Notes on working with Parti Sosialis Malaysia
For the 15th General Election, Sharon and I spent two days volunteering with Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), the Malaysian Socialist Party.
Rembau is the Parliamentary constituency bordering ours, and PSM was running a candidate: Tinagaran Subramaniam, better known as Cikgu Tina, a teacher and community organiser.
We handed out leaflets; waved flags; talked to folks over their front gates; drove in a convoy behind a SUV blaring Cikgu Tina's theme song---a popular Indian tune reworded into an urgent exhortation:
Negara maju rakyat masih miskin Harga barangan melambung tinggi Jaminan makanan tiada sini Tanah petani yang sudah milik kroni
Alam negara sudah semakin pupus Adanya polisi pro-kapitalis Sudah bangkit alam mula melawan Hujan angin ribut banjir rakyat matang
+++
Over the years, between us, Sharon and I have watched many election campaigns unfold: from PRM to PKR to PAS to DAP, from urban Kuala Lumpur to rural Kelantan, to seats in interior Sabah and Sarawak.
We found PSM's campaign in Rembau refreshing.
We had long conversations in the car ride home. Here are some notes / thoughts we formulated together:
1.
PSM are often seen as hopelessly naive. But the party is pretty clear-eyed?
They know that their focus on local and specific working-class issues hamstrings them. Cikgu Tina wore his "I'm not a politician!" badge proudly.
Virtually every political party pays platitudes to this "vote the candidate, not the party" idea---but PSM is the only one I know who genuinely means it? To their detriment.
And they know it. Under current conditions--first-past-the-post; the absence of local council elections, a whole one-third of our democracy---they have little hope at winning. Voters aren't stupid. Without elections at the local level, everything is about Putrajaya, and voting over Putrajaya means voting big party flags over human candidates.
BUT: I think this grass-roots focus can make them pretty influential during state elections. (And they'd kill in local-council elections, obvs.)
2.
So why did PSM run a campaign? Got the sense that they were capacity building.
The local PSM chapter building muscle. Practicing machinery. Putting issues on national media---speaking up about climate change and land rights; flying the red-fist flag locally. People used the phrase "tak kenal maka tak cinta" often.
On election night, addressing his bilik gerakan, Cikgu Tina said:
"Menang atau kalah, jangan sesiapa di sini sedih. Kali ini first trial. Kalau kita buat banyak kerja, mungkin next election kita boleh."
The campaign's postmortem will be a general meeting open to everybody who volunteered. (A typical party's strategy meeting would be close-door, and party-leadership only.)
3.
PSM has a different relationship to time, compared to other political parties.
Felt like the Rembau campaign was part of their schedule. IE: "October, we have to organise some farmers; November, election campaign; December, got to pursue the hospital cleaners' union case; Jan, we have to ..." Etc.
In that sense, this general election is the continuation of a consistent long-term struggle, for the party? This felt pretty special.
Every other bilik gerakan I've volunteered for, in every other election campaign, you feel a palpable apocalyptic urgency---OMG how many friends can you call to come volunteer??? What are our strategies what are our strategies???
INI KALI LAH LAST CHANCE THINGS ARE ALL OR NOTHING OKAY!!!
PSM's Rembau campaign had a full schedule every day. They followed their schedule, worked steadily---and they rested during rest hours. Workers in for the long haul. Long-distance runners.
4.
Seeing how the General Election has panned out, with a hung Parliament; Perikatan Nasional's surge signalling mass support by young / new voters for religious and racialised conservatism?
I think PSM's core politics offer a lot that the progressive Pakatan Harapan coalition sorely lacks.
You are never gonna out-Islam the Islamic Party. (And you shouldn't want to???) But young people are struggling, and turning to religion and racial rights for a reason, and maybe if you address those reasons you can wrestle away some people PAS is currently hogging.
PSM does real work in economic justice areas: minimum wage, housing rights, workplace rights. Bread and butter stuff, done right.
Their focus on community organising is powerful for its social-cohesion potential, also? Folk need a sense of belonging, camaraderie. Unions offer a sense of community, much like mosques do?
(PH does economic issues in a way designed to appeal to the upwardly mobile / aspiring-towards-comfort brackets, and those people already vote PH.)
5.
More about radical, progressive community:
This was the only bilik gerakan I've been in where women were never pandered to, at any level. Just the vibe of dudes -- working class, older dudes -- listening to women team leaders in ways I've not seen anywhere else?
And I think queer folks would've been comfortable, too? (PSM has been vocal for its support of the LGBTIQ community; many younger members are openly queer.)
A lack of managerial class. There were party veterans present---old hands you've seen for decades in protests and in news reports; the closest PSM has to strongmen. In our days there, they functioned mainly as steady points of reference, reminding eager younger members that the Rembau folks where ultimately in charge:
"bincang dulu dgn lokal machinery pls"
It's a vibe---but it's strong.
A similar vibe thing: every general / working conversation was in BM by default, even if they spoke Tamil / English / Chinese to their own kakis on the side. Sharon felt like it was the only environment she's been in where she was comfortable speaking Bahasa, because the chances of being language-shamed was nil.
People were universally addressed as: "saudari" or "saudara".
And, more rarely, but very deliciously, as: "komrad".
