Can reconstituted multiracial parties rescue Malaysia?

 

There has long been a sense of disillusionment with the present race-based party system in Malaysia. However, when proposals are put forward to change the system, critics, especially armchair critics and dogmatists, quickly knock down those ideas as being undoable.

Among the major political parties, both DAP and PKR were founded with the principle of being multi-racial.

However, both experiments have not been successful as public perception sees their leadership and membership as essentially following the dynamics and mould of the traditional racial parties.

Many members of the public have just given up on the idea of a genuine grassroots-based multiracial party with membership, leadership, and agenda that are fully representative of the nation’s diverse racial stakeholders.

Thus, they feel they have to live with the reality of the status quo in Malaysian politics, leaving the country stuck with the toxic mix of race-based identity politics.

This failure to establish undoubted and unalloyed multiracial parties in place of the racially based or racially dominant ones in the coalition system of today is much more than just the Achilles heel of Malaysia’s politics. It affects everything else.

Candidates, party manifestos, campaigning, the composition of cabinets, and the government. All these forces and dynamics are racially based and have to reward and provide justification to their respective racial constituencies in national policy-making.

Race-based politics and political parties that are part of Malaysia’s political culture and heritage are holding the nation back.

The concept of a possible third force has been touted as a solution. However, creating any third force with new or old political parties that remain as they are and have not changed in any meaningful way has not generated public support or enjoyed any electoral success.

Changing demographics

Malaysia’s changing demographics indicate that a Malay-centric coalition made up of racial and religious parties may soon become the natural government at the federal level and in the majority of states. This will take the nation on a more pronounced ethno-religious trajectory.

This ethno-nationalistic trend is occurring while the rest of the world has adopted a neo-globalistic view of the world. Middle Eastern countries are drifting away from their religion-centric stances with some of the Gulf States as living examples of this today.

Many nations have realised that the cost of not reforming politics and political parties could end in a revolt by their citizens.

Nothing as drastic as that has happened in Malaysia yet. However, hopelessness and despair are taking their toll as evidenced by the increasing brain drain.

Today the mobility of Malaysians is much greater than ever before. Malaysia’s best talent, both Malay and non-Malay, will just pack up and leave if politics and the resultant political system remain unchanged.

Ethno-centric governments may miss economic opportunities in developing strong emerging industries, increasing international tourism, attracting highly skilled and capitalised entrepreneurs, and helping to place race-blind innovative forces at the forefront of the economy and society.

The probability that any other form of progressive political or electoral reform such as constituency redelineation or proportional representation can be undertaken, within this or even the next generation, appears to be a non-starter or is highly unlikely.

Under the current system, there is just no interest or willingness by those in power to undertake such an endeavour.

Enter multi-racial political parties

The feasible and achievable option would be to create and incentivise genuine multi-racial politics that are based upon purposely and deliberately formatted multi-racial parties that draw on the existing parties or new ones intending to contest GE16.

Creating two or even three separate multi-racial political parties from the current coalitions in government and the opposition in time to contest in GE16 is definitely a challenge. However, we are of the opinion that this is not impossible.

We are also confident that the evolution of the present system of multiple and fragmented parties in coalitions to one comprising unitary multiracial parties can and will receive widespread public support - if not in GE16, in the following one.

What is also unique in our proposal is that it can provide a new and stronger basis for bringing together the political constituencies from Peninsular and East Malaysia that have drifted further apart as seen in the present development.

The merger of geographical and race-based parties and their convergence into unified multiracial parties drawing support from the national rather than regional electorate will not only help to defuse separatist sentiments. It can strengthen national solidarity and unity.

This is a possibility that proportional representation or the elimination of malapportionment of electorates, even if implemented, would be unable to achieve.

The only way Malaysia can get away from the long-past shelf life of race and religious-based political parties in coalitions is to move towards openly and explicitly multi-racial parties.

If this is done, it will be a big step forward from the existing situation in parties where one or two races are seen as dominant; and multi-racialism is perceived as just a veneer or tokenism.

Any big tent multi-racial political party that can emerge from this must be based on membership from different races and geographical areas joining and working together in the interest of a common national electoral agenda in which racial and religious interests are subordinated to the larger national good.

Opposing forces

Other than the pundits who will throw cold water on this concept, there are likely to be forces that will resist any change to the current party configuration in the prevailing coalition systems.

Other hurdles, some unforeseen, will stand in the way. But they can be overcome if the leadership and membership of the current parties are prepared to break out from their racial silos and work with each other to begin reconfiguring themselves as singular multiracial entities.

The leadership of existing parties intending to engage in GE16 should realise they are increasingly seen as a generation of politicians who do not want to let the new generation rise through the ranks and who want to hold on to power through the existing system.

Young talent kept away from the inner sanctums of power and positions in the existing coalition system today can emerge more quickly and easily in the new multiracial parties that we propose.

Their emergence backed by the multiracial membership and multiracial electoral agenda of these reconstituted parties will be the definitive game changer that Malaysia needs for a cohesive and brighter future. - Mkini

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LIM TECK GHEE is a former senior official with the United Nations and World Bank.

MURRAY HUNTER is an independent researcher and former professor with the Prince of Songkla University and Universiti Malaysia Perlis.

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