PRM pushing for fairer representation

The Ant Daily - 15/9/2013

By Al Jafree Md Yusop

Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) is one of the oldest parties in the country but has yet to make an impact on the national scene. This is simply because under the two-party system practised in Malaysia, smaller parties like PRM stand no chance of making it big.

Hence, PRM wants to change this traditional system because it believes it is not benefiting the people. It is now pushing for the proportional voting system.

“Under the current two-party system, smaller parties get wiped out. No representatives from these parties have ever been elected to the State Legislative Assembly or Parliament,” PRM president Dr Rohana Ariffin told theantdaily.

“Under the proportional voting system, a fairer representation of the various groups in our society could be better represented,” she added.

“For instance, the aborigines comprised seven per cent of the population; they should get at least about similar representation in Parliament.

“Women and youths, too, would have a bigger share of political representation in Parliament. Not only are bigger political parties represented in Parliament but we will also have MPs representing other interest groups and smaller parties,” she said.

PRM was founded by Ahmad Boestamam on Nov 11, 1955. In 2003, it merged with Parti Keadilan Nasional to become Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

However, in 2007 the court declared that PRM still exists. After the historic 2008 general election, Pakatan Rakyat was formed but PRM stayed out of it.

PRM now plans to continue its role as a political and social critique of any unequal economic and social relations and of any form of exploitation, corruption and abuse of power in the country.

“Our vision is contrary to the mainstream thinking of both the Barisan Nasional and Pakatan.

The results of the 13th general election showed a clear a political divide between those who supported the government and those opposing it,” said Rohana.

“This clearly reflected the typical Malaysian mindset: an unchanging pattern continuing for many years, voting primarily for political parties rather than for any good candidates who may have served them well over the years or having the potential to do so,” she added.

PRM may be a very old party but Rohana said the party is still active. She pointed out that its small membership was due to several factors

.

“One, some members have accepted the merger of PKR. Two, some members were not sure where to go from there.

“Some members have complained of feeling being ‘let down’ by the former leaders and thus have no more faith to be in PRM. Some felt the need to reorganise the party to strengthen it,” she said.

“The public perception is that PRM does not exist any longer, particularly among the urban youths,” said Rohana, who was an associate professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia.

The party, however, has not lost its traditional struggle, that is, fighting against injustice.

According to Rohana, PRM believed that all oppressive institutions that curb basic human rights irrespective of gender and age should be abolished.

“These outdated institutions included propagating fascistic and fanatical tendencies; they should be replaced with institutions that support human rights with humanity and compassion,” she said.

Is a third force needed?

The Ant Daily - 3/9/2013

By Al Jafree Md Yusop

The idea of a third force is getting popular because many citizens are feeling disillusioned with Pakatan Rakyat, said a political scientist.

Wong Chin Huat said the disillusion stems largely from Pakatan’s failure to convince Malaysians that it can be really different from Barisan Nasional (BN), notwithstanding the remarkable reforms carried out in Penang and Selangor.

“A major contributor to the perception that Pakatan is just another bunch of power-crazy politicians is its in-fighting. More likely, they lack confidence so they are fighting a life-and-death battle for whatever they have now."

“Perhaps they are infiltrated by ‘Trojan Horses’ sent by Umno or BN. More likely, they are simply too trapped in the winner-takes-all mentality so prevalent in Malaysian politics,” said Wong, who is also a fellow at Penang Institute, a think tank linked to the Penang state government.

In the build-up to the 13th general election, talk was rife that a third force would take shape to challenge the BN, but it all remained a dream.

But Wong believes the third force can work given the voters' distrust of politicians.

According to him, if voters do not trust politicians now, they should take upon themselves the task of becoming agents of change.

They should put more trust in their ability to change politicians and not just be cynical and bitter, he said.

“The third force can take the form of organisations and movements such as Bersih 2.0 which is civil society-led.

“If Malaysians are eventually strong enough to stop flawed political elections, the two coalitions (BN and Pakatan) will get the message...,” he told theantdaily.

During Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s (PSM) 15th national congress last June, party members have agreed to form a non-electoral alliance among the left political parties and NGOs in Malaysia.

According to PSM chairman Dr Nasir Hashim, the alliance could eventually be turned into a third force to contest in the next general election.

“This (third force) will happen once we feel we are ready to face the challenge,” he added.

But why a non-electoral alliance instead of an electoral one?

Nasir said PSM is concentrating on empowering its members and the left movement in this country.

This is to ensure that they will be well prepared to face the rakyat and explain to them what socialism is and how it can help them, he said.

“The process of empowering our members and the left movement in this country is important to prepare them in facing the challenges ahead.

“You must understand that we have been backstabbed by our ‘friends’ in Pakatan during GE13, and we have been demonised by the ruling party for so long. I think it’s time for PSM to make extra effort to explain to the people what socialism really is,” he said.

Nasir has once described PSM’s relations with Pakatan as a “mess” in the run-up to the hotly contested GE13.

He said PSM realised that it had entered the May polls without strength and was hoping for a one-on-one contest and also Pakatan votes to ensure victory.

“As a result of the obstacles and sabotage, we were left alone (in GE13) to face our enemies in Pakatan and also BN. They took the opportunity to exploit this as had happened in Kota Damansara, where PAS said it expected to win with the support of PKR and Umno,” he said.

Nasir won the Kota Damansara state seat on a PKR ticket in the 2008 general election, but in the May polls lost it to BN in a three-cornered fight.

PSM - spurned and misunderstood

The Ant Daily 29/8/2013

By: Al Jafree Md Yusop

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) not only has to contend with an uneasy political relationship with Pakatan Rakyat, but also has to address the false perception people have about socialism.

It is a difficult task to change the public perception of the socialist party but it is not going to deter PSM chairman Dr Nasir Hashim from taking corrective measures.

According to him, PSM has been accused of being a bunch of terrorists and communists, among others.

It didn’t help PSM’s cause that during the 13th general election (GE13), PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang even described PSM as a party that glorified the communist movement with photographs of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Karl Mark and other communist leaders.

To rectify the situation, PSM has decided to form a non-electoral alliance with NGOs to educate the people on socialism.

The left-wing party has also come under attack over its alleged atheistic leaning, but Nasir was quick to refute the allegation.

He said socialism is not far from the teachings of Islam.

He added that in Surah Al-Qasas from the Quran it is mentioned: “And we wish to give blessings to those who have been exploited on earth and wish to make them leaders, also make them the inheritors [of this earth].”

“That is exactly what we are fighting for, so the claim that socialism is against the teachings of Islam is baseless,” said Nasir. He added that the socialist ideology has to take into consideration the local surroundings.

He said it is important to study how a noble idea like socialism can be effective in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country like Malaysia.

“It has to go through a process of adaptation, because while we see that socialist countries like Cuba and Venezuela have developed, we have to further study whether their ideas there could be adapted to our struggle in Malaysia in the local context,” he said.

Small political parties like PSM have always been a victim of the electoral system being practised in Malaysia.

The first-past-the-post system tends to favour a dual-party system, where most of the time there are only two major choices for the voters to choose.

The entrance of a third party will always be perceived as an attempt to split votes through three-cornered fights.

PSM, founded in 1998, is an offshoot of Parti Rakyat Malaysia. For the first 10 years, PSM was denied registration as a political party by the government because it was considered a threat to national security.

However, the Home Ministry gave it the green light in June 2008. PSM won only one parliamentary seat in GE13 when its candidate Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj retained the Sungei Siput seat in Perak.