Intractable battle between reformists and reactionaries

Broadly speaking, two parties cleave the Malaysian body politic. One could be called the party of reform and the other, the party of reaction.

Debate between these two schools intensified after the last general election in 2008 when the reform-seekers astonished with remarkable gains in Parliament and in state assemblies.

But the discourse these days is increasingly futile between the two parties for reason that one has a weakness for trivialising the other's position.

The suggestion of Deputy Prime Minister Muhiyiddin Yassin about what Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (left), the target of a sexual smear campaign, ought to have done in the circumstances is a case in point.

More than anything else in recent times, the episode highlighted the difficulty of debate between the two schools as each responds to the other's proofs that it is untenable.

From the arguments of the one school, it appears it cannot conceive of any alternative to its own entrenched position and style of thought.

But wait, there are here and there signs that at least one member of the reactionary school, a deputy minister, has the wherewithal for constructive debate.

And just now his top leader has adduced an argument that makes his distaste for unthinking partisanship grounds for his promotion within the hierarchy (it would make the party less reactionary.)

Ceasar's wife

Prime Minister Najib Razak's view that political debate in a democracy should revolve around policy differences between the contestants and not around family foibles is unexceptionable provided you start from the premise that Caesar's wife ought to be above suspicion.

If Caesar's wife is not above doubt she is fair game, particularly in a democracy.

Like his argument for cultural pluralism ("We should embrace our differences," he once said, appositely), Najib's counsel about the proper focus of democratic political debate is hampered by his inability to match image and deed to intent and word.

Executive mismatching is not the only trouble besetting him; cognitive dissonance continues to dog him as well.

The PM said that if polls reform pressure group Bersih had opted for a decorous demonstration of their concerns they would have had their day in a stadium, just like Himpun did at the Shah Alam stadium last Saturday.

He conveniently ignored the fact that Bersih was all the while for a peaceful exhibition of intent - the removal of disabling gremlins in the electoral process - whereas Himpun is clamouring for exorcism of a non-existent ghost under the carpet - Christian proselytisation of Muslims.

The one concern, if implemented, would straighten folds in our democracy; the other, unchecked, would stoke tensions between the religions.

Saifuddin breaks ranks

If the MP from Pekan has trouble getting his rhetorical coordinates right, his compatriot from Temerloh has given encouraging signs that he is discerning when it comes to nuances.

In other words, just the type of politician equipped to follow through on the PM's counsel that democratic debate must revolve around policy rather than peccadillo.

On the Bersih demonstration, on the suspension of law professor Abdul Aziz Bari by Universiti Islam Antarabangsa, Deputy Minister of Higher Education Saifuddin Abdullah (right) has been arefreshing departure from the reflexive partisanship of the average Umno politician.

Though he is from the party of reaction, he has shown he can break ranks.

Perhaps, it's because he comes from territory renowned for producing two Malay originals - author, newspaper columnist and sometime politician Ishak Muhammad (Pak Sako) and national literary laureate Keris Mas (Kamaluddin Muhamad).

Both trailblazers of the pre-independence and immediate post-Merdeka era are long gone and their legacy of critical thought and independent conduct has seemingly evanesced.

But now and then there pops up evidence, albeit reedy, that against-the-grain thinking exists and could flourish so that debates on policy nuances could in time come to outweigh the downward pull of base instincts in our democracy.

The fast approaching 13th general election ought to mark a decisive turn for the higher flights of parliamentary discourse.

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TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for close on four decades. He likes the occupation because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them. It is the ideal occupation for a temperament that finds power fascinating and its exercise abhorrent.