THE TEMASEK REVIEW

From our Correspondent

The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP)’s Young Democrats were invited to observe the recently concluded by-election in Permatang Pasir, Penang by the Youth Wing of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) which was founded by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in 1999 after his controversial sacking from the government by then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Anwar invited the SDP trio of Jarrod Luo, Mohammad Khalis and Mohammad Shamin to join him on stage at a PKR rally where he urged them to “keep up the struggle”.

PKR deputy youth chief, Mohd Faris Musa, also praised the Singapore Democrats for daring to take on the PAP.

Mr Shamsul Iskandar, Youth Chief of PKR told the SDP members:

“”PKR will always be supporting SDP in its journey. We always identify ourselves with groups that dare to challenge oppressive regimes. We hope to have more of such exchanges between the SDP and PKR in the future.”

SDP had established close links with PKR as early as 2001 when the fledging new party was still struggling to establish a foothold in Malaysia’s tough political landscape. One of the earliest PKR leaders to make contact with SDP is its Information Chief Tian Chua.

Tian Chua was a human rights activist before he joined PKR. He took part in many protests against the ruling coalition of Malaysia and was arrested a few times by the police, including being detained once under Malaysia’s draconian Internal Security Act.

Though he lost in 3 previous elections, Tian Chua finally won the Batu seat in the 2008 election in which PKR emerged as the strongest opposition party with 31 seats in the Malaysia Dewan Rakyat. Tian Chua urged Singapore to “work towards true and real democracy”.

When Dr Mahathir Mohamad sacked Anwar Ibrahim in 1999 on dubious charges of sodomy and corruption, then Singapore’s Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew jumped to his defence: “I would have felt disappointed if Goh (his successor) were to behave like Anwar too.”, he said.

Anwar was charged in court and jailed for 6 years before he was released by the congenial Tun Abdullah Badawi in 2004. PKR won only one seat in Anwar’s stronghold of Permatang Pauh in the 2004 elections and was written off as a viable political party by many observers including fellow opposition leaders.

However, Anwar staged a dramatic comeback by bringing the three disparate opposition parties, PKR, PAS and DAP under one umbrella to contest in the 2008 elections, triggering a political tsunami which saw the opposition won an unprecedented 82 seats in Parliament and wrestling 4 states from the ruling coalition including the two richest states of Penang and Selangor.

The Malaysian opposition’s incredible performance had sent shivers down the spines of the ruling PAP in Singapore. Two months ago, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew went on a 10-day tour of Malaysia in which he met many opposition leaders to learn more about the political situation and developments in Malaysia. He did not meet Anwar though.

While many young Singaporeans are hoping that the political tsunami in Malaysia will be replicated here, it is highly unlikely to happen in the near future as Singapore’s weak and divided opposition lacked an unifying figure in the stature of Anwar Ibrahim and Singaporeans have far lower political awareness and maturity compared to the Malaysians.

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