A ‘Better Malaysia Assembly’ to save the nation’s future

 

From Nazir Razak

In a few days time Malaysia is likely to see the swearing-in of its ninth prime minister and in the days or weeks that follow a whole new cabinet of ministers will be sworn-in too.

They will have a good honeymoon because during this period the pandemic will subside – it has to, given our world-beating rate of vaccinations and the number of people already infected.

Then the new government will start facing up to business as usual of governing Malaysia. Will they prove materially different to past governments?

Or will they be substantially just as frustrating for the rakyat?

If so, Malaysians will turn to the next general election (GE15) and hope that it will bring us the good government we desperately need.

But what are the chances of that given the electoral system is substantially the same (even with the possible addition of the 18 to 20-year olds)? What are the chances that we end up roughly back where we are today?

We are in a system where no one party or coalition has a comfortable majority to govern properly. Where deals are being cut not by trading policies but durians (apparently the codeword for cash) and positions.

Where the prime minister is so powerful, he (so far only he) can use the enforcement powers to his advantage. Where good people go into politics and turn bad in order to stay in the game.

Where reforms are racially-labelled so as to stop them in their tracks. Where we don’t have an economy but only a “political economy” – every business seems to rely on the government for licences, permits, contracts, regulations or ownership rules or for GLCs to give way.

Where our best talents want to work overseas, yet we all know that in the 4th Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) it is entrepreneurship and innovation that drives success. Where our social safety net has been found so wanting by the pandemic.

What we need is a national reset, a holistic overhaul of our democracy, institutions and socio-economy. This would not be the first time.

We did it after May 13, 1969 when the Westminster system we inherited crashed following the general election that year (GE3).

Our leaders realised that the system the British recommended did not work for our multicultural society and unique history and configurations.

A National Consultative Council (NCC) of 67 individual thinkers, experts and communal leaders debated and made intercommunal trade-offs to arrive at a new system, a Malaysia 2.0.

The New Economic Policy (NEP), new sedition laws, Rukun Negara and government by a grand coalition (Barisan Nasional) was a national reset with a view to bring political stability and accelerate the economic foundations for social integration.

The authors of the reset believed that the system would work but they knew that it could not last forever, and that it would have to be improved. There might even need to be another reset. They even set a 20-year time limit in the case of the NEP.

Negative side effects

The system did bring political stability, economic growth, poverty reduction and intercommunal wealth rebalancing but also negative side effects like corruption, communal tension and centralisation of power.

In 1990 the NEP was renamed but extended and the rest of the system continued substantially the same. The longer it went on, the more the negative side effects overwhelmed the good it was doing.

Indeed, the system even built its own immunity to change. The Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib Razak and Mahathir Mohamad 2.0 administrations all promised substantial reforms at the start, but all largely failed to overcome vested interest and a parliamentary system of elected representatives more in tune with the wishes of their party whips and winning the next election.

We are not alone in being frustrated by politics and politicians. In an era where electorates the world over are increasingly turned off by representative democracy, many are turning to forms of “deliberative democracy” where new platforms for debate by citizens themselves, intellectuals and communal leaders are set up to address long-term systemic issues that can’t be handled by parliaments of politicians.

These platforms then arrive at recommendations that are tabled to the Parliament and/or a referendum by the people.

There are now many successful examples for deliberative platforms, such as Ireland’s Citizens’ Assembly that finally resolved the contentious abortion issue, among others, and Obsevatorio de la Cuidad in Madrid and Ostbeljien in east Belgium which are permanent citizens’ assemblies.

In many ways our NCC was ahead of its time, so we can proudly look back to our past innovativeness to find a better path to the future.

Times have changed and we should not replicate exactly what we did in 1970 when everything was driven by then prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein as head of the National Operations Council (NOC).

Better Malaysia Assembly

Today, we would need to have a much more consultative, inclusive and less elitist process. And we should build the agenda into the name of the council – let’s call it the “Better Malaysia Assembly” (BMA).

To underline its importance and mandate it should be set up under the auspices of the  Council of Rulers with the instruction that its recommendations be submitted to Parliament and/or a referendum.

The composition of the assembly should be subject to a process, with individuals nominated by Parliament, the executive and civil society. Ideally every Malaysian will be able to look at one or more of the members as someone they can trust and believe in.

Then, the final list should be agreed to by the leaders of the government and of the opposition. Any disagreements should be resolved by the Council of Rulers with finality.

The BMA cannot resolve all our problems, but it can go a very long way. It needs to focus on the most important systemic issues.

That would mean starting with a reaffirmation (or otherwise) of the definitions of nationhood – political system and governance, and implicit social contracts covering language, affirmative action and education.

There can be time frames for fundamental changes like affirmative action and education systems.

Based on these definitions and time frames, reforms to institutions, legislation and policies would then be crafted touching on the electoral system, political funding, eradicating corruption, federal-state relationship, role of government in the economy and so on.

When I was researching the subject of national resets at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford in 2019, I was often told that resets really only happen when there is a severe crisis.

I was adamant that we should not wait for one because the cost of prolonging a bad system is so high.

Malaysia is not a failed state, but it is a nation in decline. When I got back, I teamed up with Dr Anis Yusal of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), to interview over 200 people from across Malaysian society on what ails the nation and also concluded that we need a national reset.

Ironically, soon after we finished our work, Malaysia became mired in an almighty pandemic that certainly cost many more lives than May 13, 1969.

We have a severe crisis that has exposed deep flaws in our system. We have had three different prime ministers and governments in less than three years. Will a fourth one be better?

Maybe, but will a new prime minister be enough to change this nation’s worrying trajectory, driven by its flawed system? I fear not.

That is why I am proposing, that in addition to appointing a new prime minister and cabinet, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Council of Rulers initiate setting up the BMA to begin the process of a national reset: Malaysians deserve, and can have, a Better Malaysia.- FMT

Nazir Razak is the former CIMB group chairman.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.