MP SPEAKS As political parties gear for the final stretch to the 13th general election, Malaysians must not forget that our country is not a democracy.

It is an electoral authoritarian regime - one that uses a democratic façade to cover authoritarian rule. The pretense of holding elections is 'the lipstick on the crocodile'.

A democracy is defined to include at least the following five attributes:

  • Regular elections that are competitive, free and fair
  • Full adult suffrage
  • Broad protection of civil liberties including freedom of speech, the media, and association
  • Absence of non-elected 'tutelary' authorities such as military or religious bodies that limit elected officials from having effective power to govern
  • Existence of a reasonably level playing field

An electoral authoritarian regime does not have such attributes. Elections in an electoral authoritarian regime are competitive and real but they are not free and fair.

The incumbent uses government resources and power to undermine legitimate procedures by illegitimate practices such as electoral fraud, vote rigging, disenfranchisement, media bias, repression or legal controls to make it difficult if not impossible for opposition parties to sustain public campaigns and to exclude opposition leaders from contesting through technical and legal disqualifications, bans, imprisonment or exile.

Malaysia is an electoral authoritarian regime in the same class of Kenya during the rule of Daniel Arap Moi and his Kenyan African National Union, who perfected the use of patronage, large scale ethnic violence to divide opposition parties, disenfranchise voters and ultimately tilted the playing field in his favour.

Dubious electoral roll

We need only look at the past two weeks to confirm the authoritarian nature of the Malaysian regime.

On March 4 Anwar Ibrahim, in his closing speech at the International Conference on Malaysia 13th general election, reminded Malaysians that fundamental reforms for free and fair elections have not been implemented.

He said: "The paramount importance of Bersih is undisputed. Bersih, as we all know, has made tremendous contributions to the cause of electoral reform ... The protests and demonstrations to demand for free and fair elections clearly signify the dissatisfaction with the state of things...

"Our Election Commission (EC) is supposed to be the electoral watchdog but among other things, its epic failure is that both the commission's chair and deputy chair were card-carrying members of ... Umno prior to their appointment. So merely calling it an (Election) Commission does not guarantee its independence and impartiality...

The existence of hundreds and thousands of fictitious names as well as names of dead people plus widespread duplication of names in the electoral rolls point to blatant fraud in voter registration ... The problem is becoming rampant as evidenced by the daily exposes on this. The RCI in Sabah on the notorious Project IC underscores the reality of the fear."

On March 8, the EC deputy chairperson confirmed Anwar's fears, saying "this is normal" for 28 percent of new voters to be untraceable. Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, March 3, voiced his concerns that 134,675 of 500,000 new voters in the state cannot be identified or traced.

All hopes for a free and fair election were dashed on March 14, when the High Court dismissed Klang MP Charles Santiago's application for judicial review. He had produced sufficient evidence to show the existence of phantom voters in his constituency's electoral rolls.

However, the judge declined to strike down Section 9A of the Elections Act 1948 as being unconstitutional. Instead, he held that he was bound by the provision that the court cannot review, set aside or quash the electoral rolls after these are published in the gazette.

Section 9A was enacted after the Sabah High Court declared the Likas by-elections null and void due to the existence of phantom voters. The government, instead of cleaning the electoral rolls, introduced Section 9A to prevent the court from reviewing the electoral rolls.

The court's lack of robustness in dealing with Section 9A has in the words of Santiago "legalised phantom voters".

Restricted access to media

The lack of media access is a hallmark of an electoral authoritarian regime. There is no possibility of fair elections when opposition parties lack access to media to reach out to the electorate.

Scholars have noted that, in electoral authoritarian regimes, the media are owned or are under the control of the incumbent. They are not only biased in favour of the incumbent, but also form part of the incumbent's propaganda machine. The scholars cite the media in Malaysia as examples of this.

The media has gone into overdrive since the Lahad Datu incursion. The focus is not on the security situation but in spinning that Anwar is the 'mastermind' behind the incursion.

Last October, long before the incursion, Anwar had sung a song, a line of which goes: "Tanya sama Najib, mengapa kau goyang. Nanti jawab Najib, Sabah dah hilang" .

He was referring to the swing in Sabahans' support from BN to Pakatan Rakyat and that Najib is worried BN will lose Sabah in the coming polls.

TV3 featured this one line, together with news of the incursion, thereby falsely accusing Anwar to be behind the Lahad Datu incursion. This is propaganda in its worst form. The GE13 campaign will see the media engaged in the worst gutter politics ever.

In many electoral authoritarian regimes, the courts, electoral authorities and other nominally independent arbiters of the rules of the game are not only controlled by the incumbents but are also employed as partisan tools against the opposition.

In charging Tian Chua on March 14 under the Sedition Act 1948 for his alleged comments on Lahad Datu, the selective and partisan use of the prosecutor's powers is clear for all to see. Those on the other side of the political divide, who incited racial and religious strife, promoted feelings of ill-will and hostility between the different races and religions have been left untouched. They remain scot free to spew hatred and contempt with impunity.

Anwar remains the most wanted and persecuted opposition leader in the history of Malaysia. He has been detained without trial and imprisoned, castigated as an outcast and labeled a traitor to his race and religion. All this is because of his conviction to reform Malaysia's politics of race and fear while advocating good governance free of corruption.

The international community and experts have noted the government's use of corruption, repeated sodomy and other charges to carry out a political assassination of Anwar. This has been vindicated by his acquittals and recently by Saiful Bukhari's father, Azlan Mohd Lazim on March 8 revealing the second sodomy charge was an "evil conspiracy" against Anwar.

The call by the home minister for investigations into the mastermind behind the Lahad Datu incursion after the media frenzy against Anwar will surprise no one if the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act is used to take out their biggest nemesis and electoral threat.

Another hallmark of an electoral authoritarian regime is the use of violence and intimidation. On March 8, the PKR campaign bus carrying Anwar on its 'Merdeka Rakyat' road show was attacked.

People also stormed his ceramah in Kampung Bukit Katil, Malacca. They smashed the bus windows causing the glass shards to injure passengers, supporters, reporters and Anwar himself. PKR supporters have been injured by stones thrown at Anwar's rallies.

In Lembah Pantai, flower pots were thrown, injuring those at the rally. In Gombak, one supporter was slashed with a kerabit . Umno thugs have attacked Tian Chua at two of his ceramahs. These bullying tactics will become more severe as the campaign heats up.

Liberalising Malaysia

Law-abiding and right thinking Malaysians must put an end to the authoritarian regime and restore democracy. Elections may become moments of liberalisation and provide a new beginning.

One reason why electoral authoritarian regimes are able to survive is because of their ability to divide and fragmentise the opposition. The more divided the opposition parties, the more susceptible they are to governmental manipulation, cooption and repression.

The formation of an opposition coalition does not refer to the strength of the opposition per se and it is not based merely on the degree of hostility to a leader or party in power. Many authoritarian incumbents are deeply unpopular.

Yet despite their lack of popular support, such incumbents often maintain their hold on power. This is due to the opposition's inability to form effective organisational structures to challenge the government in the electoral arena.

Political scientists have found that it is important for the opposition to come together not by giving up their own party's interest or submitting to a charismatic leader, but in forming a strategic coalition for the specific goal of winning the election.

An opposition coalition increases the probability of political liberalisation, firstly by taking away votes from the ruling regime. When the opposition joins together, an unpopular incumbent is less able to use repression and patronage to coerce and induce people to vote for him.

Secondly, it can prevent incumbents from playing opposition parties and leaders against each other.

Thirdly, it increases the risk and cost of repression and manipulation. The police, army, bureaucrats and judiciary are less inclined to employ illegal practices in favour of the incumbent due to fears of recrimination by the opposition if they calculate that the opposition is able to mount a credible challenge to the ruling party and wins.

Fourthly, it can mobilise people to vote against the incumbent as the electorate gets a sense that change is possible and view the opposition as an alternative governing coalition.

Keadilan, PAS and DAP after 2008 GE forged Pakatan Rakyat. Each retained its interests and pol, but agreed to a Common Policy Platform in 2009. In 2010, the coalition announced a set of policies and programmes known as Buku Jingga , to be implemented within the first 100 days of its administration. On Feb 25, the coalition unveiled its manifesto.

Pakatan Rakyat has therefore given Malaysians hope that change is not just a possibility but can be a reality.

The second ingredient for the liberalisation of Malaysia is for moderates to act. In every authoritarian regime, notwithstanding its use of oppression and electoral fraud it retains support of a core group. There is also a core support group for the opposition parties.

The election is ultimately a contest for the votes of the moderates. The incumbent relies on the media and the unlevelled playing field to entice the moderates. Moderates vote for the incumbent due to their lack of information.

Unlike previous elections Malaysians today are aware that the nation is ruled by an electoral authoritarian regime. The moderates in general, and bumiputeras forming 60 percent of the electorate in particular, must realise that electoral fraud cannot be condoned.

Electoral fraud destroys the very essence of every citizen's democratic right to vote for his or her government, irrespective of his or her race, religion or political ideology; undermines the foundation of a nation, the social consensus of upholding legality; costs the regime loss of legitimacy which damages both the autocrats' and the nation's reputation in the international community; and increases patronage, rent seeking corruption, abuse of power and plundering of the nation's resources.

Moderates must therefore protest in the strongest terms by voting out the electoral authoritarian regime.

Pakatan is knocking on Putrajaya's door. It remains to be seen whether the moderates will open the door or stand idly by watching their elections being stolen from them.

WILLIAM LEONG JEE KEEN is PKR's member of parliament for Selayang.