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Please Lead Us to Freedom

(Lead Us to Freedom) ‘Abiding Times’, theSun, 7 April 2009

‘REFORM OR DIE’ is an oft-employed plea for organisations on the brink of defeat or irrelevance. The imperative has been invoked in ancient kingdoms, pre-modern empires, the United Nations (numerous times) and political entities around the world. Either of the oldest political parties in the world (either the British Conservatives or the US Democrats depending on which criteria you use) have only managed to last until today because reform, fresh leadership and policy reorientations occurred at pivotal points in history even if the ideological underpinnings remained constant.

And for a while now the statement has been applied—from its critics and supporters alike—to Malaysia’s oldest political party (depending on which criteria you use). While there are those within UMNO who have recognised since 8 March that ‘more of the same’ won’t work, there has also, stunningly, been some reassertion of the arrogance and blasé attitude towards internal party corruption.

How the party evolves from this point on will depend on a myriad of factors, including how it performs electorally (particularly as the voters go to the polls in today’s tri-election) and to what extent its leaders see the need for reform—regardless of the motivation for that reform, as there will always be those driven by ideological commitment and others who change only for the sake of survival. While it is clear that the majority of Malaysians are fed up with mendacious expressions of reform, it is less clear whether this means a preference for an insidious return to authoritarianism (‘strong government’) or a more consensus-driven approach. It would, therefore, be helpful to know what the new administration thinks of moving towards a politics of ideas, which as I have argued requires that clear ideological options are available for the rakyat to choose.

“If policies are blind to racial and religious affiliation, then perhaps so will citizens be.”

Before His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong exercised his discretion in the appointment of the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia, my colleagues and I wrote an open letter to the individual calling for the implementation of the Malaysia Think Tank’s four principles to lead the nation to greater heights: the rule of law, liberating the people, limiting the role of central government and trusting the free market. It was on the last point that we were most hammered in the blogs and it will clearly take a lot of work to restore Malaysians’ confidence in the free market given the financial crisis, but we continue to press on. We were also criticised for not mentioning racial or religious issues, but the whole point to our approach is that if people are free in the ways we describe, then racial and religious issues will be easier to address. If policies are blind to racial and religious affiliation, then perhaps so will citizens be.

Now that Dato’ Sri Najib Razak has been appointed, I offer congratulations and like the rest of country, wait to see what kind of administration his will be. The new Prime Minister has asked Malaysians to judge him for his actions, and so we will. If the revocation of the suspension of the two-party organs and release of ISA detainees symbolises a commitment to press freedom and reform of our antiquated anti-terror laws, then that is a promising sign indeed. Still, the transition has received much international attention, and it is something the new Prime Minister’s Office must be cognisant about. There will, of course, be a degree of doubt and uncertainty upon the appointment of any new leader. Entrenched interests as well as those who seek change will wonder how important their agenda is on the new leader’s list of priorities. The extent to which leaders have the courage to deviate from the established path where it is in the public interest will determine their legacy: history is replete with examples of leaders who entered office with splendour and inspiration who failed to live up to expectations, just as it also reveals leaders who were given tepid welcomes who later emerged as heroes. Yet, of course, the personal legacy of a leader is of little consequence to ordinary people unless their issues are addressed, and there are a great many issues which require action. ‘One Malaysia. People First. Performance Now.’ is emphatic. We will be glad to help, as long as ‘one Malaysia’ doesn’t mean further centralisation at the expense of our already curtailed federal structure, ‘people first’ applies to all individual citizens including the marginalised, and the ‘performance now’ is executed transparently and subjected to assiduous parliamentary scrutiny.

Good luck!