MARCH 2 ?This coming week, there will be thousands of column inches devoted to March 8, 2008 when a political tsunami?swept through Malaysia which resulted in the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) taking control of the five most important states in Malaysia, and denying the Barisan Nasional (BN) its all-important 2/3 majority in parliament.
Post March 8, people proudly boasted that when you drive from KL to Penang, you are driving through streamyx logo country.
There was so much hope. Every expert?predicted the dawn of a new politics and a two- party system. The talk shows on ASTRO Awani and RTM had these experts from every corner of Malaysia coming in to discuss the new?politics. Some even went as far as to say that it was the death of Ketuanan Melayu while many said the younger voters were ungrateful?for all that BN had done for the country in the past 50 years.
Really? Lets do a reality check.
So one year later, did Malaysian politics change? For the better?
Lets see?
1) The man everyone in BN blamed for losing the 2/3 majority is joining the ranks of the retired at the end of this month. I suspect history will record him as a transitional figure. All I can say is that he tried, but trying was not good enough. He spoke, but there was no follow -through, and words remained words.
2) Umno, the only party with real power in the government, appears to have retreated back to its bread-and-butter issues; race and religion. While the rest of Malaysia, especially its youth, wants to move forward and make Malaysia truly Asia? some of the rhetoric coming from Umnos leaders suggest otherwise. Stoking the fires of bigotry appears to be the only game some of Umnos leaders are good at playing.
3) PR seems to have lost the plot. There was so much excitement over Anwar and even pessimists became optimists as September came around. Pessimism appears to have returned to the middle-class who has invested so much in PR. Anwars magic appears to be waning.
4) A constitutional crisis is brewing in Perak. Every day its gets messier and more ugly.
5) PR state governments cannot move fast because the civil service is not loyal?to the government of the day. Rather, as one Selangor state executive councillor said recently, these civil servants are actively sabotaging the work of the PR governments hoping to help BN when the next general elections comes around.
6) The kuala lumpur holidays remains unresolved. One Indian leader is stuck in London while others are attending Kamunting University. Now we are told that the government gave millions to help the Indian community after March 8 but the money was diverted to buy political support.
7) The looks like me, sounds like me?issue is now buried for good. People are so stupid that they have forgotten about the royal commission. Anyway, why dig up the past?
8) Mongolia sounds so out-of-date also. Who remembers C4? What is C4? Looks like this issue is waiting to be buried, for good.
9) Party politicking has got worse since March 8. The favourite tactics are: (a) establish a hate website; (b) lodge police reports and MACC reports; (c) upload naked pictures on the internet; (d) send two bullets; (e) splash red paint on the fence and car; (f) defect while under investigation for corruption.
10) More religious fault lines with extremists from both sides claiming to be champions of their religion.
11) The economy is heading to the toilet for the next few years.
12) Good Governance?remains a word widely used but there is no understanding of its true meaning. In Malaysia, it means that the government is good?and everyone who does not agree is bad.
I can go on and on but what is the use? There is an old saying the more things change, the more they remain the same? This sounds exactly like Malaysia one year on.
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