Siapakah Yang Mengundang Tindak Balas Yang Keras, BN Atau PR?

Saya tak boleh bayangkan bagaimana reaksi rakyat sekiranya tindakan keras terhadap Pemimpin Pembangkang di perluas dan diteruskan

BN’s seditious tango with disaster

RK Anand May 24, 2013

Is the ruling coalition cooking up a fatal recipe, one which may see the simmering cauldron of discontent boil over ala Arabia?

Besides pulling out a rabbit from the hat, he had tried all means possible to stem the wind of change but it was to no avail. Cash incentives, catchphrases and transformation pledges failed to save Barisan Nasional from an electoral bruising.

The opposition, on the other hand, is painting the town red with its claim that it was a stolen election, where fraud and manipulation had prevented it from capturing the administrative capital.

The campaign continues to gain momentum nationwide and BN is worried that something with an Arabic flavour might spring out of it.

When Najib Tun Razak had snatched the baton from his predecessor, he was forced to operate in a different Malaysia from the one that he was accustomed to under the autocratic rule of Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Whether awake or in slumber, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was purportedly under the thumb of his Oxford-trained son-in-law, had opened up the democratic space for dissent.

Under such a political climate, Najib, who is purportedly under the thumb of his black arts-trained wife, was forced to alter his game plan.

He had sought to win over the hearts and minds of the non-Malay voters, who deserted BN in the last election but his approach unsettled the Jurassic elements in Umno, like its grand wizard Mahathir.

Najib’s pandering to the Chinese and Indians led to murmurs of disapproval among those who could not stomach seeing the Umno president drop to his knees to seek support from the “immigrants”.

This led to the formation of groups like Perkasa, whose patron Mahathir had argued that its existence was justified since Umno failed to protect the interests of the race that it represents.

And while Najib set about to change the national mindset, certain powerful forces in Umno refused to evolve. And the warlords, with daggers drawn, waited and watched from the sidelines.

A leader under siege

Following his hollow victory in the recent general election, Najib has become a leader under siege. The attacks are both external and internal.

So in order to consolidate his position, he must don his battle armour. He must invoke the demon of Mahathirism, which Abdullah had exorcised.

His new sheriff Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has come out with guns blazing, warning that the police would not spare the outlaws who threaten the nation’s vis-a-vis Umno’s security.

Some believe that it is the tag team of Mahathir and Muhyiddin Yassin who are calling the shots, with Najib being told to stand in the corner and not interfere.

Fresh from installing his son as a menteri besar, the last thing Mahathir would want now is a large-scale street protest that could undermine BN’s rule let alone one that could see Anwar Ibrahim becoming prime minister. So this must be crushed. And the crackdown has begun.

But Najib in his transformation zeal had dismantled BN’s most potent weapon in its arsenal, the Internal Security Act.

Mahathir had been sore about this because he knew of its effectiveness in silencing dissent.

So the authorities settled for the Sedition Act instead, which raised the spectre of selective prosecution since those who called for a peaceful march of passive resistance are considered to be more seditious than those who wanted to torch Bibles.

It further cements the notion that the political foes of BN are the adversaries of the police as well.

As for now, several of those who made the clarion call have been picked up while the police do not rule out that more might land behind bars.

A fatal error for BN

But this could prove to be a recipe for disaster as it is akin to stoking the flames under the simmering cauldron of discontent, which might just boil over ala Arabia.

It is impossible to keep track of the number of times that the ruling coalition has shot itself in the foot that one wonders if it has any toes left.

Even in 1998, it was Mahathir, with his high-handed actions, who fertilised and watered the seed of Reformasi sowed by Anwar Ibrahim.

Under Abdullah, there was the dreadful imbroglio in dealing with Hindraf and with Najib, it was the faux pas with regard to the Bersih rallies. And now this, which could prove to be a fatal error for BN.

Speculation is rife that Anwar might be arrested as well.

The Reformasi then was a Malay issue but the Reformasi now is a Malaysian issue and should the police decide to slap on a pair of handcuffs on the opposition leader, BN might as well slit its wrist.

It is moments like this that the words of John F Kennedy seem to be prophetic – ‘Those who make peaceful revolutions impossible, will make violent revolutions innevitable’.