It was one week of political turmoil for UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers but one week of awakened new hope, confidence and expectation for Malaysians who want political change to save Malaysia from sliding down the trajectory of a failed and a rogue state.
UMNO/BN political leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers never expected that the Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council meeting on July 14 would achieve the impossible, not only deciding on the new Pakatan Harapan structure, logo and leadership line-up but in effect announcing the Mahathir-Anwar reconciliation after almost two decades of political enmity.
This caused consternation among UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers who had hewn to the propaganda script of lies, fake news and false information about DAP leaders being the puppet-masters pulling the leaders of other Pakatan Harapan leaders, like Mohamad Sabu, Rafizi Ramli, Nurul Izzah, Wan Azizah, Anwar Ibrahim, Muhyiddin Yassin and Dr. Mahathir Mohamdd on the puppet strings, doing the DAP leaders’ every beck and call.
This was why the Communications and Multimedia Minister, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak reacted to the new political scenario post-Pakatan Harapan announcement by trying to champion the DAP, demanding to know the reason for the absence of the DAP leaders among the top three Pakatan Harapan leaders and whether the DAP had been sidelined and marginalized.
But after a week of confusion, chaos and consternation about the UMNO/BN propaganda script that should be used against the DAP and Pakatan Harapan, the UMNO/BN “masters” reverted to the old propaganda script, as illustrated by the speech of the Wanita UMNO Chief, Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil in Gelang Patah that Tun Dr. Mahathir’s appointment as chairman of Pakatan Harapan was a mere “drama” staged by DAP “to obscure the Malay voters’ eyes from seeing truth” and that “Lim Kit Siang is hiding at the back” but the “real de facto leader for Pakatan Harapan”.
I will not be surprised if some of the UMNO/BN leaders like Shahrizat might even believe the lies and nonsense that they utter, but to Malaysians as a whole, the Pakatan Harapan decision and announcement on July 14 brought new hope and confidence that political change in Putrajaya in the 14th General Election is within reach and back on the national agenda.
The last four years were dark and disappointing times for most Malaysians. They had hoped for political change in Putrajaya and a new Federal Government in the 13th General Election, but although the majority of voters voted for a new government, they were defeated by an undemocratic and unfair electoral system which gave Najib 60 per cent of the parliamentary seats although he only won a minority of 47% of the popular votes cast.
As a result, Najib became Malaysia’s first minority Prime Minister.
Najib blamed his electoral setbacks in the 13th General Election on a Chinese tsunami. He cannot be more wrong.
It was an urban tsunami, and not a mere Chinese tsunami, because those who voted for political change were not just Chinese voters in the urban areas, but Indian and Malay voters as well.
The last four years brought one bad news and disappointment after another for those who had rooted for political change in the 13th general election, particularly the disintegration of Pakatan Rakyat with the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang now transformed as the greatest defender for Najib and even his 1MDB scandal, which catapulted Malaysia overnight into a global kleptocracy.
The future for political change in the 14th General Election appeared to be completely futile and hopeless, until the Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council meeting on July 14 announcing a new Pakatan Harapan structure, logo and leadership line-up, which awakened new hopes and confidence in the bosoms of patriotic Malaysians who want to save Malaysia from the trajectory of a failed and rogue state in the 14th General Election.
However, if the 14th General Election is to achieve what the 13th General Election failed to do, to change the occupants of Putrajaya and instal a new Pakatan Harapan Federal Government, Pakatan Harapan must achieve two political tsunamis in the 14GE for Malaysia to become a normal democratic country.
We must re-energise and re-inspire the many who had helped to create the political tsunami in the 13th General Election but who have lost hope that the electoral process is capable of producing any political change – to get them back into the hustings and the political campaigns to ensure that they have the stamina and perseverance to replicate in the 14th General Election the urban tsunami that was achieved in the 13th General Election.
But there must also be another tsunami – a rural tsunami to match the urban tsunami.
We can feel the beginning of a new political awakening among the Malays in the rural areas and Felda settlements, which had hitherto been inaccessible to other political parties previously, whether DAP, PKR, Amanah or even PAS.
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and the Parti Pribumi Bersatu has altered the political landscape, breaking open the Malay hinterland which had hitherto been sealed and locked up by UMNO to allow in the ideas for change, justice and progress.
An urban tsunami without a rural tsunami will not effect political change in Putrajaya. A rural tsunami, without an urban tsunami, because of loss of hope and confidence in the ability of the electoral process to effect political change, would be equally fruitless and futile
If in the 14GE, there could both be an urban tsunami as well as a rural tsunami, which will mean a Malay tsunami in the rural hinterland, then Malayia is embarked on political change in Putrajaya and a new Pakatan Harapan Federal Government to start the country’s journey as a normal democracy.