Orang Cina Malaysia, apa lagi yang anda mahu? — Zaini Hassan

30 APRIL — Sudah banyak kali saya menulis mengenai sikap sahabat kita, orang Cina Malaysia terhadap kerajaan yang ada sekarang. Saya juga sering mengaitkan cita-cita DAP yang mahu “pulun” semua sekali pengaruh Cina di negara ini.

Seperti mana yang saya tulis sebelum ini, DAP sejak akhir-akhir ini sungguh senyap dalam pergerakannya. Di Selangor pun ia senyap, di Pulau Pinang pun ia mulai senyap, di Perak pun begitu. Senyap-senyap DAP sebenarnya diam-diam berisi.

Gerakan halus mereka bergerak kencang. Harus diingat arus bawah lebih bahaya berbanding ombak di atas. Tapi apakah BN sedar dengan strategi DAP itu. Jika kira-kira 30 tahun dulu, malah 20 tahun dulu, orang Melayu generasi saya amat cuak dengan DAP atas sikap cauvinisnya, kini generasi Melayu sekarang tidak tahu itu semua. Mereka sudah tidak peduli.

Mereka tidak membaca pun buku 13 Mei yang ditulis oleh Tunku Abdul Rahman dan mereka tidak pernah tahu pun wujudnya perarakan penyapu oleh DAP yang mahu menyapu orang Melayu pada masa itu.

Bukan tujuan saya mahu membangkitkan rasa benci kepada parti itu atau kepada sesiapa, tapi ia adalah sejarah yang semua orang anak-anak Melayu, Cina, India, Orang Asli malah sesiapa sahaja harus dan berhak tahu mengenainya.

Saya pernah menyarankan supaya buku 13 Mei itu dijadikan teks di sekolah. Matapelajaran sejarah yang sesetengah daripada orang Melayu sendiri amat membencinya, harus diperkuatkan semula. Aspek kenegaraan, soal-soal realiti kemalaysiaan harus diterapkan.

Masukkan juga satu subjek mengenai konsep 1 Malaysia yang sudah mulai disukai ramai itu. Sejarah silam dan aspek kontemporari harus disatukan menjadi satu subjek wajib, yang harus diikuti oleh semua pelajar, bukan sahaja pelajar Sastera, malah juga pelajar Sains.

Tujuan saya membangkitkan semula perkara ini bukanlah bermakna saya ini ultra-Melayu, tetapi untuk menyatakan mengenai realiti politik yang berlaku di sekeliling kita sekarang.

Pilihan raya kecil Hulu Selangor amat unik. Dalam sains politik, ia amat menarik untuk dikaji bagaimana orang Cina (bukan semua, tapi rata-rata) masih tidak mahu kembali kepada parti kerajaan.

Apa lagi yang mereka mahu? Apakah mereka masih merasakan merekalah penentu kepada sesuatu keputusan pilihan raya di negara ini?

Perlulah diingat pilihan raya umum 2008 bukanlah satu ujian sebenar bagi proses demokrasi di negara ini. Ia terlalu artifial. Tsunami yang berlaku adalah akibat kemarahan rakyat kepada kerajaan ketika itu dan kecelaruan fikiran orang Melayu ketika itu.

Akibatnya, DAP telah berjaya mencuri peluang itu. Orang Cina ramai-ramai memihak kepada mereka dan berlakulah tsunami politik yang tidak pernah berlaku dalam sejarah Malaysia.

Tapi jika diambil Hulu Selangor sebagai model pilihan raya umum ke-13 kelak, orang Cina bukanlah (lagi) penentu kepada keputusannya. Orang Melayu masih lagi menjadi faktor mutlak bagi menentukan kepada keputusan itu, dengan syarat — mereka bersatu.

Bersatupun, mereka haruslah secara majoriti menyokong kerajaan dan orang India pun turut serta memberi undi kepada parti kerajaan, maka ketika itu orang Cina bukanlah penentunya. Kecualilah jika orang India dan Cina solid lari daripada BN, maka BN akan tersungkur.

Namun, hakikatnya angka majoriti undi BN di Hulu Selangor bukan lagi satu gambaran kepada kemenangan sebenar. Itu pilihan raya kecil. Semua jentera tertumpu di sini. Dalam pilihan raya umum situasinya adalah jauh berbeza.

Secara angka, Melayu Hulu Selangor pun masih tidak solid. Kita tidak pasti apa lagi yang mereka mahu. Semua yang mereka mahu sudah diberi. Umno pun sudah tunjuk perubahan. Seorang rakan memberitahu ''mungkin kita perlu pendekatan radikal untuk menyelesaikan masalah yang tenat."

Namun, keputusan Hulu Selangor amat disenangi oleh Lim Kit Siang. Beliau dalam ucapannya di rapat umum penutup selepas keputusan kekalahan mereka diumumkan, memberitahu para hadirian yang rata-rata terdiri daripada orang Melayu, keputusan itu sebenarnya ialah kejayaan kepada “rakyat” Hulu Selangor.

Tanpa mahu menyentuh perasaan orang Melayu di situ, beliau sebenarnya merujuk 'rakyat' itu sebagai orang Cina Hulu Selangor yang rata-rata tidak memberi undi kepada BN, tapi sebaliknya memihak kepada DAP.

Kit Siang ternyata amat gembira, sebaliknya Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek dan Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon yang gagal.

Ironisnya, apa pula maksud Soi Lek apabila beliau berkata '”MCA kena vokal”? Saya pun tak tau?

Orang Cina Malaysia, apa lagi yang anda mahu?Tajuk di atas penuh bermakna. Apa lagi yang orang Cina Malaysia mahukan? Kita tolak dulu sebab-musabab mereka tidak menyokong kerajaan yang ada sekarang. Kita kaji dulu apa lagi yang mereka mahu?

Ikut sejarahnya orang Cina berhijrah ke Tanah Melayu ini untuk mencari peluang. Mereka hidup susah di tanah besar China ratusan tahun dulu. Seperti mana orang putih berhijrah ke benua Amerika untuk mencari peluang, begitu jugalah orang Cina yang kini menghuni di negara bertuah Malaysia ini.

Ternyata, percaturan datuk moyang mereka dulu berbaloi. Mereka dapat apa yang mereka mahukan. Mereka hidup mewah di bumi bertuah Malaysia ini.

Malah, bukan Malaysia sahaja, Singapura pun mereka kuasai sepenuhnya. Singapura bukanlah negara asal mereka. Orang Cina Singapura pun asalnya adalah dari tongkang yang sama bersama-sama orang Cina Malaysia. Cuba bezanya, Singapura berjaya dikuasai sepenuhnya, dan Malaysia tidak.

Di Malaysia, orang Cina hidup aman damai bersama-sama orang Melayu, Pribumi dan India. Berbeza dengan di Singapura, di sana orang Cina yang menguasai politik dan sekaligus pemerintahan negara itu. Di Malaysia, politik dan kerajaannya masih lagi dikuasai oleh orang Melayu.

Sistem kedua-dua negara itu sama, cuma ia terbalik sahaja. Orang Melayu di sini, orang Cina di sebelah tambak itu.

Bezanya orang Melayu di Singapura dan orang Cina di Malaysia amat berlainan sekali. Orang Melayu di Singapura hidup biasa-biasa sahaja. Orang Cina di Malaysia hidup lebih daripada biasa-biasa.

Malah Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad pernah memberi gambaran sekiranya semua bangunan orang Cina di Kuala Lumpur diangkat dari peta, yang tinggal hanyalah Kampung Baru itu sahaja. Semua yang lain ialah kepunyaan orang Cina Malaysia.

Orang Cina Malaysia amat hebat. Kesemua pekan-pekan besar dan bandar-bandar di seluruh Semenanjung, Sabah dan Sarawak dikuasai mereka.

Mereka juga berjaya melahirkan para profesional yang paling ramai dan berjaya. Sistem sekolah Cina mereka adalah antara yang terbaik di mana-mana sahaja di dunia ini (jika ada).

Kebanyakan pelajar-pelajar di kolej-kolej swasta yang terbaik di Malaysia dipenuhi oleh pelajar-pelajar Cina. Orang Melayu hanya mampu ke kolej milik kerajaan dan yang tidak ternama. Pusat-pusat membeli belah di kompleks-kompleks ternama di Malaysia dipunyai oleh orang Cina.

Di organisasi korporat dan swasta, orang Cinalah yang menguasainya. Orang Melayu boleh di bilang jari dan pekerja bawahan. Malah, kini mahu mohon kerja di situ pun perlu faham cakap Mandarin, sebagai prasyaratnya.

Akhir sekali, orang paling terkaya di Malaysia yang banciannya dijalankan saban tahun oleh sebuah majalah busines di Malaysia mendapati lapan orang Cina yang berada di 10 ke atas. Berikut adalah senarai 10 orang terkaya di Malaysia.

1.Robert Kuok Hock Nien

2.Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan

3. Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng

4. Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow

5. Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay

6. Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan

7. Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhry

8. Puan Seri Lee Kim Hua

9. Tan Sri Tiong Hiew King

10. Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun. (Sumber: Malaysian Business, Feb 2010)

Itulah hakikatnya Malaysia tanah airku yang tercinta ini. Apakah kerajaan sekarang yang sudah memerintah 52 tahun ini terlalu zalim, kejam dan kuku besi?

Apa lagi yang orang Cina Malaysia mahukan? Tapi saya tahu, anda tahu jawapannya. — Utusan Malaysia

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Sad day when politicians hold a school to ransom

Columnists

WRITTEN BY DR AZLY RAHMAN

TUESDAY, 27 APRIL 2010 13:48

If the above words quoted in Lim Kit Siang’s blog were uttered and they were true, we have reached the highest level of idiocy in charting the future of Malaysian education. How much shame must we parade in our desperation to win this or that election that is a theatre of the absurd anyway? The essential question is, how dare we use education – the only means for social and economic progress for ALL races – to bribe voters! We hear all too often now that education is being ‘prostitutionalized’ in the name of political gains. That gentle profession and a noble enterprise, from the Latineducare (drawing out the potentials) have been overused in election campaigns. From rice to roads, credit cards to cruises, youth facilities to new universities – all these have been used as political baits throughout our history. We are in a pathological condition. Education and the building of educational institutions must be a non-partisan endeavour. As the philosopher John Dewey would say, education is the only means for social and educational progress, and the teaching of thinking will never bring the child to any dead places, so we must take heed of this notion of education for all.  Education must become a vehicle for the development of a critical citizenry, regardless of who is in power, as the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire would say. Have we no shame when we say that only if the people vote for this or that party, money will flow to the children of that community? Have we no sense of understanding of human rights and dignity when we deliberately create apartheid system of education through preferential treatments by virtue of who votes for us? Denying children’s rights We are denying children the right to be intelligent when we use programmes of the gifted and talented as political tool and as means to punish electorates. We are denying at-risk youth alternative educational settings that will give them hope and vision when we are merely interested in their potential as paid hooligans during election campaigns. In the United States it does not matter which government is in power, the approaches to educating the future generation differ only in the emphasis towards making the schools perform better. Whether it is Ronald Reagan’s NCEE report of ‘A Nation at Risk’, Bill Clinton’sGoals 2000, George Bush’s No Child Left Behind, or Barack Obama’s Race to the Top – all these have the goal of grand scale inclusiveness, although the ideology and modus operandi might differ. In them, these are the mandate given to each state to implement standards of excellence to make society better. Never have I heard, as an American educator myself, of this or that school denied of funding by virtue of the community's political leaning. It would be a Supreme Court case if a school district is denied money due to the teacher union’s endorsement of this or that candidate in the gubernatorial race, for instance. If we continue to see in Malaysia at every election campaign, money being promised only if votes are being given, then we have become an immoral nation of peoples that do not care for the next generation of children. Already we have educational institutions entrenched in race and the propagation of racial superiority – at a time when we trumpet to the outside world our ‘Malaysian-ness’. We not only have elite schools for one race, expensive schools for the gifted and talented of one race, universities only for this or that race, and grants and scholarships for only one race – we have them when all these are supposed to be coming from a ‘1Malaysia’ government in which the taxpayers are of all races. Already we are seeing more seeds of racialization in education and the ‘apartheid-ization’ of schooling planted in order to further the agenda of race-based politics. The ‘one-school-fits-all’ (Satu sekolah untuk semua) movement/campaign is also deeply suspect. Which ideology will hegemonize, which culture will be made dominant, and what will be the nature of ‘nationalism and patriotism’ shoved onto the minds of the young? These are serious questions we need to ask ourselves as a nation – how have we politicized and prostitutionalized education? What will be the political, social, and cultural implications of this game we are letting politicians play? It is game that reflects out pathological state of mind as we continue to see our institutions crumble, no longer able to withstand the weight of our contradictions. What then must we do? We do not have time to entertain ethnocentric politics anymore; our society has been fragmented into classes of rich and poor, marginalizing people of all races to newer character. All forms of race-based politics in this century of post-modernity, flux, and shifting ideologues is racist in nature. It is racism for the convenience of control and the furtherance of unseen violence masked as ‘progress and civility’. We must go back to the study of educational philosophies rather than advance the practice of educational prostitutionalization.

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Malaysia's Submarine Scandal Surfaces in France

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Written by John Berthelsen

FRIDAY, 16 APRIL 2010

Murky arms deal linked to international pattern of kickbacks A potentially explosive scandal in Malaysia over the billion-dollar purchase of French submarines, a deal engineered by then-Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak, has broken out of the domestic arena with the filing of a request to investigate bribery and kickbacks from the deal in a Paris court. Although the case has been contained for eight years in the cozy confines of Malaysia's courts and parliament, which are dominated by the ruling National Coalition, French lawyers William Bourdon, Renaud Semerdjian and Joseph Breham put an end to that when they filed it with Parisian prosecutors on behalf of the Malaysian human rights organization Suaram, which supports good-government causes.  Judges in the Paris Prosecution Office have been probing a wide range of corruption charges involving similar submarine sales and the possibility of bribery and kickbacks to top officials in France, Pakistan and other countries. The Malaysian piece of the puzzle was added in two filings, on Dec. 4, 2009 and Feb. 23 this year. For two years, Parisian prosecutors, led by investigating judges Francoise Besset and Jean-Christophe Hullin, have been gingerly investigating allegations involving senior French political figures and the sales of submarines and other weaponry to governments all over the world. French news reports have said the prosecutors have backed away from some of the most serious charges out of concern for the political fallout.  The allegations relate to one of France's biggest defense conglomerates, the state-owned shipbuilder DCN, which merged with the French electronics company Thales in 2005 to become a dominant force in the European defense industry. DCN's subsidiary Armaris is the manufacturer of Scorpene-class diesel submarines sold to India, Pakistan and Malaysia among other countries. All of the contracts, according to the lawyers acting for Suaram, a Malaysian human rights NGO, are said to be suspect. With Najib having moved on from the defense portfolio he held when the deal was put together in 2002 to become prime minister and head of the country's largest political party, the mess has the potential to become a major liability for the government and the United Malays National Organisation. Given the power of UMNO, it is unlikely the scandal would ever get any airing in a Malaysian court, which is presumably why Suaram reached out to French prosecutors.  "The filings are very recent and have so far prompted a preliminary police inquiry on the financial aspects of the deal," said a Paris-based source familiar with France's defense establishment. "There isn't a formal investigation yet. The investigation will most likely use documents seized at DCN in the course of another investigation, focusing on bribes paid by DCN in Pakistan." The source said police have confined their inquiry to bribery allegations so far and have not looked into the 2006 murder of a Mongolian woman in Malaysia who was a translator on the deal for Najib and his friend, Abdul Razak Baginda, during a visit to Paris. There have been numerous deaths involving DCN defense sales in Taiwan and Pakistan. Prosecutors are suspicious that 11 French submarine engineers who were murdered in a 2002 bomb blast in Karachi – first thought to have been the work of Al Qaeda – were actually killed in retaliation for the fact that the French had reneged on millions of dollars in kickbacks to Pakistani military officers.  The Malaysian allegations revolve around the payment of €114 million to a Malaysia-based company called Perimekar, for support services surrounding the sale of the submarines. Perimekar was wholly owned by another company, KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd, which in turn was controlled by Najib's best friend, Razak Baginda, whose wife Mazalinda, a lawyer and former magistrate, was the principal shareholder, according to the French lawyers.  "Over the past years, serious cases have been investigated in France by judges involving DCN," lawyer Renaud Semerdjian told Asia Sentinel in a telephone interview. "This is not the first case of this kind that is being investigated. There are others in Pakistan and there are some issues about India. To a certain extent, every time weapons of any kind have been provided, suspicion of violation of the law may be very high." As defense minister from 2000 to 2008, Najib commissioned a huge military buildup to upgrade Malaysia's armed forces, including two submarines from Armaris and the lease of a third, a retired French Navy Agosta-class boat. There were also Sukhoi supersonic fighter jets from Russia and millions of dollars spent on coastal patrol boats.All have come under suspicion by opposition leaders in Malaysia's parliament but UMNO has stifled any investigation. Asked personally about the cases, Najib has responded angrily and refused to reply.  Despite efforts to bury it, the case achieved considerably notoriety after the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old Mongolian translator and Razak Baginda's jilted lover, who participated in negotiations over the purchase of the submarines. By her own admission in a letter found after her death, she was attempting to blackmail Razak Baginda for US$500,000.  She was shot in October 2006 and her body was blown up with military explosives by two bodyguards attached to Najib's office after Razak Baginda went to Najib's chief of staff, Musa Safri, for help in keeping her away from him. Not long after being acquitted in November 2008 under questionable circumstances of participating in her murder, Razak Baginda left the country for England. The bodyguards were convicted but no motive was ever established for their actions despite a confession by one which was not allowed in court, but which said they would be paid a large sum of money to get rid of her.  The submarine deal was never brought up in court during a months-long murder trial that was marked by prosecutors, defense attorneys and the judge working studiously to keep Najib's name out of the proceedings. A private detective hired by Razak Baginda to protect him from the furious Altantuya filed a statutory declaration after the trial indicating that Najib had actually been the victim's lover and had passed her on to Razak Baginda.  The detective, P. Balasubramaniam, said later that he was unceremoniously run out of Kuala Lumpur. He eventually emerged from hiding in India to say he had been offered RM5 million (US$1.57 million) by a businessman close to Najib's wife to shut up and get out of town. He also said he had met Nazim Razak, Najib's younger brother, and was told to recant his testimony. In the current complaint in Paris, the issue revolves around what, if anything, Razak Baginda's Perimekar company did to deserve €114 million. Zainal Abidin, the deputy defense minister at the time of the sale, told parliament that Perimekar had received the amount – 11 percent of the sale price of the submarines – for "coordination and support services." The Paris filing alleges that there were neither support nor services.  Perimekar was registered in 2001, a few months before the signing of the contracts for the sale, the Paris complaint states. The company, it said flatly, "did not have the financial resources to complete the contract." A review of the accounts in 2001 and 2002, the complaint said, "makes it an obvious fact that this corporation had absolutely no capacity, or legal means or financial ability and/or expertise to support such a contract."  "None of the directors and shareholders of Perimekar have the slightest experience in the construction, maintenance or submarine logistics," the complaint adds. "Under the terms of the contract, €114 million were related to the different stages of construction of the submarines." The apparent consideration, supposedly on the part of Perimekar, "would be per diem and Malaysian crews and accommodation costs during their training. There is therefore no link between billing steps and stages of completion of the consideration." As Asia Sentinel reported on April 1, services for the subs are being performed by a well-connected firm called Boustead DCNS, a joint venture between BHIC Defence Technologies Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of publicly-listed Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd, and DCNS SA, a subsidiary of DCN. Boustead's Heavy Industries Division now includes Perimekar as an "associate of the Group. PSB is involved in the marketing, upgrading, maintenance and related services for the Malaysian maritime defence industry," according to Boustead's annual report. Originally Boustead told the Malaysian Stock Exchange that the service contract was for RM600 million (US$184.1 million) for six years, or US$30.68 million annually. However, the contract later ballooned to RM270 million per year. Boustead Holdings is partly owned by the government and has close connections with UMNO. "There are good grounds to believe that [Perimekar] was created with a single objective: arrange payment of the commission and allocate the amount between different beneficiaries including Malaysian public officials and or Malaysian or foreign intermediaries," the complaint states.

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Drawing from the Umno ‘fixed deposit’

Translation

WRITTEN BY ZAKI SAMSUDIN

THURSDAY, 15 APRIL 2010 11:31

(Translation from Malay by CPI) When Umno suffered an acute loss of voter confidence in the 1999 general election (GE), many political analysts predicted that the party would be buried by the next GE. The majority of Malay voters were seen to have shifted their allegiance and beginning to favour Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) and Parti KeADILan Nasional. It was rationalized that if the Malays themselves had rejected Umno, then the party was no longer relevant and would soon become obsolete. Such was the general perception in the heat of the election aftermath. Many from the opposition, especially those in PAS and KeADILan at that time were already dreaming of sitting in Putrajaya by the following GE. Nonetheless, when the 2004 election came around, not only did Umno survive, it rose to greater heights and made a clean sweep of 90 percent of the seats it contested. Here was a reverse scenario where PAS and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) were the ones facing a genuine possibility of being obliterated. The general election of Mac 2008 again saw the Umno dominance of the political landscape coming under threat. Barisan Nasional, of which Umno is the backbone, tumbled in five states and failed to obtain a two-third majority in parliament. Once more, Umno’s continued lifespan was questioned and the opposition alliance began entertaining the hope that the federal government was now within its grasp. But the truth is, Umno is not a mosquito party. Umno has been in the political arena since the 1950s. Hence, if there are among supporters of the opposition coalition entertaining the thought that Umno might so easily collapse in the coming GE, they should be more circumspect in making their predictions. What can come to pass is another big win for BN and Umno as occurred in 2004. The most evident strength of Umno is the huge number of loyal supporters that it has. And Malays loyal to Umno no matter what are those who are older (aged 50 and above) and those in the civil service. ‘Why fix it if it ain’t broke’? For many senior voters, Umno is the only ruling party – “dulu, kini dan selamanya” (its slogan: “past, present and for all eternity”). It is not imaginable that other political parties are capable of ruling the country. For these people, Umno is the fount of everything – land, housing, water, electricity and all else is made available because of Umno. If not for Umno, all the luxuries and good things in life would not be there for the taking. Umno is also seen as generous, and why not? Every time come election season, donations and free services are given. Batik and kain pelikat (men’s sarung) are distributed free, roads are tarred, surau and mosques refurbished, carrots dangled, and all requests and grievances of the rakyat are entertained with the utmost concern and diligence. In the civil service, many are ensconced in the comfort zone and at ease with the Umno and Barisan Nasional authorities. Their salaries, perks and allowances enjoyed are quite adequate. The relationship between the civil service and Umno leaders is intimate, and the latter are seen as accessible. Many official visits are conducted and banquets held to facilitate common interaction in the course of work. So even though there are blots in the copybook and weaknesses in governance, all these are taken as part and parcel of life. Therefore, the thinking remains among the civil service that as long as the government is able to deliver the comforts, why is there any need for this government to be changed? If Pakatan Rakyat truly wants to wrest control of Putrajaya, meticulous planning is required to win increased support from the Malay electorate. Among urban Malays, and the young and professional classes, Pakatan Rakyat has an encouraging level of support. Nonetheless, this is not enough to fell Umno and Barisan Nasional. Concern of government servants There is not much that Pakatan Rakyat can do to win over the Malay senior voters. Their heart and soul is with Umno. Say what you will about bad Umno leaders, it is like water off a duck’s back. Marking the ballot means crossing the ‘dacing’ (BN’s logo of the weighing scale). It is the only equation that they know, and a lifelong habit. In any election gambit, emphasis must be placed on the Malaysian civil service. A great number of those employed in the public sector will be worried if Umno and Barisan Nasional were to lose power; especially those who have – all this while either directly or indirectly – financially benefited from the largesse obtained through leaks and seepages in the system. When Abdul Khalid Ibrahim made his maiden tour of Selangor’s government departments as the new Menteri Besar immediately after the March 2008 general election, the government servants were clearly glum and there was an air of despondency in the offices. Many were wondering what would be the action plan of the freshly installed state government and chief minister. Would he unearth all the state documents and pursue those who had been allied to the previous Menteri Besar? Or would there be a major overhaul involving transfers and job termination? Presently, after two years of Pakatan Rakyat rule in four states of the peninsula, the civil service is ‘protected’ (will not be charged for offences) even though there have been efforts to expose the defects of the earlier Barisan Nasional state governments. However, there will surely be those who think that the officers colluding with the previous leadership should be exposed and taken to court. Although certain quarters appear eager to dig up the dirt and punish all those complicit, one should nonetheless exercise caution and not go overboard. It must be carefully weighed whether such as step will ultimately be detrimental or rewarding. In realpolitik, a smart strategy requires pragmatic consideration from all angles and perspectives. After apartheid was dismantled in South Africa in 1994, an independent commission (the Truth and Reconciliation Commission) was established to collect evidence from the victims and wrongdoers in criminal cases arising from the country’s policy of racial discrimination. The commission was entrusted with the mandate to pardon and grant immunity to those found guilty should they be willing to come forward and provide information. Perhaps this method is more appropriate to be adopted in Malaysia if Pakatan Rakyat wishes to successfully take over the federal government in the next GE. A conciliatory and less radical approach can reassure the civil service that there will be no widespread witch hunt. It should be borne in mind that many of them are involved in the scandals affecting public institutions only because they were following orders. Strategy at state level Aside from the above, Pakatan Rakyat is currently ruling four states and this allows it an opportunity to show its appreciation for the contributions rendered by the civil service. Don’t only point out the weaknesses and failures. Instead commend those who are dedicated and capable in their work as a note of thanks on the part of the state government for their meritorious service. What can be done perhaps is to award excellent service medals as is the practice with the federal government. These special awards from the state governments can go a long way in showing that Pakatan Rakyat values the role of the civil service as partners in the mutual quest to develop the state and bureaucracy. Thus, the civil service would not feel that they are unduly regarded as an opponent to be wary of and whose motivations and actions are under constant scrutiny. As for the police and armed forces, commemorate them on Police Day and Warriors Day. Even though the Pakatan Rakyat are often targetted, they should nonetheless realise that not all members of the police and armed forces swear a blind fealty to the Umno dan Barisan Nasional leadership. If there is a need to criticize the police and armed forces, direct the criticism at specific individuals who are responsible. Don’t generalize that all are bad apples and biased in carrying out their duties. In Malaysia, there are all in all more than one million civil servants. Of this total, almost 90 percent are Malays. These individuals are enfranchised voters. Their personal voting choice will surely exert an influence over a large number of their family members. Therefore, the side which can secure their support will definitely have a big edge in the bid to carry the general election. It is the civil service that is really Umno and Barisan Nasional’s‘fixed deposit’. They are the main barrier to be breached to pave the road to Putrajaya for Pakatan Rakyat. This article by CPI columnist Zaki Samsudin was originally published on March 25, 2010 under the title Menembusi ‘simpanan tetap’ Umno.

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