Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric. If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk; we must act big.
– Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US president
Nearly four years ago, a 94-year-old Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad made it a point to attend the Malay Dignity Congress.
He was then the sitting prime minister, serving a year into his second stint as head of government. A year earlier, he had led the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to a historic victory in the 14th general election (GE14).
With the collapse of the Barisan Nasional (BN), Pakatan was ushered in as the new government – with a new thinking. It pandered to a different sort of audience, one that the grand old man was not accustomed to.
With it, many of the old ways of doing things during his previous time in office just couldn’t be done anymore. He found himself making compromises that he wouldn’t need to make the first-time around.
Much of it came from friction with his new allies, who didn’t give him the privilege of far-reaching and unchecked powers and was keeping him on a leash.
He had to make concessions to the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a group that is powerful by their numbers in Parliament and which, to co-exist with, for the elderly statesman, was never a practical long-term solution.
So, he found himself in October 2019, on stage with political foes at the time, from United Malay National Organisation (Umno) and Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) to drum up support, more particularly, Malay support.
It was not a secret that Malay uprising was a key factor in the collapse of the Pakatan government. In fact, for them, it was a fire that they find themselves dousing.
Umno and PAS had earlier capitalised on the disenchantment of the community and took a hard right turn on the political spectrum, appealing to the conservatives who felt that they were maligned by the government at the time.
It was no consolation either that the government then used their ascension to power to pander towards liberal values at a time where a majority of the nation was not prepared for.
Dr M’s appearance during the congress caused uproar and to many Pakatan supporters, somehow undermined the message that they have been fighting for – and succeeded – when they voted in a new government.
Four months later, in February 2020. They are out of the government entirely – including Mahathir himself.
But it was revealed that plans were afoot to retain the good doctor as prime minister – in fact, it was him who threw the spanner in the works by submitting his resignation.
After getting himself out of the office, and out of the party he helped found – Bwersatu, he carried on with his ultra-Malay message.
He founded Parti Pejuang Tanah Air or Pejuang for short. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to recapture the same magic. His party suffered a dismal showing during the 15th general election (GE15). Mahathir himself lost his Langkawi parliamentary seat.
Now, he’s out of Pejuang entirely, jumping ship from what was more of a life raft than a boat. But his ideals remain, in March this year, he came up with the ‘Malay Proclamation’.
The 12-point document was said to be protecting the interests of the Malay community. In truth, it was a manifestation of capitalising on and realising of the political reality.
This week, PAS became a signatory to that same document along a few leaders from Bersatu.
I think the consensus among political pundits is that the signing of the document was simply a show of political solidarity among the forces attempting to derail the current administration.
For PAS and Bersatu, the Malay angle was one that allowed them to seize the government and to them, is a winning formula.
For Dr M, it meant that he now could mount a serious challenge to his nemesis Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, whose ascension as prime minister is less than favourable.
But then again, whether it would actually amount to anything is anyone’s guess. I think it would simply fizzle out and the media would focus on the next topic to make the headlines.
For years now, the supposed plight of the Malay community in an increasingly diverse economic and political landscape has been a carrot dangled upon its people by the politicians.
It’s a card that becomes more and more stale by the day – make no mistake, the Malays know when they are set up and used as pawns in political games.
To these people, I say, enough. Don’t drive a wedge into the community for the purpose of political survival. Don’t take us for fools.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
