’s speech lasting almost 25 minutes. I didn’t know RPK was such a firebrand, and my ignorance was soon cured by his rousing performance. If you haven’t seen it, it’s here:

True - UMNO is the enemy, and has always been the enemy. If there is creeping Islamization in Malaysia, it’s because UMNO has taken many liberties with non-Muslim rights. Walk into any church - and I’m just extrapolating from my experiences - and ask the authorities there if they’ve been granted permission to build new churches recently, and you’ll know what I mean: few, if any, licenses have been granted.

Heck, even pictures of men in riot gear flinging stones at Hindus refusing to leave their temple, flashed on Malaysiakini time and again, had no effect on the government except to extract some vague nonsense about building on land that doesn’t belong to the temple - and we’re talking about temples that range from 60 to 100 years old, by the way. It took a massive gathering of thousands, bearing placards and posters of Mahatma Gandhi, to make the government sit up and take note - and even then, the commiseration from the ruling elite was so patriarchal, so condescending it activated my gag reflex.

It dawned on me then: the Barisan Nasional doesn’t really give a flying fuck about minority rights. It isn’t just the religious chauvinism of junior officers down the line that is the problem. They can say all they want about how these officers do not act in line with “official” policy. The fact remains that the actions of the many on the ground is reflective of a breathtaking indifference these Barisan Nasional people have for non-Malays and non-Muslims.

There, I’ve said it.

UMNO treats its partners like lesser humans, and by extension, anyone else who doesn’t fall into their neat little nationalist categories. Don’t take my word for it: the UMNO General Assemblies of the past are ample proof of this. Let’s call a spade a spade: they are racist. They wield the keris and threaten bloodshed. They make snide remarks about Indians in the press when they know their assembly would clash with an Indian holiday and then lament how their assembly isn’t receiving coverage because the Indians are all out celebrating their quaint little holiday.

For shame. For shame.

And now, when the elections draw nearer, Barisan Nasional promises everything - MCA makes massive payouts in the millions to schools and cultural activities because Barisan Nasional believes Chinese votes can be bought. In Ijok, sewing machines and land titles were granted because they know Indians will be satisfied with little and will, essentially, shut up once trivialities are tossed their way. And Malay voters? Well, that’s the easiest - claim non-Muslims and non-Malays are out to get them and out to destroy their way of life. It’s a familiar formula, because it’s been done before, over and over and over again.

Are so many going to be fooled again? I wonder, sometimes.

I think about all of this and I think about my friend’s fear of PAS. I share the same fear, I’ll be honest. RPK exhorts us not to fear: after all, PAS is only contesting for 60 seats, not 200 seats - if PAS should win all seats, they would still not form the government. My fear is a little different: if PAS does win many seats, it will mean that they’ve grabbed that much of a foothold in parliament. How much more will it take for PAS to win more seats and then gain a stronger voice in parliament - how soon will it be before PAS, emboldened by its wins, starts pushing their own agenda? How long will Malaysia remain a secular state under PAS?

When I think about that, I forget the most important thing in this elections, something I wrote about a few days back: the enemy of a secular Malaysia - or the hope of such a Malaysia - and the enemy of a truly democratic Malaysia is Barisan Nasional. People fear what they cannot understand, and people don’t understand positions and can’t make a valid, informed choice without the wherewithal and the space to discuss, debate and deliberate on issues that concern us all. The tight grip on information and the civil liberties anybody should enjoy in a truly democratic state is the result of BN’s continued presence in the corridors of power.

Barisan Nasional keeps telling me, via newspapers and such, to vote rationally, and not to vote emotively.

If I vote for the Opposition, I don’t care if that Opposition party is PAS. Honestly, at this point, I don’t really care, because I’m being pragmatic. I’m voting Opposition for a voice in the new government. Even if PAS is the party I’m voting for, I’m really voting for a party that will take care of my interests - isn’t this rational? In voting for PAS or the Opposition in general, I’m voting for a government that will:

• Repeal the ISA.
• Abolish controls on the media.
• Encourage a more inclusive government that will protect the rights of all Malaysians.
• Encourage a more accountable and transparent government.
• Institute a government that will manage the economy with a whole lot more prudence.
• Raise the standards of education across the board.

These are my interests.

This is what I want to see changed in Malaysia.

I don’t care if BN or the Opposition fulfills this - only that it is done. However, going by Barisan Nasional’s track record, I will never see any of the above instituted if Barisan Nasional is allowed to languish in power. So my hope is with the Opposition to either force the government to pay attention to the above points, or for an Opposition-led government to do so.

And if PAS is part of the coalition of Opposition parties that is willing to do more to take care of my interests, my vote is with them.