THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) is in the midst of amending its party constitution to allow its members to appoint its leaders direct. Currently, PKR is structured almost like Umno where the leaders are appointed by its 2,000 or so delegates to the general assembly, and those who can contest the leadership must be nominated by the division during the division meetings.
This is how Umno does it. It is not the 3 million or 3.5 million Umno members who appoint their leaders. It is the 2,500 or so delegates to the general assembly. But the nominations that will determine who can and cannot contest the party leadership must come from the 191 Umno divisions.
Most times the 191 divisions will nominate those whom the division leaders support. In short, it is not the 3 million or 3.5 million Umno members who make that decision but the 191 division heads. And whom the division heads support will be whomsoever the Umno President supports.
The bottom line is, one man, the President, decides who gets nominated and the 191 division heads make sure that the 3 million or 3.5 million members endorse the President’s wish by nominating these people. Nominations are normally based on block-voting or chais. Very seldom can those not on the chai get in although a few have been known to get through the 'roadblock' in the past -- especially if they are popular ‘independent mavericks’ like Shahrir Samad. But this would be the exception rather than the rule.
It is good that PKR breaks away from the ‘Umno tradition’ by allowing all the members to have the right of direct voting instead of the current ‘nominee’ system where their votes are 'engineered' through the delegates to the general assembly who in turn are ‘guided’ by the handful of division heads. This not only eliminates block-voting based on ‘the President’s wish’ but it will also eliminates ‘money politics’ where aspiring candidates can buy votes. Buying 2,000 delegates is easier than buying a couple of million members.
Nevertheless, while we may applaud PKR’s or Anwar Ibrahim’s move to allow ‘proper democracy’ to prevail -- where all members get to choose their leaders rather than a mere 200 division leaders or the 2,000 delegates -- we must give credit where credit is due. This idea was actually mooted by Tengku Tan Sri Razaleigh Hamzah long before the 8 March 2008 general election.
Ku Li’s aspiration was to see reforms in Umno. He wanted to see a one-man-one-vote system prevail, almost like how things are done in the US. Why should just 191 division leaders or 2,500 Umno delegates decide the future of this country of 27 million Malaysians? The contestants whom 191 division heads or 2,500 Umno delegates choose as their leader will not just become Umno leaders but leaders of Malaysia as well. Should a mere 191 division heads or 2,500 delegates of one political party decide what happens to 27 million Malaysians?
Now, while on the subject of Ku Li, the controversial unity government idea was also mooted by Ku Li. And this was also mooted long before the 8 March 2008 general election.
Two fasting months ago, back in 2007, a meeting was held in Ku Li’s residence cum office to discuss this matter. About 30 to 35 Bloggers and civil society movement leaders from both sides of the political divide attended this meeting, which ended in a buka puasa that evening. There were people from Umno as well as the opposition in that meeting, some of those Umno Bloggers who of late have become my adversary.
The 2007 buka puasa meeting was actually the highlight. Prior to that many meetings were held with Ku Li in what could be considered exploratory meetings to see in which direction Ku Li was going to take Umno and what reforms he was proposing for that dominant party that will be running the government and which will decide all its policies.
Back in 2005-2006, when the meetings were first held, we were not naïve in thinking that the opposition would be taking over come the next general election, whenever that was going to be. The latest the elections would have to be held would be March 2009. But we did not see yet, at that time, the possibility of an opposition alliance the likes of Pakatan Rakyat.
The 2004 general election was a disaster. It was the worst the opposition had ever performed. It did not appear like the opposition would even agree to an electoral pact, let alone a coalition. We expected three- or four-corner fights in many constituencies with Barisan Nasional against more than one opposition candidate. This was what happened in 2004 and the opposition candidates, because of the three- or four-corner fights, not only lost but in some cases lost their deposits as well.
The alternative, back in 2005-2006, appeared to be some form of unity government. But it was not meant as a unity government with Umno per se. It was supposed to be the opposition entering into a unity government with Ku Li.
That was the initial idea.
No doubt, the unity government with Ku Li would be with Ku Li as the head of Umno. We did not think, at that time, Umno would be wiped out in the general election. Umno would still be the main player in Barisan Nasional and Barisan Nasional would still form the federal government as well as the state government in most states. And the opposition would remain the opposition. The only thing we did not know yet at that time was whether the opposition be a strong opposition like in 1999 or a weak opposition like in 2004. Whatever it may be though, the opposition would still remain the opposition and the only way it could be in the government would be in the form of a unity government with Ku Li.
Along the way, things developed beyond our expectations. First, Ku Li did not get the nominations required to make it as Umno’s President. His people had earlier told us that Ku Li had more than enough nominations to contest the Umno Presidency. We had in fact written many times that Ku Li would have no problem winning the Umno Presidency if he can obtain the required nominations. It is getting the nominations that would be difficult.
Back in 2004 Ku Li got only one nomination. And that nomination was from his own Gua Musang division. Even then the Gua Musang Wanita chief voted against him so in that sense you can say he got only half a nomination. How can he be assured of getting 60 nominations this time around instead of just one like in 2004?
Well, he ended up, again, getting just one nomination like what happened in 2004. This means he would not become the new Umno President and all his plans for the reformation of Umno, including the one-man-one-vote system, was going to be a non-starter. And this means the idea for a unity government would also be a non-starter. There was no way the opposition would form a unity government with Umno without Ku Li as its head. This idea was personal to holder. It was supposed to be with Ku Li as head of Umno. Not with Umno whoever may be the head.
Anyway, the 2008 general election proved better than expected. Umno and Barisan Nasional were not kicked out but neither was the opposition wiped out like in 2004. And the opposition did not engage in three- or four-corner fights. Furthermore, they did better than just enter into an electoral pact. They actually formed an opposition coalition.
What was perceived viable back in 2005-2006 is no longer viable today. The uncertainties of 2005-2006 made the idea of a unity government a very viable proposition. But it was not an open proposition. It was a proposition with terms and conditions attached. And the first condition was that Ku Li would become head of a reformed Umno where amongst the many reforms would be the one-man-one-vote system like what PKR is pushing through today.
There were many in PAS, PKR and DAP who, of course, opposed the idea of the unity government, even if it was with Ku Li as the head of Umno. There were some who felt that if it was with Ku Li then they would agree to it, but anyone other than Ku Li and it would be no-go. Then, of course, there were those who did not see any light at the end of the tunnel unless it was on the basis of a unity government -- seeing that the three opposition parties could never sit down and agree to anything.
If we wanted to see changes in this country there were only two alternatives open to us back in 2005-2006. Either the opposition takes over, or, Umno and Barisan Nasional reforms. Now, back in 2005-2006, we did not see any possibility of the opposition taking over. DAP said they would not even sit at the same table with PAS, let alone form an opposition coalition with PAS, unless PAS agrees to publicly declare that it is abandoning the Islamic State agenda. PAS, on the other hand, agreed to drop the Islamic State agenda and no longer talk about it. But they will not openly declare that it is abandoning the agenda.
PAS even bought a full-page advertisement in The Star (I know because I had arranged for it and even went over to The Star’s office to pay for the advert) to show that its party constitution does not even mention an Islamic State. This means the Islamic State is not in the party’s constitution. It is an aspiration just what the New Economic Policy is to Umno, an aspiration. It is not ‘law’.
DAP wanted an open and public declaration from PAS. PAS would only agree to quietly bury the issue and no longer raise the matter without making a public declaration. This means the idea of an opposition coalition is a non-starter. Where, then, do we go from there? How would the opposition be able to play a role in running this country? The next best thing, the second prize, would be to team up with Ku Li in the form of a unity government where some of the opposition leaders could join the government and help play a role in running this country and push for reforms.
But this does not mean that DAP, PKR or PAS joins Barisan Nasional. The opposition parties would still remain outside Barisan Nasional. And neither would those who joined the government resign from DAP, PKR or PAS and become members of one of the 14 component parties of Barisan Nasional.
This is probably what many of those opposed as well as supportive to the idea of a unity government do not comprehend.
Of course, that was in 2005-2006 when we saw no hope of any form of opposition alliance. In fact, back in 2005-2006, we did not even know when the general elections would be held let alone how the opposition would fare in that election. So the next best thing, the only alternative that appeared open to the opposition, would be to team up with Ku Li and help him not only reform Umno but reform the government as well. If the opposition can’t get in to bring about these reforms then at least let us assist Ku Li in bringing about these reforms. Either way we shall see the reforms that we seek.
On hindsight we now know that the unity government idea will not work. But it will not work because it is no longer Ku Li we are talking to. And it will not work because Umno will certainly not reform since Ku Li will not be able to bring reforms to Umno -- in fact, Umno appears to be taking the country backward rather than forward. Furthermore, we now appear to have some resemblance of an opposition coalition in the form of Pakatan Rakyat -- which we did not have back in 2005-2006 and which, going by the statements by DAP and PAS, we would probably never see.
I hear what many are saying. And what most say is that they are opposed to any form of unity government with Umno or Barisan Nasional. That is fine now, after the 8 March 2008 general election. Now, people see the possibility of Pakatan Rakyat taking over the government one day and Umno and Barisan Nasional being sent into the opposition aisle.
But that is taking advantage of hindsight. Everyone is an expert on hindsight. In 2005-2006 we did not know this. We did not even know whether there would be a Pakatan Rakyat. And from what DAP and PAS were saying it seemed to point to the possibility that there would not be a Pakatan Rakyat.
So, what other alternative did we have, back in 2005-2006, other than to explore the possibility of forming a sort of unity government with Ku Li, on condition he makes it as the Umno President, and on condition he brings about those reforms he talked about, which includes but is not restricted to the one-man-one-vote system that PKR is going to introduce today?
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