First signs of “threatened with death to born anew” 置之死地而后生 – Pakatan Rakyat’s “cease to exist” situation elicited neither joy nor celebration from UMNO/BN

PAS MP for Parit Buntar Mujahid Yusuf Rawa gave an interesting description of the present political scenario in his interview with Malaysiakini yesterday when he quipped: “We need to die to be reborn, to live anew.”

Mujahid cannot be more apt when he said in his interview: “Pakatan is just a name. What is more important is the substance.”

Mujahid is referring to a situation which is also described in Sun Tzu’s Art of War and expressed in the Chinese saying, 置之死地而后生zhì zhī sǐ dì ér hòu sheng – “threatened with death to born anew”.

We can already see the first signs of this “置之死地而后生zhì zhī sǐ dì ér hòu sheng” effect, as it has elicited neither joy nor celebration from UMNO/BN quarters, apart from half-hearted “I told you so” reactions.

UMNO/BN leaders should be in a tizzy of joy and excitement that their nemesis causing them to be the nation’s first minority government is no more, but they could not rejoice or celebrate for two reasons:

Firstly, the UMNO/BN coalition is in shambles. Former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir is convinced that the UMNO/BN coalition will lose the next general elections so long as Najib is Prime Minister to lead the UMNO/BN into the hustings.

Mahathir is worried what would happen to the UMNO/BN leaders if Federal power passes from the hands of UMNO/BN, but Mahathir’s greatest fallacy is not to realise that it is not just one person, Najib but the whole system represented by UMNO/BN, the corruption, the lack of accountability and good governance, and the rampant abuses of power which must be replaced if Malaysia is to achieve its greatness based on it human talents and natural resources.

UMNO/BN strategists know that UMNO/BN are in deep trouble and living on borrowed time. This is why the UMNO/BN propaganda arm the National Civics Bureau or Biro Tata Negara (BTN) [which has no reason to exist on public funds and should be abolished, but which is another story] has admitted the UMNO/BN coalition’s terminal stage of existence by putting up presentation slides asking its audience which one of the four terminal stages the coalition is in:

(i) Wad Biasa

(ii) Wad Kecemasan

(iii) ICU

(iv) Tanah Kubor.

The BTN presentation slides are very frank that UMNO/BN is completely sickly and unhealthy, in fact in terminal stages because the other BN component parties like MCA, Gerakan and MIC are totally irrelevant, giving six exclamation marks for “LEMAH” in one presentation slide and in another, admitting that the UMNO/BN coalition is plagued with credibility crisis, naming the 1MDB scandal and the rampant corruption and abuses of power in the country.

The second reason is that whether there is PR or not, the UMNO/BN coalition are fully aware that the people’s hopes for political change for a new Malaysia where there is national unity, inter-racial and inter-religious understanding and respect, justice, accountability, good governance, end to corruption and abuses of power, human dignity, good schools, hospitals, housing, transportation system and safe environment remains the cry of Malaysians and will continue to be the issue in the 14th General Elections.

Although the Pakatan Rakyat is no more, the Pakyat Rakyat Common Policy Framework to fulfil the Malaysian Dream remains valid and relevant as an achievable goal in the 14th General Elections and the greatest challenge now is how these goals can be pursued through a realignment of political forces committed to these principles, ideals and objectives.

DAP is committed in the continued journey towards a Malaysian Dream by working with like-minded political forces to create a new political alignment which would be able to make a difference in the 14th General Elections, in particular to end the UMNO/BN rule in Malaysia.

The PR may cease to exist as a result of the PAS Muktamar resolution and the violations of the PR Common Policy Framework, but the hope and aspirations of a Malaysian Dream must continue to be the national goal of the people in the 14th General Elections.