Supp veteran dialogue (9 Aug) at SUPP headquarters

suppadmin | August 9, 2014

The following is one of the papers presented during the dialogue session at the party headquarters for the information of members.

Learn from the history and get ready for the future

By Tan Hua Min

Our ancestor told us, “use copper as our mirror and it helps us to dress properly; use others as our mirror and it helps us to understand the gain and loss; use history as our mirror and it tells us the rise and fall.”

We have also a wise saying in our business world that, ‘being rich, will not go beyond three generations.’

Our party was founded half a century ago in 1959. It has reached the third generation of its life span. Will our party fall into the doctrine of the ‘three generations’?

When analyzing this ‘three generations’ theory, the sociologist pointed out, ‘the first generation works hard and works prudently. They endure hardship and very thrifty in their lifestyle. The second generation has witnessed their parents’ hardship when fighting for better life. They still can preserve the wealth or may still be able to progress further. As for the third generation, they have been very comfortable in life since birth. With the wealth and power from their parents and grandparents, they can have almost everything they wish to have. They have been spoiled throughout their life. How can we expect them to preserve the wealth of their family? This is what the sociologist said about the rise and fall of a family business.

Certainly we cannot simply compare a family business with us which is a political party.

However, looking back the past fifty years of our party history, we actually have a period of courageous years during the early stage after its foundation while we dare look eye to eye with the strong and mighty. That time, we were energetic and lively. With that, we experienced the victorious years in parliamentary election when we joined the coalition government in 1970. Unfortunately, after a long period in the government, we slowly lost our sense of crisis and the determination and nerve to counter crisis. In addition, we were also experiencing the impact of the western value, the sabotage from the opposition and the differentiation caused by certain power within our ruling alliance. All these have pushed our party to the edge of survival. At this critical juncture, our party has to seriously review our experience and be realistic in order to catch up with the progress of time. Hence, “learn from history” not only enables us to understand the rise and fall of an individual, it also makes sure that the leader of a political organization and the management of a country would not repeat the same mistakes.

Someone has said, “history shows us the truth, history is full of wisdom.”

Our party is the very first political organization in Sarawak. All this while, our party has been a multi-racial political party with extensive masses support. This is true when we were anti-Imperialism and anti-colonialism in the 50s and 60s of the last century. This is also true during the parliamentary election after the independence through the joining of Malaysia.

Although we have been suffering numerous attacks and repression from the British Colonial ruler before the independence, we still stood strong and won victoriously in various parliamentary and state elections after the independence. We have also built up a firm foundation of the masses.

I personally find that the victorious history of our party can be revealed in the following three areas:

We have a firm political struggle objective that conform with the basic interest of the people from all ethnic groups.
We have a united and integrated central leadership.
We have a team of good cadres who are loyal and selflessly contributing to the party, who go to the villages and long houses to integrate and live with the masses in order to propagate the political vision of the party.

Our party changed from being an opposition party to a ruling party after joining the coalition government in the 70s of last century. This particular change has created new opportunities for our party. It has expanded the political and material resources available to our party to serve the people. It also provides the opportunities to our party’s leaders, cadres and members, as ruling party, to secure high posts in the government and even business ventures.

Touching on this issue, please allow me to have the benefit of hindsight by raising a question that might worth our reflection. When our party joined the coalition government led by PBB, have we ever ponder in-depth the possible changes mindset of our leaders, cadres and members after we were being an opposition to a ruling party. And how to maintain our independence in a situation of struggle as well as coalition with another party which has ultimate control. I would not make any comments on this issue, as personally I have not done any research and investigation.

Nevertheless, judging from the remarks made by the representatives during the various central representatives conference and the comments of the general public regarding our party’s performance in the government, it is obvious that we have not met the expectations of the majority of our masses. On the other hand, it seems that our party leaders have learned from experience that if our party does not carry out a total reform, we would be eventually cast off and leaving the stage of history. During our xxth representatives conference, it was resolved that the appointment of all the parliamentary, state and local representatives would be limited to two years. After we lost in the parliamentary and state election, it further decided to let “the party to lead the politics”.

It is in deed a commendable decision on limiting the appointment period of parliamentary, state and local representatives mentioned above. However, it is not practiced due to the great temptation of the power. On the other hand, in order to have a stronger tie between the government, the ruling party and the people, state government establishes the community leaders organization. It is expected to understand the people’s situation better, and help to solve the problems of the people within the community. This is a very meaningful and practical appointment. However, from the general public’s comments, it seems the “people first” principle has been diverted. Instead, it has even become a bait to build up a leader’s own influence in certain area.

Certainly there are tremendous changes in our prevailing social environment from that of 1950s, 60s or 70s. Besides the change in the modus operandi of political struggle, the changes in the thinking of young people of different generations is even more unbelievable. Therefore, while we emphasize on “learn from history”, we fully understand and note that our society in this twenty first century is full of competition and swift changes. The authentic and false information have been disseminated in lightning speed in the widely used internet. Internet provides us with unlimited amount of knowledge but at the same time impacts and overturns our traditional values. In addition, with the high concentration of social economy, the gap between the rich and poor is getting wider. The middle class, especially the lower income group, is suffering from heavier and heavier burden in their life. They have higher and higher expectation in the fast moving living environment with growing discontent. Some major incidents have been changing people’s thinking, especially that of the younger generations. These incidents include the “Occupy Wall Street” protest movement of USA in 2008, the Tunisian “Jasmine Revolution” of North Africa in 2010, and the economic crises and high unemployment rate faced by the Western European governments.

Therefore, we have to be practical when emphasizing “learn from history”. Otherwise, we may be considered as just “talk of old hat” and widen our gap with the younger generation. That will not help in achieving our aim to save the party.

For the last couple of years, a group of my Singaporean friends and I are trying to understand China’s revolution. We wanted to know how did the remaining thirty thousands workers and peasants red army could achieve the victory of national liberation in just twenty years after the failure of the first revolution. We started our field trip from the party central in Beijing. We then went to Xi Bai Po where the People’s Republic came from and Yan An of Northern Shaan Xi. After that we went to GuTian of Fu Jian Province where the China Revolution started. We followed the route of Red Army’s long march, passing through Zhang Ting, the red Shanghai, Rui Jin of Jiang Xi and finally reached Jing Gang Shan. We have a practical understanding of the route of victory of China revolution. After this round of sightseeing visits, I personally opine that the turning point after the failure lies on the quality and resourcefulness of the leaders besides having a correct policy and strategy.

Besides good leadership, we also need a team of cadres who are willing to fight and sacrifice for the party’s political objectives. This is relating to the deployment and training of the party’s cadres.

I have mentioned earlier that after joining the coalition government in 1970, it had strengthened our party’s resources to attract good talents. Our party has actually attracted many knowledgeable and professional peoples in the process. Unfortunately, it has been neglected in acknowledging, “talent is the resources of morality while morality is the commander of talent”. A talent without morality would not selflessly sacrifice for the party without getting fame and wealth. While those who have got hold of power and position and enjoying all kinds of conveniences would not let go of what they have. This is human nature in the realistic society. Therefore, we have to establish a comprehensive system and to put it into practice with firm determination.

Our society now is full of competition and with continuous changes. While we require a multitude of knowledge, a healthy personality and attitude is even more important. In this respect, a sound foundation of philosophy and knowledge of culture will help not only in showing a leader’s rational thinking but also his personal charm and charisma. Here, I personally would recommend Mao Zedong’s “On Contradiction” and “On Practice” for our young comrades who are interested in political struggle. You can then understand the unity of opposites and practice is the standard test for the right and wrong in this complicated political struggle.

After the failure in the parliamentary and state elections and the impact of breaking up, our party has, in deed, come to a critical moment of choice. Today, our old party members are gathering here just to express our care for our party which has been fighting for the independence of Sarawak and the rights of the Sarawak people for the last half a century. We also fully aware that whatever we say here might just be a talking-shop. However, it would be our greatest wish in our life if we can contribute to the reborn of our party, no matter how small it would be.

Therefore, we hope that the new central leadership that is about to form would be humble internally, be tolerant, and to unite all the forces that need to unite. Externally, continue to serve the people, persist in the party’s independent, and do not fail our expectation. To lead the party properly and continue to make our party the hope of the extensive masses.