People's Victory , livre ebook

Marshall Cavendish International - Kee Thuan Chye

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168 pages

English

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Few people believed the corrupt and oppressive Barisan Nasional government could be toppled. But the people were sick and tired of it. And the scandals surrounding the prime minister. He had brought shame to Malaysia, which became known to the world as a kleptocracy. This book tells the epic story of how Malaysians took responsibility for their country and struggled against the odds to change their government. Of how a 92-year-old former prime minister who had been an enemy of the Opposition for decades crossed over to join forces with the very man he had sent to jail 20 years earlier, and led the charge to topple the party he once loved. Starting with the outcome of the 13th general election in 2013 and then moving through five years of drama, surprises, ironies and twists to the climactic 14th general election of 9 May 2018, the narrative grows from despair to hope to euphoria. The book honours the concerned citizens who fought the good fight and contributed in ways big and small to bring about a new Malaysia. What they achieved was truly a victory of the people.

Sujets

Malasia

21st century

Malaysia

Malaisie

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Publié par	Marshall Cavendish International
Date de parution	15 novembre 2018
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9789814841382
Langue	English

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Extrait

THE PEOPLE S VICTORY

2019 Kee Thuan Chye
Published by Marshall Cavendish Editions
An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International

All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Requests for permission should be addressed to the Publisher, Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited, 1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196. Tel: (65) 6213 9300. E-mail: genref@sg.marshallcavendish.com
Website: www.marshallcavendish.com/genref
The publisher makes no representation or warranties with respect to the contents of this book, and specifically disclaims any implied warranties or merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose, and shall in no event be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. The publisher states that the printer was engaged solely to provide full printing, binding and delivery services for the book and is not responsible for the contents of the book.
Other Marshall Cavendish Offices Marshall Cavendish Corporation. 99 White Plains Road, Tarrytown NY 10591-9001, USA Marshall Cavendish International (Thailand) Co Ltd. 253 Asoke, 12th Flr, Sukhumvit 21 Road, Klongtoey Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand Marshall Cavendish (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Times Subang, Lot 46, Subang Hi-Tech Industrial Park, Batu Tiga, 40000 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Marshall Cavendish is a registered trademark of Times Publishing Limited
National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Name(s): Kee, Thuan Chye, 1954-
Title: The people s victory : how Malaysians saved their country / Kee Thuan Chye.
Description: First edition. | Singapore : Marshall Cavendish, 2018
Identifier(s): OCN 1056702101 | eISBN 978 981 4841 38 2 (paperback)
Subject(s): LCSH: Elections--Malaysia--21st century. | Malaysia--Politics and government--21st century. | Government accountability--Malaysia. | Political corruption--Malaysia.
Classification: DDC 320.9595--dc23
Printed in Malaysia
This book is dedicated to my wife, Lim Choy Wan,
and my children, Soraya Sunitra Kee Xiang Yin and Jebat Arjuna Kee Jia Liang,
Lim Jack Kin and all those of his generation who represent the hope and future of Malaysia
the comrades for change who protested in the sun and rain, stood up to tear gas and water cannons, were harassed by the police and even arrested, helped out in any way they could,
and, above all, the Malaysian people who voted for change for without them, there would not have been a people s victory.
CONTENTS
ACT 1 DESPAIR
This is the Time!
Do We Have a Winner?
Blackouts and Bangladeshis
Rallying is the New Black
No Day in Court
Win Some, Lose Some, Some Win, Some Lose
The Worst that Could Happen
Acts of Blame, Acts of Shame
ACT 2 HOPE
The Big Steal
Rule By Thieves
Earthquakes and Realignments
Bravehearts, Stooges and a Comeback Kid
Game for Power
Nouveau Nonagenarian
How to Steal an Election
Ready to Make History?
ACT 3 EUPHORIA
Like Watching a B-Movie Western
We Did It!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

THIS IS THE TIME!
On May 5, 2013, hopes ran high that by the end of the day Malaysia would have a change of government. Even before polling stations opened at 8am, throngs of voters were already queuing up, many of them eager to make that happen.
This was the day they had been waiting for, five years after the watershed 12 th general election (GE12) in 2008 when the Opposition pact stunned Barisan Nasional (BN) by denying the incumbent ruling coalition its customary two-thirds majority in Parliament and capturing five of the 11 state governments in Peninsular Malaysia.
Now, with the Opposition having exposed the once-mighty BN s vulnerability and also unified itself as an entity going by the name of Pakatan Rakyat (PR), or The People s Pact, it looked ready to take over the federal government at this 13 th general election (GE13). Malaysians disgruntled with the ruling coalition felt cheered.
BN had ruled for 56 years since the country attained independence from the British in 1957. Its brand of politics had come to be dictated more strongly than ever before by its dominant party, the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), which had become self-serving, arrogant, divisive and corrupt. This had compromised the ability of the other component parties in the coalition to function as effectively as they should.
With Umno firmly in command, BN had turned out to be indecisive in its administration, lavish in its spending, indifferent to racial harmony, oppressive in its exercise of power, and more. If the coalition were to be allowed to stay in government, the outlook for the next five years could be unbearably bleak. It was time to vote the whole lot out.
Ini kalilah! roared the change-seekers at PR s campaign stumps, asserting that this was the time to do it. They would turn up by the thousands at many of these ceramahs (rallies) to show solidarity, listen to the speeches and feel uplifted, convinced that the Opposition could win.
At Gelang Patah, one of the constituencies in the southern state of Johor, as many as 70,000 people swarmed the car park of a shopping mall on May 1, blowing vuvuzelas and cheering the PR leaders who spoke. Two nights later, an unprecedented 100,000 people filled up the Esplanade in Penang, shouting ubah! (change), breaking all records of rally attendances.
When a PR politician on stage shouted, Ini kalilah! , the supporters yelled back, Change the government! The camaraderie was powerful; campaigners and supporters were in sync.
Outside of the hustings, calls for change resounded on social media, but it was not all just talk. Individuals and groups reinforced it by taking action.
They organised events to help PR parties raise funds, influenced fence-sitters to attend PR rallies, mobilised friends to sign up and be trained to be polling agents for PR candidates for election day. They helped to indirectly campaign against BN by circulating e-mails exposing BN s excesses, corruption and abuse of power, or by posting comments on media websites condemning in strong language the incompetence and the lies of government ministers.
On Facebook, like-minded ones adopted as their profile photos the ubah hornbill mascot (launched by one of PR s component parties), as if giving themselves a group identity as comrades for the same cause. Those with more resources created and produced short videos to spread the message of change in a more direct and effective way.
Remember to ubah , ya?
The comrades for change were frank about the side they would vote for and had no qualms about declaring it openly. They rebuffed the maxim about keeping their vote secret and proudly stated their stand to get others to join their cause or engage in communion with fellow Opposition supporters, even if they were strangers.
Once, I was in a taxi going home from the airport when the driver and I started talking about politics. As the elections were coming up, it seemed the natural thing to do. I was not surprised that the driver complained about the Government. Actually, he did most of the talking as he spoke out against the cash handouts the Government was dispensing, obviously to buy votes; the bias the Election Commission (EC) was showing towards BN although it was supposed to be neutral and independent; the awarding of lucrative government projects to Umno s cronies; and so on.
I was impressed by his articulate analysis of the issues, his candour and his disregard for the fact that I was a total stranger to him. I happily listened till I got to my destination. Then when I was getting out of his taxi, he said something that got me smiling delightedly. He said, Remember to ubah , ya?
The wave for change was almost a movement, but not one that was formally created or organised. It had its beginnings in the aftermath of GE12, which sensitised Malaysians to the possibility of a better future for themselves and their children. It grew in presence as campaigns and rallies organised by Opposition parties and civil society bodies raised greater public awareness of the Government s unfair policies and practices.
Soon it burgeoned into a loose fraternity that was not represented only by Malaysians resident at home. Those working and residing overseas, from Singapore to China to Australia to the United States of America, felt united by the same purpose and joined in. When the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) organised street rallies in 2011 and 2012, overseas Malaysians in more than 30 international cities held simultaneous ones in solidarity with the NGO.
These rallies called on the EC to clean up the electoral roll which was alleged to contain phantom voters; reform postal voting; introduce the use of indelible ink; allow all political parties free access to the media; and put an end to electoral fraud.
Tens of thousands of concerned Malaysians spilled onto the streets of Kuala Lumpur s city centre to support Bersih s calls. Many more overseas came up with initiatives to support the cause, and when Bersih appealed for a large turnout of voters at GE13 because this would be the only way to defeat cheating or fraudulent manipulation, they made plans to fly home and vote. Even from as far as the U.S.
Weeks before election day, those resident in Singapore encouraged one another to return to vote and even organised the logistics for group travel. They chartered buses and coordinated carpooling. They were as excited as their compatriots in Malaysia about the prospect of ubah .
On polling day, however, all that excitement was quite contained. No campaigning was allowed in the polling centre and within 50 metres of it. A