COMMENT An interesting conversation happened between several close friends of mine, that the opposition is currently very weak and will not be able to lead the nation even if they win an election.

A friend kick-started the early morning yum-cha conversation with the remark, “We have always supported Pakatan Rakyat, and now it is known as Pakatan Harapan. Next, I do not know whether it will be there any more.”

Like Barisan Alternatif that was hot during the sacking of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim in 1999 and the burning anger against Dr Mahathir Mohamad, he said that the fate of Pakatan Harapan may not last even to the next general election.

The near split in Selangor that was caused by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang was also raised by another friend. “We all know that PAS became a thorn to Pakatan after the demise of (former menteri besar) Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat. With Hadi being pro-Najib Abdul Razak, it is obvious that PAS will prefer to sleep on the same bed with Umno just to turn Malaysia into another Taliban nation,” he said.

But Pakatan has not been the same as during the last general election. “The politicians have all forgotten the reasons why Anwar is now in jail,” said another. “We were all against the Barisan Nasional government for jailing Anwar, but recently, with the Citizens’ Declaration, there was again another split of opinion over Anwar’s views and the views held strongly by the activists themselves.”

James (not his real name) then chipped in, “Look at the new highways that will be built in Selangor. Although we voted for Pakatan, and they promised that there would not be tolled highways, they recently allowed the highways to be built.”

Another friend, whom I knew was a secret BN supporter, then threw in his wet blanket and said: “I voted for Pakatan in the last general election, but now, I will prefer to vote for the devil that I know rather than the devil that I do not know.”

Idris, a Sarawakian, then referred to the last state elections. “See, how we Sarawakians were being ostracised by West Malaysians, as though we are all that stupid for giving Adenan Satem the mandate,” he claimed. “In fact, I did not even vote for the BN candidate in my state seat.”

Looking at the bigger picture

Quietly, I listened to all the grumbling and the rumbling. One by one, all the frustrations were coming out. It took nearly half-an-hour as I listened to the conversation, before I broke my silence.

“My friends, for one thing, how many of you were even involved in the last general election? For example, signing up for training as a polling agent, or even attending the ceramah just to show your support?” I asked.

“All that I know through the years is that you were complaining about BN, about Dr Mahathir, and now about Najib, Rosmah Mansor and 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). What did you do about it?”

There was silence till someone said: “Nothing!” And everyone laughed.

For the rest of the morning, I dominated the conversation. “You see, in all political parties, including BN, there will be problems. We call this the human factor in politics. There will always be potential conflicts between personalities; there will be splits and more splits.

“At the same time, Umno as we know it, will try all it can to split Pakatan into many factions. It will also try to pitch activists against politicians, and vice-versa, and even between people within the same organisation. This is politics and as we know it, politics is and will always be dirty.

“Currently, Umno is also going through a major split, and this split is getting wider by the day. On one hand, there is a lot of cash involved, and people are still supporting Najib despite the 1MDB scandal which has made it around the world; on the other hand, the Mahathir faction is gaining momentum at the grassroots level, even with the civil society.

“If you are expecting to have a perfect coalition to rule the country, you can continue dreaming on,” I said. “The only reason I would not vote for BN in the coming election is because we all know how much BN’s politicians have plundered our country’s wealth.”

“And, screwed us they did!” exclaimed Idris. “Till today, we have been asking for 20 percent oil royalty, but we cannot get it. Not even Adenan, so what are we talking about more autonomy for Sarawak?”

“That is the point,” I told Idris. “This is why although West Malaysians know that politics is very dirty even in Sarawak, they made remarks that would also apply to West Malaysians. We have been just as stupid all these years to give Dr Mahathir the support despite knowing that he was a major problem to the country.”

As for PAS, they will remain in Kelantan. “With Hadi Awang as president, we can even expect Kelantan being returned to Umno’s fold,” I added. “Look at Hadi’s performance in Terengganu, and PAS’ performance in Kedah. These are good examples why the ulama will never make good state administrators.

“It is good that the Erdogan faction has left PAS to form Amanah. If Mahathir’s faction decides to swing to Amanah, the chances of Amanah candidates winning the federal constituency would be good against both Umno and PAS.”

My conclusion: “We need to give our support to Pakatan, till they are able to capture Putrajaya for at least two terms. Only then can we expect to see some improvement to the country, its laws and its institutions. By then, when both sides are equally strong, can we talk about being the boss. Until then, don’t even think of talking about being the third force (more on that tomorrow).”

Remember Anwar, remember Mandela

On Anwar, I said this: “Don’t expect an angel out of the former opposition leader. He is just another ordinary person like us. He has his weaknesses, but it does not mean he cannot be the next prime minister. Nelson Mandela was also not perfect when he was younger.”

Yet, we had a towering South African in Mandela. “The big difference between Najib and Anwar is that Anwar has been to prison. This is what humbles a leader, and till today, there is no one who has withstood the BN regime as much as Anwar.”

Whatever happens to Anwar tomorrow, no one knows, but we can only trust God that eventually those who are humble before Him will be lifted up. Evil will appear to triumph for a moment but eventually, those who are wicked will reap what they have sown.

God is fair. In the case of Dr Mahathir, he is now reaping what he sowed years ago and the best part is that it is coming from within his own party. We can only hope that he learns and admits that much of what we experience today is the result of his own doing meddling with the royal institution, the judiciary and holding on to both finance minister and prime minister’s posts. Today, Najib and Adenan are doing the same.

Najib, too, will have to reap what he sows today. His acts of wickedness will be returned to him many-folds. I cannot even say for sure that he would not go to jail for the 1MDB scandal and the many other scandals that are linked to him.

Meanwhile, we support the Citizens’ Declaration not because of Zaid Ibrahim or Dr Mahathir, but because the removal of Najib as prime minister is on everyone’s mind, because the scandal and the abuse of power has gone beyond what we can even imagine happening in this nation. It is also part of the Pakatan’s reform agenda for a better Malaysia.

This is the basis why activists like Ambiga Sreenevasan and Maria Chin Abdullah have signed the Citizens’ Declaration in their personal capacity. Dr Mahathir himself signed the document as an ordinary member of the Malaysian public.

We need him to be vocal, because Dr Mahathir is the only one who can wake up his fellow Umno members that the time has come for Umno to learn that it is not indispensable as a political party.

We cannot dismiss the fact that Dr Mahathir is still very influential amongst Umno grassroots; for that reason, Najib is afraid to go for a direct confrontation with Dr Mahathir. He merely uses his henchmen to hit out at Dr Mahathir.

“If you think that the opposition is weak, do something!” I told my group of friends. “You know me. I have always been apolitical myself until I saw the political developments in this country just before the last general election. I had to say, “Enough is enough!” Like many people, I had to say, “Away with Umno!”

“The strength of any political party, including Pakatan Harapan, can only be measured by the support that it receives from the people, not only in terms of half-hearted votes, but people with the determination to see change happening in this country.”

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.