Hantu Laut
The 'Malaysian Malaysia' man will be in Malaysia starting tomorrow on an eight-day visit which the press dubbed as going down memory lane. Lee is not a man who dabbles in the past, he may look back at history as a lesson for the future, what the future holds is what he is interested in.Politically unstable Malaysia is not good for Singapore.
Lee Kuan Yew's visit to Malaysia is, without any doubt, not reminiscing the past, but a fact-finding mission to assess the political situation here.The array of dignitaries he is going to meet is a tell tale sign of his mission. The results of the last general elections and subsequent by-elections could have sounded alarm bells in Singapore that led Lee to make this visit. He is here to make an assessment whether Pakatan Rakyat has a chance to take over the central government in the next general elections.Lee is not comfortable with unknown factor hence his presence here to feel and gauge for himself where the country is heading for.
A completely new political regime may not augurs well for Singapore. A change in the status quo would have a daunting effect on Singapore.New government would mean new policies and new policies usually attract new problems.
Singapore biggest worry is, in the event Pakatan wins the next GE, is the uncertainty, which among the two, PKR or PAS would become the dominant party.If PAS gained the majority support of the Malays and came out the strongest than the likelihood of Malaysia leaning toward Islamic administration and principles is very possible.Not that there is anything wrong with Islamic laws if they are pragmatically used but the tendency for some regime to sway to the left is not a rarity in many Islamic countries.
If PAS came out as strong as UMNO, which is very likely, if there was a popular shift of the Malay votes from UMNO to PAS, than PAS would be the dominant party and would be calling the shots and there is nothing much PKR and DAP could do but accept their fate and play second fiddle, the same as MCA,MIC, Gerakan and other component parties in the BN or they could stay out of the coalition if such occasion arises and join UMNO if there is anything left of UMNO by then.
The recently concluded PAS elections, transposition of head of a municipal council in Penang that was boycotted by PKR and statements made by some of PAS and PKR leaders shows an uneasy and shaky alliance. Anwar's hold over the alliance is on the wane.While Anwar is busy promoting himself and discrediting the government overseas the volley of discontent in Pakatan is growing. Husam Musa wasn't far off the mark when he said the premiership should be given to PAS if Pakatan wins.
Given time, the marriage of convenience of these political misfits would eventually land on the rock.
Lee Kuan Yew is here to gather first hand information and make his own analysis of the political situation now and in the near future to enable Singapore to prepare for any eventualities.
3 comments:
Bloggers like A Voice and Politica have already raised this issue. Like me, they have voiced their suspicion. Why the need to visit leaders of component parties and the states? I don't think it has happened anywhere else. Whatever messages he want to convey can be done through our PM - that would be a more acceptable practice (and protocol), don't you think? The fact that he is making personal visits (his physical presence) - in one single trip and at his age - seems rather peculiar and unusual.
We all know the reputation of LKY as an intelligent man and who has wide knowledge of the history and politics of the region. Singapore has a very efficient intelligence network - no surprise here given its link with US and Israel. Surely he is already - and will be - well informed of the prevailing political climate in Malaysia. Why take the trouble to PERSONALLY gather first hand information?
Malaysia is not THAT politically unstable that warrant such a visit from LKY. It's what Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition and foreign media made it out to be. And it's the war zones that political bloggers (especially pro-opposition) created that are unstable. Outside the zones, life goes on normally.
Blogger Politica questioned: "Ini diplomasi ala-todak ke?" Will the visits be a precursor of something else that we at this moment are unaware of?
Maybe he wants to unstablized further by convincing those party leaders since ANWAR failed to do so.
stonehead
Alizul,
If LKY just meet Najib he wouldn't get to feel the pulse of the situation.
You are right there is no actual instability but Anwar's venomous campaign overseas had put Malaysia in a bad light internationally, he makes it sound like we are a banana republic and whether you like it or not, he also gets tremendous support at home.
It's a matter of time, LKY will surely open his mouth when he returns to S'pore.
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