Sigma’s Simulacrum of Reality

Like many pro-Opposition supporters, I have had conflicted feelings the moment Anwar Ibrahim announced he would attempt to gain power through BN defections.

There are two main issues to examine here. The first is whether defections equates to violating the choice of the people in the candidate and party they voted for. We may not agree with the people of Kinabatangan who voted for a racist, sexist and intellectually-dubious MP to represent them, but wasn’t that their prerogative to do so? Some people have resorted to demonising and ridiculing Sabahans and Sarawakians for voting overwhelmingly for BN in the last election, and have justified defections via ‘they don’t know what’s good for them, so we must decide for them’. But this is a dangerous mindset to fall into. This is the mindset of Dr Mahathir, Lee Kuan Yew, Park Chung-Hee and Chiang Ching-kuo. It is basically an advocation of authoritarianism. What determines who gets to be one a part of the elite ‘choice-makers’? A reading of the Animal Farm at this juncture is advisable. Democracy is inherently messy and self-serving. If we say we want democracy, then the negatives that goes with it should be accepted as well.

This point basically can be surmised as the institutionalisation of norms and rules of the game. Have an election every 5 years. Accept the results for the next 5 years. And so on. If one starts breaking these traditions and rules, then what’s stopping BN from trying to do the same to a PR government? Then when will it end? Political stability flies out of the window.

The second issue concerns whether the ends justifies the means. The argument here is that the present political and public institutions are so entrenched in the pro-BN camp, along with corruption and inefficiencies that there is an impetus to overhaul the entire system before bringing it back to ‘business as usual’ mode. This can be done through the abolition of the Printing Presses Act, the Universities and University Colleges Act, the Internal Security Act, the Sedition Act, the Official Secrets Act, etc. Only after these laws are modified or abolished can it be said that there will be a level political playing field in Malaysia to ensure truly fair and democratic elections at all levels. So. Damn. Tempting.

Very difficult choice to make, if you ask me. But as a democrat I would have to say that I marginally choose the former choice, and nervously defend the choice of the people. But unfortunately I do not foresee another ‘political tsunami’ in the next elections, and what I fear most is that Malaysians will prematurely go back to the status quo of BN hegemony. That would be a sad day indeed, when fear and intimidation overcome true aspirations.

Where has the Left gone in Malaysian politics?

Such is the demise of the Left in the past 50 years since Independence that it has hardly had any influence in the Malaysian political sphere. Long harassed, intimidated and censored, the establishment has successfully made the words ‘Left’, ’socialist’ and ’social democracy’ taboo words in polite Malaysian society. Ironic, since in the process the Malaysian public has also been made to believe that racism and ethnic chauvinism was ‘fine’, or at least to be left unchallenged and ‘tolerated’.

This sad state of affairs started during the ‘Red Scare’ of the 1940’s which coincided with the rise of the Communist state of the USSR, along with its affiliates in Eastern Europe and China. The response by the then British overlords in containing the Communist insurgency in Malaysia was alarmingly blunt: Blanket suppression of anything which was a few inches to the left of the political spectrum. As such propaganda was used to subvert political freedom and the socialists, social democrats, trade unions as well as student bodies were all accused as being commie sympathizers and dealt with accordingly. The hypocrisy of this situation was increased a further few notches by the fact that the British allowed a healthy labour movement to thrive in their own backyard while not blinking an eye in ruthlessly crushing leftist movements in its various colonial outposts.

Which brings us to the Left in Malaysia today. After being stillborn for, well, its whole life actually, the Left has finally started to see the day of light in this country. On the 8th of May, the social democratic Democratic Action Party (DAP) finally won real power in the form of the government of Penang. Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), often calling itself a centrist party but with clear left-leaning tendencies won the Selangor government. And the latest political party, Parti Sosialis Malaysia, was finally given permission to be officially formed, with its president, Mohd Nasir Hashim winning a state seat in Selangor while Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj ousted the ‘un-oustable’ Samy Vellu from his Perak parliamentary seat in the last elections.

We should be glad for this development as the Left have a lot to offer to many Malaysians, but especially to the poorer segments of society. The Left is synonymous to the concepts of equality, secularism and multiculturalism. With the rise of the Left, a push for an adequate and responsible minimum wage will obtain much more momentum. I personally disagree with PKR’s RM1500/month minimum as I think it’s too high, but agree more with the MTUC’s figure of about RM900/month. Despite what many neo-liberal economists would have you to believe, studies have shown that countries with the minimum wage do not have significantly higher unemployment rates, provided it is done in a responsible manner.

It is no secret that the conservative government has in the past adopted many of the Left’s ideas on one hand while hypocritically disparaging them on the other. The double-edged sword of the NEP is a form, albeit flawed one, of affirmative action which was another of the Left’s creations. With the death of the ‘old Left’ ala communism and hard socialism and their belief in ‘equality of outcome’, the ‘new Left’ in the form of social democracies have instead rectified this and now champion ‘equality of opportunity’ for all. Following this, they believe that fairness cannot prevail in society if some people are allowed to start much further behind the starting line in life’s race through no fault of their own, such as being born in a poor family or living in rural areas. As such, affirmative action policies seek to rectify these inequalities. The NEP, similar to the black affirmative action policy in the US is, however, flawed because they use race as the selection criteria in who to give assistance to. I am all for an affirmative action policy which is colour-blind and based solely on one’s socio-economic background.

The welfare safety net has also been ridiculously demonised by the establishment for no logical reason. Malaysians who are unemployed due to disability or not through their lack of trying should be assisted by the government financially. I sometimes wonder what those libertarians and conservatives have against a government helping its own people, what with their dogmatic chants for ’small government’. Might as well take that to its logical conclusion and live in an anarchist society where ‘government interference’ is a thing of the past. Then they are free to starve in peace when they fall on hard times.

Another very maligned area at the moment under the current government is the trade union movement. Due to the aforementioned suppression of the authorities on unions, the present union movement is weaker than a keropok. Trade unionism is vital for the preservation of the blue-collar working class as due to their lower skilled status and thus being easier to replace, their only bargaining chip for better pay and working conditions against their employer is through strength in numbers through unionization. Flowing from the general Malaysian public’s aversion to the word ‘leftist’, many also view strikes and demonstrations with fear. This is unfounded as workers have a right as anybody else to safeguard their working conditions. It is indeed laughable to suggest that a low-skilled worker can go into the negotiating room with his employer with any kind of leverage, as what many conservative governments would like for you to believe. A worker has a family to feed too.

Thankfully, things seem to be on the upside now for Malaysia. Hopefully those social democrats elected into public office after the 8th of March elections will continue to push for more social democratic reforms to ensure that Malaysia becomes a fairer, more equitable, and better place to life in.

Got this great book serendipitously from my uni’s library when I was trying to find a stupid textbook which were listed as ON SHELF. Put books back in the right places, people!

But I digress. Back to the topic.

The Socialsit Tradition
I’ve read a few chapters in it so far. Pity I couldn’t read more of it now since I’ve got f**kin’ exams soon.

As many people should already be aware, all strands of socialism originated from some core beliefs of Karl Marx. But because Marx only extrapolated a skeletal structure of how capitalism can be overthrown and how a socialist society would look like, he left many practical aspects of it to be fleshed out by subsequent socialism theorists.

As a result 4 widely diverging streams have emerged from Marxism.

1. Orthodox School

Karl Kautsky was the leading theorist of this school. This school is the most closely aligned school to traditional Marxism. It believes that socialism was possible only once the capitalist system reached its most advanced stage, exhausts itself, and breaks down on its own accord. He also pressed for a merger of parliamentary democracy and socialism.

2. Reformist-Evolutionary School

This is the school of socialism which I personally support. It was advocated by Eduard Bernstein and laid the foundations for today’s social democratic parties such as the Labor Party, DAP, German Social-Democratic Party (SPD), Swedish Socialist Party (SAP), etc. Bernstein rejected all forms of extra-parliamentary activities such as mass strikes or popular assemblies. He believed that to be a truly democratic socialist society, bourgeois liberal institutions should not be overturned, but instead be inherited and expanded by social democrats to make it fairer to all classes of the masses, but especially towards the working class. Therefore, this school does not believe nor advocate the imminent collapse of capitalism.

3. Bolshevik School

This is possibly the most explosive school of socialism, or ‘hot socialism’. It was formed by Vladimir Lenin and was the first socialist theory to be put into real world practice after his Bolshevik Party overthrew the Russian Provisional Government and assumed power in Russia in 1917. Based on his experience with the past repressive, pro ruling-class government, Lenin was convinced that bourgeois democracy was but a sham, an illusion to further placate the masses. Illusionary because during stable times it would be manipulate by the ruling class to instill in the masses a false sense of participation, fragile because it was not likely to survive the advance stages of imperialism and war.

It was also Lenin who devised the idea of a vanguard party. A vanguard party is a unified, centralised and flexible revolutionary organisation whose purpose was to lead the working class to overthrow the bourgeois state structure. He did not believe in the effectiveness of fragmented parliamentary parties. The pressing agenda under the Bolshevik school was not socialism - that remained in the future, but the seizure of state power in order to establish the preconditions for socialism. On the question of democracy in this model, because the Bolshevik Party represents the historical mission of the workers in their struggle to free themselves from oppression by the bourgeois elites to working class emancipation, Bolshevik power was by definition democratic.

Obviously this was proven to be mistaken. The real world practice of this model showed that the twin desires of power and wealth by top communist leaders has led them to curtail the very masses they initially relied on to assume power. This was made worse by the lack of an effective mechanism by the masses to oust bad leaders, with the only way being intra-party power struggles by other communist elites.

The truest form of real world application of this model could be seen in the former USSR and East Germany. Other variations of this model which incorporated the central concept of a vanguard party can be seen in China, Vietnam, Nepal, Cuba, North Korea.

4. The Radical-Left School

Personally to me, this is the most ludicrous stream of socialism. But it still doesn’t stop the hordes of hippie, far left-wingers from my unis and others to embrace this utopian model of society. It is basically the most radical of socialist streams and its leading philosopher was Rosa Luxemburg. This school rejected the strategic alternatives offered by Kautsky and Bernstein, and these radicals look to spheres of struggle beyond routine party and union activity. Their vision of democracy, consonant with Marx’s theme of proletarian self-emancipation, emphasised local revolutionary forms and processes transcending the limits of the bourgeois state as well as the Leninist system of ‘proletarian democracy’ in Russia. Luxemburg also did not believe in participating in parliamentary processes, since electoral victories would turn out to be hollow (since the bourgeoisie would manipulate the system to defend their interests) and would only help to stablise the faltering capitalist system. She shared Kautsky and Lenin’s predictions of the imminent collapse of capitalism. Basically, she just wants society to regress back into pre-complex societal structures and live in small, communal based organisations.

Recently I’ve had a disruption of sorts in my life. One of the results of this is my sudden desire to devour as much classic socio-economic and political books as I can before I die.

About 4 months ago I finished the The Communist Manifesto, The Prince (surprisingly very easy to read) and Sun Tzu’s Art of War. Heck, I even threw in half of Analects of Confucius and What The Buddha Thought (a great introduction to Buddhism for beginners) in the mix.

Recently I’ve just borrowed John Locke’s Two Treatise on Government. I started with the second half of it as I’ve heard it’s his masterpiece and laid the foundations for the American Revolution. Just started on it, so can’t give a review yet. But got to say his prose is more of the old school kind and is more difficult to read as a result.

Next I intend to read Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract, which offered an alternative version of government philosophy compared to John Locke. And I’m also gonna start with Adam Smith’s grand piece The Wealth of Nations.

Yes, I’m a political-philosophy tragic. Political theories to me are what drugs are to junkies.

As promised, some acerbic vintage Paul Keating performances. Keating was renowned for his ‘gutter-style’ performances during Question Time and remains one of the Australian Labor Party’s best attack dogs. Sure he totally lacks Blair’s polished pokes, but who needs that when he’s got the terrific ability to bait and rile up his opponents?

Ahh, past Labor glories

Ridiculing Peter Costello who has shown time and time again that he has got no backbone in initiating leadership challenges against John Howard

Epic censure motion by the then Opposition Leader John Howard against PM Paul Keating, and his reply to it

Tony Blair during better days. Great parliamentary performer. Aside from presenting the facts of govt, these sessions are also suppose to be opportunities for both side to up the rhetorics and rally their troops. Blair did exactly that here.

I’ll post some acerbic Paul Keating classics next.

The new Perak state govt seems to be having trouble trying to be born.

All this stems from a few odd factors. But I feel the main blame should squarely be put on the shoulders of the DAP-PKR-PAS coalition (hereforth to be referred as the Barisan Rakyat (BR)).

On the seat count, DAP won 18 seats, PKR 7 and PAS 6 out of the 59-seat state assembly, making BR’s having 31 seats in total. Of the remaining 28, UMNO has 27 and MCA 1. BN thus has 28 seats.

Through this perspective, the CM of this state should come from DAP. However, the Perak constitution states that the CM must be a Malay-Muslim, but this requirement can be waived by the Raja if he so wishes.

What happened then was that BR submitted 3 names to the Raja, one representative from each party. The Raja chose the rep from PAS. This decision has now caused some consternation among the federal DAP leaders. As a result, the swearing-in of the new CM was postponed yesterday. And to add further pain, it seems that PKR has now also threatened to pull out of BR due to the exco seat allocations offered to it, which was 1 seat of out a 10 seats. State exco seats are the equivalent of state cabinet positions.

Where does the blame lie in this farce? I reckon squarely on the shoulders of all three BR leaders, but especially with the DAP Perak and federal DAP. However, I don’t think the bashing that LKS is getting is justified. He is merely doing what his DAP supporters want him to do: Namely, how does BR Perak expect LKS and other DAP leaders to explain to its voters how is it in the world did they managed to get a PAS CM after sending 18 DAP state assemblymen to parliament?? What do you think will happen to these DAP assemblymen in the next election? MCA candidates will salivate for that day. There will probably be a DAP wipe-out in Perak IF the new Perak govt shows even a whiff of Islamic conservatism. Tony Pua blogged on LKS’s predicament well here.

One is justified to ask why did the Perak Raja chose the PAS rep? But in reality this question is irrelevant and could easily have been avoided.

How? Through BR only submitting 2 names! One from DAP and one from PKR! Internal BR discussion should first be done with all three parties and it should persuade PAS to refrain from submitting their rep. The rationale behind this is simple: DAP’s win was the basis for the BR winning Perak. As such, it should have first bite at the CM post. If the Raja decides that the CM has to be a Malay-Muslim, then the second choice from PKR should be the new CM. This way, DAP can explain to its supporters that it has tried, but the Raja didn’t allow it. It should also not get too much grief from this as it could explain to its supporters that PKR is also another secular, multiracial and multireligious party and it should serve their interests well.

The Raja should have never been pulled into making this political decision by BR. This was a great tactical mistake by BR. The Royals in Malaysia are supposed to be above politics.

Right now I’m not sure what’s happening. Ideally, negotiations should be rebooted. Ultimately, a PKR candidate should be given the CM post.

And on the exco allocation, DAP went overboard. Maybe partly due to its shock at PAS getting the CM post and its leader’s perceived need to take absolute control of the exco to nullify PAS’s power or whatever, it is trying to get 8 out of 10 seats. Under ratio calculations using 18/31 x 10 = DAP should settle with 6 seats. PKR then should get 2 and PAS 2. Why the hell did DAP Perak suddenly insist on an 8-1-1 makeup I have no idea. I chalked this up to governing and coalition inexperience on DAP’s part.

All in all, BR Perak is making the other BR coalitions in other states and federal BR look mighty bad. BR leaders have to contain this terrible publicity only to Perak and strive to work harder to avoid these simple blunders in the future. Here’s hoping BR Perak will sort itself out very soon, for the sake of the Perak people and all Malaysians.

Man, what a night huh?

This election result was all I hoped for, and more. For reasons why, keep reading.

PKR

PKR experienced an astounding electoral comeback this election. Before and during the election, many people have dismissed it as an also-ran party with poor ground support, organisation and lack of vision. What happened then?

Like it or not, what happened was Anwar Ibrahim. I’m no Anwarista, but I acknowledge his gifts. The ability of Anwar this time to campaign around the country has made a very big difference. He provided PKR with much needed leadership. In the 1999 GE, PAS usurped PKR’s leading role in the Reformasi movement due to the latter’s poor leadership. Now, Anwar has made sure that didn’t happen again. Anwar is a great orator who excites the crowds. True, Anwar’s a political chameleon, but like I’ve always said, that’s just politics. His metamorphosis has gone from Islamic youth leader, to Malay nationalist, to the current multiracial leader. Read my previous post on what we shouldn’t be too concerned with this here.

Anwar also played another important role. He tried, and succeeded in being the facilitator between DAP and PAS to ensure only straight fights with BN in every seat.

My previous hope for a Malaysian political transformation has also came true. PKR will now replace DAP as the senior Opposition party in parliament. And come April, Anwar Ibrahim will take over the Opposition Leader role from Lim Kit Siang. This will do a lot to ease the Malay govt-Chinese opposition divide there.

In addition to this, PKR now also has the opportunity to showcase its governing skills with the Selangor state govt. I have full confidence in ex-corporate leader Khalid Ibrahim as the new Chief Minister there.

PKR’s increase of its seats from 1 to 31 has also broke a fundamental stereotype: That the Malays will only vote for either UMNO or PAS. This is great for all secularists and paves the way towards PKR being the main opponent of UMNO in the future. Remember how the UMNO v PAS contest put Islam to the forefront of national debate? I’m hoping that an UMNO v PKR contest will put multi-racialism to forefront of the national debate instead now.

PKR was the most multi-racial party in this election, putting up many Chinese and Indian candidates in addition to its Malay candidates. Its big win yesterday will send a signal to all the other parties that multi-racial parties are viable and can experience political success. It is hoped that this will compel many single-race parties like UMNO, MCA, MIC and even Gerakan to reform themselves into multi-racial ones.

DAP

DAP’s performance surpassed even its own expectations. It was very evident they were suprised at winning the Perak state govt. DAP has played all its cards right, sticking to its staple issues during the campaign. It has also offered many professional young candidates, and a sizable number of Indian candidates. It benefited from the Hindraf movement along with PKR, taking off many of MIC’s seats. DAP has also been the most successful party in utilising the internet to disseminate its own views and stands. Many of its candidates have their own popular blogs, including Lim Kit Siang, Jeff Ooi, Tony Pua, etc.

DAP has to learn have the ‘desire to rule’ mindset though. And winning Penang and Perak is a great start. It needs to not be afraid of real power, which it seems to be a bit right now. That’s the biggest difference between it and PKR under Anwar. Anwar is practically foaming in the mouth to take over the reins of power in government, where as DAP has always just seem content to become a nuisance in opposition to BN. To always only aspire to do that is a betrayal to the very purpose of being a political party.

For all its good work in the past, DAP deserved its more than double-fold increase in parliament seats from 12 t the current 28.

PAS

I was very suprised by PAS’s Kedah win. Didn’t know Kedahans were that pissed.

Another great thing this election has done was to show PAS how much it can achieved by taking the moderate path. Contrast this performance with its 1999 results when it stood on an Islamic state platform: 23 seats and 2 states to 7 and 1. PAS apparently has taken inspiration from Turkey’s brand of moderate Islamic party and I am very happy with that. Instead of an Islamic state, PAS is now advocating an Islamic welfare state. I am hoping PAS will now evolve to become a more mainstream party that everyone can vote for without any qualms. I want it to be a ‘religious’ but big-tent mainstream party, something like those mainstream Christan parties we find in Europe/US. Parties like the Christian Democrats (Germany), Republicans (US), etc.

Personally, I’m also happy that PKR and DAP won more parliament seats to PAS, as this shows the majority of Malaysians still prefer Malaysia to be represented by secular Opposition parties.

Summary

This election result represents the best possible outcome that I would have liked. PKR has taken the lead in Opposition, paving the way for an opposition Malay leader to go up against a Malay govt leader. Two secular and multi-racial parties have won the largest number of parliament seats. And all three Opposition parties have now been given a chance to govern states which hopefully will give them the necessary experience to be able to take over the reigns of federal govt very soon.

Another very important thing from all this is that DAP, PKR and PAS will now have access to better fund-raising opportunities to build up their war chests. It’s amazing how many businesspeople will suddenly want to dine with ex-opposition politicians that are now in govt This is especially potent for DAP and PKR since they got Penang, Perak and Selangor which are big commercial and industrial states. DAP and PKR can get out of poverty now Also, because 5 states are now under Opposition control, I don’t think BN can afford to withhold federal funding to all these states now like how it did for poor PAS in Kelantan, lest they want to completely lose federal govt in the next election.

Lastly, it’s intensely gratifying that people like Khir Toyo will now have to taste the bitter bitter pill of opposition politics with all work and no perks I still remember a ridiculous article I read from the sycophantic The Star on how Khir Toyo stays youthful looking. Wtf??? Too busy with that I guess to govern the busiest state properly.

But anyway, here’s hoping Malaysia is truly on its way to becoming a real democracy now!

OMG OMG OMG!

The impossible has happened guys.

BN got whipped. Whipped bad. By the great citizens of Malaysia from all races and religions.

I’m now part of a huge group of sleep-deprived barely functioning Malaysian, due to staying up to follow the MOST EXCITING MALAYSIAN ELECTION IN HISTORY on Malaysiakini. Even though I’m in Sydney and 3 hours behind M’sian time.

For the uninitiated, Malaysia has been ruled by the same party, Barisan Nasional (BN) unbroken for 50 freakin years. Not only that, BN has also never lost their 2/3rd majority in parliament, except for one brief moment in 1969. This majority allowed it to change the Constitution at will. They wanna put a law in saying we all must not wear red underwear? No probs with that 2/3rds. The Opposition, apart from PAS, has also been incapable of winning state governments in the past.

In yesterday’s election, federal as well as state seats kept falling like tenpins to the Opposition. Five states were won by the Opposition:

1. Penang = DAP-PKR: DAP has finally won its long-cherished state, the only state with a Chinese majority from its arch rivals Gerakan. In the process with the help of PKR, it has completely annihilated Gerakan and MCA there. Gerakan is only left with 2 parliament seats and 3 state seats after the mauling. DAP’s Sec-Gen Lim Guan Eng will assume the Chief Minister post in a coalition with PKR.

2. Perak = DAP-PKR-PAS: A shock-win that took even the DAP by suprise. DAP was not expecting to win this state, as evident in its delay in naming its CM candidate till now. DAP will be the senior coalition partner due to its 19 seat haul. I am hoping Lim Kit Siang competed in a state seat as well so that he could assume the CM post. Lord knows he deserves it after all that he’s been through in his political life.

3. Kelantan = PAS: PAS has routed BN in its traditional stronghold and won 38 out of 45 seats, an increase from its 2004 numbers.

4. Kedah = PAS-PKR: A shock-win again, this time for PAS. I was also caught by suprised at this. PAS just sorta crept up stealthily to finally capture this state. I was guessing Terrenganu would have fallen to it before this state.

5. Selangor = PKR-DAP-PAS: A VERY VERY satisfying win by PKR-DAP. I hate Khir Toyo. I suspect this was the second state that DAP was aiming for apart from Penang but it’s an ideal state for PKR to rule. I hope PKR’s Khalid Ibrahim will rehabilitate this badly run premier state and bring it to new heights in his 4 year rule.

On the federal seats, DAP-PKR-PAS has momentously broken BN’s 2/3rd majority hegemony by taking a total of 82 seats out of 222. PKR has won the most parliament seats with 31, followed by DAP with 28 and PAS with 23, completely reversing the fortunes of PKR and making it the senior Opposition party now. It also paves the way for Anwar Ibrahim to assume the Opposition Leader post when he returns to parliament next month.

In-depth analysis on each Opposition party’s performances will be written by yours truly very soon right after I’ve rested by poor eyes a bit first.

Suffice to say, yesterday’s election has completely realigned Malaysia’s political landscape, and definitely for the better.

This is it guys.

The Big Day - March 8th.

Don’t disappoint your fellow Malaysians.

People, please please please vote for DAP or PKR!

BN needs to get a huge slap to its face or else it will continue to plunder the country dry and rule the country incompetently.

Vote wisely, and all the best.