Malaysians Say The Darndest Things!

Undressing A Wolf In An Intellectual’s Clothing

September 6, 2008

The Malaysian Insider is an online news publication that I read besides my usual staple of Malaysiakini news. What I like about The Malaysian Insider (MI) is its host of guest columnists with topics ranging from social issues, automotive news (Paul Tan FTW), and economic issues in Malaysia. The diversity of opinions is certainly refreshing; certainly something you won’t get in the mainstream media which is heavily pro-BN.

The reason for this post is to debunk some of the points raised by one of the guest columnists, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed in his latest piece, Trouble in paradise (and I am only doing so in my blog because the commenting system is broken on the web site. Fix your Javascript, MI. And send me an IPod).

Nur Jazlan starts off the article by stating his observations on the current political situation in Thailand:

The emergency rule was triggered by an organised movement of interest groups comprising opposition Bangkok politicians and former top Thai army officials.

The group was using “mob rule” tactics to overthrow the Prime Minister Samak Sundravej, who was democratically elected eight months ago, by occupying the grounds of his office illegally and blocking off access to airports in key tourist resorts.

The group’s main demand was to return to the good old days of endless stalemate governments when the ruling class was a compromise of civil servants, the army and the monarchy.

They wanted 70 per cent of the members of Parliament to be appointed and the balance elected. This proposal effectively meant a reversal of the democratic process promoted by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The opinion piece continues by slamming the ‘elite’ in Bangkok for denying the rights of the rural voters by undermining the basic principle of one citizen, one vote, in a democracy.

The one citizen, one vote policy freed and empowered Thais in rural areas to have a say in the country’s future.

The educated and wealthy elite in Bangkok have not been in favour of this empowerment as they thought that the rural Thais were not highly educated and might not understand democracy as well as them.

They have long accused Thaksin of vote buying by implementing popular fiscal stimulus policies favouring the rural areas. Ironically those policies have actually boosted growth and incomes and brought prosperity to the rural areas of Thailand especially in agriculture.

In my opinion, it is rather hypocritical and condescending for the people in Bangkok, who comprise 15 per cent of the total population, to promote democracy on the one hand and then deny the majority rural population when the results of the general election did not turn out in their favour.

They have resorted to demonstrations and illegal acts to force their will and to take power in Bangkok.

Nur Jazlan asserts that this political instability has, and will cost Thailand a lot of foreign direct investment (FDI). I would like to commend Nur Jazlan for the informative piece. However, the rest of the article goes downhill from here (IMHO). It is when he tries to draw comparisons of the Thai situation to the on-going political situation in Malaysia. This is where we get to see things through the view of Barisan Nasional tinted glasses.

However, despite the strong parliamentary majority, the BN is still undergoing a crisis of confidence due to rumours of mass defections by its MPs to Pakatan Rakyat to enable Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to form a government with a majority of two and succeed in his lifelong dream to become Prime Minister.

This backdoor takeover of government is similar to the situation in Thailand now. The unfair spotlight is now focused on the rumoured defections of MPs from Sabah, which is contrary to the wishes of the voters in Sabah who elected them on a BN ticket.

Is this the type of democracy that the majority of Malaysian voters want?

I would love to remind Nur Jazlan about the political history of Sabah to find some parallels. Back in 1994, Parti Bersatu Sabah had won the state elections but before the state government could be formed, several PBS assemblypersons defected to BN, thus transforming the opposition Barisan Nasional into the government. When that happened, was it with the permission of Sabah voters who voted their assemblypersons on a PBS ticket? Perhaps Nur Jazlan also forgets that in March, his party, UMNO, had tried to buddy up with PAS and even offered them the Selangor Menteri Besar’s post if they agreed to rule the state together. It’s ironic for Nur Jazlan to speak about hypocrisy when he clearly forgets these points. It just erodes the credibility of his subsequent arguments.

Also, there has been much talk about democracy being enhanced by having a two-party system. Unfortunately this discussion is mainly driven by people living in the Klang Valley.

As with the Thai situation, where the elite in Bangkok think they have a monopoly on national politics, a similar group in Kuala Lumpur is trying to exert their belief on fairness between races and a two-party system which may not be accepted outside of KL.

The movement has created a clear divide between KL folks and the rest of the country and has resulted in the current political confusion.

This is perhaps Nur Jazlan’s weakest argument in his entire opinion piece, which claims that only people in the Klang Valley want change. Based on media reports of BN politicians, it does seem like they have still not woken up after the March 8th elections. Here’s a news flash for those whose alarm clocks have not jerked them from their cozy snooze:

46.75% of voters voted for the Pakatan Rakyat. 46.75% of voters do not all stay in the Klang Valley, yo.

Pakatan Rakyat now controls Penang, Kedah, Perak, Kelantan, and Selangor. 4 of these states are not in the Klang Valley.

More voters in the Peninsular voted for Pakatan Rakyat than for Barisan Nasional. The peninsular is not the Klang Valley.

Nur Jazlan seems to be trying to paint a false reality of a clash of political mindsets between the rural majority (unlike Thailand, in Malaysia, there is no clear rural majority) and the elites who live in the Klang Valley. In fact, in a semi-rural place like Permatang Pauh, BN got crushed in a by-election even though they spent and promised millions, as compared to Pakatan whose spending still pales in comparison.

It is however, hard to disagree with Nur Jazlan on one point. The political uncertainty is driving away FDI from this country. This goes to show that our country’s main pull for investment is political stability. Have we no other pulling factors that can overcome a change in government aka political instability? Maybe we have transparent laws and business practices? Maybe we have low corruption? Maybe we have skilled and competitive workers? No?

The fact that our country is only attractive because of our ‘political stability’ is a damning indictment on how our country has been run the last 51 years. If this is not clear to more Malaysians, let’s be clear now: We need to build up our country’s attractiveness in other areas, and not let an act of a change in government undermine us. Many economically successful countries change governments often, without a negative hit on the economy. We should aspire to be like those countries.

At the end of the article is this line:

Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed likes democracy but is concerned about the economy.

I would think the Datuk’s definition of democracy is a strong Barisan Nasional with a 2/3rd’s majority (preferably 3/3rd’s) in Parliament, and enacting laws and policies at their own will.

We’ll let the people decide if they still want this type of democracy after 51 years.

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