Pakatan Rakyat – Another Barisan?

The Opposition – PAS, DAP and PKR – has agreed to form a new coalition known as Pakatan Rakyat.

"Pakatan Rakyat pledges to uphold the rights and interests of all Malaysians, regardless of religion or race, as enshrined in the Constitution." said Anwar.

Previous attempt at a coalition (Barisan Alternatif) failed as DAP could not accept PAS’ central theme of forming an Islamic state. This time, Abdul Hadi Awang has expressed that this new Coalition is not part of PAS’ constitution – in other words, they are still pursuing the Islamic state agenda.

It raises a few interesting questions. What’s PAS intention? Is it simply concerned with being in power instead of pursuing its own constitutionally adopted agenda? What about its supporters? Are they really for an Islamic state, or are they now evolving and changing when they realize that it’s becoming almost impossible to implement their Islamic agenda? Or are they being played around by another political party?

The fear is that if this coalition is put into power, it would be nothing more than another Barisan Nasional with each component party pursuing its own agenda and there would be a silo mentality – only PAS can take care of Muslims, DAP the Chinese and PKR the “Malaysiana”.

Let’s not forget about the mentality of each of the races within those parties and their supporters! Why should DAP argue that there should be this many Chinese, or the PKR to argue there should be this many Malays in Selangor or Perak? Why should there even be such a discussion if you believe in equality?

Even the supporters of these parties are confused when on one hand they trash-talked Barisan’s race-based politics but at the same time exhibited some form of xenophobia when it actually comes to their part in choosing their leaders.

This is already evident in Perak when newly elected DAP Assemblyman A. Sivasubramaniam resigned (and later retracted the resignation…even in a card game you can’t just call off a bet…aiyoh) because only ONE INDIAN was chosen as an Exco member. In his letter, he claimed that DAP’s victory has a lot to do with Indian voters (which I am not objecting).

The point is this Mr. Siva – it doesn’t matter! According to DAP and PKR rallying call, Makkal Sakthi is applicable to everyone! That’s what your voters voted for…not because you’re Indian. It shouldn’t matter to supporters of A. Siva, but it does, as evident from some comments we read through Malaysiakini’s Vox Populi. Or are the voter themselves delusional by believing that it’s not about race?

Let’s get back to Pakatan Rakyat. PKR’s position, due to its multi-racial platform, becomes even stronger as people will start asking for “intergration” – forming one party to be led by DSAI.
We all hope that all political parties have the interest of the people at heart, and we should not give up on that hope. My only fear is that there is still a huge question mark on DSAI and though I know DSAI’s supporters are very vocal when it comes to protecting his character, as an until-now objective observer, I have listened to stories from people who has worked with him when he was in power. Power corrupts…I just hope that 6 years would have thought him some lessons.

Malaysia & Halliburton

Slipping under the news radar for most people is the recent investment by Halliburton in IDR valued at RM200 million. While our quest to develop all these corridors remains a noble one, shouldn’t we also look at the companies investing in it and what they stand for?

For a country that publicly condemns the Iraq invasion, and openly criticized the US government’s foreign policy as opportunistic capitalist “invasion”, our acceptance of a company that is a major part of these policies smacks of hypocrisy.

Halliburton is at the forefront of the war on terror – allegedly an attempt by US of A to control the growing influence of Islam while at the same time increase their presence in Arab countries (for the oil of course). Halliburton has been closely associated with the US government, especially as Dick Cheney is its chairman.

Halliburton’s subsidiary, Kellogg-Brown & Root, was an integral part in all major US operations overseas since the Vietnam war, supplying equipments and also being part of the major reconstruction company awarded with “no-bid” projects from the US government. It was also awarded contracts to build detention facilities for suspected terrorists – not the most humane of places I should say.

Halliburton is the only company in the world mentioned by Osama bin Laden when he claimed that this war on terror is actually a war to control oil resources. Halliburton’s track record is not only questioned around the world but also in its native country with allegations of fraud and accounting malpractice common. The U.S public’s growing concern prompted its CEO to move their office to Dubai, as part of an effort to concentrate on the “Eastern hemisphere”. Malaysia is now part of that plan.

I recommend you read Economic Hit Man where the author, a former “EHT”, revealed how the world is now commanded not by States but corporations like Halliburton.

Malaysia should seriously consider aligning its business policy with its moral standing. I'm sure my pal WMF would have something to say...if he reads this:)
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