Malaysia: Mid Life Crisis or Fresh Opportunity? (ABC Radio Australia)

Original link: ABC Radio Australia

Updated 26 April 2012, 21:25 AEST

Sen Lam

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak seems to be examining his options, as he keeps the people guessing about the date of the next general elections. Sen Lam, the Malaysian-born host of Radio Australia’s Asia Pacific program ponders the challenges facing Malaysia’s ruling alliance, as the polls loom.

Image: Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak (C) walks into the parliament hall in Kuala Lumpur

Prime Minister Najib Razak and the UMNO party are facing increasing calls for change. [AFP: Saeed Khan]
If you were born in 1957, chances are you’ll be eyeing that monster Kawasaki motorcycle in the shop window, or daydreaming about visiting the plastic surgeon for a ‘refresher’ procedure.

In short, you’re in mid-life crisis.

In Malaysia, they’re known as ‘Merdeka Babies’, people born in the year of independence (merdeka) from British rule. And so it is, for the Barisan Nasional coalition government, and in particular, the dominant UMNO party. UMNO, which has ruled uninterrupted since independence in 1957, has been in crisis mode since even before the 2008 general election; with party renewal and rejuvenation sorely needed, after half a century in government.

John F. Kennedy was fond of pointing out that the Chinese word for ‘crisis’ is made up of two characters – one representing danger, the other, opportunity.

Whether or not UMNO has the leadership and unity of purpose to seize the opportunity for change, is as yet unclear, even though Prime Minister Najib Razak has for the past twelve months been espousing reform and democratisation.

For example, the unpopular and once dreaded Internal Security Act or I-S-A has been abandoned in a few short months, and replaced with several other ‘security’ laws.

And with suspicious haste, it would seem, according veteran lawyer Ambiga Sreenavasan, who’s also the public face of Bersih, the campaign for free and fair elections.

Ms Sreenavasan says the recent spate of legislative reforms of Malaysia’s security laws were done with elections firmly in mind. According to her, the bills were pushed through in haste, and with little consideration for opposition viewpoints.

Bersih (translated as ‘clean’ in Malay) is a non-partisan organisation, but because it has the support of the Opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition, Bersih and its co-chair Ambiga especially, have been the target of much vitriol from less-tolerant elements within UMNO (particularly the youth wing) and the ultra-right Malay PERKASA organisation.

Whether or not the government is sincere in seeking genuine change, one place to begin may be the culture within UMNO. The All or Nothing mentality, which has proven problematical on more than one occasion – a party (and government) which brooks little tolerance for dissent or different point of view. Witness what Dr Mahathir did to Anwar Ibrahim in 1998.

And that has trickled down to the government machinery as well.

Tactics of intimidation, for instance. One source speaks of Malaysian students abroad on government scholarships being given strong hints not to participate in democracy workshops or events, or risk being sent home.

Stories of SB (special branch) men, hovering menacingly in the background at civil society meetings are commonplace in Malaysia.

I was a curious observer at the July 2011 Bersih2 rally in Melbourne’s Federation Square. There were some men perched on various vantage points taking pictures with giant cameras. Were they media, or were they ‘special branch’? Hard to say. But the Bersih organisers came prepared, and with that special brand of Malaysian humour, handed out paper face masks with the image of Bersih co-chair Datuk Ambiga. This was to allow those of a nervous constitution to stay for the event, to hear what the clean election advocates had to say.

Prime Minister Najib Razak, I think, has a natural disposition towards democratic values. But as the President of UMNO, he has to balance the courage of his convictions with the realpolitik of party survival. There’re still many conservatives who want things done the ‘old way’, not unlike the struggle currently on display in China’s Communist Party, as demonstrated in the Bo Xilai saga.

As GE13 approaches, the PM has to show leadership, without being seen as draconian. He has to concede without being seen as weak, if he’s not to suffer the fate of his amiable but ultimately unsuccessful predecessor, Abdullah Badawi.

On the home front, Prime Minister Najib has to contend with allegations of extravagance levelled against his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah. Mrs Najib is reportedly fond of expensive jewellery and trips abroad to order couture frocks, from of all places, Sydney.

In Malay culture, blatant exhibition of wealth is in poor taste. The stories in social media like Twitter have taken on an increasingly gossipy and unflattering tone – not unlike those suffered by another avid shopper, the ill-fated Marie Antoinette, 220 years earlier.

The Malaysian electorate, apart from maturing in spirit, is also increasingly youthful.

Many Malaysians in their 20s will be voting for the first time. This social-media savvy generation is also an impatient one. Driven by the immediacy of smart phones and inspired by civil society movements overseas, many want change, and they want it now.

The young and fearless may perhaps be a little naive sometimes, but they’re nonetheless a demographic that BN is now desperately trying to engage.

That Prime Minister Najib and BN are trying to ‘democratise’, even if only for GE13, is heartening to the Malaysian diaspora like myself, who remember the Mahathir years, where open and tolerant discussion of views was unheard of. Where, in the absence of the Internet, the only ideas and discourse were those driven by government-owned or controlled media.

So credit where credit is due. Malaysia is a far freer place today, compared to the 1990s.

The fact that the Opposition Pakatan Rakyat managed to deny the ruling BN its two-thirds majority in parliament in the 2008 polls, showed that the electoral process was not as flawed as those countries with tin-pot dictatorships. P-R supporters argue of course, that had the 2008 polls been totally free and fair, the Opposition might even be ruling Malaysia today.

For a southern Johor boy like myself, long used to the dictates of UMNO (Johor being a stronghold) the nurturing of a healthy public forum for the free exchange of ideas can only bring good. As is transparency and the ongoing battle against corruption and crony capitalism.

In a sense, Malaysians (including Malays, the biggest ethnic group) have given the BN government a mandate to institute change.

Accountability and a healthy opposition (whether Pakatan or BN) is crucial, if Malaysia is to achieve the developed nation status of Dr Mahathir’s Vision2020, which is after all, only two elections away.

The BN government, the Opposition and Malaysians have a choice. Whether to go for cosmetic options to stave off the inevitable, or to face the maturing process through the more holistic path of openness, tolerance and courage to embrace change.

 

Original link: ABC Radio Australia  for video and audio interviews.

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One Thought to “Malaysia: Mid Life Crisis or Fresh Opportunity? (ABC Radio Australia)”

  1. Joseph tan

    Reflects the sentiment of many Malaysians I am sure.Cast aside the obvious dislike for all that BN stands for that is so obvious in the on line media and I am very sure many Malaysians are indeed very fair minded and want to give any form of ruling Goverment a chance. But my point is that why has the ruling coalition only reluctantly agreed to hastily rushed through so called changes only when pressured to the point that they fear they will lose control of the job of governing the country. From hereon, the rakyat will surely deserve the goverment they elect, good or bad. Many Malays, I am sad to say, still live in dreamland, in a sense that “their” elected goverment will take care of them from cradle to grave, in terms of jobs, education, housing etc etc, Embrace real change, and Malaysia will truly be a mature and on it’s way to becoming a developed country. Embrace cosmetic changes, and we will surely slip backwards into a bigger mess than we are in now. My main grouse in any Malaysian election is the unfair voters to parliament seat ratios. Get that right, rid the dubious voters, rid the almost instant citizenship fiasco (illegal and foreign), implement fair policies for ALL and then only can we see what we all want our beloved nation to become.

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