One Calamity After Another For PKR
People in some of the worst flood-hit areas in Kedah were during the weekend recounting tales of rescuing their window to the world -- their beloved television set.
Narrated with flourish in loghat utara (northern accent), the rescue-act sounded all the more astounding.
It came as no big surprise, therefore, that this reporter discovered every single household he visited had their 29-inch television intact.
And, as the constant television updates on the Parti Keadilan Rakyat's Congress came on, their zest for politics has been undiminished by the recent ominous rise in water levels.
"Apa dia Ketuanan Melayu ni, cuba habaq mai sat," (What is this Ketuanan Melayu all about, pray tell?), said a 51-year-old contractor.
They saw PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim demolishing the term when he addressed the PKR delegates attending its congress over the weekend.
His wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, had already expressed her disdain for the term. It increasingly sounds like a key political plank for PKR.
In Kuala Lumpur yesterday, a few Malays who spoke to this reporter were similarly incredulous over what the term constitutes.
Is this not Malay rights?
It might not have occurred to PKR that they were savaging a political unknown -- at least among many Malays who have not really heard Umno personalities invoke the term.
(Quickly, Ketuanan Melayu relates to Malay Empowerment, meaning self-determination or menjadi tuan di bumi sendiri.)
It has nothing to do with wishing to be an overlord. This was about the desire of a people who had been colonised for four centuries to be liberated. Since Merdeka, the Malays have shared power with others.)
Hence, if the Malays were not on the same page with PKR leaders on Ketuanan Melayu, who was the target audience then?
Is this not an attempt at perpetuating the more senseless debate on race?
Did PKR craft all the right messages this time around?
This is the most meaty question.
There is a sense of PKR messing up its high-visibility opportunity, even offending the electorate.
Never mind the contentious party polls, the first calamitous act was when deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali said before the congress that the party would weed out "traitors".
This was the antithesis to what most people thought PKR stood for -- justice, accommodating and even a gentler kind of politics.
The second was when a senior party leader boldly suggested that Anwar's de facto leader post be institutionalised, a proposal that deepens the concept that this party is not overly concerned about sustainable existence.
What happens after Anwar eventually departs the scene? Are they saying the party is destined to disintegrate?
The third calamity was when Dr Wan Azizah proclaimed that Anwar was something of a God's gift to politics -- precisely the kind of adornment and embellishment the Malays frown at.
Some of the party delegates were incredibly wrong in arguing that this was an internal matter. The electorate must have a full view of everything that goes on in a political party, which is why Umno is the most scrunitised party.
As those affected by floods in Kedah assess the damage and the womenfolk eye the next big purchase, never for a second think that they shall look the other way when great political miscalculations are being conceived. - New Straits Times
BONUS
This is why PKR fucked up ... Jenny Abdul Razak
This is why PKR fucked up ... Jenny Abdul Razak
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