I am glad that Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) Member of Parliament for Sungai Siput, Dr. Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, has said what I have been saying for some years now about the lack of Malaysia's opposition pact's alternative policies which can convince especially rural and lower income voters to switch their vote from the incumbent Barisan Nasional (National Front) to the opposition Pakatan Harapan (Pact of Hope).
Many amongst the opposition still believe they can win by highlighting the wrongs of the incumbent ruling coalition, much like advertisers who advertise their products by highlighting the deficiencies in their competitors' products instead of the strengths and superiority of their own.
I went up to Sungai Siput during the 1999 general elections to help Dr. Jeyakumar with his campaigning against the incumbent Tun Samy Vellu of the BN and even though Dr. Jeyakumar lost, however he managed to significantly reduce Samy Vellu's majority. In 2004, Samy Vellu beat Dr. Jeyakumar again with a bigger majority but in 2008, Dr. Jeyakumar beat Samy Vellu to win Sungai Siput and he won again in 2013.
Dr. Jeyakumar, a medical doctor, has always had a concern for the interest of the poor, the marginalised, the labourers and the oppressed and has been active in helping them through community NGOs, pro-bono assistance to the poor and more recently in Parliament and whilst I am not a PSM member nor do I agree with some of its policies but I applaud Dr. Jeyakumar's efforts and work as a man of the people.
In 2012, I attended a protest outside the Ritz Carlton Hotel organised by the PSM against the Free Trade Agreement being negotiated between Malaysian and other governments' representatives inside, and I noticed the absence of representatives from Pakatan Rakyat parties and asked Dr. Jeyakumar why this was so and he said that most Pakatan Rakyat politicians and supporters are neo-liberals who do not oppose such FTA. He then added that more opposition to the FTA comes from BN supporters, despite being "for the wrong reasons". There were representatives from one of the labour unions at the protest against the FTA.
I had seen this very clearly in the statements by opposition politicians and in the comments by pro-opposition people to articles online,as well as in face-to-face conversation over tea; some of which are overtly racist and vulgar especially against the Malays who are the majority and comprise the largest vote base in Malaysia.
Winning elections is a numbers game and Dr. Jeyakumar is right in that whilst the rural and urban lower income voters are just as opposed to issues such as corruption, nepotism and so forth as their economically comfortable urban middle-class counterparts, however their bigger concerns are over their economic survival if their rights and protections are taken away by the opposition if it wins the elections and becomes the Federal Government.
This shows that he has his ear, mind, heart and soul on the ground amongst poor and disadvantaged, unlike the relatively privileged educated, urban middle class elite who are economically secure and comfortable enough to be able to spend their leisure hours sitting on their bums behind their computer screens, on their bums in tea shops or bars, their faces buried in smartphone screens engaged in WhatsApp group chats, posts on Facebook, Twitter, Telegram or other social media sites - endlessly talking about macro issues such as 1MDB, Altantuya, Scorpene submarines, the cancellation of the Better Beer Festival in Kuala Lumpur, the allegedly high cost of the MRT, making racist comments insulting others' religions and so forth, whilst ignoring local issues on the ground.
Over time, these privileged urban, middle-class types, with too much time on their hands spend hours in endless discussion and debate on social media and in tea shops; eventually began to believe that the opinion of those few within their respective echo chambers are in tune with the many in the wider world beyond. To put it more bluntly, they had begun to eat their own dog food, as the saying goes.
So how can these politicians and opposition supporters expect the opposition to defeat the BN and win the Federal Government when they want to cut civil service jobs, cut subsidies and whatever support to the rural folk and so forth which threaten their economic survival; instead of proposing better alternative policies which will protect these people's livelihoods whilst at the same time being more inclusive of Indian, Chinese and other minority Malaysian ethnicities.
The problem with these sit on bum types is that they see the world as it should be in their minds, whilst people like Dr. Jeyakumar see the world as it actually is and how such realities on the ground determine election outcomes.
We have already seen this in the election of Donald Trump as US president and in the rise of populist far-right parties in Europe and yet these sit on bum urban elite types are blind to the reasons for all this and carry on, business as usual in their respective echo chambers, oblivious to the world beyond.
If the opposition loses the next general elections, despite growing concerns over rising cost of living amongst rural and urban lower income voters, they only have themselves to blame.
The opposition has woken up to this, especially after the survey findings by PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli's crowd-funded INVOKE organisation that most of those surveyed were primarily concerned over matters of economic survival but too late to change course so close to the next general elections. (Though Dr. Jeyakumar thinks it's not too late - well, we'll see for sure at the next GE)
Well, I knew that long before this survey results and I had been saying so in my posts, in comments to articles and in WhatsApp groups (some of which I have since exited from) but these dumb Pakatoons in their echo chambers apparently did not believe. Well too bad for them.
And mind you, this comes from me who is not pro-BN but I'm sure some dumb Pakatoons who cannot see beyond their smartphone screens, cups of tea or mugs of beer will accuse me of being a "bought and paid for BN stooge", which I certainly am not. I'm still basically pro-opposition but the ignorance, stupidity and short-sightedness of these dumb Pakatoons has put me off them.
Also close to four million youth who became eligible to vote since 2013 have not registered to vote and I understand from a young anti-establishment political activist that many of his young cohorts are fed up with party politics, with all the infighting and fragmentation going on within political parties, so have chosen instead to focus their political activities through NGO work. Whilst I no longer am young like them but old enough to be their father, however I find myself concurring with them about the state of Malaysia's currently puerile and dysfunctional party politics.
Like Dr. Jayakumar, I try and see opinions in the real world on the ground, not the echo chambers of the urban, middle-class elite, in which the proverbial converted preach to each other.
Free Malaysia Today's article on Dr. Jeyakumar follows below.
CHARLES F. MOREIRA
Jeyakumar: PH risk losing vote of Malays anxious over rights
Minderjeet Kaur 4 minutes
PETALING JAYA: Sungai Siput MP Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj has cautioned the opposition that it stands to lose out on Malay rural support in the next general election (GE14) unless it addresses the community’s fears about losing its rights.
The PSM leader said there was anxiety among rural Malays that Pakatan Harapan (PH) would be soft on asserting their economic rights if the opposition pact took over the federal government.
He said the coalition should give ample focus on dealing with such concerns, instead of putting more weight on issues related to 1MDB and other corruption allegations against the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN).
“Corruption and 1MDB are important issues, but aside from talking about those issues, Pakatan should also address the fears of the rural Malays when it comes to their future.
“Umno has a well-defined support system of incentives and subsidies for the Malay poor, so much so that the party is seen as their protector,” Jeyakumar told FMT.
He added that PH has not done enough to allay misgivings about this support system being taken away if the opposition came to power.
Jeyakumar said it was difficult to counter BN’s allegations against PH.
He also cited Prime Minister Najib Razak telling civil servants earlier this week to imagine their future if the opposition came to power. Some opposition members have alleged in the past that the 1.6 million-strong civil service was bloated and should be reduced.
Jeyakumar said many rural and urban poor Malays felt that although Umno might be corrupt, rejecting the party could mean that they would lose their incentives and subsidies.
“They are aware that the government is corrupt and things are not quite right.
“But on the issue of affirmative action, people in Pakatan have given the impression that they are for the free market, where the market would determine the issues.
“Such fears will help Umno retain rural Malay votes,” he said.
PH needs policy statement
Jeyakumar said subsidies implemented by the Umno-led government included RM300 million worth of free fertiliser distributed to paddy farmers, a RM300 monthly payment to small-scale fishermen and benefits for rubber smallholders where the government tops up the rubber price if it drops below RM2.20 per kg of “cup lump”, that is latex collected in tapping cups.
He said it was not too late for PH to come up with a policy statement to address the social and economic programmes targeted at the Malay poor, over and above existing incentives and subsidies, as the Malays also faced a lot of problems.
He cited the example of how rubber smallholders have complained of receiving low-grade rubber seeds from Bumiputera contractors, that resulted in lesser earnings.
“The smallholders feel cheated. They wait for seven years for the tree to grow just to have a lower yield of rubber. This matter needs to be looked into.”
He also said that although fishermen received RM300 on a monthly basis, the government was also issuing licences to foreign boats to fish in Malaysian waters, causing locals to suffer from a lesser catch.
“These are the kinds of issues Pakatan should look at. We need to have measures to overcome these problems,” he said.
“Consult those on the ground. It will convince people that we are aware of their issues. These issues can also be added into the manifesto,” he said.
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