NATIONAL RECONCILIATION
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On the night of May 5th 2013, while watching the election results with a group of friends, we grew not only increasingly agitated by the almost total wipe out of the MCA, a major Chinese based component within the Barisan Nasional coalition, but with the death of Gerakan, another component member. It was clear at the end of that long night (early morning ) that the Chinese populace have sent a very clear message to the ruling coalition – THEY WERE NOT HAPPY AND THEY WANTED CHANGE and 7 months later today, they still do.
But what changes are majority of the Chinese really want? Why are they so unhappy that for the first time since our nation’s independence, they chosen to vote en bloc for the opposition? Do they seriously want Anwar to become the Prime Minister? Or maybe they want Pakatan to replace Barisan Nasional in Putrajaya? These are questions that unfortunately, the ruling coalition has not been able to find the answers and after that election, racial polarization in Malaysia is at its worst.
While the Prime Minster was the first to call the election results a “Chinese Tsunami “ in the wee hours of the morning of 6th of May, resulting in the subsequent bashing of the Chinese and anything Chinese particularly in the social media, the Chinese population have been keeping pretty quiet (except for a few opposition politicians). But to the credit of several UMNO leaders, one of whom is Khairy Jamaluddin and joined by several more sensible and liberal minded leaders including the Deputy Prime Minister, they came out to say that it was not right or fair to “scold“ the voters for not voting for the coalition. After all, it is very clearly enshrined in the Federal Constitution that a voter not only has the right to vote every 5 years BUT to vote for whomever he or she chooses.
7 months later today, the NUCC have been set up and we must applaud the wisdom of the PM in choosing such a diverse group of personalities as its members. Many of them are respected leaders in their communities or in their own fields, while still many, are vocal critics of the ruling government. It shows the PM’s determination to be inclusive and his commitment to want to be a Prime Minister for all, which he is. Under the Chairmanship of Tan Sri Samsudin Osman and Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye as Deputy Chairman, the 29 member Council is tasked with coming up with their findings in 6 months and to report directly to the PM.
While many are speculating as to how they will go about their tasks, others are suggesting that the Council must take into consideration why in all of Tun Mahathir’s 22 years in power and with 5 general elections under his belt, Chinese voters have never ONCE deserted Tun even during the height of his trouble with Anwar in 1999? Why Pak Lah was given almost total support by the Chinese in 2004, resulting in BN winning the largest ever landslide victory in its history?
While there are serious grouses by the Chinese, one thing is certain. It isn’t about wanting more political power or putting Anwar in the PM’s chair, although that’s what the opposition would like us to believe. Soon, we shall hear the findings and thereafter, the real process of national reconciliation will hopefully begin. BUT first, we must ensure that the NUCC is able to carry out its task without being hijacked by parties with hidden agendas from either side of the political divide.
We owe it to our children and our grandchildren that they will continue to live in the spirits of 1957 into the future and not the divisiveness of 2013. To quote the late Nelson Mandela: Before We Reconcile – We Must Forgive.
Peter Yap.
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