Wong Chin Huat of Sunway University explained that in a two-party system, where the winner takes all, smearing becomes a rational strategy instead of playing fairly.
“This is indeed what we saw in the brief seven years from 2008 to 2015 when we had the closest to a two-party system,” he told FMT.
Wong said this also means that one party will dominate, which poses a greater threat to stability as the dominance fosters corruption, public discontent and internal conflicts.
He cited the 1MBD scandal and previous crises during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s first stint as prime minister.
“More fundamentally, our permanent coalition under the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) electoral system does not allow internal competition within allies, from contested seats to ministerial posts,” he said.
This forces ambitious politicians to adopt aggressive tactics to rise in rank.
Wong was commenting on Mahathir’s recent call for Malaysia to adopt a two-party system to prevent a repeat of the political instability seen in the last general election.
The former prime minister said the current political landscape, characterised by fragmented parties and splinter groups, had weakened the ability of any single party to form a stable government.
Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara said a multi-party political system is more practical for Malaysia due to the influence of race and regional identities on its political landscape.
“There is significant fragmentation among Muslim Malay-based parties, such as Bersatu, PAS and Umno. Uniting these parties into a single coalition is extremely challenging,” he said.
Azmi said such an attempt could further deepen divisions, potentially leading to a system where one party represents Malay voters and the other represents non-Malay voters
“This is a scenario that would not be healthy for Malaysia’s political future,” he said. - FMT
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