In 2022, when Anwar Ibrahim became Prime Minister, one of the first declarations he made was that he was going to resolve the MA63 issue with the Bornean states.
Did he resolve it?
Nope.
Not only did he fail to resolve it — he probably made it worse.
Why do I say that he made it worse?
Because in the Sabah state election last December, Sabahans punished his administration by almost completely wiping out PH from Sabah.
Anthony Loke’s Democratic Action Party was particularly affected by the Sabahan backlash because it was the only component of PH with a significant presence in Sabah. The Sabahans were so upset with Anwar’s administration that they poured their anger onto DAP, causing it to lose all eight seats it previously held.
The decimation in Sabah caused DAP to go into panic mode.
The defeat was so catastrophic that Anthony Loke even declared that he would take “full responsibility” for DAP’s losses in Sabah.
Now, if you thought that “taking full responsibility” meant Anthony was going to resign, think again.
You and I might think that when a leader says he is taking “full responsibility” for a failure, it means he is going to step down. But apparently, Anthony and the rest of us had very different English teachers, because that is not at all what he had in mind to do.
Now, some people might think:
“Oh no — if Anthony is not resigning, but says he is taking full responsibility, perhaps, like the Japanese or Koreans, he has an overwhelming East Asian sense of honour.”
The Japanese and Koreans, afterall, are known to "take full responsibility" by walking into a room on their own but coming out of it by being carried out by others, if you know what I mean.
But don’t worry.
That is nowhere close to what Anthony has in mind when he said he will take "full responsibility" either.
So what exactly did Anthony mean by “taking full responsibility”?
Well, apparently, to Anthony, taking full responsibility for DAP’s defeat in Sabah meant giving Anwar an ultimatum:
Now you might reasonably ask:
If DAP was punished because PH and Anwar bungled MA63-related issues in Sabah, shouldn’t DAP have pressured Anwar to handle the MA63 issues better instead?
What exactly does losing Sabah over MA63 have to do with UEC recognition?
That is an excellent question.
Unfortunately, it is wasted on Anthony Loke.
Because not only does Anthony apparently not understand what “full responsibility” means, he also seems not to believe in cause and effect.
You and I might think that if your problem stems from mishandling MA63, then the solution is to fix your handling of MA63.
But to Anthony, apparently, if Sabahans reject you because you bungled MA63, then instead of resolving MA63, what you should do is create an entirely new problem by pressing for the recognition of UEC.
Go figure.
So how did Anthony’s “Recognise UEC or else” ultimatum go?
Well, it went exactly as expected.
Not only did it fail to solve DAP’s existing problem — it created even more problems for DAP.
How?
Well, not only did Anwar slam the door on the UEC recognition that DAP demanded, but in January he also announced that all schools in Malaysia — including Chinese schools — must teach Bahasa Melayu and History according to the national curriculum, including for students taking the UEC.
If Anthony had assumed that coming out strongly on UEC would win back the support that DAP is losing, Anwar slamming the door on UEC and adding requirements on the UEC that is the exact opposite of the DAP's ultimatum, has only made DAP look even weaker and impotent instead.
In response, Anthony announced in February that on July 12, DAP would conduct an internal referendum to determine whether its delegates still wanted the party to remain in Anwar’s government.
If the delegates rejected continued participation, DAP leaders would resign en masse from Anwar's administration.
Now July 12 is less than 2 months away. Anwar and DAP obviously do not want to part ways, for it will be bad for both of them. So how do avoid the trainwreck that they themselves have created for themselves ?
Well, two or three days ago, the government announced that graduates holding the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) can now apply for four specific degree programmes related to Chinese language and studies.
What are the four programmes ?
* Bachelor of Arts in Chinese Language Studies
* Bachelor’s Degree in Chinese Language and Linguistics
* Bachelor of Arts in Chinese Studies
* Bachelor’s Degree in Chinese Language with Education
Now, as we all can see, these are barely the sort of courses that UEC students are likely to jump with joy over being allowed to enter.
But maybe the interest of the students is not what Anwar and DAP were thinking of when they came up with this compromise - perhaps they were just thinking of themselves - they needed something to prevent their alliance from breaking down, so they came up with this crummy deal that will allow DAP to claim that its ultimatum has worked, without Anwar looking like has has backed down to DAP's ultimatum.
But if you think that this crummy deal is enough to resolve the issue, hold that thought.
Not only are Malay groups and parties criticising the move for allegedly violating the National Education Policy, even relatively moderate figures like Khairy Jamaluddin and Hassan Karim have protested against it.
Hassan Karim, who is known as a stickler for principles, was so livid over the deal that he is even calling for the Education Minister and the Higher education minister to resign over it.
And not only are Malays dissatisfied with the decision — even Dong Zong has heavily criticized the policy for being too vague, too restrictive, and far below expectations for genuine educational equality.
So if everybody except Anwar and DAP are pleased with the deal, obviously the deal is a failure right ?
Well, that might be what everybody else thinks, but everybody is not Anwar.
Despite receiving universal objections, an unfazed Anwar has already declared it as a victory.
According to Anwar, the government’s latest decision was made possible because attitudes and acceptance had changed significantly over the past four decades.
He recalled how, 40 years ago, meetings between education authorities and Chinese education groups were often tense, with some representatives refusing to speak Bahasa Melayu.
> “During several meetings I attended, the leaders of those teachers' associations refused to speak even a single word in Bahasa Melayu.”
> “I remained patient and listened, but the then director-general of education, Tan Sri Rahman Arshad, whispered to me: ‘Anwar, please forgive me, but I have to leave this meeting now. I cannot tolerate such an attitude.’”
Anwar then added:
> “That was 40 years ago. Today, all representatives of the associations speak Bahasa Melayu.”
> “More than 80 per cent of students in Chinese schools now sit for the SPM examination.”
In other words, Anwar seems determined to portray this crummy deal not as him bowing to DAP’s pressure, but rather as a magnanimous gesture that he has granted the Chinese education group after they toed the line.
As for Anthony, I do not know what Anthony is going to tell DAP delegates during the July 12 referendum, but if Anthony is also attempting to portray this crummy deal not as a resounding defeat, but as a monumental victory for DAP, then I would advise him to speak from behind a podium.
He better, because he may need to duck behind it to avoid the the rotten eggs and tomatoes that might fly in his direction.
Anwar started this entire fiasco by promising to resolve the MA63 issue early in his administration.
Despite having three years to resolve the MA63 issue, all he managed to do was make the issue so much worse that Sabahans ended up wiping out DAP the Sabah election.
Then, instead of addressing Sabahan frustrations to turn things around, DAP inexplicably responded by digging an entirely new hole through the UEC issue.
After messing up and digging holes, Anwar and Anthony Loke have then continued to mess things up and dig more holes, without solving anything.
After digging hole after hole after hole and messing things up from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur, now both Anwar Ibrahim and Anthony Loke appear ready to declare "victory" — despite failing to resolve Sabahan frustrations, while simultaneously angering Malay groups and disappointing Chinese educationists.
I don't know what Anwar and Anthony think they are doing, but looking at them reminds me of what the Greek king Pyrrhus of Epirus reportedly said after he received news that he had "won" the battle after his entire army was devastated.
“One more such victory and I am doomed, ” Pyrrhus cried out, and made immortal the phrase “Pyrrhic victory” —which indicates a that sometimes a victory can be worse than a defeat.
Thinking of what Pyrrhus said, I hope that this is the last “victory” Anwar and Anthony will achieve for a long time.
I hope so , because one more victory like this anytime soon, and I a am quite sure that they surely will certainly be doomed.
TheRealNehruism (nehru.sathiamoorthy@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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