LETTER | Chinese and Indians will lose their voices if PN comes into power

LETTER | There is no single representation of Chinese and Indians in the Members of Parliament (MPs) elected under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition.

Earlier yesterday we saw the entire nation waiting anxiously when Pakatan Harapan chairperson Anwar Ibrahim and PN chief Muhyiddin Yassin were summoned for an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong at the Istana Negara.

It caused such unrest among the citizens, not to mention inaccurate news spun by several media outlets, waiting to know who would be Malaysia’s 10th prime minister (PM).

It was also reported that Anwar faced the media and remain tight-lipped while Muhyiddin left the palace through the back door. This symbolically shows us that something is brewing hot in the palace and we may have a hint as to who will be our next PM.

Meanwhile, Barisan Nasional (BN), in its statement yesterday, maintained that it would be an opposition in the Dewan Rakyat before the elected 30 MPs in BN are called to meet the Agong today, Nov 23, to determine the majority confidence for the PM as per Article 43(2) of the Federal Constitution.

"The Agong has already met with the leader of Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN), the next process is to individually meet with the 30 BN MPs at 10.30am tomorrow at Istana Negara,” reads a statement from the Comptroller of the Royal Household, Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin.

The 15th general election (GE15) saw a hung Parliament, where no coalition had the sufficient number of seats to form the government on its own.

The Harapan coalition has the highest number of seats with 82, followed by Perikatan Nasional (73), Barisan Nasional (30), Gabungan Parti Sarawak (22), Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (6), Warisan (3), Parti Bangsa Malaysia (1), Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (1) and two independents.

On a general overview, within the BN coalition itself, we could see there are two separate teams whereby BN’s chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is in favour of Harapan, while its treasurer-general Hishammuddin Hussein would rather ‘be sacked’ than to work with Anwar or Harapan.

Similarly, PAS under the PN’s coalition also saw contradicting beliefs. Its secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan said the party is willing to work with BN while its president Abdul Hadi Awang said PAS would rather be an opposition than form a coalition government with BN.

Hadi reiterated that PAS would not work with Umno leaders who “aren’t clean” to form a government and that the Islamist party is a component of PN, after severing ties with Umno ahead of the election.

If we look at the PN coalition as a whole, there is no single Indian or Chinese representative that has been elected under Bersatu, PAS or Gerakan.

On the other hand, if we analyse both BN’s and Harapan’s elected MPs, there is a combination of Malay, Chinese and Indian representatives.

Going back to the history of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman had given a silver lining to the struggle of the Malayan nationalists when his action of forming the Alliance Party had started to open the eyes of the British to allow the Malayans to govern their own country.

The Alliance Party was a political coalition in Malaysia, with its membership comprised of Umno, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC). This coalition was registered in 1957 and later, in 1973, became the BN.

The unity among the three major ethnic groups, the Malays, Chinese and Indians, led to the London Agreement that was signed in 1956 and it had given signs that Malaya would achieve independence on Aug 31, 1957.

The basis of this country was formed by these three major ethnic groups, with Borneo gaining independence from the British as well. With PN’s leadership, which comprises 100 percent Malay elected representatives, how will the Indians and Chinese have voices in this country?

At least BN and Harapan have a combination of all races represented in their coalitions. Now, you tell me if BN and Harapan should work together - or should PN come into power with GPS and other coalitions?

Although both Harapan and BN have their own indifferences, both coalitions spaced out (if not equally) to the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia to be represented.

Is this possible with the extremist PN coalition trying to rule this country?

We have already seen, prior to the elections, how Muhyiddin slammed Harapan an agent of Jews and Christians out to colonise Malaysia. An extremist like him, who plays the racial cards for political mileage, is the chairperson of PN!

Our history tells us that all three heroes of this country, Tunku Abdul Rahman, VT Sambanthan and Tan Cheng Lock, were determined to win independence from Britain without bloodshed and to create a political and legal framework for this country that would enable Malays, Chinese and Indians to share power and live in harmony.

Should PN form the government and rule this country, with no single representation of Chinese or Indians - do you think there will be independence in Malaysia?

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.