“Keep a little fire burning; however small, however hidden.”
 – Cormac McCarthy, The Road

INTERVIEW | It does seem strange. Ideologically, Parti Socialist Malaysia (PSM) and this writer have very little in common, yet I have persistently advocated the party as an alternative to mainstream Malay politics.

I have always wanted to interview S Arutchelvan, PSM’s indefatigable former secretary-general. Indeed, it is amazing how many in the state security apparatus, especially amongst the "working class", have a great admiration for this activist.

In this, the first of a two-part interview, Arutchelvan describes with candour the struggles of a grassroots party attempting to remain relevant in neo-Malaysia.

Could you describe your experiences when you were detained by the Umno state for your various political activities?

Arutchelvan: Some say I hold the record as one of those most arrested, competing with people like Tian Chua and Hishamuddin Rais.

Most of my arrests happened while fighting evictions and public assembly. I am so used to this and I understand I will be one of the targets even when I am not the main organiser.

So when I go for these events, the rule is to wear proper underwear, carry very little cash and documents in your wallet and let the people outside do the worrying on how to campaign to get me out.

Most of the times, the police officers handling us in detention are kind as they know why we are there. It is only when they get bad instruction that they have to follow, then we have tough times.

Though I have been arrested more than 40 times and charged a number of times, I have only been convicted once and that was later overturned in the High Court. This was for a case of criminal trespass in a temple in Brooklands Estate.

Being detained and seeing the others being detained, why they were there, has been a great educational process for me. It teaches us humanity. Every time when I come out, the support and solidarity we receive have always made me stronger and more prepared for the next round.

When one is put on a single cell, then one has the time to rest and the challenge will be on how to pass your time. Anyway, it is a nice time to do some reflection and plan the next move.

Getting arrested with a team of other activists in spite of the anxiety and having one’s freedom curbed, is always a pleasure, full of laughter, songs and storytelling and listening.

There is a nice song, ‘Buruh, Tani, Mahasiswa’, the lyrics are:

Marilah kawan mari kita kabarkan
Di tangan kita tergenggam arah bangsa
Marilah kawan mari kita nyanyikan
Sebuah lagu tentang pembebasan
Di bawah kuasa tirani
Kususuri garis jalan ini
Berjuta kali turun aksi
Bagiku satu langkah pasti

This is the best song to sing under detention.

PSM is derided by Harapan supporters, so how does PSM become a mainstream alternative to the politics of Harapan?

True. The height of it was during the campaign period but post-election, this ridiculing by Harapan supporters is becoming less as they come to terms with reality. As the euphoria fades, I think people become sober and that helps us in becoming the alternative which people hope for. 

PSM has put forward many candidates which should appeal to the disenfranchised, but as yet they have been unable to garner popular support. What do you think is the reason for this?

In 2004, 2008, and 2014, we only fielded four candidates until people inside and outside started to ridicule us as “four-seat party”. Therefore, it was good that we broke the curse of the “four-seat party” in 2018.

We realised before the election that unless we were to get a straight fight, we would lose all our seats. So our internal goal was to try not to lose the deposit but sadly we did lose the deposit in all seats. Therefore, losing all the seats was not a surprise but losing the deposit in all the seats was not expected.

All our postmortem reports and discussion showed that the Harapan wave and using one logo did make a serious impact on voters and Dr Mahathir Mohamad was a factor in urban seats.

Most of the older voters in our areas told us that, at the last minute, they were told by their children who came from outside to vote Harapan this one time and some of them fell for this.

After the election, in all the places, we stood including mine, people continue to show support and admire us. Many have come and even apologised to me saying that they were forced to vote for a Harapan candidate but kept saying we are actually the best. It is sad when they tell us all the excuses on why they didn’t vote us.

So on a personal level, I am extremely happy that 60 years of Umno rule is over. The next time we go to polls, people will have no reason to call us the splitters/spoilers, etc. I think this process is good for the country and for PSM.

In hindsight, some felt we should have at least been a bit flexible and that would have allowed at least (former Sungai Siput parliamentarian) Dr D Michael Jeyakumar to win.

But now when I look at things, I think even if Kumar did win, it would have been difficult for us to operate under this new government. If we want to build an alternative political system, we need to break free and this is the best time to do it.

How does PSM compete with the media that Harapan has at its disposal, mainstream and online?

We have formed a new young team to deal with this. We have now reduced our print copy and have moved online. We have also started to have fortnightly live talk shows in Malay and Tamil while (talk shows in) Mandarin will start in January. We are also in the final process of revamping our website.

All our branch leadership will also be trained in social media skills. These were decisions made in our last congress in July and it is being implemented.

Having done that, propaganda itself cannot help us but our agenda on various people-centred issues does get us into headlines from time to time. We seem to get a reasonable amount of coverage on issues and the statements made by us.  

How do you as an activist/political candidate keep going on with all the rejection from the mainstream public?

I continuously get calls on a daily basis from all over, from people asking for help. Some say my number was given by the police, some say my number was given by a journalist and some say, by civil servants. Most times, these people tell me, they have tried everything else and someone says, "Why not call Arul?" These people feel we can help solve problems. Others in the party have similar experiences.

Even many Harapan leaders admire our work. We in PSM are not political animals that we will lose sleep or get depressed after an election loss. Elections come and go but the struggle continues.

Though we have lost elections, we have won many local struggles in estates, squatters, and at work sites and these victories keep us going. Our track record in the grassroots struggle cannot be challenged by any other parties. Today, some good policies are there because of our long struggle.

I continue to be humbled when everywhere I go, there are people who want to take a photo with me. When I eat in restaurants, the bill is mostly paid by some stranger and there are even few people who have named their newborns after me. All this gives recognition to the small work we are doing and that keeps me going.

Why do you think that the socialist message of PSM has not garnered popular support, especially among the disenfranchised of the mainstream political parties?

Socialism has been a bad word. The state calls us communist and the Malays feel it is anti-religion while others feel it is anti-business. So these are the main reasons and these are not new ones. So we have to live with all of this but again considering the two decades PSM has been around, we actually have more Malay members today, many young members. I would consider that PSM and socialism have made some inroads.

When we talk about good healthcare, affordable housing, local government election, good transportation, alternative energy… a lot of people are with us. The only thing we have failed to do is make the link between these policies and socialism.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and mantra of no alternative, the world had only capitalism to save them. But today, even in western countries, capitalism has failed and we see important gains by the left-wing politics in the US under Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK.

There were also changes in government recently in Mexico and some inroads in elections in Belgium. Therefore capitalism, which promotes profit and individualism, may face its biggest challenge in the years to come.

I believe many youths in Malaysia are looking for an alternative and we have to make PSM relevant to them.

TOMORROW

Second part of Arutchelvan interview

 S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.