By Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi

This article will argue why there is an important and real need of what is now popularly dubbed as the 'Third Force'.

For Malaysia to change, there is a need for a game-changing strategy. The Anwar-Mahathir combo was that game-changing strategy. It was supposed to be a temporary marriage of convenience and necessity and should have changed but too much trust was placed in one individual that should not have helmed the nation for more than eight months. But that, as they say, is history. I will give three important reasons why the idea of the Third Force is necessary.

In a following article I will try to imagine what the Third Force is like and a third article would be how the scenario of G15 might take place with the mechanism of this new addition of political influence.

The first reason why a new force is necessary is to do away with what I call as 'baggage politics and politicians'.

In the Pakatan Harapan coalition, all four parties are baggage political entities with excess baggage politicians. What this means is that all these parties have probably an expiry date that is long overdue by choice or simply by history.

PPBM is the first clear cut baggage political party. It was born out of an alternative to Umno for the Malay voters. That's all. It has no political ideology except that it has the strength of Tun Mahathir Mohamad. That single figure alone was the small push that toppled the mighty Barisan Nasional with its arsenal of judges, police, academia and civil servants plus billions of corrupt cash from the coffers of the rakyat.

The members of that party, except a few like Maszlee and Syed Saddiq, are all Umno has-beens and possess a pure line of Umno DNA of Malay supremacist racial politics.

Malaysians do not need any of this baggage politics any more. Although many analysts say without a strong Malay-based party, they would no longer be a viable coalition. I beg to disagree.

If Sabah and Sarawak can put up a credible nationalistic front to wash away Muslim-Malay politics of the peninsula, the Third Force can combine with them to wipe out all traditional parties.

PKR is also a baggage political party. Its origin was to free Anwar Ibrahim from the torturous manner in which Tun M wielded the power of authoritarian rule supported again by religious clerics, academic professors, judges, police and politicians in Umno who were well fed with projects, titles and mistresses.

Anwar was the icon of change in Malaysia that triggered civil society to the front and gave Islamic reformation a credible image of civil change. But PKR is filled again with former Umno DNA who followed Anwar until the price is right for them to change. I saw Lokman, Ezam, Zulkifli Nordin and now Azmin jump ship when the offer was lucrative enough. PKR is an Anwar and an Umno baggage.

Amanah is a PAS baggage. These are the Islamic reformists who believed in changing the constitution of the country into a Saudi or Iranian shariah-compliant system totally unfit for Malaysia.

Although Amanah claims to hold the progressive ground, the sad non-actions of leaders like Mat Sabu, Mujahid and Khalid Samad to deal with Malay-Islamic issues show their true colors of closet-conservatism. This party is a religious baggage.

DAP is the most productive and credible party, but it also carries an unwanted and an unfortunate baggage. They are still regarded as the 'Parti Cina' that wants to change Malaysia into a Chinese Singapore rule. DAP has never been able to shake off this stereotyped image of itself. Whether they are unable to or unwilling to is a mystery to me. They are an historical racial baggage.

When Gerakan came to the fore in 1966, it was a breadth of fresh air with the founder being a Malay intellectual and a party that was multiracial. It followed in the tradition of Onn Jaafar with Parti Negara and although it did well in the beginning, Gerakan fell into a 'racial stereotype' when it joined Barisan Nasional. But the important thing to note was that this introduction of a new party freed Malaysia from the racial and religious baggage at that time and this changed the tide of election.

We are now at this point in history in which a new 'force' needs to reawaken to set a new chess board game of Malaysian politics.

Secondly, the Third Force must be the evolution of civil society into national politics. The role of civil society is acknowledged to be the conscience of the people where the politicians forget immediately after winning the election. However strong and loud the voice in civil society is, to me, it is ineffective in the long run. Yes it garnered opinions and influence but that has already reached a saturation point.

Although certain civil society voices do not support the idea of the political Third Force and calls for stronger civil society voice and asking for a more professional civil servants, who is actually going to do anything realistic for change? The Malay civil servants? The Malay politicians? The Malay religious institutions? Are you serious? Sorry-lah but I don't think these people will listen to liberals and freethinkers. Some personalities in the civil society must put up or forever shut up. They would have to put their money where their mouth is. Twenty years of making media statements will only result in another twenty years of media statements. That's all I am afraid. There is a turning point in every action and one must be intelligent enough to know where that is and abandon the present set and comfortable practices of street demonstrations or writing election analysis and throw in the lot to wade right into the battlefield.

Thirdly, the objective of the Third Force is not so much as to take full control of the country but more so to be the king maker. It will be the deciding voice who the leader will be in parliament and it will be the steering voice of the people devoid of party loyalty and promised titles or perks. Civil society members are used to working unselfishly due to their conscience and so their principles will be intact. But these personalities must understand that they must engage politics at its own games as in a battle field where friends can be foes or foes can be useful but temporary friends. The battlefield is dirty and soiled with schemes and opportunities and the civil society personalities must be pragmatic and intelligent enough to separate idealism from pragmatic politics. There are no clean seminar rooms or comfortable forums to air one's views and stands in realpolitik. One has to wade into the deep and find ways to stay afloat and eventually come out to command the direction of the boat.

In the next article, I will write about my thoughts on how the model of the Third Force might take shape. Malaysians must think differently and out of the box if we are to recapture our country from those who relish in baggage politics as their sole weapon of war.

(Professor Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor at a local university.)