COMMENT | Is Bersama the solution Malaysians need but do not want?

“He didn’t say it in front of me, but behind me, he would say, ‘If we follow Rafizi’s mind, no one will vote for us, so we cannot do this because the rakyat will be angry.’”

- Former Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli

COMMENT | Of course, Bersama wants to make Selangor its home base. Former Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung hopes that Selangor “… voters give us that room to imagine what is possible.”

This is either inspiring or delusional, considering how entrenched Selangor voters are in their fear of the green wave.

Meanwhile, PAS and the deep Islamic state also have their eyes on Selangor. Not only is it the most economically prosperous state but also one which they believe, like Penang, is a stronghold of non-Muslim political power and an impediment to hegemonic religious rule.

This is why every opportunity is made to introduce religious dogma into the personal and public spaces of Selangorians, and race and religious hustlers have attempted to undermine the unity of the state for decades.

Whatever my criticisms of former economy minister Rafizi Ramli, he has publicly made it clear that when he returned to PKR after his self-imposed exile, he believed that the party should rely on its multiethnic base instead of not spooking the Malays, which he has flirted with before.

He has publicly acknowledged that politicians may need to make tough and unpopular decisions for the rakyat’s interest.

It's quite simple

Rafizi is one of those politicians who can articulate the problems faced by the Malay community.

In a roundtable discussion in 2017, he said: “We don’t understand that Malay voters need more than just talk. Telling people that Najib is going to bring us down is not enough.

“Why do we lack credibility? We have been out of touch, to the point of being condescending.

“We just have to convince the people enough that we can do a better job. We must honestly accept failings and offer solutions that may be controversial.”

Former natural resources and environmental sustainability minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, another Bersama operative who left PKR, understood that appealing to the Malay far-right is not a viable strategy.

“At the end of the day, we can’t outflank Perikatan Nasional in terms of playing the Malay or Islam card, because we know that is their comparative advantage in a way.”

This right here is what is needed in the discourse when it comes to the majority community. The non-Malay discourse is far more messy.

Tacit approval from non-Malays

From reportage, Lee described Bersama’s target audience as people who think critically, are less easily swayed by fear, and are open to more political choices. Good luck in finding them in Selangor.

Keep in mind that for decades, non-Malays voted for BN and demonised the opposition using pragmatism as a rallying cry instead of institutional reform.

And to be fair, for decades, the non-Malays prospered while their Malay/Muslim brethren were short-changed by the Malay uber alles party they voted for.

This manufactured various racial flashpoints which the mainstream Malay political apparatus profits from.

While a segment of the Malay polity may scoff at Madani, many Madani partisans still believe that it is a safer alternative than what the opposition is peddling.

Folks may say they are against corruption but still vote for politicians who turned a blind eye to the corporate mafia scandal, the Sabah scandal, closed the book on Teoh Beng Hock, shrugged at the destruction of so-called illegal temples and turned their backs on the reform agenda.

The Madani political class is well aware that although non-Malays rant and rave on social media, the reality is that when it comes to the ballot box, they will vote for his establishment proxies because they believe that, as flawed as Harapan is, there is no alternative.

Could Bersama be that alternative? The better question is: will the progressive voters, regardless of race and religion, place their bets on Bersama when it comes to the green wave?

The urban areas, for instance, are rife with political and corporate corruption, which determines a kind of bureaucratic mafia controlled by ruling regimes, which is ultimately destroying this country.

Yet urban voters, especially non-Malays, are willing to throw in their lot with legacy parties for various reasons.

Making excuses for Harapan is the issue

Do not get me wrong. I will be more than happy if Bersama breaks the monopoly in urban and semi-urban areas because power and policies flow down from these areas.

The online harassment of third-party candidates and the demeaning of so-called mosquito parties and outliers speaking against the doublespeak of mainstream legacy parties is a testament that the non-Malays have shot themselves in the foot when it comes to viable alternatives.

Non-Malays are always asking for solutions. The problem is that they don’t really want solutions because, as a reform coalition (Harapan), they had the solutions. They just never held the people they voted for accountable.

They always made excuses. Everything from “pragmatism”, “the green wave”, to “this is a unity government” whenever Harapan spat in their faces.

I am no economic wonk, but anecdotally speaking, academics and fiscal policy experts I know have been impressed by Bersama’s shadow budget, especially how seriously it takes the short, but more importantly, long-term fiscal policies that may help this country.

READ MORE: Safe vs bold reforms: Economists size up Putrajaya's Budget 2027 against Bersama's alternative

As one former economic personality said, she has never really seen such an “audacious” but narratively unsexy long-term fiscally responsible budget before.

What stands in Bersama’s way are instincts of communal interests, self-righteous hypocrisy, cowardice and partisan self-preservation.

These are not baser animal instincts but rather all too human instincts.

S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”

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

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