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Getting to know PSM, the grassroots party
Free Malaysia Today - May 11, 2011
Kuala Lumpur – Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) is a vibrant but low-key political party that gives more attention to grassroots work than brawling in the national political arena.
"We prefer working with the grassroots as that is where we derive our strength from," said its secretary-general, S Arutchelvan. "Maybe that is why we are not really good at giving political speeches."
In an interview at the party's modest office in Brickfields, Arutchelvan gave FMT a brief history of Malaysian socialist groups since the 1970s and the formation of PSM.
"In the 1970s, we had three left-leaning groups in Malaysia," he said, referring to movements that operated as NGOs and leaving out Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia (PSRM), a political party that contested in elections.
"We had Suara Warga Pertiwi (SPW), led by the current PSM chairman, Nasir Hashim, who was working with urban settlers. We had Dr Michael Jeyakumar's movement in Perak, called Alaigal, which is Tamil for 'Waves'. And there was the Community Development Centre (CDC), which was active in estates and rural settlements."
Nasir was also a member of PSRM.
"After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, there was widespread resentment against left-leaning parties all over the world," Arutchelvan said. "Realising this, PSRM changed its name to Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM).
"As PRM lacked support at the grassroots level, Nasir left the party to work more closely with the masses." Mass gathering
On Labour Day in 1994, the three groups, along with other small NGOs, held a mass gathering to discuss poverty in the country in the wake of rapid economic development in the Klang Valley and the marginalisation of the urban poor and plantation workers.
"Many were surprised that we held this gathering only few years after the Operasi Lalang," Arutchelvan said, referring to the 1987 government crackdown that resulted in the imprisonment without trial of scores of political dissenters.
"However, we were confident of the people's support." Indeed, about 3,000 people turned up, most of them Malay urban settlers and Indian plantation workers.
At a follow-up meeting in 1995, the assembly suggested the formation of a political party that would field candidates in elections. The suggestion was more thoroughly discussed in a 1996 meeting in Hulu Langat.
"We were deliberating on whether we should incorporate the word 'socialist' in the new party's name," Arutchelvan said.
"While the educated groups were not comfortable with the word, the grassroots had no problems with it.
"However, we only decided to form PSM after the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim from the Cabinet in 1998." However, the Registrar of Societies (ROS) would not approve of the party. It claimed, said Arutchelvan, "that we were a threat" to national security.
"So, we took the ROS to court in 1999 on grounds of freedom of assembly."
However, PSM lost the case.
It was not until 2008 that PSM was finally registered. The general election of that year was disastrous for Barisan Nasional, prompting Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to try to make good on some of the reforms he had earlier promised to institute.
"Among the things he did was to give us approval to be registered officially," said Arutchelvan.
Referring to social problems plaguing Malaysia, he said most of them boiled down to the uneven distribution of wealth.
He said the capitalism practised in Malaysia benefitted only a select few.
"The struggle here is between the rich and the poor. So we are mobilising the poor for a better life." Monopoly of resources
One of the problems, he added, was that private entities were controlling the nation's resources.
"It is not that we are against private companies, but we do not want the big corporations to monopolise our resources.
"With a socialist system, our resources would be distributed evenly and we would have not only a better social environment, but a better natural environment as well."
He cited Venezuela as a country where socialist policies had made life better for the masses. The government under socialist leader Hugo Chavez provides free education up to tertiary level. It has nationalised its healthcare and transport systems to make the associated services affordable to ordinary people. It has also built "community supermarkets" that sell essential goods at subsidised prices.
"Private supermarkets there have to compete with the government-run supermarkets, which sells at cheaper prices," Arutchelvan said.
He praised the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, Malaysia's second prime minister, for his people-oriented policies.
"However, when Dr Mahathir Mohamad took over, he practised Thatcherism and Reaganism," he said, referring to Mahathir's privatisation policy.
Things had become worse under Najib Tun Razak, he added. He claimed that the rate of privatisation was escalating and will cause suffering among the masses.
"At the rate our government is going, the state would eventually not have any control over anything," he said.
"Umno is not even loyal to the Malays. Who sold off Malay reserve land to big companies? It is definitely not the Chinese or other races."
He said racial politics was the main obstacle to bringing about a class struggle in Malaysia.
"Socialism is a concept which expounds the people's power and our struggle is class-based. Unfortunately, Malaysian politics is very racial in nature. That is why we prefer to work with the grassroots."
Sharing his views on the New Economic Policy (NEP), Arutchelvan said that although its original intention was noble, the policy had opened a Pandora's Box of race-based politics.
"When you have a policy that is skewed racially, the after-effect is that more and more race-based parties will emerge to protect the rights of their communities."
Multiracial defence force
Racial politics, he added, was a boon to the ruling elite. Whenever an economic crisis hits, the ruling elite would fan racial polemics to ensure the people were at each other's throats, he claimed.
"This is a way for them to subdue any possibility of a mass revolt, which will be a threat to their positions. The government will then use the ISA to crush NGOs and opposition leaders and to silence any resistance."
He said the people should set up a multiracial defence force to protect one another from any sort of attack from those bent on creating racial discord for their selfish agenda.
"For example, if a temple or a church is attacked by some fanatics, the defence force must mobilise the Malays to protect the religious houses.
"Similarly, when the Malays are attacked, the non-Malays must be mobilised to protect them. I have spoken to PAS about this and they think it's a good idea."
Explaining PSM's relationship with Pakatan Rakyat, Arutchelvan said: "For now, we are working with Pakatan to topple BN as we see the latter as a capitalistic party."
He said PSM, being a small political party, could not attain federal power on its own and therefore needed to work with other "progressive forces".
"And we will push for a welfare state programme with Pakatan."
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