The recent Pakatan Rakyat (PR) convention has unveiled a list of ten items that a PR government would accomplish within its first 100 days of governing the country. And what a welcomed list of it is. Most, if not all, of those items are good things; very desirable things that no one would argue against. You’d be a fool to do so.
However, upon greater reflection, you can’t help but feel you’d be a bigger fool to decide here and now to give your vote to them solely on account of what they promise to do. They are after all politicians on a campaign and we all know the thing about campaign promises – they’re not worth the paper they are written on.
But what I found particularly risible is that one of the political parties making the promise of institutional reforms is PKR which since March 2008 has shown itself barely able to keep its own house in order.
The party’s own recent internal elections had been so poorly conducted it has become a showcase of sham and shambles. This was compounded by the less than enlightened attitude of the party towards those within its fold who criticised and highlighted the flaws in the process; so much so that one frustrated candidate decided to abandon contest and party altogether.
Apart from vote-rigging, leakage of ballot papers, furtive pressure on some unfavoured candidates to withdraw, among other reports of abuses in the party elections, there was even an alleged case of letter forgery with the intent of nullifying a member’s nomination to contest. With all these examples of either malice or incompetence now in public awareness, the party has the cheek to hold itself out to be the one eminently suited to undertake the reform of the nation’s vital institutions. If there is one thing that the PKR elections ought to teach all of us is that good intentions alone is not enough to bring the outcome that we want.
Many will of course argue that the incumbent BN government is a prime example of poor governance and ought to be voted out no matter what. Maybe so except that the alternative, especially PKR, has quite amply shown itself prone to poor governance even before it has taken over the reins of government, what more if it became the government.
To believe that there is no alternative to BN would be to give it full license to perpetuate the abuse of its mandate but to believe that PR, especially PKR, ought to be voted in no matter what, is to give full license to it to ignore its own flaws and shortcomings. There is no surer way to turn it into another Umno/BN once it is in power. Therein lies the dilemma for the non-politically affiliated voters amongst us.
There is the counter-argument that if PR is not up to the mark whilst in government, we, the voters, can always vote it out come the next general elections. Such an argument is based on the premise that Malaysia is a ‘perfect’ democracy. That is a premise not borne out by what has been observed of both the governing and opposition parties in action.
It is indeed a tough call and the last thing I would want to do is swallow the PR pledge of ‘100-day’ reforms hook, line and sinker.
JASPAL SINGH GILL
