The answer: a rainbow coalition of women, coloured minorities (African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians) and young white professionals
Najib did pull off the trick in 2013
What UMNO need is a collection of unified charismatic leaders to go to the grounds, inspire the young, and persuade the rural Malays to another point of view- one that is in harmony with the rest of right thinking Malaysians. Once that’s done, UMNO will undertake that long and painful journey at self reform,see the lights of the corridors of power ever again.Turning deficits into assets — a skill johari learned in his 20s as a community organizer — could well be called the motto of his rise. With his literary gifts, he transformed aSquatter childhood into a stirring coming-of-age tale. He usedTtiwangsa as the foundation of his political career. He mobilized young people — never an ideal base, because of thin wallets and historically poor turnout — into an energetic army who in turn enlisted parents and grandparents. And even though his exotic name, Joe the plumber, has spurred false rumors and insinuations about his background and beliefs, he has made it a symbol of his singularity and of Titiwangsa’s possibility.When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.One of Malaysia’s most well regarded editors recently asked me, albeit rhetorically,why was there no full ministers post for P119 Titiwangsa ever the biggest loser of the just-ended general electionSHOULD NOT BE GIVEN MINISTERS POST take on the election results was revealing- felt that the problem lay in the absence of a strong FT Chinese grassroots … Read more
Consider Obama’s strategy more closely. The US president knew that most white men were hard-core Republicans. Nearly 80% of white men over 45 did indeed vote against Obama. White women were more evenly balanced with a small majority backing Romney.
But the president scored heavily (95%) with African-Americans and Asians and fairly heavily (70%) with Hispanics. Women finally clinched it for him: overall, more than 55% of US women – across ethnicities – voted for him, giving him his 4% popular vote edge which translated into a larger electoral college victory in America’s complex winner-gets-all federal system.
The Congress clearly has an advantage over the BJP with minorities. In the US of course, unlike India, minorities are classified not by religion but by race. There is no categorization of American Muslims, American Christians or American Hindus.
In secular America, religion is – as it should be – strictly private. In secular India, religion is ostentatiously public. It is the single biggest reason why politicians across the ideological spectrum exploit religion for electoral ends.
We haven’t lost the elections. At least, not yet.
Kairy is the future hope of UMNO. All he needs is cleansed himself from the past when was the King of 4 th Floor. He is good and intelligent young man minus his arrogance.
You must be thinking, “Poor sod probably hasn’t heard yet”. But yes, I did hear, or see, rather. If the profile photos of my fellow country people are anything to go by, it seems that today’s a black day (not to mention, a “blackout” day) for Malaysia. If you strained your ears at exactly 12.54am today, you could hear the collective face palms of disappointed Malaysians everywhere, as the incumbent Barisan Nasional alliance attained a simple majority of 112 votes, allowing them to retain control of the federal government.
The groans of Malaysians who were on the laggy Malaysiakini (which was throttled down, allegedly) were heard about 7 minutes later. But while the Barisan Nasional government has won the elections, they have not won where it matters the most: the hearts and minds of the rakyat.
The road to that victory would be a long and punishing one. For one, it requires them to stay, instead of stray from their election platform: janji ditepati (promise kept). Their promises to unite, not divide the people; their promises to stand up for every single Malaysian, regardless of race, creed or social standing, must be ditepati.
Secondly, they’ll need to be good “children” of the people and go clean their rooms. They’ll need to put a little elbow grease into scrubbing out corruption and cronyism.
Thirdly, they’ll need to be transparent and accountable. Instead of denying allegations, they need to address them, head on. After all, if they did no wrong, the truth should set them free, no? They could start with addressing allegations of gross elections misconduct: the phantom voters, the “foreign reinforcements”, the magically appearing ballot papers.
“But what about the Pakatan Rakyat?” you may ask. “They played by the rules, yet they still lost.”
I for one, don’t think they lost GE13. If anything, they won the most important position in any democratic government: a credible opposition that acts as a diligent check and balance.
Watch the government with an eagle eye. Hold them accountable for the three things I’ve mentioned above. But most importantly, go beyond the ad hominem attacks. From the moment you get sworn into Parliament, show that you have strong alternative positions in every aspect of government, and prove to us that you are indeed a better choice.
Remember what I said a few days ago about this elections being about good old-fashioned parenting? Well, now’s each alliance’s chance to show the rakyat—the “mothers and fathers” of government—that it truly deserves to be our favourite child, in GE 2018.
“What’s the point?” you may lament. “BN will resort to dirty tricks again. Whatever we do, we’ll still lose.” Well, let me tell you when we’ll lose.
The moment we give up on holding the government accountable, that’s when we lose.The moment we decide to just give up on our country (and maybe even contemplate migrating), that’s when we lose.
The moment we grow indifferent and apathetic towards how our nation is governed, that’s when democracy dies. As Plato said (and as shared in an earlier Facebook post), “The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
So no, I refuse to accept that we—the people of Malaysia—have lost. We cannot, and we will not allow it.
So to my fellow Malaysians, hold the government accountable and make sure their janji is ditepati. Remind the Opposition that their job is to act as a check and balance, and to provide a strong alternative viewpoint, not to just attack anything and everything BN does. Stand up and be heard, on whatever platform you choose: a tweet, a Facebook profile photo, a song on YouTube (here’s to you, Namewee), heck, even a speech at school during English Week.
I’ll end this as Alfred, Lord Tennyson did, in Ulysses:
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
So strive for democracy. Seek democracy. Find democracy. But whatever it is that you do, no matter the amount of blackouts or black eyes we’re handed, do not let democracy yield.
