No News Is Bad News
Umno president Zahid Hamidi (left) and Pakatan Harapan leader and 10th Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim are the pillars of national unity with Sarawak and Sabah.
BN is irrelevant BUT Umno remains relevant to Unity Govt
KUALA LUMPUR, June 2, 2023: A letter published by Free Malaysia Today titled Barisan Nasional – Out Of Date Or Still Relevant?
No News Is Bad News’ answer is YES! Barisan Nasional (BN) is politically irrelevant BUT Umno is still relevant as long as it continues with its surprising “change” in championing national unity and a united Malaysians for Malaysia.
The major BN coalition partners - MCA and MIC (Gerakan is with the Taliban-like PAS dominated Pakatan Nasional) - are clearly politically irrelevant after they were soundly rejected in the past three consecutive general election.
Whether they are in the BN or not, makes no difference to the majority of Malaysian voters.
Their folly is to continue to dwell in politics for their survival and largesse that comes with political power. Constructive governance and politics are beyond their comprehension.
They are unable to change to try and win back the confidence of Malaysians in them, unlike Umno whiach is showing some semblance of unity for Malaysians in politics.
As long as the Umno president Zahid Hamidi continues with his “rational” brand of politics for Malaysians and Malaysia, Malaysian voters are likely to have faith and confidence in him and Umno to promote the longevity of Anwar Ibrahim’s Unity Government.
And it must be said that both Zahid and Anwar are also supported by Sarawak and Sabah.
Malaysians are reminded that in Malaysian politics, it is true and practical that “there are no permanent enemies or friends” in a multi-racial, multi-religious nation.
Malaysians need to adapt to positive political changes and rality.
Now News Is Bad News reproduces below the letter published by Free Malaysia Today:
LETTER | Barisan Nasional – Out Of Date Or Still Relevant?
Letter to Editor
written by Kamarudin Ahmad Wednesday, 31 May, 2023 1 comment
The major loss of parliamentary seats in the recent GE 15 begs the question: Is Barisan Nasional still relevant in the current political landscape?
Since the country achieved independence, Barisan Nasional (BN) has always won the majority seats in Parliament.
Originally, BN started as ALLIANCE comprising United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC). Politics was very much simplified in the ’50s and ’60s. However, things took a radical change with the 13 May 1969 racial riots (May 13) that tore the nation apart. The Democratic Action Party (DAP), representing the Chinese voters, was blamed for the May 13 incident. A National Operations Council was set up to cool the heated political situation.
That’s when the leaders decided to set up BN with the purpose of promoting racial integration. The biggest mistake then was the non inclusion of DAP. Politics continued along racial lines with DAP stirring up racial sentiments amongst the Chinese voters. Consequently, MCA lost the support of the Chinese voters, but MIC managed to maintain the support of Indian voters.
Barisan Nasional Began To Lose Control
BN began to lose Parliamentary elections beginning with the 12th General Election held in 2008 with Selangor falling to the opposition PKR. Further decline took place in the 13th General Election held in 2013. The climax was the 14th General Election held in 2018 where BN lost control of the Federal Government. Pakatan Harapan (PH) formed the new Federal Government with Mahathir Mohamad as Prime Minister.
Malaysians voted for change under the PH slogan “Selamatkan Malaysia.” Unfortunately, the situation worsened due to political infighting inside PH. A component party BERSATU pull out support for the PH Government, resulting in loss of majority in Parliament. Consequently, Dr Mahathir resigned as the Prime Minister, bringing down the PH Government.
In a twist of fate Muhyiddin Yassin formed the new government based on the counting of Statutory Declarations (SD) that supported him as Prime Minister with SD from UMNO/BN, PAS, and parties from Sabah and Sarawak.
It was another failed attempt to provide a good government for the country. More infightings in the coalition government of Muhyiddin resulted in the Emergency Proclamation made by the Yang Di Pertuan Agong (YDPA) at the behest of then Prime Minister Muhyiddin.
The climax in the infighting was UMNO/ BN pulling out its support for Muhyiddin as PM.
Another process of counting SDs was made in 2022 and Ismail Sabri from UMNO/ BN got the majority support to be the Prime Minister. Still the country did not progress under Ismail, culminating in the dissolution of Parliament and the country faced the 15th General Election in November 2022.
Hung Parliament
For the first time in the history of Malaysia, not a single party obtained the majority seats of 112 MP to form the Federal Government. A Hung Parliament was the outcome of GE 15.
PH, with the largest number of seats with over 80 MPs failed to get the support of Perikatan Nasional (PN) to form a coalition government.
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It was UMNO/BN that came to the rescue of PH, and at the behest of the King, and resolve the political stalemate created by the Hung Parliament.
We can thus conclude that UMNO/BN adopted a rational approach in its dealings with PH. Despite internal protests, UMNO/BN President Zahid took the plunge by forming a coalition government with PH.
The new government, popularly known as “Kerajaan Perpaduan” would not be possible without Zahid’s strong historical ties with Anwar. And the country benefit with Anwar as PM and Zahid as DPM.
No murmurings of political squabble between PH and BN. No talks of MPs jumping ship to destabilise the Kerajaan Perpaduan (Unity Government).
Both Anwar and Zahid exude confidence for the government to last until next GE 16.
Both Anwar (Pakatan Harapan) and Zahid (Barisan Nasional) exude confidence for the government to last until next GE 16.
Thanks to the rational policy of BN, the country is moving forward without any hiccups.
Yes, the answer is BN still relevant in the political landscape of Malaysia. – mediahit
The writer is a practising lawyer and NGO activist.
Editor’s Note: The views expressed in this article are that of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the management of newmediahit.com.
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