Din Ahmad’s Comments on Merican-Netto Article

Dear Friends, Associates and Fellow Bloggers,

The comments by Din Ahmad merit separate treatment since they contain views and ideas which should be seriously discussed by all Malaysians who visit this blog.

Anwar talks about transformational change not political plumbing or piecemeal changes which in essence mean business as usual. We must be aware that there are reactionary forces led by former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir , which are keen to install a puppet who is now a trojan horse in Badawi’s camp and who will be subservient to their cause.

This is a dangerous development, if it continues unnoticed, because our politics could revert to the era of Tun Razak’s “Democracy without Consensus” (National Operations Council rule) post 1969 racial riots when the Tunku was forced to resign by a palace coup engineered by the UMNO Young Turks (which included Dr. Mahathir and Musa Hitam). They blamed the Tunku for the poor performance of the Alliance Party in the 1969 General Elections and for his failure to help the Malays. Dr.Mahathir wrote his famous “step down” letter to the Tunku. Race riots ensued, giving Tun Razak the chance to declare a state of emergency and suspend democracy.

While I may be alarmist at this stage in thinking the unthinkable, the signs are already before us. Mukhriz has written to Badawi to ask the latter to resign. Najib is waiting in the wings to seize the moment while reactionary forces in UMNO are working towards ensuring Badawi’s political demise, the sooner the better.

At this juncture, both Badawi and Najib, and UMNO are united in common cause, and that is to prevent Pakatan Rakyat’s Anwar Ibrahim from becoming our next Prime Minister. I would suggest we also think of the role of the Royal Malaysian Police under Musa Hassan and the Special Branch and be ever watchful. The recent attempt to disrupt a private function at Kelab Sultan Sultan Sulaiman on April 14, 2008 to celebrate Anwar’s freedom could be the harbinger of things to come.

My good friend, Yahaya Ismail, has just published his latest book, Tsunami Politik Anti Pak Lah, in which he said (page 75):

“Pengalaman Anwar sebagai pejuang politik dan bangsa menggerhanai Pak Lah dan pembesar-pembesar UMNO yang nafsu besar tetapi tidak berani menerima risiko dari perjuangan mereka sebagai pak turut nombor wahid. Pecat Anwar dari kabinet dan UMNO dia melancarkan demonstrasi besar-besaran hingga mengegarkan negara. Masuk dia ke penjara Sungei Buloh dia tetap bersuara dan memberi arahan kepada ribuan penyokongnya dari belakang tembuk penjara dan jeraji besi.Semangat perjuangan Anwar tidak dapat dibedung dan disekat dengan undang-undang dan konspirasi bikinan manusia.”

The above statement applies to all those who had a big hand in “kezaliman” towards Malaysia’s Rajawali, Anwar Ibrahim. Let justice and economic equity return to our wonderful country—Din Merican

Dear Din and Terence,

This year, 2008, has shown to be a year of change. Most, if not all, countries having their general elections this year, showed dramatic changes in their results. The March 8 victorious day by Pakatan Rakyat signifies a fundamental shift in the thinking of the Malaysian public. Many may say its just a warning for Barisan. Many more may be saying it’s the start of a new era. It’s the start of an era of a political shift which is very significant. The importance of this shift is that it will and should be followed by “economic equality”.

Paul Krugman, in his book, The Conscience of a Liberal, said “Can the political environment really be that decisive in determining economic inequality ? It sounds like economic heresy, but a growing body of research suggests it can.” He then continued to show four evidences of why political liberalization shall be followed by economic equality.

In short, political liberalization in our country, which March 8, 2008 became a significant date, is so far our surest bet for economic equity for the people. Since the last 20 years or so, our country have been moving very rapidly in the direction of economic plutocracy. This is now reflected in our economic indicators – slow growth, small FDIs, corruption, cronyism and major concentration of wealth in the hands of selected few. The wealth belonging to the people have been taken away in very systematic and well planned manner. Privatizations, negotiated contracts and out of place exclusivities became the main mechanism of wealth transfer.

The democratization of our politics needs to now be translated into democratization of our economy.. The main agenda now needs to be two pronged. One, the political movement towards giving back the power of the state to its people, where it rightly belong, have to continue. The shouts of “Ketuanan Melayu” – which actually means “Ketuanan Pemimpin UMNO” needs to be replaced by “Ketuanan Rakyat”. Article 152 and 153 in no uncertain terms reserved the rights of the Malays and the indigenous people in the country (not the selected few who are UMNO leaders and their side kicks) but at the same time the rights of others cannot be ignored. This is the essence of the Constitution’s articles and this needs to be protected and implemented. It’s the “social contract” that we have all adopted and the social contract that we all have to practice. In short, the “Ketuanan Melayu” have to be replaced by “Ketuanan Rakyat”

The second agenda will have to be pushing economic equality back to where it belongs. The Malaysian Economic Agenda (MEA) now needs to be implemented as soon as possible and wherever possible the wealth of the country have to be given back to its people. Various mechanism and schemes that can achieve this will have to be adopted and implemented immediately. Pakatan Rakyat have no more time to waste, it has to start working in fulfilling the victory with delivering its side of the bargain – Give the wealth of the nation back to the people – and start in areas that it have control, that is in the 5 states.

In working towards achieving the political and economic agenda, the Malaysian Spring which started on March 8, 2008 and celebrated on April 14, 2008 will definitely have its fair share of potential spoilers. The UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders (past and present) and their cronies will not allow anyone to pry into their goodie jars.

Many efforts, some subtle, others not so subtle will be used. I certainly hope nobody will love their power and influence too much to the extent of taking actions that will be detrimental to the country and its people. I hope nobody starts to entertain the idea of using unconstitutional means to prevent this wave of liberalization and renewed democracy to come to its logical conclusion.

The wisdom of the Prime Minister in respecting the change wanted by the people as shown in their votes should be followed by all. The implementation of these changes however can only be done by a new group of people. People who believe that the country and wealth of the country belongs to its people. Pakatan Rakyat is a better bet than Barisan Nasional.

I hope and I pray your concluding remark – Malaysia’s nascent liberation from the shibboleths of the past may yet end like the Prague spring. The parallels are there. All it needs for the sinister to triumph is for simple citizens to be blase.- will stay where it is , in your blog and not turned into reality. While I believe that there will be parties that would think about it, I hope common sense and decency will prevail.—Din Ahmad