I refer to the Malaysiakini report PSM allowed to register as political party .

The Malaysian government’s decision to allow for Parti Sosialis Malaysia to apply again for registration after ten years of waiting is a welcome sign for democracy despite the hard-handed oppression against an ideology that has swept through much of the world for over 100 years now.

During my childhood days in Seremban, I could still remember how much the Socialist Front meant to a lot of people especially the ‘working class’. They swept through almost every other municipal and town council elections, elections which we do not have now.

Most of the time, you would find someone from this party deciding the fate of the urban residents. I still do remember some of the good names like Sathapan Chettiar, Robert Singam, Gurnam Singh Gill, Lam Teck Choon and a host of others who had had made a great contribution to the socialist ideology via democracy.

The Barisan Nasional government has insidiously curtailed the socialist movement via the Athi Nahappan Commission which recommended to the government that municipal and town council elections were not necessary in view of the New Economic Policy.

The BN government accepted these recommendations and thereon took over the administration of all major cities and towns in the country directly. People in towns were refused representation in their own districts and sub-urban villages.

Most of the earlier urban settlements were forcibly destroyed and traces of history have been emaciated beyond recognition. The Urban Development Authority (UDA)unilaterally decided for the worst and the best.

However, I do reckon the people’s interest and the people’s emotions from where they have come from has been very much preserved by the Socialist Front, while improving on the amenities and facilities.

I do remember as a child in primary school that it was the Socialist Front town councillors who made available drinking water and electricity for our village across the railway lines in Bukit Tembok, Seremban.

Today’s generations may find it hard to believe that the people had to show their dismay at town council elections to get their very basic needs. Every time there were elections, the people would demand for metalled road and it took more than ten years for the Socialist Front councillors to fulfil their promises to replace a gravel road of less than half a mile.

Nevertheless, they did it. The late Gurnam Singh Gill as president of the town council of Seremban did not even own his own car. He used to cycle. These are good portions of the traces of history of this country.

The Socialist Front had been a great page in the history of this nation and I would wish present leaders like Dr Jeyakumar and others who have had worked very hard to get this positive decision from government would hereon continue to show the kind of commitment and responsibilities to future generations of this country like what I as child enjoyed amidst the good old socialists. It must be a true revival.

The issues for PSM are indeed very different. Malaysia is a dynamic, modern economy with much of its income coming from tertiary sectors. Most of the country has been metalled and tolled; water and electricity are easily available.

The people’s movement is now measured in ringgit and sen through the toll gates. The burden of debt inidrectly imposed by bad government policies must be checked. Rising urban poverty and continued hardship for survival of the poor is becoming a reality as prices of basic necessities are sky-rocketing.

The people’s hard-earned money is being unnecessarily spent on hand phones and other uncalled for technological gimmickery. People do not have savings. The government in command has become project-based and profit motivated.

Its behaviour is more akin to a business rather than a social organisation. It has lost its direction and for adaptiveness and survival. PSM must focus on realities and work with other like-minded political parities that care about the people first. This nation must regain its pride and the PSM can contribute in its own way.