Another Sleepless Night

I just could not sleep!

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Defections: Why Pakatan Should Wait

With the uncertainty within Umno increasing by the day, speculation is rife that the de facto leader of the newly-formed Pakatan Rakyat, Anwar Ibrahim, is ready to pounce and entice a sufficient number of BN MPs to allow the Pakatan to form a new government.

While such a development might be welcomed by those who have been longing for the BN to finally lose power, such haste is not a wise move for a variety of reasons.

Asking BN MPs to cross over to Pakatan sets a bad precedent for democratic accountability in Malaysia. Voters in Malaysia, by and large, vote for the party rather than the candidate and it is highly unlikely that they would approve of their candidate switching camps after being voted into office.

To the BN’s credit, it did not ‘incentivize’ any PAS assemblymen from the state of Kelantan even after PAS’ majority in the state assembly was decreased to just one following BN’s capture of Pengkalan Pasir in a by-election in 2005. This, despite the fact that taking back Kelantan was an important goal for the BN.

More recently, it was speculated that some Opposition state assembly representatives in Perak would be approached to switch camps after the Opposition won the state by a thin majority. As it turned out, the DAP-PKR-PAS alliance was allowed to form the government in that state.

Some may argue that in both Kelantan and Perak, nothing happened because the BN was simply unsuccessful in enticing the opposition politicians to cross over. There’s no way of knowing whether this is indeed the case, but the fact is the phenomenon of party hopping has not happened. It has not been a feature of politics in Malaysia for some time now and that’s a good thing.

Seducing politicians to party-hop now would be reminiscent of what the BN shamelessly did in Sabah after the PBS won a two-seat majority in the 1994 Sabah state elections. This was a time when Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the prime minister and Anwar was his deputy.

Don’t use BN’s dirty tactics

A mass migration of 30 or more BN MPs today would mean Pakatan could no longer maintain the moral high ground as it would be guilty of employing the dirty tactics used by BN during the Mahathir years. It would also spark a vicious cycle, encouraging the BN to employ similar tactics in the future.

It’s also important to also ask: Exactly what kind of MPs would you be attracting? The progressives? The liberals? The reformists?

The ones who switch over now would not be doing so because of idealism or because they suddenly have a change of heart over issues like the ISA (Internal Security Act), press freedom, the NEP (New Economic Policy) and so on. They would be doing so because of what they can squeeze out of Pakatan, for example, a cabinet position in a new government.

How would this be received by the rank and file within the Pakatan parties? And how would the voters perceive these former BN crossovers being elevated to senior positions within the new government?

Lastly, party-hopping would go against the grain of an earlier desire expressed by the DAP to introduce an anti-hopping law. PAS has also indicated that it would support such a law. Indeed, it is in the interest of all political parties in Malaysia to introduce a change in the electoral law which calls for a by-election if an elected representative decides to change his or her political allegiance.

It would be much wiser for the Pakatan to concentrate on governing the five states which it currently controls and to show voters that it can govern at the state level effectively. It would give DAP and PKR a chance to gain some experience at governing, even if it is only at the state level. This experience is something which currently only PAS has got.

By playing the role of a loyal opposition, at least for now, Pakatan can find its feet and learn what it is like to work as a united team through the formation of a shadow cabinet, for example. By showing that they can indeed work together as a coalition, it will only increase the voter’s confidence that Pakatan is a government-in-waiting rather than a temporary opposition alliance of convenience.

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By ONG KIAN MING & OON YEOH (quoted from Malaysiakini.com)
The author is a PhD candidate in political science at Duke University and co-author is a writer and new media analyst. You can listen to both of them discuss this topic in their Realpolitik podcast (http://www.webmobtv.com/).

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My First Posting?

Yeah.. That's right, my first posting my a**! That's how I put it. Actually, I have been trying to blog for almost 3 years but none persisted. I am not sure why, may be I am the type who can't stick to what I am doing unless it really conforms to what I want, the features, the layout etc. This blog existed before under the same name before way.. way back in 2004, but I deleted it much due to the length of of the paragraphs which cannot be controlled, I scoured the Net looking for the solutions. I discovered that with my limited knowledge, even though I found what I wanted, I could not get it to work. Patiently for days, I learnt it the hard way, trial and error. Attempted it and then, got it wrong deleted the blog, try again.. and finally, it is worth trying because I managed to have it the way I wanted it. So, here I am.. Watch out world!

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Stress Management

I have been under a lot of stress lately.. Why? My GMAT examination which I took in December 2007 was a disaster. I don't have anybody else to blame except me! Playing a blame game will not solve any problem except to add insult to injury. It all began when I accepted a phone call asking me to be the MC for the 3rd Small and Medium Industry National Conference in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Prior to that, I was also approached by the Dean of Graduate Study of Faculty of Finance and Banking, Dr. Rohani to help her out in filling in for Rizal who has gone for his PhD study at UIAM. This was for teaching graduate investment course in Kuala Lumpur which was held fortnightly and each session would run for 7 hours. I didn't want to accept it, but as usual, to outrightly say "NO" sounded so cruel for people in the need like Dr. Rohani. All I said was, "I will go if I can." which indicated that "I cannot go", said in a polite manner. I was fully aware that my GMAT was scheduled on the 19th of December 2007.

We finished our final examination session by end of November 2007. I taught two classes, Financial Management II and Financial Risk Management. Both had exams in the final week of the session which meant that I had to transmit both results in the same period of three weeks after the examination. Another problem, I was also the FMII course coordinator cooperative program with private colleges and with that responsibility I also have 300 extra answer scripts to grade on top of my 140.

My niece's wedding fell on 2nd December 2007 and it was a compulsory attendance, 2 days before the big day! To put things in chronological order:

1. Exam Week Finishes - Last Week of November 2007
2. Faiezah's Wedding - 2nd December 2007
3. National Conference in Sabah - 3rd December - 7th December 2007
4. Exam Paper Grading Starts - 8th December -14th December 2007
5. Exam Results Transmitted - 15th December 2007
6. Preparation for Investment Lecture - 15th December 2007
7. Flew to KL - 15th December 2007
8. Master Level Investment Lecture - 16th December 2007
9. Flew Back to Kedah - 17th December 2007
10. Trip to Penang - 18th December 2007
11. Study for GMAT - 18th December 2007 (I was already tired!!)
12. Write the GMAT - 19th December 2007 (Disastrous result!!)

Now here I am pondering what to do. With that kind of score, chances of gaining admission to any university are slim.

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