SST goldmine ignored as Bersatu hides backstage till GE kicks off

Malay Mail

2 days ago

JULY 3 — Remember Margaret Thatcher.
She beat the unions, Argentinians and male chauvinists in her party to leave her imprint on British politics far beyond her 11 years in office. However, the Iron Lady got beat by her enthusiasm for a new tax — the universally derided poll tax — in 1990.
Two Universiti Malaya classmates were Johor menteri besar and education minister then, when Maggie had to go.
They'd remember her well especially as she was in Kuala Lumpur for the Commonwealth heads of government meeting a year earlier. Then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad made a meal of it. A bit like the ongoing overexuberance for the Asean chairmanship.
Anyways, fast forward 35 years, Anwar Ibrahim is prime minister, and Muhyiddin Yassin is the man yearning to beat him and assume his second term in office.
Whether Muhyiddin is waiting for a telegram or email is uncertain, but his Bersatu and its coalition Perikatan Nasional (PN) seem stuck in neutral. Unaware that an upgraded tax system has been unveiled, went 'live' two days ago, and is an unbearable bane for many on social media.
Many in political parlance are great. Political parties are in the business of procuring votes. More so the many referred to here are in the millions. A large number of Malaysians are upset — though to be fair, it's rare for people to break into celebratory dancing when new taxes are introduced.
What is not far behind is increases to quit rents for urban local councils. That'll add more to those already upset.
Yet, the party expected to stalk the Unity Government appears to be sulking in corners unknown.
Blue, not white: Bersatu the bridesmaid
The worst kept secret in Parliament is that PAS, not Bersatu, controls the Opposition bench. However, Bersatu is expected to bring the legislative substance.
But Bersatu only holds 25 MPs from 222 in the chamber. PAS has double the presence but prefers Bersatu to lead the coalition.
Which damages both sides. PAS is not able to raise the bar at the federal level when leading four states. Bersatu, meanwhile, skirts around to champion issues they do care for and the ones PAS can live with.
The SST is a clear matter which bisects both considerations, but indecision dogs both parties.
PAS is dogmatic about how to go about issues, as in start-stop. It always reserves the right to change its mind.
In the Pakatan Rakyat days (2009-2015), the coalition got bogged down constantly, its momentum squashed down because PAS asked for a pause if Umno invited it for a dialogue.
Bersatu ducks SST backlash as tax pain spreads — but can silence win votes? — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri
Bersatu, to begin with, is not Captain Action.
But they both have convinced supporters, because the Islamists live off 40 years of dominant influence in religious education, and Bersatu relies on 70 years of institutionalised xenophobia — even if their targets were long ago promoted by citizenship — encouraged by Umno.
Bersatu characterises themselves as the unblemished original Umno, not very different to Mel Gibson supported by traditionalist Catholics which feel today's Vatican is too woke, soft and given in to the modern world.
PAS has its base. Secured and larger base to Bersatu's, which hopes their version of traditionalist Malays will win the day on election day.
Bersatu are adamant to be Malay nationalists, unaware that's a misnomer. For a Malay nation is no more a proper destination since the formation of Malaysia.
They were supposed to ascend to Malaysian nationalism, unfortunately they fell into the communalism-mutes-patriotism trap.
On the day, they'll show up
The Bersatu strategy, to use the term loosely, is to wait till general election day.
That the mistrust of Umno, the mistrust of Umno working with DAP, the mistrust of PMX, the mistrust of Anwar's relationship with Zahid Hamidi and any number of mistrusts, fester to a point of unbearable pain till it irrevocably leads votes to them.
That's a lot of hoping. It also renders obsolete the work of political strategists.
Bersatu stands on the shoulders of ethnocentrism and PAS' durability to remain relevant but the water around them has risen with a changed landscape.
In Peninsula, there are only that many Hulu Selangor and Bukit Gelugor to win reliant on Malay votes split three ways. The Umno-PKR bromance translates to a different proposition to Malays who have Malay-ness as a key vote consideration, as the choices are binary now. PN or Unity.
Hulu Selangor and Bukit Gelugor look a whole lot harder to keep.
Second, there is no PN in Borneo. All previous pretences have evaporated and Borneo has abandoned the Malay agenda.
That is why the ownership of Malay reserve land, the status of Kampung Baru, the elevation of DAP in government and Chinese long-term residents in our cities, are the issues for now.
The low hanging fruit in the Garden of Eden
SST seems like a cat Bersatu struggles to skin.
To foreign observers it may be a no-brainer but to one-trick-pony Bersatu, it sticks to Malay pride.
The thing about the well-crafted, honed and nurtured race-before-all origins of Umno which Bersatu intends to inherit wholly is that it prohibits other offerings and imagination. To be tribal dismembers the ability to see beyond misgivings about British Malaya's demography.
Bersatu's raison d'être disables its capacity to grow as a multipurpose driven opposition riding the issues of the day to be government.
Umno was never good as an opposition bloc for the same reason. Look at its wilderness years between 2018-2020 till a Pakatan government collapse.
Despite all the recriminations, Bersatu and Umno are no different. Except one is in government, and knows how to behave in it, and the other out of government and only knows how to be angsty about not being in government. That them not being in government means Malays are shortchanged.
So, it remains myopic about cost-of-living issues permeating from the SST.
Perhaps Bersatu sidestepping SST as a central campaign driver is a masterstroke. Perhaps this column is too liberal and worldly to truly comprehend the single mindedness of the Malay mind which Bersatu seeks to placate. Maybe.
But that cow has not enough milk presently. The SST has a remarkable character, it hurts not on colour or religion. It affects all voters. That's a lot of voters. But then again, Bersatu is not built for all voters. It sells sentiments, not ideas.
It thinks this is not Britain and PMX not Thatcher. Wonder what the sentiment is when they are proven wrong at GE16.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.