Who is Barisan Rakyat?

By SV Singam

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The term Barisan Rakyat crept into existence so quietly that, when it was finally recognised and feted, there was a bit of a scramble to claim ownership or, at least, first use. It is such a powerful symbol packed with so much meaning. It represents the aspirations of the rakyat so much better than Barisan Alternatif does. The very names of the coalitions are reflections of their origins. 

Barisan Alternatif emerged when the loose coalition of opposition parties rallying around the persecution of Anwar Ibrahim dared to imagine that it would displace the Barisan Nasional and form an alternative government. The reality is that BA is BN-centric. It acknowledges BN to be the real government and sees itself as merely an alternative, a hopeful substitute. 

As events turned out, the BA failed to address the aspirations of the rakyat. On the contrary, it stoked the fears of one segment of the rakyat and was quite easily defeated by the BN. Held together with such tenuous glue, the coalition quickly fell apart. The DAP, rather badly burned by the adventure, probably vowed never again to be seen in bed with PAS. 

Barisan Rakyat was the fruit of efforts within the blogosphere to seek solutions to all that ailed our nation. It had become clear that unless the absolutely corrupted power of the BN was contained, the rakyat would languish in polarised animosity, the country would continue to bleed and diminish and the UMNOputras would be laughing all the way to the bank. There was an intense desire to salvage what was left of our country so that our future generations would have something to look forward to. 

The first order of business was a manifesto that captured the needs of a plural society without alienating or threatening any segment. A few dedicated guys from the People’s Parliament got hold of the manifesto that forward-looking folks from the BA had put together back in 1999. They picked up what was good in it, added what was missing, prodded it, tweaked it and came up with the People’s Declaration. The guys from PP also produced a document called the People’s Voice which identified all that was wrong with the nation and that needed to be fixed. Finally we had documents that clearly and unambiguously stated what concerned the rakyat and what they expected from their government. 

To remind those who may have forgotten, allow me to present a brief summary of the Declaration… 

The People’s Declaration 

The People’s Mission 

1.      Build a government based on values common to all the great religions 

2.      Pledge to uphold the Malaysian Constitution. 

3.      Create a just and prosperous Malaysia with a truly democratic government. 

4.      Protect and defend the rights and dignity of all the people and guarantee justice for all. 

5.      Enhance economic prosperity to face global challenges. 

6.      Meet the basic needs of the people and ensure quality of life and social harmony. 

7.      Distribute wealth and opportunities fairly among all. 

8.      Develop quality social infrastructure and a clean and comfortable physical environment. 

9.      Enhance the quality of education, health and other social services. 

10. Build places of worship, public parks and libraries and arts and cultural centres. 

11. Provide opportunities for information technology and other methods of communication.  

The People’s Plan

Develop a government that is democratic, transparent, accountable and ethical by 

1.      Promoting national unity 

2.      Building a genuine democracy 

3.      Enhancing administrative transparency and accountability 

4.      Strengthening the national economy 

5.      Giving full effect to our social contract.  

Copies of the Voice and the Declaration were sent out to all political parties, including the components of the Barisan Nasional. Six of those parties (none of the BN) responded positively. They agreed to attend the official launch of the Voice and Declaration and publicly declare the endorsement of their respective parties. 

During the launch of these documents, Haris told those attending that these documents were gifts from the rakyat to those who would represent us in parliament and state assemblies. He conferred upon those consenting parties the title of Barisan Rakyat, the political front that represented the rakyat. He called them the Barisan Harapan Rakyat, the hope of the people. 

Lim Kit Siang was not wrong in denying the existence of an umbrella organisation called the Barisan Rakyat. At this point in time, the Barisan Rakyat remains simply a name, a statement of hope. Those political parties that accepted and endorsed the People’s Declaration did that one-on-one with the prime movers of the idea, the People’s Parliament, itself an undefined entity. There was no party-to-party discussion or agreement. There is no formal coalition organisation of political parties opposed to BN. 

But no one can deny the reality of Barisan Rakyat. The name rolls off the tongues of the rakyat so easily. Many of the MPs and ADUNs of the parties opposed to BN (we can’t call them opposition anymore as they are the government in some states) comfortably identify themselves as the Barisan Rakyat. No one can deny that Barisan Rakyat is what can take us forward. It is important therefore to determine exactly what or who Barisan Rakyat is and should be. 

Without a doubt, we need a formal coalition of political parties that can agree on a common goal and establish common terms of reference. We have proposed the People’s Declaration as defining those goals and terms of reference. Our proposal has been accepted. Now it is only a matter of bringing the parties to a dialogue and getting them to form the coalition. If they choose to call that coalition something other than Barisan Rakyat, that is their prerogative. 

The next component of the Barisan Rakyat that has to be put in place is something that has already been proposed and discussed in PP – Representative Watch Committees. Politicians and political parties, just like everyone else, pick up bad habits and fall into rigid mental tracks. If the direction of our political and social evolution is to be changed positively, a guiding hand is needed to nudge the politicians whenever they go astray of the people’s aspirations. The rakyat have to take ownership of the process. 

RWCs will not sprout overnight. Let me rephrase that – RWCs that sprout overnight will be nothing more than PR exercises, soon to become useless and quickly cast aside. Working with a selected ADUN and/or MP, we need to develop a practical and functional model that can then be applied nationwide. This has to be a bottom-up implementation – the rakyat who desire to establish an RWC have to get in touch with their representative, moot the idea, seek help from PP and move forward. 

The third component of the Barisan Rakyat already exists. 

The Barisan Rakyat is in fact made up of all those who stand opposed to the excesses of the BN, all those who wore YELLOW in support of Jom Bersih, who were ready to stand up and be counted, all those who joined our swelling ranks day by day as they saw our battle mount, all those who went to the polling stations on the 8th of March and delivered a thumping blow to the BN and all those who will contribute their part in restoring justice and rule of law to the country.  

The Barisan Rakyat is led by people like Raja Petra Kamaruddin, Haris Ibrahim, Bernard Khoo, Ahirudin Attan, Wong Chin Huat… so many people who are lending their thoughts, their resources, their time and effort to the tasks of strategising, planning and executing the fight against cronyism, nepotism, communalism, religious persecution… all the ills and indignities that the people of this nation have had to suffer and endure for decades. 

It was Barisan Rakyat  that organised Jom Bersih.  The ending of 3-cornered fights is a BR accomplishment. The earlier Bersih and Hindraf marches, the Walk by the legal fraternity, the anti BN/Badawi demonstrations by various persons … all these were precursors to the formalised BR activities that we should be seeing from now. 

There is much to be done to heal the nation. We are only just beginning. But it is an excellent beginning. Despite the reversal of the last few days, these are still exciting times. We shall survive the travail and grow. We shall make a difference. 

Hidup Barisan Rakyat.