Latest news with #TajuddinRasdi
Malaysiakini
5 days ago
- Politics
- Malaysiakini
School's flag blunder sparks fury from Akmal, forgiveness from academic
The upside-down Jalur Gemilang incident at a Chinese school in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, ignited sharply contrasting reactions from two familiar voices - fiery Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh and conciliatory academic Tajuddin Rasdi. True to form, Akmal, known for his hardline posturing, questioned whether the school's apology was sincere or merely performative. The Merlimau assemblyperson demanded...
Malaysiakini
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Malaysiakini
Academic: Redirect anger over preacher pair, not at AGC
Academic Tajuddin Rasdi believes public anger from non-Muslims over Muslim preachers Zamri Vinoth and Firdaus Wong is misdirected, and should be 'recontextualised, not towards the Attorney-General's Chambers, but other parties instead'. 'I have heard these two personalities speak, and it is difficult to charge them with 3R (race, religion, and royalty) when what they say stems from simplistic and uncontextualized religious interpretations of the Quran and Hadith,' he told Malaysiakini. The professor of architecture explained that a key issue lies in how clerics are...
Free Malaysia Today
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
PSM, a third force in-waiting
From Arveent Kathirtchelvan I refer to Tajuddin Rasdi's column on how the Ayer Kuning by-election produced three winners. I agree with the premise: Barisan Nasional (BN) did see enough support to win the election, Perikatan Nasional (PN) did see an increase in its vote percentage, and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) more than doubled our vote percentage. Each contesting candidate can take back something to build their movements further in the competition to gain relevance. In the 12 years from 2013, this has been our best result. Since Pakatan Harapan (PH) abandoned us in 2018, we have slowly but carefully built ourselves back up to gain a foothold of our own. In the 2018 general election, our highest vote percentage was 3.52% in the Sungai Siput parliamentary constituency and 4.81% in the Jelapang state constituency. KS Bawani herself managed 1.28% in the contest for the Malim Nawar state seat. Since then, we have hovered around 1-2% in every other seat we contested. Bawani got 2.5% in the 15th general election and now, in Ayer Kuning, it is 6%. We are small but emerging. In the same period, we have seen a reorganisation of mainstream political parties. Pakatan Rakyat cut off ties with PSM and formed PH with Bersatu led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad. In 2020, in a manner that everyone saw coming, it was then betrayed by Bersatu which forged alliances with BN and PAS to form PN. PSM, putting the interest of stopping PN first, extended our support to ally with PH in GE15 in 2022. After stringing us along for weeks, PH decided to cast us aside again, barely a week before polls. They then won too few seats to form a government and decided to ally with BN. The optimism of believing in PH has faded. The masses have eyes. They see the celebration of Howard Lee with Saarani Mohamad, they see Ahmad Zahid Hamidi being held up by Anwar Ibrahim. These were the enemies PH told us of just before the nationwide polls in 2022. The current government is so plainly an alliance not arising from a need to stop PN, but to hold on to power. We at PSM see the desperation of the masses and their disappointment. Yes, they still vote for BN, PH or PN, but largely for political convenience, not due to agreeing with them. There is no other force large enough to wrest power from these behemoths. This is where we as PSM see ourselves emerging to bring up the needs of the masses, to one day take power for the masses. In the past, we forged alliances with PH parties to defeat BN Today, with PH reviving BN, we formed another force to defeat them both. However, we will do this organically. We are not desperate for power like PH who are willing to work with Mahathir or BN. We have seen how this has changed their character. We are open to alliances that make sense for our platform and programme. Our interest is in crafting a political and economic system benefitting the bottom 99% of Malaysians. This means higher minimum wages, a stronger public healthcare system, truly affordable housing, stopping forced evictions, and eliminating racial politics. The recent bump in votes, alongside our own memberships, shows we are making class politics relevant in Malaysia. We do not need a messiah like Khairy Jamaluddin for their own sake. I say this with absolutely no disrespect. However, if such individuals prove to hold our values as well, we will work with them. Parties like Pejuang and Gerakan do not fit in with our aspirations. Similarly, we do not need to shed our ideology. Socialism is what drives our members to cook three meals for volunteers, put up flags, and tirelessly distribute leaflets every day during our campaign. To shed socialism is to shed our souls. In service of what? Power? Power for whom and to do what? We cannot stop at the methods to seize power while not asking who it is in service of. This is how we ended up with stagnant reforms and a government pleading with the people to wait for changes that will never come. I ask the masses not to worry about our 'Indian' image. Every day we have more Malaysians of all races joining us. Unfortunately, the dismissal of our class politics as impractical stops the masses from moving away from the racial narrative. I ask the academics to be fair in your evaluation and take a longer view. When it comes to it, we are the most vocal in resisting racial and religious discrimination in politics. When we talk about segregative politics, we point out, time and again, how this is a distraction to the true winners in this system, the capitalist class. The fear of PN getting a walkover in GE16 is warranted but overblown. We must recognise the right people causing this. It is PH, in its incessant 'flexibility' that has given breath to PN's narrative. They revived BN instead of sticking to non-racial politics. With three parties based on race, and the largest being the biggest disrupter of racial harmony according to PH parties themselves in their historical narratives, is this not a contradiction? PN is relevant as long as PH excuses BN. We are held behind by the political ambition of certain individuals. What is the use of 'holding back' PN when PH themselves are sliding into the very same politics? PSM breaks with this. We will grow and build a third force away from racial narratives. We will consolidate the voices of the masses and overthrow the mainstream parties of today. We will work with whoever will build this future with us. Those political giants will watch as our third force grows, decrying us as vote-splitters at every stage, complaining about PN, while we tear down their pessimism brick by brick. Have faith in the resolve of the masses – we have a world to win. Arveent Kathirtchelvan is a central committee member of PSM. The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
