The Barisan end game

comment If BN is not careful, it will lose support from Malaysians not only in Peninsular Malaysia but also in Borneo. Here is a case of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious coalition that is unable to act as one.

Its long history is both a strength and a weakness. Weakness because like a long string made up of misdeeds and miscalculations, the BN's past mistakes is slowly strangling out support for the coalition.

Three issues have led the BN to this condition. As Khairy Jamaludin noted last week, Umno is in danger of becoming a "fringe" party.

Actually, after the controversy over "Allah" and the acts of vandalism on the churches, strident voices in Umno sealed the party's reputation as a fringe party.

The fears of the Umno Youth leader are now reality. In the minds of most Malaysians, Umno is extremist, backward-looking and unsophisticated. In short, the party now occupies the fringe position that PAS once did, definitely not in the mainstream of society.

The second issue that has pushed the BN to the wall is the coalition's insistence on "closed-door" resolutions. In the last General Election, this was cited as a problem and admittedly some BN leaders made noise about it.

Whilst a coalition has to be seen to be united, actions speak louder than words. The inability of any BN component party leader to play peacemaker over the "Allah" controversy is a stark reminder of the BN being dominated by Umno. But this dominance has a price.

Whilst those extremists would continue voting for the BN, the coalition is not getting any new voters from the middle-ground.

The government's answer is to highlight the "success" of its "1Malaysia" campaign. To hammer the point home, Minister Rais Yatim (right) revealed that an overwhelming number of Malaysians know about 1Malaysia. But one wonders if "knowing" is the same as understanding?

In the same breath, Rais reminds Malaysians that "1Malaysia" has to be understood in the context of Malaysian history, in short that this is a Malay country and that all other components must be subsidiary to that master narrative.

Whilst the government is telling us that we are all equal, the actions of its ministers and civil servants contradicts this message. Whomever is earning millions doing PR for the government should go back to the drawing boards - you cannot foist nice ideas on a group of people who do not believe in 1Malaysia.

The net result: Most Malaysians "know" that 1Malaysia is hype. Do we hear from the BN component party leaders? Do they agree with Minister Rais? One can only assume that they do because they have not stated otherwise.

How they reconcile "1Malaysia" and Umno's "Ketuanan Melayu" philosophy must be a great intellectual feat. It would be good if they explained to the many confused Malaysians how the twine meets. We can then judge their influence and role in the BN.

Lastly, the issue that is daily sinking the BN is corruption. The MACC has a new policy - to investigate in secrecy. Are we expected to trust them even more now that they have gone undercover?

The whole point of the ICAC in Hong Kong having such a high profile and even building up a reputation for doing away with corruption is to ingrain into the public conscience that it does not matter who you are, if you commit a crime you go to the chopping block.

In Malaysia, the MACC will now work undercover, at a time when confidence in the government is at an all-time low. Again, what a stroke of genius!

The government has to bite the bullet and resolve the Teoh Beng Hock issue. It must also take political warlords to account, making them explain to the public how they amassed such wealth. The government also has to realise that scapegoats will not do.

Incompetence and corruption

Moreover, there is a crisis of confidence in the judiciary. The Chief Justice himself came out to say that judgments have to be "seen to be just" otherwise this crisis in confidence will further erode the rule of law.

Whilst the Chief Justice is saying all the right things, there must be follow-up actions. This will not happen if the Public Prosecutor does not have the competence or the will to do the job. This vicious cycle will further erode public trust in a BN government.

Whilst we have not cleaned out corruption from our own house, the government is mulling over the fuel subsidy and thinking about introducing the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

If the Pakatan states can get their act together earning praise from both local and international anti-graft agencies like the Auditor-General and Transparency International, what is the excuse for BN-managed states?

Malaysians are wondering why the government wants to introduce a new tax that will further burden the lower and middle income groups when we are losing billions due to incompetence and corruption?

Again, what is the BN's stand as a coalition against corruption? In a country that is supposedly headed for First World Status, our political leaders are too tolerant of incompetence and tainted reputations.

Too much has been exposed through so many scandals that it will take pages to describe. The PKFZ alone has wounded the MCA beyond redemption yet some of these tainted leaders refuse to resign.

How can Malaysians trust a coalition where its leaders put themselves ahead of their own party? Left unattended, these scandals are now like dead-weights weighing down the BN as the coalition sinks further.

BN leaders must remember that in the age of the Internet, nothing can be forgotten!

When we need leadership demonstrated and moderation in action, we have a BN paralysed by an ideas deficit. What happened to respected BN leaders, elder statesmen who have earned the trust of Malaysians to act fairly and resolve thorny issues like the "Allah" controversy?

Where are national leaders who can grapple with complex economic issues and speak with clarity on governmental initiatives to bring Malaysia forward? Where is the political will to send fellow politicians to the slammer for putting the country at risk through their corruption?

Until the BN can regain its balance, its political will and its reputation for moderation and lead with ideas, the coalition faces a bleak future. In the meantime, despite the odds, Pakatan is making in-roads in the states they rule.

Most recently, in the concluded DAP convention, the party claimed the middle-ground for Pakatan moving firmly into a place that was once synonymous with Tunku Abdul Rahman and other BN statesmen.

NEIL KHOR completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge. He is co-author of 'Non-Sectarian Politics in Malaysia: The Case of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia' (2008).