Wavering GE-13 date: Malaysia, now vulnerable to self-created instability

Map Reader

Indeed the 13th General Election has qualified as the mother of all general elections. And it is no accident hence making the country most vulnerable.

It is an election whose date is the most speculated and highly kept under wraps.

It is a battle deadline that is unprecedented in the history of independent Malaysia – an agenda that is fiercely fought even before the people go to the polls to decide who should be given the mandate to form the next government.

Gutter politicking the worst ever

Never before have Malaysians being subjected to stooping so low to discredit the political opponents. Ranging from alleged and proven corruption to sleaze, sex, race discrimination to religious threats – the run up to the GE13 is by comparison the worst ever in the history of this nation that once many looked upon as the promising Tiger of Asia.

Millions of foreign workers will vouch that Malaysia is a land of milk and honey as they cart away billions of cash back to their homelands to give hope to their families over abject poverty and grueling hardships.

While this post-colonial post-independence raid of the national larder is championed and nurtured by the powers that be in modern times, Malaysians meanwhile have been put on the dole with cash handouts as temporary relief and caring incentives in the run-up to the 13th GE.

Such scenarios were never there in the past five over decades.

Just take a quick inventory of all the unending episodes drummed up by politicians almost on a daily ration these past years: you-sue-me, I-sue-you; you-expose-me, I-expose-you-even-more; cow-heads marches to anger Hindus; pig-ears near mosques; Christian proselytization allegations; unsolved high profile murders; claims of treason; accusations of republic nation status inclinations – in fact the list is unending really.

The question is why? Why are we witnessing a battle preparation that very much sounds like a ‘over our crushed bones and dead bodies’ strategy?

Crushed bones & dead bodies: Refusal to move onto new political system

The easy answer is that politicians are not willing, nor prepared to let the rakyat decide in a democratic manner who they want to vote in as the next political party to form the government. The strategy is an ‘at all costs we must win’. The end in itself justifies all and any means taken – even if those means are crude, unjust, ridiculous, scandalous and merciless.

The question then to go on asking is not why but how come. How come we have arrived at this stage in our political nationhood despite the five over decades of political, social, economic and environmental progress and development that is often the staple, stated claim of the BN-led government (Janji Detepati)?

It certainly has nothing to do with the drummed-up sacking of DSAI. It is not confined to mismanagement nor mere corruption. It is not even about a silent DAP-agenda, nor a PAS-hudud plan.

It is about a failed political system. And the very architect of that diabolic, one-track minded power-consolidation politics is today still fighting with his vintage life to keep a wrong right.

But civilization is dynamic

What worked well for a post-independent nation was not allowed to evolve over the times. We were subjected to a non-negotiable road map cast in concrete with a tunneled view. We were subjected to wear blinkers shielding us from the global transformations taking place quietly.

Drawing on the antiquated formulas of race and religion, the political architecture being locked-in for Malaysia was myopic. As long as it served the political masters well, the scavengers and parasites quickly aligned themselves to provide the much needed fencing and barricades that would ensure permanency to the political agendas of a cartel of single individuals.

But little did the politicians realize that civilization is dynamic. The world is evolving. The transformations are moving on. Humanity was changing in its philosophy, understanding and aspirations. What worked for the post-industrial world was not the panacea for the New Age that was being shaped by information communication technology. Humanity was re-discovering that new independence that the emerging networked society offered.

Unfortunately in Malaysia, politicians are frozen dead in their mindsets. Their attitudes do not in any way reflect the renaissance of humanity sweeping across the planet. They are merely bent in going to battle like the Genghis Khans of bygone eras.

No one is indispensable

Politicians step back. Stop. Think. Reflect.

You are not going to win this ‘war’ by fighting to keep your spoils. You will only see yourself eventually being overwhelmed and swept off by your forced-upon winnings. Remember Suharto? Marcos? Mao?

If you love the country – as much as you preach you do; if you uphold loyalty to King, citizens and nation, then step back and stick to honesty.

If you have delivered, you do not have to spin to convince the voters. If you have failed in the past you do not have to threaten of mayhem and chaos.

Nobody in the world, no one leader in any nation and no single political party in Malaysia is indispensable. There are no absolutes and this the BN must know fast.

The political architecture of thirty over years is failing and incapable of meeting the challenges, requirements and dictates of the New Age humanity. That is the reason why we are today witnessing a perilous future as we witness the hardened battle cries of stubborn, selfish, self-conceited politicians.

We need leadership to overcome the quagmire situation that threatens the nation’s future. It is about a leadership that reflects the very essence of the New Age humanity in Malaysia – one that sees beyond race, religion, color, creed, ability and privileges. And any attempts to kill off that leadership for the sake of party supremacy will spell chaos.