Has Malaysia learned to accept centrist politics?

 

It’s been a few weeks since the recent state elections in Kelantan, Terengganu, Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Negeri Sembilan. What is the talk now?

It would seem there is nothing much to talk about anymore. So, what does that mean? It means more or less that the status quo remains, and nothing has changed that much. The three states under the Pakatan Harapan unity administration remain, and the three Perikatan Nasional states remain.

The hype over the elections was strong when the time was approaching because it was seen as the testing bed of whether the Harapan unity administration still had the mandate and support of the people after the general elections in November last year.

I guess it needed that because there wasn’t a real clear winner during that election and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had to enter into a coalition with some unlikely partners, namely Umno.

I have always mentioned prior to last year’s general election that a unity government, or a Confidence and Supply Agreement, was the way to go. It is the best centrist move that a prime minister can make.

It would try to satisfy as many sides of the coin as possible because they all have to come to some form of compromise to be in power and if any side goes against it, the coalition crumbles and no one wins. That’s how I see the situation the current federal government is in.

But Malaysia isn’t used to centrist politics. They need a clear winner and loser. It’s like playing football. If there is no winner at the end of the game, it goes into overtime, and if that still doesn’t work out, it’s penalty shootout time. There needs to be a winner and a loser so that everyone can go back satisfied.

In Malaysian politics, the parties and their supporters are so caught up in their own righteousness that they can’t accept any vague or grey result.

With the current unity government, Malaysia needs to get used to the new centrist approach. I think it is the best way to avoid political extremism. BN, which is dominantly Umno, has to pull their right-wing ideas more to the centre if they want to work with Harapan.

Harapan needs to pull their left-wing ideas (honestly, it’s more like less right right-wing) more to the centre too if they want to work to be in power.

So, has that been the case since the November election last year? Has Malaysian politics and Malaysians learned to be centrist after all that has happened?

That’s another reason why the recent state elections were supposed to be significant. It was supposed to be an indicator of how Malaysia moves forward. And after all the dust has settled down, I guess we can deduce that Malaysians have learned well and are okay with having a centrist government. However, that is if we look at the bigger picture.

‘Green Wave’

If we look at the more minute details of the state elections, we can also see certain trends that could be a matter of concern. The most obvious is the ‘Green Wave’ that PN predicted would happen.

The ‘Green Wave’ is supposed to be the great movement that will bring the conservative Malay right-wingers who are tired of the current government’s ‘liberal’ stand back into power.

Although this ‘Green Wave’ didn’t really become a wave (more of a pebble ripple), there is some truth to it. The three states that were under PN’s rule continue to be under their rule, and with more strength.

Kelantan, Terengganu and especially Kedah saw their seats in the state assemblies strengthened. The biggest loser was Umno as they lost in most of the seats they contested against PN.

It means that the right-wing conservative support that BN brings to the unity government is basically lost. These supporters are showing their dissatisfaction with BN’s decision to enter into the unity pact with Harapan by voting for PN.

They are probably afraid that liberals will take over and feel that Umno is selling out in order to stay in power. So, they’ve moved over to PN now.

The other thing that is of concern is that during my observations of the campaigning, some of the issues that were raised didn’t really show much of the centre taking centre stage.

Politicians from Harapan were trying to appease the right-wing conservatives by pandering to them to gain their support and votes. Issues like religious conservatism, racial rights and the like sound a little dangerous when Harapan members start talking about it in more right-wing issues.

If this becomes more prevalent, then the centrist government will disappear, and it will end up veering towards the right. By that sentence alone, I guess I’m coming off as more of a leftist then huh?

But with that being said, I’m actually a big supporter of centrist politics. I like the idealism of compromise and give and take when it comes to democracy and government because no matter what you believe, whoever wins an election will still have to represent and govern people who didn’t vote for them.

So, the lesson that we need to take away from the recent state elections is that we need to understand that Malaysia has many different people with different ideologies, beliefs and cultures. That means we cannot veer away from any extreme because that would mean sidelining other people.

We need to learn to be understanding and accepting of our differences and when this happens, compromise can help us move forward and progress as a nation and as a people. - Mkini

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ZAN AZLEE is a writer, documentary film-maker, journalist and academic. The Sheraton move really frustrated him but maybe after November 2022, he can start feeling better again. Visit fatbidin.com to view his work.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.