Multi-ethnic politics gains a foothold 
Ang Hiok Gai

5:21pm, Sat: Never before has the Barisan Nasional (BN) been more concerned about the abuse of race and religion in elections than in the recent Lunas by-election. BN seems to be at a loss now as it suddenly finds itself ineffective with racial politics. 

The reality is BN cannot get away with racial politics even though it has multi-ethnic component parties. BN politics is dominated by the politics of the United Malays National Organisation (Umno). 

Sadly, bound by its structural constraint, Umno cannot help but to champion the Malay special position and the Ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy) even at the expense of all its partners. 

Barisan Alternatif (BA), on the other hand, has no racially-based component party. This has enabled it to shout slogans like Hidup Rakyat instead of Hidup Melayu and to champion for Ketuanan Rakyat (people supremacy) instead of Ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy). 

Debating the Malay special rights issue, BA can easily talk about special rights for the poor and the needy which, after all, will benefit the majority of the Malays. 

Though it is still too early to predict the victory of multi-ethnic politics, we have seen signs of it taking shape. When the issue of Suqiu was deliberately distorted by Umno and BN, it was meant to whip up the Malays’ pride, fear and resentment. 

Fortunately, the issue failed to take off along the racial lines because no BA component party fell into the BN trap. 

Racial twist 

When the BN government brings up the Vision Schools project in the name of national integration, it is meant to frighten the Malays by showing how stubborn and united the Chinese are. 

Again, Umno fails to inflame Malay sentiment even though it managed to do so in 1987 over the Chinese education issue. BA is able to deflect the issue away from racial lines by explaining mother tongue education was a basic human right. 

Unfortunately, the tussle over the BA candidate in the Lunas by-election had taken a racial twist. The BN leaders were quick to exploit this and blow it up. All of sudden, the BA had become so ugly that there seemed to be no place in it not only for the Indians but also for the Chinese. 

Fortunately, this had little effect on the result of the by-election. 

With Saifuddin’s victory, the BA succeeded in achieving its two-fold objective. Firstly, the Lunas win denied BN its two-third majority in the Kedah state assembly. 

Secondly, it sent a clear message to Dr Mahathir that the people have had enough of him and that they have rejected the BN policies which constantly promote the interests of a sprinkling few close to the PM. 

One voice 

One also wonders what the underlying motive is of those who are little known for voicing out concern for minority rights in the past but are quick to champion the interests of Indians and other minority groups this time. 

As far as the Indian community is concerned, during the last general elections, the BA fielded nine Indian candidates, compared to only seven fielded by the BN. 

Prim (Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia) must have realised that both its future and that of the Indians lie with the BA. 

Prim has repeatedly and unhesitatingly attacked Keadilan and BA for discriminating and sidelining the Indians. Prim also claims that Umno and BN have more respect for the Indians. Yet, Prim chooses to join the BA. 

However, Prim must also realise BA is moving away from racial politics and towards multi-ethnic politics. When Saifuddin was chosen, he was to represent all Lunas people regardless of race. 

When he speaks, he does not speak only in the Malay, Chinese or Indian voice. He speaks in one voice; the multi-ethnic voice of the BA Common Manifesto entitled “Towards a Just Malaysia”. 

BA does not need separate voices representing different communities. This is the BN model of so-called multi-ethnic politics. In BA we need to have different mind set or undergo a paradigm shift. BA is not another replica of BN but seeks to replace BN’s racial politics. 

BA put up Sivarasa Rasiah, Dr Chandra Muzaffar and Karpal Singh even when the BN candidates were of Chinese origin. BA has gone beyond the racial quota mind set. 

These BA candidates were chosen because they are trustworthy and represent the BA voice. In the same vein, we expect Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to become the representative and spokesperson for all, irrespective of race or creed. 

Positive trend 

It is possible BA campaigners resorted to a “Malay votes for the Malay” tactic in the Lunas by-election. This is a remnant of BN racial politics within BA. It will take an extra effort from the BA leadership to cleanse BA of racial politics. 

Nevertheless, we feel relieved and encouraged by the statements of Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Keadilan president, refuting racist allegations hurled against BA by the BN leaders and the media. 

Never did we hear of any racist remarks made by BA speakers in ceramahs during the Lunas by-election. This is a positive trend we hope to sustain. 

We have witnessed the BA’s multi-ethnic politics gradually eclipsing BN’s racial politics. We wish to see multi-ethnic politics flourishing within BA. 

In order to realise this noble objective, the efforts of not only the BA leadership, but also BA members and supporters will be required. There is still a long way to go in our efforts to raise the people’s consciousness to one above racial politics.