By Niza Shimi
Wasn’t there supposed to be a Malaysia Baharu after February 19, 2018? A “new” and supposedly improved Malaysia, as claimed by a victorious Pakatan Harapan. If I remember correctly, it was supposed to be a nicer, kinder, better, kleptocrat-free Malaysia. What happened to that Utopia? Are we back to Malaysia Lama or is it just the same old Malaysia?
Admittedly, I didn’t vote during the 13th general election (GE13). I was completely off social media for two years prior and had no interest in politics for personal reasons. Neither political party, whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Harapan, interested me at the time. It was only the morning after the triumphant PH erupted in celebration did I learn we had become Malaysia Baharu. Did we change country?
For two years after the victory of PH in GE14 that’s all we heard about. We heard Prime Minister (PM7) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Deputy Prime Minister Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah talk about Malaysia Baharu (New Malaysia) at international fora. It was the dawning of a New Malaysia, or something like that. Those were heady days. Malaysia was to be saved. At least, that’s what we were told.
At the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in September 2018, PM7 in his speech said; “A new Malaysia emerged after the 14th General Election in May this year. Malaysians decided to change their government, which had been in power for 61 years, i.e., since independence. We did this because the immediate past Government indulged in the politics of hatred, of racial and religious bigotry, as well as widespread corruption”. No one could fault such noble ideals.
Alas, on February 24, 2020, the PM7 announced his resignation. The subsequent events were a result of what has been dubbed the Sheraton Move. A new government, Perikatan Nasional, was formed. The rest, as they say, is history. But nobody ever said what happened to Malaysia Baharu. Did the politics of hatred, racial and religious bigotry, and corruption reappear, or that it never went away? Or was Malaysia Baharu just another pipe dream?
What happened to such lofty aspirations? Within a short 22 months, Malaysia Baharu has evaporated into thin air. Was the PH coalition that won GE14 only a vehicle for a power grab? Fancy slogans often don’t translate into reality. Now that the "newbie ministers" have had a short-lived taste of power, what more will they compromise to get another chance at it? Have we become a fractured Malaysia?
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