Early this week, Indonesia just swore in a new president with no links to the Suharto regime, military or traditional elite amidst much hope and expectation. It has been 16 years since the country began the painful process of democratisation, and while the future is fraught with challenges and even the risk of democratic regression , the Indonesians can still look back and congratulate themselves on the nation’s courage of the nation to dream, and dream boldly.

Najib Abdul Razak, too, was in Jakarta to witness the swearing-in ceremony, sitting down also for a friendly chat with Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi (at microphone ), thereafter. But the differences between the two men cannot be overstated.

Najib was groomed as a typical Umno princeling, thanks to his late father who enjoyed much prestige and respect within the party at the time. Najib eventually made it to the top not with any impressive achievements or track record, but by being simply opportunistic. He nearly ditched Mahathir Mohamad in the 1987 Umno split, but returned to the fold at the eleventh hour.

He was once part of the Team Wawasan in the early 1990s when Anwar Ibrahim’s political fortunes were on the rise, only to abandon the chieftain when Mahathir demanded absolute loyalty in 1998.

As prime minister, Najib is either famous for maintaining his ‘elegant silence’ or notorious for sending different messages to different audiences. He is apparently adept at delivering a charge sheet against those who are perceived to threaten Malay supremacy in the morning, praising the fighting spirit of the Islamic State in the afternoon, before entertaining foreign investors with his urgings for moderation and logic at dinner.

No consistency is necessary when one is endowed with excessive powers as a prime minister in Malaysia, which is why Najib can continue to contradict himself day in and day out, at home and abroad, for the compliant domestic media are already well-versed in the art of apple-polishing.

Contrast all this with Jokowi, who rose through the ranks as the son of a carpenter to a governor of a small city called Surakarta, and only became a household name when he was elected as Jakarta governor. His eventual ascension to the highest political office in Indonesia would not have been possible if not for the democratic transformation that has taken place, rather amazingly, since 1998.

It is indeed disingenuous of Najib to congratulate Jokowi on the latter’s success while his own government is hell-bent on finishing off Anwar’s political career with Sodomy II. If anything, Najib and his erstwhile benefactor Mahathir should be held fully responsible for turning Malaysia - once far more democratic than Indonesia - into a quasi-autocracy.

Abject lack of leadership

That is not all. As the religious climate is becoming more oppressive and communal ties coming under great strain, Najib has been sitting idly by. The abject lack of leadership calls into question the wisdom of those who had voted for his coalition in the first place. Then again, looking at the quality of the politicians that we have on both sides of the divide, perhaps Malaysians can only deserve this much.

After all, the Indonesians have shed blood and endured much state violence to have come thus far. As a country that had ‘independence’ thrust upon us without having to sacrifice even a drop of blood, we seem to be naturally adverse to drastic action when demanding for change.

Umno can always turn around and use Malaysia’s economic advancement as compared to Indonesia in arguing against ‘unbridled democracy’, but on-one is asking for uninhibited political freedoms anyway. All that we want is greater transparency, accountability and checks and balances, all of which cannot be achieved without a real political shift as what has happened to Indonesia.

Furthermore, Indonesia’s relative poverty is not the result of democratisation over the past 16 years, but originates in colonial legacy as well as the absolute power that the Suharto regime once wielded.

Citing other more democratic but poorer countries to prevent the Malaysian people from greater access to the democratic process only exposes how bankrupt Umno leaders have become, for they purposely overlook the success of other more prosperous democracies in the region: Japan, Taiwan and South Korea - you name it - in order to fool others.

Democracy does not necessarily engender poverty, the origins of which are mostly found in structural problems, policy failure and rampant corruption.

With the season of sedition hardly over, it is clear that Najib is never a democrat and he and his cohorts will invariably find an excuse to deny the people’s desire for change and to frustrate any move towards that goal. For a character as such to grace the occasion of Jokowi’s inauguration is nothing but utterly shameless.

JOSH HONG studied politics at London Metropolitan University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. A keen watcher of domestic and international politics, he longs for a day when Malaysians will learn and master the art of self-mockery, and enjoy life to the full in spite of politicians.