Twenty-five years after Indonesia adopted their Pancasila, Malaysia followed by promulgating our own Rukunegara. Now, some 24 years after the ouster of President Soeharto a rather lackluster Malaysia looks increasingly set to perhaps injudiciously replicate somewhat of a repeat of the errors of the Soeharto era of undisguised kleptocratic, undemocratic and unimpressive but stable government.
Needless to say, that would also entail greater oppression, an assault on fundamental liberties, the institutionalization of crony capitalism, and other socioeconomic ills that plagued Indonesia for almost four decades.
Malaysia’s last four decades were equally dubious and disastrous. This is the most dismal scenario one can confidently anticipate in the unlikely event that Dato Sri Najib Tun Abdul Razak emerges as the most powerful arbiter or contender for the country’s prime minister’s post in the near future. There are also alarming prospects for a further breakdown of the governance system, greater financial distress, and possibly, bankruptcy.
The trust deficit that the government currently has will inevitably widen. There will be a further deterioration in the strength of government institutions due to a lack of trust. At the moment people only seem to trust our courts and that trust has to be carefully safeguarded, nurtured, and enhanced.
Grim Reality
Undoubtedly Malaysia is currently facing its worst political, economic, social, and health crisis. It did not happen overnight but It does seem that Najib’s nine-year prime ministerial term accelerated and exacerbated the decline of an erstwhile star of Southeast Asia.
There are fears that there will be further polarization, a breakdown of the financial fundamentals due to the highest ever debt servicing costs, higher public sector operational costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, unsustainable pay increases, and regular rescue packages for the poorer segments of the society.
Najib will, with the complicit connivance of his UMNO and other power-hungry cohorts, campaign quite persuasively in the coming GE15 with these populist promises and might emerge as the leader of a stronger UMNO after the election.
This ominous outcome would be the unintended consequence of prolonged infighting within the truncated Pakatan Harapan group, the denigration and defenestration of Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the face, undisputed leader of the so-called Opposition. Anwar himself contributed to his attempted political suicide with his naive acquiescence to a memorandum of understanding with the pathetically illegitimate government of Dato Sri Ismail Sabri. The principal enablers of this nightmarish scenario that sought the exclusion of Anwar were PM7 and, more toxically, PM8.
To satisfy their own preferences and provincial prejudices Anwar’s prospects were irreparably damaged. Today, he is no longer the famous firebrand fighting the excesses of a debauched administration.
He still has some fire and fervor left in him, but comes across more like a frustrated, sidelined politician trying to seem relevant in an unusually vicious and volatile political situation. He is no longer that magnetic formidable force he once was. While it would be premature to write him off it is realistic to look at other leadership alternatives.
If nothing happens it will mean that like a nightmare, Najib will, by hook or crook, return to leadership, directly or indirectly.
That would mean that Malaysia will be engulfed in the widest and worst economic collapse with painful parallels drawn from Argentina, Greece, Lebanon, and Sri Lanka. It will also mean that in Southeast Asia, while the larger labor-surplus countries are powering ahead we will be losing steam, stagnating and decaying.
It will seem that before that doomsday arrives, for a very short time, we will be that plutocrats paradise premised on overgenerous perquisites, perks, and privileges. It will be too late at that stage to complain, as the downward slide to a chaotic catastrophe will be rapid, precipitous, and tragic.
Identifying A Candidate For the PM’s Post
To prevent that calamitous outcome, the leading citizens of Malaysia must work quickly and help identify and garner support for an alternative, broadly acceptable, credible, and suitable leader.
The candidate must be a peninsular Malay with national stature, political maturity, gravitas and should not have been identified with the government for at least a dozen years. It is also important that the candidate has not been implicated in any corruption or criminal offense, is of reasonably good health and excellent character, and has the capacity to work with at least 70 potential MPs who are far below 50 years old.
This potential prime minister must provide ironclad assurances that he or she is willing to serve for at least three and not more than four years only to pave the way for his or her successor.
Further, the candidate must unconditionally agree to work with Anwar Ibrahim, Mohamed Sabu and his accomplished Amanah group, Syed Saddiq’s multihued MUDA, Lim Guan Eng, and his distinguished DAP caucus, Shafie Apdal and distinctive Warisan and Abang Johari and his highly autonomous Sarawak caucus.
The main objective of this new leadership would be to prevent and forestall Najib from taking over and re-enacting a type of governance and leadership modeled on the Soeharto nexus of oppression, cronyism, kleptocracy, and ridiculously unattainable plans and projects.
As Malaysians are racing and raring to get to GE15 there is an urgency to work and forge this eclectic and wider group of allies to participate and convincingly win the next election. The largest number of newly enfranchised young men and women will be voting in that 15th general election. It is a critical make-or-break election and the country could become a strong, purpose-driven, and highly successful nation if the people make the right choice.
The main characteristic of the political journey thus far has been the strong-arm government incorporating elements borrowed from the Suharto era with stronger ethnicity-based leanings, wild fantasies of building flying cars, aircraft, and other esoteric projects.
The culprits of this rough rollercoaster ride drawn from UMNO mainly and its characteristic clones- Bersatu, Pejuang and PAS - should learn to rub their eyes and form a good opposition.
Some of them could be considered seriously, after due process, for guest status in Sungei Buloh and other renamed ‘cepatkaya kenatangkap’ penitentiary facilities.
Can we identify this potential interim prime minister?
Time is against us. We have to do this really fast. There is no time to look for a saint.
A savior will do.
M Santhananaban
February 11, 2022
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