'Bold moderniser' faces brick wall in reform drive

There was a time when the Far Eastern Economic Review was the must read international publication on what was going on in the political front in Malaysia.

One established one's bona fides as a member of the Malaysian intelligentsia by recourse to FEER's reports on the politics of the country.

When declining revenues forced the Hong Kong-based weekly to go out of circulation in the middle of the last decade, The Economist supplanted FEER as the newspaper to read on not only Malaysian but also Southeast Asian politics.

But by the time the London-based Economist came on as the substitute, Malaysian journalists were already beginning to revel in a new-found freedom to post news on the web that had the effect of reducing their readers' reliance on international publications for the dope on what was going on in the country.

No longer was a subscription to the Economist or before that theFEER certification that the holder was a member of the intelligentsia.

These days you are more likely to be recognised as a member of the captive class in Malaysia if your only recourse to the news and commentaries on it is the mainstream media, with no access to the web news portals and blogs that teem with what's going on.

Embarrassment or a sense of deprivation is the lot of people caught in this situation when interacting with their web-accessing brethren.

The deprived in Malaysia are those who base their vote solely on the menu offered by the mainstream media.

Their opposites, the ‘info-haves', are those who not only have access to the web but also to publications like The Economistagainst whose reports they can tally the stuff they gain from the net.

This way they have a better way of knowing whether or not they really know.

Umno hardliners unmoved

A fortnight ago, The Economist offered a rather jaundiced view of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's prospects in the aftermath of his acquittal on a charge of sodomy by the High Court.

It held that Anwar, though freed, was tarnished by the episode and remained a distant and untrustworthy figure to young voters, in particular.

The newspaper went on to say that a jailed Anwar would have been more useful to the Malaysian opposition as a focus of resistance to the ruling BN government.

The tendentious propositions advanced by The Economist in their take on Anwar had the effect of generating debate more than conclusion.

This week their editorials on the administration of Prime Minister Najib Razak were a contrast to their reviews on Anwar in that it offered more conclusions than debatable propositions.

The firmest one was that Najib has reformed his government just enough to alienate his party's hardliners but not enough to draw support from middle Malaysia.

From the tenor of its reportage - The Economist uses laudatory terms like "bold moderniser" and "English-educated" to describe Najib - it's clear the paper wants Najib to succeed in his drive for reform and its disappointment is evident that it has not.

The paper says the PM's push for reform has stalled because he is unable to move Umno's ground troops.

It refrains from asking why Najib is unable to shift his party's infantry - an omission that was reminiscent of the paper's lack of curiosity, in its earlier reports on Anwar, of the latter's significance to regional politics - a career tied to the world-historical issue of whether Islam is compatible with democracy.

Daunting odds

No reformer can be bold if he is does not epitomise the reform he espouses.

Najib is too effete to be the face of the change he propounds. Like his predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, he wavers when the going gets tough.

The Economistpoints to the decision of the attorney-general to file notice of intent to appeal the High Court judgment acquitting Anwar of sodomy as emblematic of the stall in Najib's drive for reform.

No "bold moderniser" can afford to dither when faced with daunting odds. Either he takes the bit between the teeth or caves in to reactionary forces.

The Economist has got it right that Najib's reform drive has stalled. It suggests he is courting "electoral disaster" if he calls for polls while trapped in a stall.

The next question is that can any other leader in Umno fare better given that the forces of reaction in the party and government have stumped Najib's predecessor and now him.

Two stumpings of its principal leaders ought to mean that Umno's 55-year innings have reached a terminus of sorts.

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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.