COMMENT Following the conclusion of the April 16 state election in Sarawak, the country must now be gearing up for the next general election, which could be as early as June or July this year.

This national election will be the most significant electoral contest in the history of Malaysia. 

 

Kuching pakatan grand finale ceramah My personal and fervent hope is to see the emergence of an alternative government in the country.

Without the possibility of a change in government, there can be no true democracy in any modern polity.

The state election in Sarawak was an eye-opener for all Malaysians, producing a truly historic result. The opposition parties swept nearly all urban seats, while the PKR picked up valuable gains by winning three seats.

An analysis of the poll result has shown us that the rural voters of Sarawak are no longer to be treated with condescension as a 'fixed deposit' for the BN. The seeds of political awareness have now been sown throughout Sarawak.

The political tsunami of 2008 has transformed all political pre-suppositions in Malaysia. The most significant event after that election was the formation of alternative governments in the states of Selangor, Penang, Kedah and, initially at least, Perak as well.

Building on foundation already laid

The greatest achievement of Malaysians in the last general election was to lay the foundation for a two-party system at both the state and federal levels.

The country watches in fascination, as the opposition coalition consisting of PKR, DAP and PAS, begins to grasp the basics of coalition politics. For the opposition coalition to grow, they must learn the art of give and take, and stop squabbling over seats.

They must always learn to put the national interest of multiracial politics over their petty factional and partisan interests. They must stop sparring in public, and work out a sustainable mechanism for solving internal disagreements, away from the glare of public debate.

But the residual toxins of half a century of the politics of race cannot be neutralised overnight. There will be enough Malaysians who cling on to the old poison of racial politics.

Racial and religious issues will continue to haunt our nation. Our country badly needs a new national dialogue, cutting across ethnic, religious and other such sectarian boundaries, in a truly multiracial nation-building programme.

Recent political developments have proven that such a progressive national dialogue is still a distant hope. The hegemony of the BN government has not yet been crippled.

Stench of power abuse

Every day, we read in the press of BN's abuses of power, on a repulsive and unprecedented scale.

In past years, the incidents that come to mind are Teoh Beng Hock's death, the Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy case, Altantuya Shaariibuu's murder and the Port Klang financial scandal. The list goes on, virtually indefinitely.

Today, Malaysia ranks as one of the most corrupt countries on the Worldwide Corruption Perceptions ranking. We are an economy rich in human and natural resources, but the nation's wealth has been siphoned away by corrupt politicians and public officials, as well as well-connected private entrepreneurs. We are wallowing in our national culture of ‘Kopi O Money'.

The corrupt regimes of repressive countries in the Middle East are now facing their moment of truth, in their regional upheavals. The Arab world simply wants to enjoy peace, clean politics and social justice, like the rest of mankind.

Ordinary people, students and housewives included, put themselves in harm's way to participate in peaceful demonstrations in order to achieve a revolution in their own societies.

We can share their desire for real national transformation because we too, in Malaysia, hunger for clean politics as much as they do.

In need of a peaceful revolution

In the next general election, we Malaysians must complete our historic narrative, played out in our national political theatre.

Malaysian politicians and their parties must discard their old habits of waiting until the last minutes of the campaign to win the people's support.

They must begin a new national programme of preparing the ground, behaving as if polling will be conducted tomorrow.

All lethargic habits must be discarded in favour of proactive political programmes, at all levels, across the country. All political parties must aspire to national programmes of reform: before they aspire to change society, they must change themselves first.

Malaysia needs and deserves no less than a peaceful revolution for change. Let us pray hard together for this to happen.

 

SIM KWANG YANG was member of parliament for Bandar Kuching, Sarawak from 1982 to 1995. He can be reached at sky8hornbill@gmail.com. All comments are welcomed.