Kudos to the voters who ousted the Najib government and ended the Malaysian police state. Again, the pollsters and political pundits got it wrong. But the true believers did not waver in their conviction that change was nigh and the rule of the kleptocrats would end. In my last article before GE14, I wrote contrary to the prediction of a BN win.
Rafizi Ramli and Invoke were steadfast in their conviction of winning based on their painstaking research. He is among the new breed of technocrat-leaders needed to govern the country. His voice must be heard. I trust the new government will find him some major role to play. And all the spurious charges against him, even the revealing of official secrets, should be quashed. The circumstances were exceptional.
Lest we forget, there are many unsung heroes whose roles and contributions began decades ago even during the Mahathir years. Malaysiakini was pivotal in creating a media culture of truth. Others emulated. Social media was rife with patriots - ordinary citizens, both at home and abroad - who boldly and openly criticised the kleptocrats.
Sarawak Report’s Clare Rewcastle Brown deserves special mention for exposing the sins of Taib Mahmud and Najib Razak. Malaysiakini columnist Sydneysider Dean Johns was incomparable and unprecedented in his verbal assault on the kleptocrats. Mariam Mokhtar was incisive and straight to the point in exposing the wrongdoings.
The American Malaysian surgeon, M Bakri Musa, proved the truth never hurt a good cause. KJ John wrote without fear or favour. Haris Ibrahim garnered support for a people’s government. Patrick Teoh lent his voice to the cause. Still, there are many unnamed and unsung heroes, including ordinary citizens who were always there to resist the tyrant. They made change possible.
The saying those who don’t learn from history are wont to repeat it applies to the Pakatan Harapan coalition that has won GE14. Its electoral victory has made history. Many call it a miracle. There is regime change without the violence and bloodshed seen in other countries.
In its attainment of political power, Harapan must never forget the lessons from history. History teaches us many things about the rise and fall of leaders and political parties. Governments are led by fallible people and no one is immune from the temptations of power that cause many to commit wrongdoings once used to power.
Never again must the nation undergo the pains of the past when governance was autocratic. And dissent attracted a spurious charge. The government became corrupt and corrupted every public institution. The Najib government proved the worst.
The nation owes a debt to incumbent PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad for his role in ousting Najib. Yet history reminds us that Mahathir’s 22 years in power, albeit the economic dynamism, did leave a bad taste in many people’s mouths. He, too, was accused of running a Machiavellian state after Operation Lalang.
History now allows him the opportunity to undo his past legacy. A leader for good not evil must now be Mahathir’s legacy. And the nation stands behind and alongside him. The nation wants Mahathir to succeed.
That said, there are 10 things Malaysians must not forget:
1. We must remember power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Mahathir set out to save the nation. He accused Najib of running a police state. And his solution was to oust Najib and his government of clowns and cowards who now rue about not telling their boss the truth.
If Harapan is serious about undoing all the wrongs of the past, it must give priority to dismantling the structures of autocracy. The leader must not be given such absolute power as we saw with Najib. Cutting the number of ministers is prudent and so too must be the reduction in the powers of the leader.
Power to administer is crucial but not the power to govern above the rule of law. The checks and balances of the different arms of government must be restored. Judges must be independent and the entire police force that has to be revamped into a professional outfit. The other day, while attending court, I met a former high-ranking police officer who divulged that 95 percent of the police force is corrupt in one way or another. How true that is I don’t know, but it was a shocking revelation.
Lest we forget, the nation must never again allow anyone and any political party to hold absolute power. For it is in the absolutism of political power when corrupted and abused that a nation becomes a dictatorship and kleptocracy.
2. We must remember a nation must not eat itself. By this, I mean a country as diverse as Malaysian must never again fall into the trap of neo-colonialism. ‘Keturunan Melayu’ or the perverted concept of racial superiority has done irreparable harm to Malaysia.
The superimposition of the idea of racial supremacy meant the rights and freedoms of others were denied legitimacy. One side ate into the province of others and the overall result is a total loss to the nation. A nation self-destructs by self-devouring itself, dog-eat-dog style, only it is one citizen eating into the rights and liberties of another based on race and politics.
Nationhood means diversity. But under previous governments, Malay nationalism unfairly superimposed itself on the nation. Umno accentuated this ‘neo-colonial’ approach by coercing everyone to comply with national dress codes, etc. Much was done to subjugate the non-Malays so that countless numbers who felt helpless to protest emigrated. What else could they do?
Government departments, the police and enforcement departments and everything owned by the government became Malay dominions. The result is a mono-cultural administrative culture that does not employ and deploy the best human resources. Meritocracy died in the public service and mediocrity replaced it.
Reforming the bureaucracy will be a gargantuan challenge. What is needed is a genuine entwining of the races in a common political and economic and social destiny. Many misguided Muslims do not understand their religion so the BN religious leaders misguided them and tried to create a ‘they’ and ‘us’ nation. It did not work. It will never work. Look at Saudi Arabia trying to dismantle years of religious separatist ideas that failed. Now they want change, they want their society to have what Malaysians have had for a long time.
Abdul Razak Hussein’s New Economic Policy meant to help the Malays failed to help all those in need and where needed most. Its ‘bastardisation’, as one of his sons described its failure, resulted in politically connected elites enriching themselves through dubious projects, outright thefts and other means of kleptocracy. Policy became the pretext for race discrimination and the statistics don’t lie.
It took an honest and intrepid Dr Lim Teck Ghee from the government body Asli to challenge the idea the Malays did not own 30 percent of public companies by the 80s. The truth found a voice in the no-nonsense erudite academician but at the cost of his job in protest.
Never again must the nation allow itself to be plundered by political warlords and a leader who is corrupt. History is full of lessons for the new government who are well-educated on the subject. Mahathir has a tainted past as Barry Wain wrote in his book ‘Malaysian Maverick’ and it behoves Mahathir to never allow the mistakes to be repeated.
To err is human and to forgive is divine. But the one who does not err again makes a better human and leader. I pray Mahathir will be constructive and not controversial this time.
3. We must remember not to muzzle the media. The emperor needs to know he is naked. Had there been no social media, a bold and timely online newspaper like Malaysiakini and outspoken bloggers, the kleptocrats might have ruled indefinitely.
The Anti-Fake News law was to silence the critics and whistleblowers. The idea Malaysiakini has no locus standi to legally act against it is wrong. Every citizen affected by a law that affects them has locus standi to object. The pro-kleptocrat law is an ass and must go along with Najib.
Malaysians are media savvy. Any urban legend that spreads in social media is quickly corrected. Malaysiakini, though threatened with closure and ostracised by the government, grew from strength to strength. The government-owned or linked media suffered instead. Sarawak Report and Clare Rewcastle-Brown (photo) exposed scandals as no one else could. There is no need for a fake Anti-Fake News law now that its creators are politically decimated.
Never again must the government clamp down on news critical of it. Its response must be the truth and its own actions. A government that abuses its authority to muzzle the media has something to hide and we see it unravelling with the investigations into the Najib administration.
4. We must remember race-based and religion-based political parties divided the nation. The Alliance Party left a tradition of race-based political parties led by Umno. The BN government was simply window-dressing its racist agenda and the carpetbaggers in MCA and MIC lent it a false image.
The voters in GE14 have clearly ditched the ethnocentric political parties. It is time to do away with ethnic political parties. It is utter hypocrisy to have a coalition of ‘divide and rule’ ethnic political parties. PKR and DAP multiracial open-door policy parties are the future.
PAS will never be accepted except in the economically backward and underdeveloped states. However, that is the prerogative of the voters in Kelantan and Terengganu. It did relatively well in GE14 but that’s the extent of its influence. It would do better fighting corruption, not the new government.
5. We must remember the abuse of religion for political purposes does harm to the religion itself. The instances of Muslim leaders who imposed their opinions on the teachings of Islam and backed by their political sponsors misrepresented Islam. The ‘Allah’ brouhaha split Muslims and the nation to the delight of the ruling politicians. Failing to have any traction with the Chinese bogeyman, they turned to the Christian bogeyman.
Malaysians must never allow Islam to be used as a political football to divide Muslims and the nation. No one is challenging Islam’s role in the nation. Religion is a private matter. The new government would want to encourage those of different faiths to get along with one another through their normal activities. Stop and punish those who spread lies and create communal distrust.
6. We must remember racists and race groups create tension among diverse communities. Najib has much to answer for allowing the festering of racist groups to intimidate, harass and taunt others not of their race. Malaysia was a harmonious place and devoid of open religious confrontation until the Red Shirts and ultra-muftis appeared in the public arena.
Never again must any group exist whose sole purpose is to create disharmony, intimidate and harass, and promote racial arrogance. They should be condemned as agent provocateurs of dirty politics and banned if they cause trouble. Freedom of expression does not include the freedom to hurt, slander and offend and cause public mischief.
7. We must remember ‘string-pulling’ and the ‘who you know’ way of getting things done, thus bypassing proper procedures in place, are what destroys a society. I hear of errant motorists who have countless unpaid traffic fines who can get someone they know to cancel or reduce the fines. Then there are queue-jumpers, people who have connections who can get favours done for them, ahead of the queue.
Until everyone is treated fairly without fear or favour, and no one should be at a disadvantage because they don’t have friends in high places, governance opens itself to abuse and corruption.
8. We must remember the former government created an odious division in the country by dichotomising the people into ‘they’ and ‘us’ like what the British colonialists did.
Mahathir now has a second crack at his vision of a Bangsa Malaysia. There is no need to artificially create one. All that is needed is for the government not to create policies of division. Let the people mix freely and don’t emphasise the differences but accentuate the similarities. Promote a live-and-let-live policy without the excesses of a liberal and decadent state seen abroad where anything goes.
How were Malays and non-Malays able to co-exist without any qualms in the old days? We grew up without today’s hang-ups. Those were the days when Malays and non-Malays ate together in the same restaurants, studied and grew up together in the same school learning a foreign language, and Malay boys dated Chinese girls and vice versa. No Muslim felt threatened or were confused as they seem to be during the Najib era. We watched P Ramlee and Saloma movies and laughed at Wahid Satay, Ibrahim Pendek and other Malay comedians.
Never again must the leaders in the new government allow the subversives and ill-taught religious leaders or activists to influence others into their peculiar form of religion. Religion must find common ground to create a country of morality dictated not by business interests and money but common decency found in the moral teachings of all religions.
Righteousness elevates quality of life for everyone. We can’t be too heavenly-minded to be of no earthly use and a thorn to our neighbours.
9. We must remember many Malaysians left the country and rude politicians called them traitors and used unkind words on them. Never again should Harapan allow anyone to question another bona fide citizen of his or her nationality or loyalty. To question this is to undermine the constitution. No one who is a citizen is a foreigner. There should be a law to punish anyone who denigrates another on account of their race or religion.
Not everyone who left to live permanently abroad is disloyal. They hated the BN policies of discrimination and the corrupt government, not the country or its people.
10. We must remember the over-politicking and politicising of nearly every facet of life in the country is unproductive. The BN government indulged in it and took every opportunity to politicise everything they touched. Government-funded projects became BN or Umno projects. Government became synonymous with Umno. That must end.
Malaysia has come of age. GE14 bears testimony to its political maturity. National unity does not mean everyone has to agree on everything or that dissent is anything but a difference of opinion. Sometimes the more intelligent and creative we are, the more we disagree. But the mature and wise know when to agree to disagree, to give and take, and maintain a spirit of unity.
Harapan is astute in not burdening its de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim with any onerous responsibilities while he acculturates to life outside prison. The time is now for Mahathir to lead. He has earned the mandate - first from the opposition leaders and then the voters. A mountain can have only one tiger.
As I moved about the country, I could feel a sense of freedom. After GE14 and the routing of an arrogant and abusive BN government, the mood of the nation has changed. There is an unmistakable sense of a heavy burden lifted from everyone’s shoulders. They no longer feel ‘Big Brother’ is watching.
The rakyat though is watching. And the world too. Malaysia has proven it is among the leading democracies albeit the serious flaws. It is a lesson for countries that political change is possible with patience. The corrupt ultimately create their own destruction.
Rome was not built in a day and it will take time to build the new Malaysia. The new government is ready. The rakyat are ready. They want Harapan to succeed. But humans being fallible, if any of the leaders become corrupt, they will be pursued with the same tenacity that destroyed the BN kleptocrats.
Malaysia will rise to new heights.
STEVE OH is the author of the novel ‘Tiger King of the Golden Jungle’ and composer of the musical of the same title. He believes in good governance and morally upright leaders. -Mkini
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