COMMENT | PSM turns 25: Relevant, principled voice of marhaen

COMMENT | Twenty-five years ago on April 30, 1998, a day before Labour Day, a few of us, including Mohd Nasir Hashim, V Selvam, and myself, went to the Selangor Registrar of Societies (ROS) in Jalan Pekeliling, Sentul, to register a party called the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM).

There was no widespread media coverage, except for a small news article in The Star the following day, which reported the event and questioned whether this new party would survive or continue to die like previous left-wing parties such as Social Democratic Party, Marhaen Party, and Pekemas Party.

Registering a left-wing party with the name “Socialist”, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, after the right-wing political scientist Francis Fukuyama wrote his book “The End of History”, after the Malayan Communist Party signed the Hat Yai Peace Agreement, and after the People's Socialist Party of Malaysia dropped the word “Socialist” from its name, was seen by most people, especially the old socialist groups in our country, as a crazy move, an attempt to dig one's own grave, irrational and adventures.

However, the party that applied for registration during Dr Mahathir Mohamad's tenure as the fourth prime minister, before Anwar Ibrahim was ousted from Umno and before the Reformasi, was only registered 10 years later.

Although PSM is small and often referred to as a mosquito part...