The ‘Alliance for Progress’ was a political proposal to improve conditions. It was aimed at lowering the social difference between cultures.
– Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela from 1999-2013
GPS backing Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was a decision deserving of praise by Malaysians because that had led to the birth of a people-centric government.
In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, this new government has shown that this country has the money and will save its people.
One dreads to think of the fate of Malaysians had the government been one that kept money and the financial strength of the country from its people. The narrative had always been Malaysia had more than a trillion debt and been forced to sell its assets. No free cash from this government or Malaysians will be lazy.
When one day Malaysians, young and proud Sarawakians in particular, look at how Perikatan Nasional was born, they will find that behind the birth of that so-called backside – oops! Backdoor government, I mean – is a coalition of Sarawak parties, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), one single political bloc that was the final nail driven on the coffin of that failed government that had styled itself as the Hope Coalition (Pakatan Harapan –PH).
For 22 months the GPS state government was bullied and treated with contempt. Projects and development funds approved by the previous government were either cancelled or suspended. Three million Sarawakians were being punished because the state government was a member of Barisan Nasional, the government that according to the Hope people had brought more bad than good to the nation during its more than half a century of rule – never mind that 22 years of that half a century was all about the man who was called by his Hope bedmates a ‘dictator’, Mahafiraun and Mahazalim.
“Saya pernah dipanggil Mahafiraun, saya pernah digelar Mahazalim dan pelbagai gelaran lain yang tak patut, yang salah. Saya bukan firaun, saya bukan maha zalim,” Dr Mahathir squeaked.
(I used to be called Mahafiraun and Mahazalim and so many other names, which shouldn’t be, which is wrong. I am no firaun, I am no tyrant)
When these same Hope people were heaping scorn on him with these labels the Sarawak state government then was one of his loyal allies, and guys like Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, Tan Sri Dr James Masing and Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan defended him against the likes of Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Just before GE14, suddenly the maha-this and maha-that ‘dictator’ teamed up with his arch enemies, and when they went on to win Putrajaya, it was to see the beginning of a systematic bullying of Sarawak, one of the three (minus Singapore) creators of the Federation of Malaysia, and its three million people.
Despite that, GPS did not resort to name calling. All it asked for was be treated fairly according to the Constitution – and the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
But GPS’ overtures to be PH-friendly were trampled upon. Apparently, there were Hope people who couldn’t have enough of power and were going for GPS’ throat for more power.
When one day Malaysians should look back at how Muhyiddin came to power by toppling an elected government – elected on a manifesto of lies, that is – they will thank GPS, Abang Johari and Sarawakians for helping to create a new replacement government after 22 months of Hope blunders and U-turns.
Towards the end of the 22 months, Covid-19 had begun to expose the true colour of the Hope government – they were people who were forever hoping; their leader never stopped hoping he would be PM someday; and his followers hoped that Malaysians would not be able to see their false narrative, unjust policies and political rhetoric.
They had so much power and they abused it to ill-treat Sarawak, never ever realising that one day this would be the very state that would seal their fate when it mattered most.
On the day that it happened suddenly you heard these very same people, very arrogant and egoistic people, falling on their knees before Abang Johari and GPS, begging for friendship and to be given another chance at power.
The rest you know. Suffice for me to say, today we have a backside – sorry, backdoor – government doing the very thing that the Hope government had failed to do.
GPS was right about Muhyiddin, who had just unleashed RM250 billion not to make Malaysians lazy but to save lives, keep businesses afloat and ensure working Malaysians keep their jobs.
