COMMENT Whether you are for or against Bersih 3.0, the group has definitely made the government go haywire.

NONE Actions like selling burgers by the petty traders’ group Ikhlas, the ‘butt exercises’ by the Malaysian Armed Forces Veterans and the plan to set up stalls in front of Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan’s residence, followed by the charges made against PKR leaders Anwar Ibrahim, Azmin Ali and Chegubard, then the suing of Ambiga and the Bersih steering committee, show that politics in the country is certainly in a mess.

It is not surprising that the idea of “third sphere” or “third sector” came quickly to represent a distinct domain in society. The atmosphere in Malaysia is generally “you’re either with us or against us”, although the relationship between the state and civil society need not be only one of opposition.

The terminology has become one of the most used and abused concepts in political thinking and the reasons for this to happen are crystal clear. As put by Prof Neera Chandhoke from the University of Delhi, the ‘civil’ in civil society no longer refers to the non-political element; it now means that people inhabiting the sphere outside the state has the right to debate about the nature of the state and the politics that it pursues.

Therefore, perhaps it is time to open the room for the institutionalisation of movements. Though it is not the sole mechanism for consolidating and advancing democracy, the institutionalisation of movements is able to provide an institutional approach in influencing policy-making at the state level and at the same time, allows movement groups to forge political alliances with the reformist power elites.

Nevertheless, to make this happen, there is a need for the expansion of political opportunity structures so that the demands could be transformed into substantive policy alternatives. Closed state structures and absence of democratic political forces will obstruct the opportunities for positive civic movement contributions.

Why movement institutionalisation? It is a fact that the political parties in an established political system are more resilient and resource-abundant compared with the civil society groups.

Therefore, by establishing institutions, civil society could be put at least more or less on par with the state and political parties. In return, they can have better opportunities to achieve social reform via proper political channels which will also at the same time reduce the risk of marginalisation and enhance legitimacy.  

Basic elements of a full-fledged democracy

When we talk about democracy, we have to bear in mind that a full-fledged democracy requires fulfillment of these three basic elements: extensive political competition, high-level political participation, and a guarantee of civil and political liberties. The Malaysian paradox of “semi-authoritarian” rule in a participatory political system has therefore always been called “illiberal democracy” or “quasi democracy”.  

However, Malaysians seems to be rather ignorant in this aspect. They exclude social movement organisations as they do not consider them as legitimate allies or representatives of popular demands and opinion.

Civil disobedience as is happening in the country now is one of the methods that people have used to rebel against what they deem to be unfair laws. In the history of political protest, it has been used in many non-violent resistance movements, such as Gandhi’s campaign in India and the fight against apartheid in South Africa.

Apart from being overly defensive, the major failure of the current government is that it fails to handle political challenges whenever they arise. Not only have the institutions failed to prevent crises, there are also no competencies to master the situation.

KHOO YING HOOI is an academic staff member of Universiti Malaya. She is also a PhD candidate in the Department of Government and Civilisation Studies at University Putra Malaysia. Her current research focuses on the civil society movement in Malaysia. She can be contacted at yinghooi@gmail.com .