THE old narrative of Malaysian politics was that Red Shirts leader Datuk Seri Jamal Md Yunos was the villain of the piece in the Pakatan Harapan “Save Malaysia” rallies. The Pakatan crowd saw the Red Shirts and Jamal as the ugly face of Umno and its Malay rights struggle.
The new narrative is that Jamal is the villain of the piece in Perikatan Nasional’s “Save Malaysia” rally. He and his party are now with Pakatan and are against Perikatan, which claims to be the defender of 2R (race and religion) issues.
On Wednesday, the Sungai Besar Umno Division chief called on the Red Shirts to rise again to counter a Perikatan demonstration planned at Sogo Complex in Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Day yesterday.
Jamal said the counter-rally is to save the country from the Opposition. For unknown reasons, though, he called off the Red Shirts’ protest when Perikatan changed the venue of its rally to nearby Kampung Baru.
The choice of Kampung Baru is ironic for journalists like me who covered the Reformasi movement in the late 1990s. It was the scene of many street “battles” between the pro-Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim faction and the police at a time when the then Opposition called Dr Mahathir a dictator.
So the Malay enclave – the first village populated by the community in Kuala Lumpur – became the venue for the Opposition Perikatan rally against Prime Minister Anwar.
At the rally yesterday, the crowd shouted “reformati” (which is a clever play on the words “reformasi” and “mati”, or dead).
They were protesting the discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) granted to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who had faced 47 charges in the Yayasan Akalbudi corruption case.
The police did not allow the Save Malaysia rally. However, government backbencher Syahredzan Johan, the DAP MP for Bangi, said although he did not support the rally, the police should allow it to go ahead.
“With the House as my witness, I call for the police to allow them to have this rally. We have long fought for the right to gather peacefully. As long as the rally is peaceful, it should be allowed,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday.
“I don’t want us [Pakatan] to forget that our battle also began on the streets.”
That’s the twist in weird Malaysian politics. Before they were in power, Pakatan used street rallies to gather support. But now that they control the government, they are doing what they accused their opponents of doing during their Reformasi movement days.
Pakatan has forgotten that it rose from street protests. Or perhaps it remembers all too well and realises their political danger.
After Pakatan got into bed with Umno to become the dominant force in the unity government after the 15th General Election in November 2022, politics has taken a strange turn in the country.
Welcome to the new norms in Malaysian politics.
The new norm for most Pakatan leaders is that Umno president Ahmad Zahidi is no longer a foe but a friend.
Their old narrative was that the then Pakatan Harapan chairman Mahathir and Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin would save Malaysia from the corrupt government of the then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Now, Dr Mahathir and Muhyiddin and other Pakatan darlings, such as Parti Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal (who was the PM candidate of choice for some in Pakatan) and Muda president Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, are the enemy.
What happens if, just as they got it wrong with Dr Mahathir, Muhyiddin, Shafie and Syed Saddiq, Ahmad Zahid becomes the enemy in the future?
The new norm is that most Pakatan politicians are silent about politicians they once accused of being kleptocrats.
For example, they were silent over Ahmad Zahid’s DNAA.
On Tuesday, Kota Baru MP Takiyuddin Hassan questioned the silence of DAP members who used to be vocal about justice. The PAS secretary-general pointed out that even international news reports had challenged the decision to withdraw the charges.
“But there are those who ask, in such a situation, where are the voices of those who always stood up for justice, such as former Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang, where is Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng, where is Damansara MP Gobind Singh Deo?” he said.
“Where are the others who before this always talked about justice for the rakyat, but now when it comes to this DNAA issue, they are staying silent?”
Three days later and 10 days since the Attorney General’s Chambers withdrew the corruption charges, DAP veteran Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang finally broke his silence.
“I was stunned and shocked by the DNAA development with regard to the Deputy Prime Minister and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi,” he said in a statement.
Now that Malaysians have seen the new norms, will they still be “stunned and shocked” if Pakatan or Perikatan politicians perform a U-turn on their “principles”?
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