Commentary by Mustafa K. Anuar

IT appears that the Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA, Homeland Movement) coalition – hatched by nonagenarian Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his cohorts – has suffered a slight technical hitch from the word go.

Putra vice-president Hamidah Osman resigned recently from the party because she was upset that the leadership chose to align with Dr Mahathir, adding that the coalition could not be sustained because it was merely “a marriage of convenience”, and not held together with sincerity. Strong words, there.

Pejuang, Parti Perikatan India Muslim Nasional (Iman), Parti Barisan Jemaah Islamiah Se-Malaysia (Berjasa) and Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) were cobbled together with the aim of displacing Umno by winning the hearts and minds of voters in the Malay heartland, as well as supposedly strengthening the Malay community, especially in the economic sphere.

While some people might feel that Hamidah’s resignation did not count for much as she is not a political heavyweight, her action nonetheless did not augur well for an all-Malay coalition that only managed to attract a handful of parties and individuals, despite claiming itself to be a mass movement.

Aside from Pejuang, the other jaded parties appear to have been resurrected for the primary purpose of making numbers for the skeletal coalition prior to the next general election.

Dr Mahathir is believed to be the coalition’s only star attraction, competing in a crowded field of other Malay-based parties: Umno, PAS and Bersatu.

Against such a backdrop, you would think that Dr Mahathir, who once popularised the Bangsa Malaysia concept, would have moved with the times to also include other ethnic and cultural communities in the federation whose “homeland” is Malaysia, too.

More than that, he led the Pakatan Harapan pact on a multi-ethnic platform to unseat Barisan Nasional (BN) in the last general election.

That said, with the benefit of hindsight, you now wonder whether that was sheer political expediency on his part.  

However, while pushing the Malay agenda, Dr Mahathir assured the non-Malays that his coalition had nothing against them as it only intended to unite and save the Malay community from the corrupt ways of its opponents.

That’s an assertion that might get you dizzy trying to wrap your head around it, which explains why the formation of GTA has prompted several questions from concerned Malaysians.

In the first place, how does the GTA, the cohesiveness of which is questionable, plan to compete with a political party like Umno? Its raison d’etre has been to make itself out to be a saviour of the Malay race and Islam, increasingly so in recent years.

How does the GTA intend to differentiate itself from the rest of the competing Malay-based alliances so that the Malay voters can make an informed choice at the ballot box?

Would it not necessitate the coalition to be “more Malay” than Umno has been portraying itself for decades?

In so doing, could GTA further polarise our diverse society and further marginalise the non-Malay population?

If many Malays are still being left behind economically after all these years – for which Dr Mahathir justifies GTA’s existence – then does it not indicate the failure of certain policies he and his successors in previous Malay-dominated governments ushered forth?

Have we not learnt a lesson from socio-economic policies crafted in the name of the Malay community, but only to be hijacked by the rich and powerful for their own ends?

Did cronyism and political patronage not find fertile ground in Umno for decades?

Aren’t they a contributory factor to the creation of few wealthy and privileged Malays as well as non-Malay tycoons? Needless to say, it is to the detriment of the general welfare of many of the needy, regardless of ethnicity.

Wouldn’t a universal and inclusive approach be more effective, just and moral in addressing, say, poverty? Again, regardless of ethnicity, people just want their living standards uplifted by the government.

After all, one of the main objectives of the defunct New Economic Policy was to eradicate poverty irrespective of race – but, unfortunately, this aspect was de-emphasised over the years.

On the last leg of his political journey and as we approach the 65th anniversary of Malaya’s independence, would Dr Mahathir, the prime mover of the GTA, not want to exorcise the toxic politics of race and religion, so as to build a better Malaysia that is more united, inclusive and progressive? – August 12, 2022.