A place for all in Pakatan shadow cabinet

By Joe Fernandez

Pakatan Rakyat, the fledgling opposition alliance which swept five states and Kuala Lumpur in a political tsunami early last year, is currently studying the various public reactions to the newly-formed Najib cabinet – riding on the 1Malaysia, people first, performance now theme - before putting the finishing touches to its proposed shadow cabinet reflecting its political philosophy of ketuanan rakyat (supremacy of the people).

It is not known whether 1Malaysia is the result of the re-branding exercise by the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN).

The shadow cabinet, long in the making, is expected to pave the way for the opposition alliance to seize the reins of power in Putrajaya come 2013, the next general elections, or even earlier “if Najib dares to call for snap elections”, and end more than a half century of rule by the BN which inherited the mantle of power from the departing colonial British administration in 1957 in peninsular Malaysia and six years later, in 1963, in Singapore and Malaysian Borneo.
Singapore was booted out from the federation in 1965 over the issue of ketuanan Melayu (Malay political supremacy).

The shadow cabinet is now expected to be revealed sooner rather than later after setting April 26, the first definite deadline, followed by the end of the month at the very latest, according to news filtering through from PKR’s political bureau meeting on Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur.

“If Sapp (Sabah People’s Progressive Party) is willing to join the shadow cabinet, it will be a PR plus shadow cabinet. The shadow cabinet will shock and awe Malaysians,” promised PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) vice-president Jeffrey Gimpoi Kitingan in the seclusion of an Old Town White Coffee outlet, his favourite haunt, in Kota Kinabalu.

Sapp may merit a full cabinet post awaiting a Chinese MP – Tawau MP Dr Chua Soon Bui - and a Dusun which will be held by Sepanggar MP Eric Majibun. Sapp, which pulled out from the BN last Sept 17 citing loss of confidence in the federal leadership, has only these two MPs.

Presently, the PR leaders are scouting around for several MPs from Sabah and Sarawak for the shadow cabinet, he said.

The new recruits include at least one sitting Bidayuh MP, from a community which has been sidelined since the Badawi cabinet of 2004, an Iban, a Dusun and four Muslims MPs. Serian MP Richard Riot from Supp (Sarawak United People’s Party) has been mentioned within opposition circles as a possible Bidayuh minister for the shadow cabinet.

Ghost of Altantuya Shaarriibuu

The shadow cabinet, it is said, will put to public shame the Najib cabinet for a number of reasons besides the ghost of Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaarriibuu hanging over the Badawi-appointed prime minister.

For starters, Kitingan notes that the political grapevine in Sarawak has it that Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud decided not to push for his state’s greater representation in the federal cabinet in return for the retention of his son, Sulaiman, in the Najib line-up and personal economic, business and development concessions from the federal government.

Sulaiman has been appointed deputy tourism minister despite allegations of being a shoddy performer under Badawi.

It appears that Taib decided to use the state’s large number of MPs in BN as a basis to lobby Najib for 10th Malaysia Plan infrastructure funds to be brought forward and injected into the current, 9th Plan.

The chief minister’s family members are closely linked with energy, other infrastructure and mega projects in one of Malaysia’s poorest states despite his long innings in office since 1981 when Mahathir took office as Prime Minister.

Mahathir has long been gone but Taib is still around, allegedly keeping the post safe, for a family member in a state which has virtually become their personal fiefdom thanks to the semi-literate Ibans in the vast remote interior and rural areas and the religiously-conscious Malays, making a precarious hand-to-mouth existence along the coast in isolated, impoverished fishing and agricultural communities.

Hence, the studied almost uncomfortable silence from Demakjaya, the chief minister’s residence in Kuching, since the Najib cabinet was unveiled, according to the political grapevine in Kuching, after initially falling back publicly on the excuse of the prime minister’s so-called prerogative powers.

“We bemoan the under-representation (of Sarawak in the federal cabinet) while someone – Taib – benefits tremendously,” wrote PRS (Parti Rakyat Sarawak) supreme council member Tedewin Ngumbang Datu, 50, in his blog, Borneo Warrior, and ended on a widely-applauded note of sarcasm: “What a genius (Taib) and master political artist. The prime inister’s prerogative powers are not really that prerogative, a myth in reality, since they are entirely subject to the recommendations of component party chiefs. Who are they kidding?”

‘Shedding crocodile tears’

The flak for the state’s poor representation in the federal cabinet has been directed at Najib and Supp president Dr George Chan who has been accused of “shedding crocodile tears” over the continued exclusion of the Bidayuh, among others, from the federal cabinet.

There have been grumblings of discontent among the Sarawak Malay MPs as well over the Najib cabinet and the PR shadow cabinet is set to capitalise on this hitherto unprecedented development as well which, if for nothing else, indicates that there is “trouble in paradise”.

The shadow Cabinet, according to Kitingan, will undoubtedly have to mirror the 28-member Najib cabinet in numbers and ministries for now.

However, “the federal cabinet will be transformed in many aspects when we take power eventually,” added Kitingan, brimming with quiet confidence.

“We will take office as surely as the sun will rise in the east tomorrow morning, given the number of new young voters on the electoral rolls by the next general election. Also, although Umno and the BN talk about change, they continue to be in a state of denial and no one is willing to change himself first and expect others to change.

“The continued use of the MACC against the opposition is only one of the many glaring examples of the inability of Umno and BN to reform themselves. You can see it also in Umno’s remarks about the Chinese being ungrateful. What has gratitude got to do with it?

“The balance struck in the shadow cabinet will remain among the many different ethnic groups in Malaysia,” said Kitingan.

“No one party in PR will behave like Umno which has taken 19 of the 28 full ministerial posts in the Najib cabinet and yet cynically continues to pay lip service to the concept of power-sharing.

“Why does Umno need so many ministerial posts to cater to just one community? What about the others? Why can’t they sacrifice some of the posts for the Indian, Bidayuh, Sarawak Malay and Sabah Chinese communities, for example, who can cater for all races?”

According to preliminary projections by PR strategists, the 28 full cabinet posts would most likely be apportioned in numbers as follows:

Muslims 15 full cabinet posts including two each for Sabah and Sarawak and the rest for Peninsular Malaysia with PKR holding six and PAS holding five.

Six Chinese full cabinet posts

Non-Muslims 13 full cabinet posts with six allocated to the Chinese community and seven to the non-Chinese communities i.e. excluding the Malays.

Of the six Chinese full cabinet posts, one each will be for Sabah and Sarawak and the rest for Peninsular Malaysia where DAP will get three posts and PKR one.

Of the seven full cabinet posts for non-Chinese communities (excluding Malay), three will be for Indian ministers including one non-Tamil and two each for the Dusun – including Kadazan (urban Dusun), Rungus and Murut - and Dayak communities. Two of the Indian cabinet ministers will be from PKR and the third from DAP.

Again, five full cabinet posts each for Sabah and Sarawak and 18 full cabinet posts for Peninsular Malaysia to strike a fine political and geographical balance across both sides of the South China Sea.

Underlining the political autonomy of Sabah and Sarawak, according to Kitingan, is a proposal on the cards to incorporate PKR locally in Malaysian Borneo as separate and independent chapters of PKR Malaysia and using the same party symbol.

The ethnic breakdown of the proposed shadow cabinet: 15 Muslims including two each from Sabah and Sarawak (Malay and Muslim Melanau); six Chinese including one each for Sabah and Sarawak; 3 Indians including one non-Tamil; two Dusuns including Kadazans (urban Dusuns); and two Dayaks i.e. one Iban and one other Dayak full minister’s post rotated among the Bidayuh, Orang Ulu and Melanau communities.

In short, there will be 13 non-Muslim full ministers as against the 15 Muslim full ministers.

“The 40 deputy ministers’ posts will reflect the same balance as that for the full cabinet posts,” said Kitingan.

“In addition, we will reinstate the post of parliamentary secretary reflecting the same balance to ensure the greater participation of the younger generation in preparation for their eventual assumption of the national leadership.”

Yet to be worked out is the modalities of which party and which ethnic group gets which portfolio but Kitingan is sure that Sabah and Sarawak, for example, “would not be pawned off with token ministries with no real power as usual”.

In addition, the prime minister’s department would not be some sort of hyperministry, as under former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, leaving very little power with the ministries especially those headed by non-Malay.

‘We know Razaleigh’s heart is with us’


The post of prime minister in the shadow cabinet will be a toss between opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and Kelantan Umno warlord Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, disclosed Kitingan seriously.

“We know Razaleigh’s heart is with us as it was with Semangat 46. He was cheated out of the Umno presidency in 1987 by Mahathir and ex-Umno treasurer and finance minister Daim Zainuddin.

“The original Umno has long been dead and what they have now is the Mahathir Umno. It is high time for Razaleigh to make up for the loss of 1987 before it is too late.”

Kitingan disclosed that there have been serious talks in the recent past between PKR and the Razaleigh group for a ‘unity government’ once it became certain that former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would have no choice but step down from his post before this month.

The sticking point came when Anwar’s supporters insisted that he be named prime minister ignoring the suggestion that Razaleigh would not, in any case, hog the post like Mahathir who literally came in from nowhere, a nobody and lacking any real grassroots support, and stayed 22 years until he was forced to see the writing on the wall.

Kitingan remains hopeful that unlike Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim will be willing to make way for Razaleigh this time, in the interests of a stronger opposition alliance, and bid his time “since Razaleigh can be expected to make way for Anwar after one and a half terms in office”.

A week is a long time in politics

Another surprise inclusion, according to Kitingan, may be Oxford University-educated Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, left out from the Najib cabinet in favour of Mukhriz Mahathir, the balding, prematurely ageing, and lackluster son of Mahathir.

The man himself, who recalcitrantly presided over a largely corrupt cabinet for nearly a quarter century in power, is said to have lobbied for his son’s inclusion with a straight face.

His efforts were at the expense of Khairy, on the politically expedient grounds of the latter’s alleged indulgence in money politics, an Umno euphemism for corruption, but not considered a crime of any sort by the party except Mahathir.

Khairy, according to Kitingan, has bright prospects of making it as a young Prime Minister after Razaleigh and Anwar.

“But as they say, even a week is a long time in politics. Anything can happen.” Now, Khairy’s prospects in politics are being hemmed in from all sides by Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein Onn, Najib’s first cousin, and Mukhriz.

The formation of the shadow cabinet is expected to enable the opposition alliance to better monitor the work of the various ministries and draw public attention to the disconnect between actual performance and the BN’s electoral pledges including those made during the last five by-elections, four of which were won by PR.

Two of the by-elections were for the state seats of Bukit Selambau in Kedah which fell to PR, and Batang Ai in Sarawak which was retained by the BN after a poor turnout of voters.

Internal dissension at the PKR operations centre, funding shortfalls, the choice of the wrong candidate, poor judgment on the part of Anwar Ibrahim and a failure to consult party leaders have all been cited as among the main factors for defeat in Batang Ai, as concluded in a preliminary post-mortem by the political bureau this week, according to Kitingan who wasn’t present at the meet although he’s a member.

“Shadow playing is a luxury small and under-developed communities can’t afford to play, definitely not for the pleasure of Anwar,” retorts PRS (Parti Rakyat Sarawak) secretary-general Alfred Nissom Anak Rata on the proposed shadow cabinet.

Nissom apparently “fears for the 200,000 strong Bidayuh” despite the fact that their support for the BN for so long has brought them virtually nothing in return and plain public ridicule for their three MPs in the wake of the Najib line-up. The trio has been spread across three political parties in the BN, clearly to reduce their collective bargaining strength, while boosting the respective parties in the numbers game.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, mindful that Najib Abdul Razak might have a short-lived career as prime minister, has castigated the proposed PR shadow cabinet as a renewed bid by the opposition alliance to seize political power.

http://malaysiakini.com/news/102627