MP SPEAKS | The forthcoming Johor state election is clearly a contest between going back to the old normal and constructing a new order.
The excuse given by Menteri Besar Hasni Mohammad from Umno for dissolving the state assembly showed exactly how Umno and BN want to bring us back to the old normal - to the one-party rule order.
A one-seat majority state government is not new in Malaysia. After the Pengkalan Pasir by-election in December 2005, the Kelantan state government under the leadership of the late Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat had a majority of only one seat.
At that time, PAS was an opposition party at the federal level. Yet, the PAS state government survived and was only dissolved three years later, for the 2008 general election.
Compared to the present Johor scenario, the sitting prime minister, as well as the menteri besar, are both from Umno. Most importantly, Umno has large decision-making power in both the federal and state governments. Yet, the party feels that it is difficult to govern Johor because it only has a one-seat majority.
What does this tell us, especially when we compare Kelantan in 2005 and present time Johor?
Basically, Umno and BN reject the new order where it is possible for a government to function under a slim majority. They greedily covet a two-third solid control as in the pre-2018 era.
To many Umno and BN supporters, the pre-2018 period was stable and prosperous as they had their established network and cable in all aspects of our economy and life. They knew how to settle the various issues by knowing who was among those in power.
Know-who vs know-how
In such a world, know-who is more important than know-how to achieve success in life. And in such a world, those without the "right background", especially young Malaysians, will have no opportunity to prove themselves for success, no matter how hard they work because they are unable to penetrate into the network of know-whos.
Fortunately, the first regime change in Malaysia in 2018 deconstructed the establishment and its old normal. Yet, among the debris of the old establishment, a new order has yet to be fully constructed before the process of rebuilding was cut short by the treachery of the Sheraton Move.
The old normal quickly found ways to restore itself and now those of the old regime want to claim back their old power.
The question now is, how the opposition and Malaysians who envision building a better Malaysia should respond to the current crisis? What do we do to prevent the resurrection of the old normal?
Malaysia in 2018 was similar to Taiwan in 2000. Before the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the 2000 presidential election, Taiwan had a one-party Kuomintang (KMT) government for more than six decades.
Two terms later, by 2008, KMT managed to wrestle back power from DPP. KMT would govern for another two terms before being replaced by DPP again in 2016. Thus, a single-party hegemony was crushed and a new democratic order was established in Taiwan.
In the case of Malaysia, the Pakatan Harapan government did not even have the opportunity to govern a full term after the first regime change in 2018. Harapan only lasted 22 months, ending in treacherous hotel halls.
Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker Naomi Klein, who is known for her political analyses, was right when she wrote, "politics hates a vacuum", at the fall of the Harapan government. The old regime quickly reassembled and rebuilt itself into power. Since 2020, this re-emergence of the old-style power struggle caused Malaysia to change prime ministers three times.
Taking a leaf out of the annals of global history, how did DPP in Taiwan, facing an old establishment which bounced back into power, win the election again in 2016 after their terrible defeat in 2008?
One key contributor to the party's victory was the Sunflower Student Movement in 2014.
In March 2014, young students led a protest and occupied the Taiwan Parliament for more than three weeks - after a trade agreement with China was hastily passed by KMT lawmakers. Students and young Taiwanese rose to the occasion without the backing of any political party.
The movement was in conjunction with “white force”, the death of an army corporal in the military triggered political novices to join politics to demand transparency and justice in the military trial.
The wave catapulted many political amateurs and novices into positions of power. Among them were the current Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-Je. He won the Taipei mayoral election in 2014 as a non-partisan candidate with the backing of DPP. Ko only parted ways with DPP and formed his own party in 2019.
During the 2016 Taiwan presidential and parliamentary election, DPP decided to work with many new parties which were then projected as the third force, namely, Taiwan Social Democratic Party, Green Party and New Power Party. Out of all these parties, only NPP remains politically relevant to this day.
NPP is aligned with DPP in most national issues, but they brand themselves as young people and amateurs who are not with the political establishment. As an established party, DPP cooperated with the new party by campaigning together with them and giving up certain seats to allow the new party to contest. Those seats were then held by KMT but were deemed as winnable for the opposition.
NPP contested four single-member constituencies (SMC) out of 73 constituencies. They won three in the 2016 election. In addition, NPP also gained two extra seats through a proportional representation system of the Taiwanese Parliament.
While DPP rode on the wave of youth uprising to gain victory in the 2016 election, those new and smaller parties also worked strategically with established parties like DPP to gain a breakthrough.
They did not go for DPP hardcore seats or safe seats as those seats could be won easily and did not give any added value to the campaign for change. Instead, they went all out to contest in some of DPP's weakest seats and eventually won.
A surge of young people
Today, we see a similar surge of young people in Malaysia actively participating in politics after Undi18. We have seen ordinary, and, mostly young Malaysians leading the White Flag Movement, Black Flag Movement and the #TangkapAzamBaki campaign.
Meanwhile, one of the youngest elected representatives in Malaysia, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, and his newly-founded party Muda, have announced that they will contest in the coming Johor state election.
With the enfranchisement of young Malaysians through the efforts of Undi18, the heightened political awareness of youth and with new dynamic parties like Muda throwing their hat into the ring, the ingredients for a new political order are now gathered.
Yet, these ingredients can only work powerfully if the opposition parties, old and new, are able to consolidate. The alternative, of course, is Umno flinging us back into the dark eras of the old normal where they ruled unmitigated.
WONG SHU QI is the Kluang MP and a Johor DAP committee member.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
MP SPEAKS | The forthcoming Johor state election is clearly a contest between going back to the old normal and constructing a new order.
The excuse given by Menteri Besar Hasni Mohammad from Umno for dissolving the state assembly showed exactly how Umno and BN want to bring us back to the old normal - to the one-party rule order.
A one-seat majority state government is not new in Malaysia. After the Pengkalan Pasir by-election in December 2005, the Kelantan state government under the leadership of the late Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat had a majority of only one seat.
At that time, PAS was an opposition party at the federal level. Yet, the PAS state government survived and was only dissolved three years later, for the 2008 general election.
Compared to the present Johor scenario, the sitting prime minister, as well as the menteri besar, are both from Umno. Most importantly, Umno has large decision-making power in both the federal and state governments. Yet, the party feels that it is difficult to govern Johor because it only has a one-seat majority.
What does this tell us, especially when we compare Kelantan in 2005 and present time Johor?
Basically, Umno and BN reject the new order where it is possible for a government to function under a slim majority. They greedily covet a two-third solid control as in the pre-2018 era.
To many Umno and BN supporters, the pre-2018 period was stable and prosperous as they had their established network and cable in all aspects of our economy and life. They knew how to settle the various issues by knowing who was among those in power.
Know-who vs know-how
In such a world, know-who is more important than know-how to achieve success in life. And in such a world, those without the "right background", especially young Malaysians, will have no opportunity to prove themselves for success, no matter how hard they work because they are unable to penetrate into the network of know-whos.
Fortunately, the first regime change in Malaysia in 2018 deconstructed the establishment and its old normal. Yet, among the debris of the old establishment, a new order has yet to be fully constructed before the process of rebuilding was cut short by the treachery of the Sheraton Move.
The old normal quickly found ways to restore itself and now those of the old regime want to claim back their old power.
The question now is, how the opposition and Malaysians who envision building a better Malaysia should respond to the current crisis? What do we do to prevent the resurrection of the old normal?
Malaysia in 2018 was similar to Taiwan in 2000. Before the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the 2000 presidential election, Taiwan had a one-party Kuomintang (KMT) government for more than six decades.
Two terms later, by 2008, KMT managed to wrestle back power from DPP. KMT would govern for another two terms before being replaced by DPP again in 2016. Thus, a single-party hegemony was crushed and a new democratic order was established in Taiwan.
In the case of Malaysia, the Pakatan Harapan government did not even have the opportunity to govern a full term after the first regime change in 2018. Harapan only lasted 22 months, ending in treacherous hotel halls.
Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker Naomi Klein, who is known for her political analyses, was right when she wrote, "politics hates a vacuum", at the fall of the Harapan government. The old regime quickly reassembled and rebuilt itself into power. Since 2020, this re-emergence of the old-style power struggle caused Malaysia to change prime ministers three times.
Taking a leaf out of the annals of global history, how did DPP in Taiwan, facing an old establishment which bounced back into power, win the election again in 2016 after their terrible defeat in 2008?
One key contributor to the party's victory was the Sunflower Student Movement in 2014.
In March 2014, young students led a protest and occupied the Taiwan Parliament for more than three weeks - after a trade agreement with China was hastily passed by KMT lawmakers. Students and young Taiwanese rose to the occasion without the backing of any political party.
The movement was in conjunction with “white force”, the death of an army corporal in the military triggered political novices to join politics to demand transparency and justice in the military trial.
The wave catapulted many political amateurs and novices into positions of power. Among them were the current Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-Je. He won the Taipei mayoral election in 2014 as a non-partisan candidate with the backing of DPP. Ko only parted ways with DPP and formed his own party in 2019.
During the 2016 Taiwan presidential and parliamentary election, DPP decided to work with many new parties which were then projected as the third force, namely, Taiwan Social Democratic Party, Green Party and New Power Party. Out of all these parties, only NPP remains politically relevant to this day.
NPP is aligned with DPP in most national issues, but they brand themselves as young people and amateurs who are not with the political establishment. As an established party, DPP cooperated with the new party by campaigning together with them and giving up certain seats to allow the new party to contest. Those seats were then held by KMT but were deemed as winnable for the opposition.
NPP contested four single-member constituencies (SMC) out of 73 constituencies. They won three in the 2016 election. In addition, NPP also gained two extra seats through a proportional representation system of the Taiwanese Parliament.
While DPP rode on the wave of youth uprising to gain victory in the 2016 election, those new and smaller parties also worked strategically with established parties like DPP to gain a breakthrough.
They did not go for DPP hardcore seats or safe seats as those seats could be won easily and did not give any added value to the campaign for change. Instead, they went all out to contest in some of DPP's weakest seats and eventually won.
A surge of young people
Today, we see a similar surge of young people in Malaysia actively participating in politics after Undi18. We have seen ordinary, and, mostly young Malaysians leading the White Flag Movement, Black Flag Movement and the #TangkapAzamBaki campaign.
Meanwhile, one of the youngest elected representatives in Malaysia, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, and his newly-founded party Muda, have announced that they will contest in the coming Johor state election.
With the enfranchisement of young Malaysians through the efforts of Undi18, the heightened political awareness of youth and with new dynamic parties like Muda throwing their hat into the ring, the ingredients for a new political order are now gathered.
Yet, these ingredients can only work powerfully if the opposition parties, old and new, are able to consolidate. The alternative, of course, is Umno flinging us back into the dark eras of the old normal where they ruled unmitigated. - Mkini
WONG SHU QI is the Kluang MP and a Johor DAP committee member.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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