On things back home

Those of us who keep track of things back home in Malaysia may have realised that there was an election over the weekend. The results thus far have been astounding. The Opposition took 5 states (out of 13), and the National Front's (Barisan Nasional) share of seats in Parliament was reduced from 91% to 63%. Crucially, they can not pass constitutional amendments without a 2/3 majority in Parliament.

There is a stack of opinions and comments going around re the Malaysian election, so I wont repeat most of them. You guys can look it up yourselves =) A good starting point is malaysiakini.com. For the government's point of view, take a look at thestar.com.my.

However, I do have some points to make:

• Firstly, congrats to the Opposition for their success. However, they now have a much greater responsibility. It's always a lot more difficult to criticise other's actions than to do the right thing yourself. For the country's long-term future, let's hope they do a good job running those 5 states, and as a strong Opposition. Why? If they mess things up, the next election will not be pretty for them as Barisan will basically be able to say: "you guys had a go, and cocked it up". And they would be absolutely correct. There will be a huge loss of credibility for the Opposition (not that Barisan has much to speak of anyways). However, Barisan would likely win strongly again, and that will be that for Malaysian democracy.
• If the Opposition do a good job, then we'll see, for the first time a viable Opposition, which can only be good for the country. Absolute power corrupts, and a strong Opposition (preferably denying Barisan the 2/3 majority needed for constitutional amendments) is a great check and balance.
• I suspect that the election result was due to popular discontent expressed in a nationwide vote against Barisan, as opposed to a vote affirming the Opposition. Their laundry isn't that clean either, and they have a lot of hard work ahead of them. There are parallels that could be drawn with the recent Australian election. I read it as a vote against the Liberals (who were getting rather stale), rather than a vote for the Labor party, given that the latter had its own history of economic mismanagement and corruption.
  
• Another point... i suspect the dominant political party in a neighbour down south should have reason to get nervous. So far in Malaysia (based on my observations), we've seen a coalition which has had uninterrupted power for 40 years given a good slap on the face by the electorate, for a myriad of reasons. If it can happen up north, it can happen down south too (albeit for different reasons). The point here is that political leaders really have to beware of being seen as complacent or arrogant. Eventually, the people will have their say... and it may not be pretty.
  

Personally, I'm not a fan of Barisan for obvious reasons - rampant corruption and cronyism, the NEP, and the fact that it is a coalition of race-based parties (when most countries have moved on to ideology-based parties, we're still looking at colour). Nevertheless, it has done a decent job in bringing the country to where it is today (whether by luck or merit). The country had a 50% poverty rate at Independence. Like it or not, they did make a difference, and I'd still prefer them running the country, as opposed to an opposition coalition comprising of an Islamist party advocating a Malaysian theocracy (PAS), a predominantly Chinese party (DAP), and a Justice Party led by a man who has his own skeletons in the closet (PKR).

Just one last thought - wouldn't it be great if we didn't base political parties on race? Why should we assume that people of the same race have the same ideologies/interests? Why should we assume that a Malay man can never empathise with a Chinese/Indian man or v.v.? I stopped looking at people on the basis of race a long time ago once i realised that people rise and fall on their own merits, not on the basis of their skin colour.

In a sense, categorising people's political preferences on the basis of race dehumanises them. It pigeonholes them into a box - eg Chinese people will always vote for whoever takes care of their beloved economy. It may be true for 99% of Chinese people (joke there), but it is not necessarily true for everyone with a 3-syllable name. Some of us have realised that there are things in life more important than Mammon - freedom (whether religious, political, economic), equality (in society) etc etc.

In conclusion, we can't really pigeonhole everyone on the basis of race - and that is why I believe race-based politics is an anachronism.