"All talk, no action", Malott slams BN govt for not putting in place electoral reforms

INTERVIEW PART TWO The acquittal of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim from trumped-up sodomy charges has triggered renewed fervor in the guessing game of when the 13th general election will be held. But to John Malott, a long-time Malaysia watcher and political analyst, “the longer Umno waits the more problems will come out.”

“I think that elections are more likely sooner rather than later. The longer UMNO waits, the more problems will come out, the longer the opposition will have to organize and campaign,” Malott told Malaysia Chronicle.

Indecisive or plotting to complete tenure

Basically, Prime Minister Najib Razak has until April 2013 to call for nationwide polls before Parliament automatically dissolves. So far the Malaysian leader, known for his flip flops, has responded with characteristic indecisiveness when pressed on when his countrymen could expect to go to the ballot boxes.

In some of the foreigh media, Najib said he hoped to hold GE-13 “soon” while the local media reports that he will only do so after fulfilling the government’s promises, and reforms start to show some impact. The Malaysian leader’s ambivalence has given rise to talk that he may actually defy pundits' advice by holding elections only in 2013.

Firstly, Umno insiders point out that Najib knows his time as party president is up. They do not put it past him to place self-interest first and believe he might opt to finish off as much of the BN’s 5-year tenure as possible. Cynics say this would enable him to salt away more ‘goodie government deals’ for his family.

His party is also due to hold an internal vote by October and if GE-13 is still pending by then, Umno members would have no choice but to re-elect him so as to show a united front going into the bigger war against the ‘real’ enemy – the Pakatan Rakyat led by Anwar. So the theories spun by the various factions in Umno go.

Electoral reforms

Certainly, Najib has a slew of reasons to offer that could appease the voting public, even if his own peers in Umno do not believe him. Chief among these is that the BN’s promised electoral reforms are still uncompleted.

In fact, to some including Malott, nothing has been done so far despite the formation of a Parliamentary Select Committee in the aftermath of the landmark July 9, 2011 Bersih 2.0 rally for free and fair elections.

“I don’t think anything has been done yet. All talk, no action. The point is, these reforms need to be put in place before the general elections are held, or the results will not be credible,” said Malott.

Lip service

Bersih 2.0, a clean polls pressure group, had demanded that 8 measures be implemented ahead of GE-13. These include 1. Clean the electoral roll 2. Reform postal ballot 3. Use of indelible ink 4. Minimum 21 days campaign period 5. Free and fair access to media 6. Strengthen public institutions 7. Stop corruption 8. Stop dirty politics.

However, apart from the recently announced decision to adopt indelible ink, few concessions have been made by the BN-controlled PSC while many counter-proposals have been floated that the Bersih committee has objected to on the basis that these made the situation worse than before.

Most glaringly, the Election Commission has evaded the issue of cleaning up the electoral roll, while the Pakatan Rakyat has been exposing case after case of false names and phantom voters on the registered list.

Additionally, nothing has been done to strengthen the public institutions, or to stop dirty politics. As for corruption, behind the lip service deployed by the Najib administration, abuse of power has actually worsened with Umno leaders rushing in a free-for-all ‘last grab’ before GE-13, when it is highly plausible that they may finally lose their 5-decade hold on the country.

RTM and Bernama

To Malott, perhaps the reform that could most help the Pakatan and which has been totally ignored by Najib is the free and fair access to the media.

“I think the most important reform of all is to make sure that RTM and Bernama, which are owned by all the people of Malaysia, are fair and balanced in their reporting,” said Malott, the US envoy to Kuala Lumpur from 1995 to 1998.

“Right now they act like they belong to UMNO and not the Government. The restrictions on distribution of the opposition’s newspapers also should be removed. The ruling parties and the opposition should be treated the same. That is the only fair way.” - Malaysia Chronicle

Malaysia Chronicle will publish the full text of the exclusive interview with John Malott together with Part Three of the Interview.