LAST week was the anniversary of perhaps Malaysia’s darkest day ever: May 13.
In 1969, we experienced violence, death, and carnage not seen before or since.
The question of race relations has dominated Malaysia since its very inception, and on that day, race relations reached its lowest point ever.
Fifty-four years and a day later, Malaysia’s new unity government saw its first ever assembly.
For the first time, leaders from parties like PKR and DAP showed up to Umno’s headquarters at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur not as a protesting or demonstrating force, but as invited, honoured guests.
It seemed to be a surreal experience for both sides. The animosity between parties like Umno and DAP was, of course, not of the same level and category as the animosity seen on May 13, but it was some serious animosity nonetheless – one that basically goes as far back as 1969.
In fact, some see that fateful day as emerging from an Umno-DAP conflict.
In the aftermath of May 13, Tun Abdul Razak forged Malaysia’s grand political alliance – at the time, the biggest of big tents – Barisan Nasional.
Big as this tent was, it did not include DAP, a party that has always been at odds with Umno – until now.
Some more cynical observers will of course describe this current Umno-DAP alliance as nothing more than a temporary marriage of convenience, liable to fall apart at the drop of a hat.
Technically speaking, and given our recent history, it would be disingenuous of us not to admit that this is of course a possibility.
But it would be equally disingenuous to describe it as a certainty. It’s simply too early to tell what will happen.
It may not be too early, however, to hope which path Malaysia takes, and to imagine what the best case scenario would be.
In doing this thought exercise, we must think back to Malaysia’s larger political and historical context. As mentioned, politics in Malaysia has always been about race. Not because this is some inevitable fact of nature or anything like that, but because out of the gate, Malaysia’s first dominant political forces were all race-based.
This can be said to be a form of “hangover” from colonial policies of divide and rule.
Whatever the cause, those were the cards we were dealt with early on, and those cards have had a profound impact on the trajectory of our nation.
Some might see May 13 essentially as a culmination of political tensions between Malay and non-Malay political forces.
Ever since then, this tension has remained, in various forms.
For many decades, the DAP essentially continued to represent a form of “resistance” towards what they painted as Umno/Malay dominance.
In many ways, the Umno-DAP conflict was just the latest, most potent manifestation of Malay versus Chinese political forces.
So ingrained was this racial division that for a very long time, parties like PAS and DAP could not cooperate effectively, even though they shared a common “enemy” in Barisan.
This only began to change with the advent of a “middle ground” party, PKR, with its charismatic and uniquely positioned leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Soon after his release from prison, Anwar forged the first truly effective DAP-PAS alliance. I had front row seats to this, as it coincided with the brief time I could be considered “politically active”.
It was quite a thing to behold – the bringing together of two very different, but very important, fringe elements of Malaysian politics.
I remember feeling at the time that this was a true step forwards in leaving behind the very blasé, one-dimensional Malay vs non-Malay political narrative; a huge first step in showing that despite very different backgrounds, and a lifetime of being pitted against one another, there was true common ground upon which a truly inclusive Malay-sian identity and cause could be built.
We all know how that first attempt failed. Some interpret that failure as meaning that such a project could never work. I prefer to believe that it simply hasn’t worked yet.
In many ways, the gathering on May 14 represents a new attempt. The players are slightly different, and the position that PAS occupied in the days of Pakatan Rakyat is now occupied by Umno in the Kerajaan Perpa-duan. The spirit of what is being attempted, however, is very much similar.
And the fact that the attempt is being made at all is in and of itself significant.
I acknowledge the views of those that claim this is more political expediency than something that is 100% a ground-up, sincere attempt at reconciliation.
That said, sometimes it is slightly less important whether something begins as top down or bottom up; sometimes it isn’t even the most important factor whether someone starts a project for reasons that are 100% purely good.
Sometimes what matters the most is whether the project is a good project or not, and whether it will ultimately benefit the rakyat.
And for my money, a return to big tent politics can be a very good project indeed.
In the aftermath of May 13, 1969, big tent politics was exactly the approach taken by Tun Abdul Razak. By co-opting as many stakeholders as he could into the newly-formed Barisan, he was able to forge a new path for Malaysia – one that was more inclusive and reconciliatory.
The result was a political coalition that ruled Malaysia for decades. Mistakes were made along the way; but these are mistakes that can be learned from.
It won’t be easy for parties like Umno and DAP to completely reconceptualise the kind of rhetoric and political strategies that have sustained them for decades.
But if we can indeed recreate and sustain that same post-1969 spirit of reconciliation, and commit to leaving behind the hatemongering that race-based politics has become, Malaysia could well be in for some prosperous, peaceful decades ahead.
Nathaniel Tan is a strategic communications consultant who works with Projek #BangsaMalaysia. He can be reached at nat@engage.my.
The views expressed here are solely the writer’s own.
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