The Malaysian Tea Party

Malaysians love tea, they love the 'Teh Tarik' in particular but they also do 
love Teh O' Ais Limau. As a matter of fact, it is not surprising to say that the 
most popular drink in this country is 'tea'. However, this article is not about 
tea itself but about America's 'Tea parties' that helped a broken down, almost 
destroyed Republican Party (GOP) wrestle the 'house' from Barack Obama!

Malaysia-Today's chief, Raja Petra Kamaruddin is riding the horseback against 
the local opposition parties, accusing them of flinching in their quest for 
power and in abandoning many of the promises made during the 2008 General 
Elections.
Raja Petra is also fighting for the creation of a 'third force' not 
to counter the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) but on the contrary to give the PR a boost by 
keeping 'civil societies' and ethnic groups together for the next General 
Elections, which may be held in 6 months time if we are believe rumors.

According to some logic, a third force in Malaysia will only contribute to a 
distraught performance by the PR in the next elections.
Raja Petra however does 
not agree with this theory as he insists in his editorials on Malaysia-Today 
that such a force, grouping the civil societies, the loose coalitions that 
supported the PR in 2008 and surely the group of 'liberal' thinking people will 
only add more power to the PR.

As a matter of fact, the PR is in need of 
additional support in the wake of the recent poor performances by the opposition 
coalition in the by-elections and the waves of dissent that has rocked the Party 
Keadilaan Rakyat (PKR) in particular. The Party Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) is only recuperating from the near break-away last year when members of the party wanted 
to sacrifice the PAS to join the United Malays National Organization (Umno).

The Umno has in a sense outpaced the opposition in this direction with the 
creation of its own 'back-up' group called the Perkasa which is the creation of 
a Malay group who is not satisfied with the Malays losing their 'Ketuanan' role. 
Ketuanan would mean the bosses, the leading ethnic group and the group that 
controls the political strings in the country. With the advent of Anwar Ibrahim 
– rather his return – on the political scene since 2004, the 'extreme' Malays 
found themselves losing their prerogatives with Anwar Ibrahim taking the lead as 
the most popular, most supported Malay political figure in the country.

The 
jailed leader came out of the black box to emerge as the potential Prime 
Minister of Malaysia, surpassing Tun Mahathir in popularity and beating the Umno 
in the 2008 General Elections only to remain in opposition after the 'betrayal' 
of 30 Barisan National (BN) members who apparently gave him their word they will 
join his PR to form a new government.

The group Perkasa may be object of the most famous 'jokes' in blogs across 
Malaysia but this does not mean the group is not doing ground work jobs to bring 
back the Malays into the Umno folds.
Using very crafted languages that could 
stir trouble in a non-Muslim majority country, the Perkasa is telling the Malays 
they are losing to the Chinese and will lose to the Indians if Anwar Ibrahim 
wins the next General Elections. They are also pressing the Najib Razak regime 
to turn 1Malaysia into a 1Malay 'Ketuanan' political and economic force. The 
group has non other than Tun Mahathir as the 'mentor' as they have his absolute 
support.

In the end, they are doing their job as the 'invisible' force that is pulling 
strings among the Malays in an attempt at eroding Anwar Ibrahim's powerful grip on a significant percentage 
of the Malay-Muslim community in the country.

Hence, the role of a 'third force' acting as the Malaysian 'Tea Party' in 
reflection to the Republican Party's Tea Party in the US, is paying out for the 
Umno. Thus, Raja Petra would be right to create the 'third force' but only if 
the 'third force' will have for aim the destabilization of the Perkasa and the 
regrouping of the 'PR' supporters under one roof, one leadership, that of Anwar 
Ibrahim.

There is no way the PR or any other opposition force to defeat the BN or the 
Umno without Anwar Ibrahim as the future Prime Minister and this the Chinese, 
Indian and many of the Malay community supporting the PR knows it well. In the 
event the 'civil societies' are 'fed-up' with the political force within the PR, 
they have to regroup themselves under a single force that will support the PR 
and counter the Perkasa. Countering the Perkasa will be the most ardent task as 
they will have to deal with Tun Mahathir, the maverick Malaysian politician who 
is not afraid of using the 'race' card in order to regain popularity.

While a third force will not be the only plausible answer to the 'Perkasa', the 
PR too has to revamp its 'manifesto' to include elements that will galvanize its 
supporters and literally 'steal' the BN supporters in the next General 
Elections!