Two-party system the way to go, says Dr M

 

Two-time former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad says there is a tendency for leaders to abuse their power if they are at the helm for too long.

PETALING JAYA: A two-party system is “the best” due to the political stability it affords, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad suggested today.

Mahathir, who led the country for 22 years from 1981, followed by a 22-month stretch between 2018 and 2020, also spoke of the tendency for leaders to abuse their power if they are at the helm for too long.

Speaking at the KL Summit today, Mahathir said that while democracy gives people freedom to form political parties and contest elections, this often means voters have “too many” parties to choose from.

“The best system is a two-party democracy where one or the other will win,” he said during the online conference.

“None will have the majority to govern if there are too many parties in a democracy.

That, he said, would lead to a marriage of convenience, which will not work well as the small party will demand a lot, knowing that the coalition will fall without it.

The two-time prime minister added that a two-party system is seen in almost all successful Western democracies, giving England (Conservative and Labour) and the United States (Republican and Democratic) as examples.

Referring to the Barisan Nasional and its predecessor, Alliance, Mahathir also said that Malaysia was ruled by a “stable” coalition of 13 parties that won every general election over 60 years and the country functioned “quite well”.

Also known as the Perdana Dialogue 2021, the conference with the theme “System of Government” also saw Mahathir repeatedly stress the need for good governance.

Pointing to the tendency for leaders to abuse their powers if they stay for too long, Mahathir said any political system will fail if it does not have quality leaders.

“We all try to improve on systems. But it’s not the system that is the problem, it’s the people who are operating the system,” he said, adding that many countries do not take the issue of governing seriously.

He cited this as an example as to why a large number of migrants look to Europe as an attractive destination to live.

“Everyone feels they are qualified to run a country. But a leader should be someone who is capable and is moved by a certain passion to do something good for the country.” - FMT