Published by Malaysiakini, images from Malaysiakini.
The Whitehall Parliament, the world has just learned from the United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson, can be “prorogued”. That’s when the Parliament is shut down momentarily, in this case, to reduce the rambunctious debates of Brexit.
House of Commons Speaker John Bercow, not excluding many others in Britain, including former British prime minister John Major, has spoken in defiance of the move by Johnson.
The reason is simple: at a time when Britain is possibly facing a no-deal Brexit by Oct 31, 2019, it is reprehensible and irresponsible to suspend Parliament, even for a brief week or two to reduce the room of democratic debates. Not surprisingly, some in the British press have called it a “parliamentary coup”.
The Member of Parliament for Tanjong Karang, Noh Omar (photo, above), appears bent on taking a page from Johnson, if not in form, definitely in spirit.
He has challenged Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed to “dissolve Parliament” to see if Pakatan Harapan can still defeat Barisan Nasional.
While Harapan is not everyone’s favourite coalition at the moment, the thought that BN and PAS can upend the electoral mandate of May 9, 2018, is ludicrous; even if Harapan can see some, but not all of the candidates, defeated.
First and foremost, BN and PAS can’t even agree on an electoral pact. Is it a unity of the ummah formed of Malay Muslims only, or, should it be broadened? This issue alone is enough to pip BN from at least 119 predominantly Malay parliamentary seats; as Umno and PAS would be going all red to please the Malays in the rural areas.
This would be done by feeding a surfeit of misleading information on race and religion – but unable to explain why they still need MCA as a pillar of support since 119 seats are enough to form a Malay government.
Secondly, if the BN can defeat Harapan in all 55 ethnically mixed parliamentary seats, which are largely the bastion of PKR and DAP, where are BN and MCA going to find these candidates? BN and MCA can’t be winning when they are a walking contradiction. Either BN and MCA are pro-Malay or pro-Malaysia. They cannot be both at the same time since they don’t have a coalition of mixed races.
The best that BN and PAS can do…
If they do win some of the 55 seats due to the popular angst of the people against the lack of seemingly tangible progress in Harapan, the best BN and PAS could do is to undermine, but not supplant, the Harapan coalition completely, since their excessive focus on Malay first mentality will tear Malaysia apart.
Thirdly, any attempt to enhance Malaysia cannot be attempted through the dissolution of the Dewan Rakyat, as Umno and PAS, with the indulgence of MCA, have laid various racial and religious traps both online and offline. Often, by misleading the voters into believing that Harapan is anti-Islam, anti-Malay, anti-syariah and anti-royalty.
If Parliament is dissolved, Malaysian voters would be led by the blind into an electoral landscape totally mined with internal explosive devices (IEDs).
Finally, a general election that is laden with IEDs is no different from paving the way for Malaysia to be the next Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, indeed, almost all of the Gulf Cooperation Council. In all of these countries, sectarian issues have dominated their discourses, leading to endemic conflicts that have torn their countries apart.
Noh Omar may think he is the next Boris Johnson of Malaysia. But Johnson gained his notoriety by lying that Britain was paying 350 million British pounds to the European Union (EU) each week – false news that has been proven to be fake and malicious.
Johnson is now forcing England to go through Brexit, with or without a deal, to showcase his prowess. But hundreds of thousands of workers would be without jobs, and forced to return to their countries of origin in the next few years if they cannot prove their contributions to the UK Home Office.
Malaysians who are inclined to believe in Noh Omar only need to go through the Tweets that are screaming with fear of total loss of recognition in England. Is Noh attempting to push for something of the same in England without using the ‘B’ word?
Malaysia is strongest when all its races are able to work hand in hand. It is weakest when all its races are attacking one another; when the Malayan Communist Party, which is predominantly formed of ethnic Chinese, sought to attack their own ethnic Chinese brethren.
Or, when Malays are fighting against the Malays. Indeed, when Sarawakians and Sabahans are at the throat of one another. United we fall, divided we fail. Umno, PAS and MCA, together with Noh, want to divide and conquer, even if Malaysia were to fail. By this token, Noh and the likes of him are planting IEDs all across Malaysia. Rational Malaysians wouldn’t want it!
Dr. Rais Hussin is President & CEO of EMIR Research, an independent think tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based upon rigorous research.
