Here is another proposal from blog reader Sean, which broadens the discussion and might be worth considering.
Your correspondent is still suggesting that PR beat BN at their own game: giving beads.
I’d like to see a Green Party campaign in rural Malaysia on a ‘give them back their ancestral lands’ agenda. I think such a party should seek to gazette large tracts of rural Malaysia as ‘heritage forest’ (possibly even using ‘Malay reserve’ legislation, but reserving it as a national treasure) and prohibit land ownership and industrial agriculture within, creating a large number of paid ‘stewardship’ positions so that the resident communities can perform simple ecological monitoring and agency in return for reasonable pay. Such an arrangement would economically reward the people of the forests for performing meaningful heritage/preservation/environmental monitoring roles that would employ their specific talents.
Of course, such a scheme would take away ‘development’ land from current or prospective urban Pakatan Rakyat voters. Sooner or later the urban voter has to accept that if they want the rural vote to assist in the ‘oust BN’ project, they’re going to have to concede something substantial to rural Malaysians. They’re just not going to beg to be allowed to vote for PR in return for sewing machines. In my view the biggest hurdle to changing the Federal government is naked urban avarice. That’s not an easy political message for the three major Pakatan Rakyat members to give to their urban constituencies. What’s needed is a committed coalition prospect like PSM (no socialist-minded voter is ever going to vote for DAP, PAS or PKR), but with an agenda that’s exactly right for the rural/heritage voter.
I think we have to look forward to a coalition government to replace BN, but we need more parties to reflect the diversity in the Malaysian voting population. The three Pakatan Rakyat parties’ accent on expediency is just not sufficient to attract people with genuine and vital needs. What is DAP offering the forest voter – a low-cost house in a shoddily-built development with a condescending suggestion to ‘learn economic activity’? What is Pas offering the forest voter – mosques? What is PKR offering the forest voter – a handful of lawyers who offer patronage in the form of cheap/free assistance with land quarrels? It’s never going to be enough *and* be compatible with the demands of the ‘work smart’ urbanite.
Your correspondent is still suggesting that PR beat BN at their own game: giving beads.
I’d like to see a Green Party campaign in rural Malaysia on a ‘give them back their ancestral lands’ agenda. I think such a party should seek to gazette large tracts of rural Malaysia as ‘heritage forest’ (possibly even using ‘Malay reserve’ legislation, but reserving it as a national treasure) and prohibit land ownership and industrial agriculture within, creating a large number of paid ‘stewardship’ positions so that the resident communities can perform simple ecological monitoring and agency in return for reasonable pay. Such an arrangement would economically reward the people of the forests for performing meaningful heritage/preservation/environmental monitoring roles that would employ their specific talents.
Of course, such a scheme would take away ‘development’ land from current or prospective urban Pakatan Rakyat voters. Sooner or later the urban voter has to accept that if they want the rural vote to assist in the ‘oust BN’ project, they’re going to have to concede something substantial to rural Malaysians. They’re just not going to beg to be allowed to vote for PR in return for sewing machines. In my view the biggest hurdle to changing the Federal government is naked urban avarice. That’s not an easy political message for the three major Pakatan Rakyat members to give to their urban constituencies. What’s needed is a committed coalition prospect like PSM (no socialist-minded voter is ever going to vote for DAP, PAS or PKR), but with an agenda that’s exactly right for the rural/heritage voter.
I think we have to look forward to a coalition government to replace BN, but we need more parties to reflect the diversity in the Malaysian voting population. The three Pakatan Rakyat parties’ accent on expediency is just not sufficient to attract people with genuine and vital needs. What is DAP offering the forest voter – a low-cost house in a shoddily-built development with a condescending suggestion to ‘learn economic activity’? What is Pas offering the forest voter – mosques? What is PKR offering the forest voter – a handful of lawyers who offer patronage in the form of cheap/free assistance with land quarrels? It’s never going to be enough *and* be compatible with the demands of the ‘work smart’ urbanite.
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