LETTER | Malaysia Madani: Its strengths and challenges

LETTER | On Jan 19, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim launched a new vision and policy framework for Malaysia, ‘Membangun Negara Madani’. The “Madani” concept comprises six pillars translated from the original “script” in English: sustainability, care and compassion, respect, innovation, prosperity and trust. As this vision is so new, its strengths need to be explored while its challenges need to be identified for improvement.

Malaysia Madani has several strengths. First, this vision was introduced when the country has been embroiled in various issues of corruption, abuse of power and breach of trust. At the same time, polarisation and disintegration in society remain serious when race and religion issues continue to be played up by irresponsible politicians and parties.

In this context, the introduction of a vision and policy framework that emphasises values and ethics is important to restore the social condition and social deficit of the people towards the government. Other than that, people are still recovering from difficulties and financial pressure due to Covid-19 and the implementation of the movement control order.

Given this situation, the government's focus is accurate and timely as it strives to develop a humane economy and to realise the human development agenda to uphold human dignity.

Second, this vision is able to create humane public policies. The policies that will be formed or improved need to be based on the six pillars mentioned above, and how they are applied through eight important elements in policy-making, namely economy and finance, legislation, institutions, education, society, culture, urban and rural (sectors).

Rapid changes

This framework also acknowledges the post-normal era, which is a complex, contradictory and chaotic situation catalysed by the process of neoliberal globalisation and uncertain international political economy that have impacts on policy-making.

In addition, this framework also emphasises that the formulation of policy needs to be future-guided and-oriented so that we are better prepared to adapt to rapid changes.

Third, this vision requires and values the involvement and coordination of all stakeholders, namely the government, the private sector, NGOs and the community. In order to deal with the post-normal situation, this coordination and cooperation need to be implemented simultaneously at various levels, namely national, state and district.

In fact, the bottom-up approach comprising feedback and monitoring by the people is emphasised to realise the Madani policy. Fourth and finally, this vision offers a new national narrative to take the country forward. In this narrative, the government emphasises the need and importance of a national development model that is unique and different from other development models. This vision shows that the government has autonomy and policy space, and strives to develop governance, coordination, penetrative and extractive capabilities.

Although Malaysia Madani has its strengths, it is fraught with challenges. First, the lack of understanding of the concept of Madani by various stakeholders. The word "madani" is quite foreign to most Malaysians even though the acronym Madani is a synonym to us.

Although this concept is explained in the launch book, the description is long and rambling, and there is a repetition of ideas, arguments and recommendations in addition to the use of some high vocabulary that makes it difficult to understand.

Education campaign

Therefore, the government needs to summarise and highlight this concept so that it can be understood by all stakeholders, especially the bureaucrats who are crucial policy implementers. In order to popularise Madani, the government needs to implement an education campaign and this role can also be played by the academia.

Second, the translation of Madani vision into policy and its implementation. Although many Madani policies have been proposed, they can hardly be imagined by the majority of the people. To demonstrate Madani policies, the government needs to pick up and advertise some impactful policies such as ‘Menu Rahmah’, an initiative by the government in collaboration with food traders to help the people who are affected by the increase in the cost of living.

In addition, the implementation of Madani policy also requires support at the state level as well as from the opposition state governments.

Third, the monitoring of ministries and government agencies. In order to ensure that government policies are formulated and implemented based on Madani pillars, the government needs to establish a Performance Management and Delivery Unit or Pemandu to evaluate the performance and delivery of government agencies.

Fourth, the government needs to manage the mounting expectations from the people for pro-people Madani policies. The failure to manage those expectations will cause a policy to receive less response and support from the people which ultimately makes it difficult for the government to implement a broader reform agenda.

Fifth, Madani has no continuity with previous policies or slogans. This Madani concept is not linked but separated from the concept of Keluarga Malaysia (Ismail Sabri Yaakob), Malaysia Prihatin (Muhyiddin Yassin), Malaysia Baharu (Dr Mahathir Mohamad), 1Malaysia (Najib Abdul Razak) and Islam Hadhari (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi).

This lack of continuity of policies will cause the people to disregard Madan i because it will pass and be forgotten like previous policies or slogans.

National narrative

Sixth, Madani is not connected with the big agenda of nation- building. This means that the concept of the Malaysian nation tends to be ignored in the government’s official narrative and it is not consistently translated into unity policies. The government should make Madani a national narrative to build a new consensus for the Malaysian nation.

Seventh and finally, this Madani tends to be seen only as a slogan as it is contrary to the government’s action. This is illustrated by the reports about the holding of the position of finance minister by the prime minister, the appointment of Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who is facing court trial, the appointment of Nurul Izzah as economics and finance adviser to the prime Minister and the denial of the rights of opposition members of Parliament to government allocations. This development will increase the trust deficit of people in the government.

In conclusion, the government needs to take into account some of the above challenges and formulate appropriate strategies to realise the Madani policy framework.

The effectiveness of Madani’s vision and policy framework depends on the comprehension of the concept, planning, implementation and monitoring of its policies as well as its feedback and acceptance from various stakeholders, especially the people.

Therefore, the involvement and participation of all stakeholders are important to develop a Malaysia Madani to prevent it from turning into just an empty slogan.

ZAHARUL ABDULLAH is a lecturer at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Development, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu.

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

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