People ‘ s interest more important than seats !

Recently, Malaysiakini has highlighted the desperation of one minor component party in the ruling coalition asking for more seats in the next general election.

According to Malaysiakini reports, the president as well as some of his “kaki”s have been openly asking for the same number of seats that were won by this party when it was in Opposition many many years back. The latest was in the presence of the Prime Minister during a party convention.

In the reality of Malaysian politics, this seems to be a hopeless situation, but this party has continued its antics.   At one stage, it has even  threathened to pull out of the coalition and be independent again.

I read with amusement today’s report in Malaysiakini. Its president was quoted to say this:

the coalition should fulfill its obligation to  the 58-year-old party, which had switched from the opposition in 1972 on the condition it is allowed to contest in four parliamentary seats and eight state seats.

“The goal of any political party is to nominate and elect its candidates and be represented by the people.”

I have always thought that a political party’s position and goals should be based on the party’s ideology, which in turn should be based on the belief of its leaders and members, which in turn should be based on its perception on how best it can advance and protect the citizenry’s interest.

After May 13 1969, many of the political stalwarts in the opposition camp in the country believed that in the best of the nation’s interest, perhaps racial politics should be minimised.  The best way to do so, some of them proposed,  was to form a new coalition , which was later named Barisan National. One of those who mooted the idea was Dr Lim Chong Eu. This idea was also accepted by the remaining Seenivasagam brother , D.R. Seenivasagam**    S.P. Seenivasagam.

Thus a new front was formed and was named Barisan Nasional, the National Front and it consisted of the original three from Parti Alliance (the Sailing Boat), PArti Gerakan, PPP and parties from East Malaysia.

It was unfortunate that racial politics was not minimised and instead, the perception was that racial politics is even worse than before.

So to say that this particular party joined the coalition mainly because of seats arrangement  is to belittle the wits and foresight of its earlier leaders. They took the party into BN more for the interests of the people. It was unfortunate that after the demise of its great leader D. R. S., the party lost its appeal to the electorate (especially after it had crossed over to bn) and lost most of the seats allocated to it in subsequently General elections. So their demise is more due to lack of leadership and a rejection of voters in their traditional strongholds who disagreed with the change of the party’s stand in joining the ruling coalition.

So to ask openly back its seats is  not only naive but also gives a perception that all this party cares is seats. There are so many pressing problems facing the country and instead of airing these problems in the presence of the PM, it chose to ask for seats, which will only benefit a few selected leaders.

One of the central political views in Confucianism is that the ones who win heart of the people will rule the country. I would suggest the leaders of this party ponder carefully and ask themselves what they have done for the people, besides making up the numbers in political gatherings.

 If they have really fight for the people and work fo the people, their popularity alone would have forced the Coalition heads to consider giving them more seats automatically, without asking openly .

So, I would advise them to stop asking for seats. Instead, channel their energy to national issues, speak out on unfair policies, poor enforcement, corruption, abuse of power, education and economic issues.

I would quote John F Kennedy : Ask not what your country can do for you; Ask what you can do for the country. That should be the motto and guiding principles for all politicians including this particular political party.

Otherwise, it would be futile for them to remain in BN or even join the opposition rank, because the people would never support a party which places more importance on seats than the people’s interests.

The only other way is to dissolve the party!

(**A footnote: The initial assertion that DR Seenivasagam agreed to join BN was wrong since D R died before the 1969 election. I have made an amendment by striking out D R’s name above. I have great respect for D R Seenivasagam, as he was one of the great leaders in the early history of our country. The mistake was pointed out to me by a reader David Chew (pls read the comments below) and I sincerely thank Chew for kindly pointed out the mistake to me.)

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