Fork in the Road

Zambry Abd Kadir should understand by now that he is at a fork in the road - he will have to make the final decision on Perak, as the prime minister has said.

As there is no tradition of collective responsibility in the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Umno, every Umno politician will meet this proverbial fork in the road.

Whatever the outcome of the court decision, Zambry now has to shoulder the consequences.

What exactly are these? In the worse-case scenario, the BN loses the 13th general election with the Perak power-grab being a key issue.

The more immediate possible consequence is that Perak becomes ungovernable, its economy falters and the BN ‘loses’ the state, meaning the support of the people.

But more dangerous is that Malaysians may become convinced that they are being pushed into a corner and have no other way to react except through passive resistance. Not cooperating to make governmental programmes work. In other words, apathy may grow to even higher levels.

As public confidence in the civil service and the police declines, the crime rate goes up. The police force numbering in their thousands cannot uphold the rule of law effectively without public cooperation. People may make police reports but will refuse to help, making crime-solving even more difficult.

Malaysians are already flaunting the law in small but significant ways. They do not respect traffic laws, drive against the grain in one-way streets and when asked why, the answer is that “there is no law in this country”. We have laws but they seem to be enforced selectively.

Elements within the civil service that do not support political actions like the ones we see unfolding in Ipoh may decide to be less efficient. They will not be inspired to put in the extra hours to make a success of governmental projects. The net result would be mass dissatisfaction.

Of course, a government that has no respect for public perception cannot expect support from the same public it disdains. Zambry may be the “Mandela, Gandhi and Martin Luther King” of Umno but he certainly isn’t for the rest of us. If in doubt, check Facebook postings commenting on his claim.

Stop pushing the buck

The deputy prime minister is correct in saying that when a decision is finally made, it must have the people’s interests at heart.

Of course, Zambry may still think that his team is capable of taking Perak forward. But it will be most difficult to convince Malaysians that the BN did not orchestrate the problems and then muck up in Perak.

There is really no need to drag the sultan and the Perak royal family further into this political quagmire.

If the BN and Umno, in particular, have any love for the royal institution, it must stop pushing the buck. The sultan did not create this mess.

The right thing to do, a veteran Umno leader and a Gerakan council member suggested, is to return to the people. If, as Zambry claimed, the opposition has used all sorts of under-handed tactics to bring disrepute to the BN and himself, the best platform to clear matters is through state elections.

Moreover, this will spare two venerable institutions from further public odium. The Perak royal family will be spared from public criticism whilst the judiciary need not hear the case any further.

The consequences for not doing the right thing at this stage may be so great that it overwhelms whatever gains this temporary stewardship of Perak brings.

Whatever Zambry, Umno and the BN decides, they must remember that a time to settle old scores will come in 2013 and for believers, judgment day eventually comes for us all.

(First Published on: May 13, 09 11:49am)