Sembang-Sembang Forum on Pakatan Rakyat’s Common Policy Framework in Penang, Malaysia

By Andy Lim, Malaysian Correspondent

Temasek Review covered a forum organised by Sembang-Sembang (Chit-Chat) at Penang’s Caring Society Complex. The event was considerably well attended, with the organisers putting the number at 120 participants. A majority of the attendees were senior citizens concerned with the contents of Pakatan Rakyat’s draft manifesto.

The Common Policy Framework had been earlier launched on 9 December 2009 at the PR convention in Shah Alam. It was approved unanimously by the 1,500 delegates which consisted equally from Parti Keadlian Rakyat (PKR), the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS).

The 5 February event rolled off at 9 pm with short speeches by Batu Maung assemblyman Abdul Malik Kassim (PKR) and Pantai Jerejak assemblyman Sim Tze Tzin (PKR). Independent journalist and blogger Anil Netto was the moderator for the forum.

The first speaker of the event was Senator Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim, vice-chairman of the Democratic Action Party and founder of the Malaysian chapter of Transparency International. The eloquent senator who opposes race-based politics, points out that Malaysia is currently a country without a united nation. He states that what the country needs is a credible, reliable and honest government, as it does not take much to bring a country backwards.

The second speaker was Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah (PKR), who is also vice-president of the party. Sivarasa credits the idea of the Common Policy Framework to ex-law minister Zaid Ibrahim. Describing the CPF as a solution for the country’s problems, Sivarasa says that the CPF touches on correcting the country’s injustices by repealing restrictive laws such as the Internal Security Act and Official Secrets Act, while at the same time it would establish a Race Relations Act.

Sivarasa had also described a brief history of the CPF drafting process and some of the stumbling blocks which had to be overcome before it could be presented to the delegates. Also mentioned was the declining state of healthcare in public hospitals. Sivarasa gave an example of the Selangor state government’s efforts to stir up concern about the issue as national healthcare is under the directive of the federal government.

Dr. Hj. Dzulkefly Ahmad of PAS then took to the podium and credited the results of the latest general election as a victory of the people. He says it was the yearning for change that led PAS to emerge from its Malay belt (Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu) voters to reach out into the heart of Klang Valley. Dzulkefly had admitted that pushing for an Islamic state for the 2004 general elections was “suicidal” for PAS whereas the party now is able to understand and contextualize its political ideology in a pluralistic society.

As he went on, the MP for Kuala Selangor presented the national economy as being stagnant for the past decade. Dr. Dzulkefly pointed out in that time period, the country’s GDP has only increased 0.2% whereas real wages growth has increased by 2.8%. Add in factors such as an outflow of investors as well as professionals, the country requires a new economic model in order to turn itself into a high-performing economy.

According to Dzulkefly, who describes himself as an Islamic democrat, the economic policies listed in the CPF provide for a fair and equitable society. Basically the principles behind it is intrinsically Islamic as he proclaims that PR is pro-business and committed to economy democratisation, wealth creation and most importantly in Islam, fair wealth distribution.

When the floor was open to questions, members of the public posted queries such as the status of the CPF and the amount of existing laws needed to be amended or repealed once PR takes power.

Sivarasa replies that the CPF currently requires a concrete followup process as the document itself is a work in process. As for the laws, the PKR vice-president expects it takes anywhere from months to years to do the necessary legislative actions which would involve a significant part of the country’s existing laws.

When pressed on current issues affecting the tripartite alliance, the speakers agreed that moving forward from the CPF into a polished PR manifesto could be a challenge mainly due to the ongoing trial of Anwar Ibrahim. The opposition leader is currently accused of sodomising his assistant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan in 2008. This is his second sodomy charge in a little more than a decade, and both charges have attracted international criticism against the government.

Nearing the end of the forum, Anil announced that the organisers had collected RM472.20 (SG$194.92) in goodwill donations to cover the cost of organising the forum. Sembang-Sembang had been organising monthly forums and events related to social and civil issues since 4 October 2009.

 

About the Author:

Andy Lim is a Penang-based blogger but his calling has led him to a university some 700 km away. The sophomore student has a blog at http://blog.deltapanthera.com/ but it is currently on hiatus until graduation.

 

EDITORS’ NOTE:

The Temasek Review is in the process of setting up a Malaysian subunit to cover Malaysian socio-political affairs as part of our long-term strategy to extend our reach to Malaysia. We pay our Malaysian freelance journalists the same rate as our Singapore journalists. We currently need a journalist stationed in Kuala Lumpur to cover events there. If you are interested to write for us, please email your resume to us at temasekreview@gmail.com