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Voting more important than ever, in a fake democracy

“At a time when we liberals need to speak in a way that convinces people from very different walks of life, in every part of the country, that they share a common destiny and need to stand together, our rhetoric encourages self-righteous narcissism. At a time when it is crucial to direct our efforts into seizing institutional power by winning elections, we dissipate them in expressive movements indifferent to the effects they may have on the voting public.”

- Mark Lilla, ‘The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics’

COMMENT | In 1787, Russian minister Grigory Potemkin was said to have built a portable village solely to impress Catherine II. The story spurred the phrase “Potemkin village,” meaning a construction built to deceive others into thinking that a situation is better than it really is.

Malaysia’s democracy is a Potemkin village. It isn’t immature or unhealthy. It’s a sham.

We have the semblance of democratic institutions: Parliament, the courts, the Election Commission and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). Yet top roles are appointed or heavily influenced by the prime minister, compromising institutional neutrality and integrity.

We have elections and the vote. But we also have gerrymandering. The result is a system built in such a way that one must win an impossible percentage of voters to form the government.

Impossible because these voters disagree with one another at a cellular level. Think of an urban Chinese executive trying to convince a second-generation Felda settler of his politics, and vice-versa.

Therefore, the opposition’s task in GE14 is not just to win the middle ground; they have to also win over the ground on the other side.

Can a liberal win?

After the 2016 US elections, analysts said that “the left won the culture wars but lost the election”. The Democrats’ offer of socio-economic inclusivity should have been a better sell than Donald Trump’s hot air. Instead, they alienated a large segment of Americans who weren’t traditional Republican voters.

How did this happen? During Barack Obama’s presidency, several laws and social movements that split American society occurred, for example, the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) and Black Lives Matter (BLM).

Instead of engaging and educating, many liberals resorted to claiming moral high ground and ridiculing opposing viewpoints from those uninformed of the latest -isms. If you didn’t support BLM, you were racist. If you didn’t support Hillary Clinton, you were misogynistic. If you supported Trump, you were deplorable.

While we shouldn’t ignore the extreme misogyny and bigotry espoused by the far-right and Trump, the Democrats and liberals missed an opportunity to unify the nation.

BN replicates Trump

A lesser-known ingredient to Trump’s win was his Facebook strategy, named Project Alamo. The project identified voter segments likely to support Hillary and reasons why they might hesitate to vote her. These voters were then targeted with Facebook ads that negatively portrayed Hillary to discourage them from voting.

It isn’t difficult to see how BN has replicated Trump. Food and leisure Facebook pages (in Mandarin) have mushroomed. Between posts, there’ll be an occasional one praising BN. Others muse whether young Chinese should care about politics or migrate. No surprise, the conclusion is always the latter.

Meanwhile, the “wreck the vote” movement has largely been circulating among those likelier to be opposition supporters. Common messages include abstaining or casting spoilt votes to punish Pakatan Harapan. The opposite message - punishing BN - is non-existent among BN supporters.

The results of BN’s strategy are showing: those who said we should end personality politics are now overly fixated on personalities in politics; the youth say they want young leaders, but in the same breath disavow politics.

Some even argue we can afford to sit GE14 out.

Delay no more, #KitaMestiMenang

The truth is, too many can’t wait. The poor skipping meals to make ends meet, the stateless children who will miss out on five more years of basic human rights including education, or worse – the victims of the Wang Kelian mass graves who we’ve forgotten in favour of the latest outrage.

The glaring difference between Hillary vs Trump and Malaysia is that the institutions here are beyond waiting. Despite Harapan governing Penang and Selangor, the playing field is still skewed in BN’s favour.

Harapan politicians, such as PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli and DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua (photo) are constantly pressured, monitored, and even prosecuted when they are trying to do their jobs, while BN politicians seem unfazed despite repeatedly being caught in the latest scandals.

For example, a political financing bill is excellent in theory and for transparency. The proposed Political Donations and Expenditure Act (PDEA) requires political parties to declare contributions above RM3,000. Donor identity disclosure to the public is compulsory.

The question is: if a 76-year-old man is arrested for a WhatsApp supposedly insulting the PM, will opposition donors, under the PDEA, be immune from state harassment?

If we want to stop being a Potemkin democracy, we need to hit the reset button to level the playing field. My personal hope is to move away from our single party dominant state and eventually see smaller parties like Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) and independents be taken seriously.

Perhaps then, we can truly appreciate the value of abstention and protest/spoilt votes.

Building something for everyone

Some friends in political and activist circles have expressed fatigue that Malaysian politics seem to be regressing, that people aren’t “woke” enough. Maybe this has been our shortcoming: we’ve forgotten to bring the latest -isms to the ground.

In our pursuit of the latest radical ideas, we’ve forgotten the beauty and burden of any democracy: no idea prevails without the support of the majority. We’ve also forgotten to persuade, and how to persuade successfully.

At the end of the day, amidst all the political disagreements, we are all citizens. Our goal should be to build something for everyone.

Hitting the reset button is the first step Malaysia needs. It will help turn Malaysia into a democracy. Because we are not yet one.


LIM YI WEI is political secretary to Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua, and a councillor with the Petaling Jaya City Council.

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

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