August 29, 2012
Imagine the Malaysia though Fear as well as Political Thuggery
by Josh Hong (08-24-12)@www.malaysiakini.com
Malays underneath attack; Islam underneath siege; mass deception of the Opposition.
Indeed, if the single cares to read Utusan Malaysia or Berita Harian, or is so many at the loose finish as to balance into RTM TV1 or UMNO-controlled TV3, the single would be forgiven for thinking which Malaysia has never left Dr Mahathir Mohamad's excellence days.
And Mahathir seems so full of confidence which his excessively prolonged reign has finished some-more good than bad for the country, conveniently unaware the culture of fear as well as domestic thuggery which he had in use to keep himself in power.
Let's consider Mahathir's legacies: magisterial bureaucracy, rising costs of living, overpriced as well as under-performing 'national' cars, chronic check deficits, prevalent corruption, brutal Police force, emasculated press, gutless judiciary, boneless supervision backbenchers, greedy ministers, his dirty rich sons as well as cronies the list goes on.
I am flattering sure Malaysians who have survived his horrible system of administration of the 1980s through to 2003 can add many more.So, still improved the devil you know?
To be frank, you have my strong reservations about the Opposition alliance. While the frogging season has proposed again in Sabah, you sojourn acutely wakeful Anwar Ibrahim was obliged for bringing UMNO into the Land Below the Wind in the early 1990s as well as changed in essence the domestic landscape there.
Had this not happened, the Kadazan Dusun village would not have been as politically marginalised as it is today. Yes, blame not usually Mahathir, though Anwar as we! ll as Pa irin Kitingan also, the latter eventually succumbing to the allure of energy as well as abandoning the really people which he claimed to represent.
Moreover, Malaysian politics is largely driven by personalities. As distant as
Barisan Nasional is concerned, whatever promises of remodel touted hinge really many upon Najib Abdul Razak, with many of his cupboard colleagues especially those from Umno showing usually lukewarm support.True to his opportunistic character, Najib simply steps behind whenever the stakes have been high.
The same is true of Pakatan Rakyat, as all hopes of the supporters have been pinned upon Anwar, Lim Guan Eng as well as Hadi Awang. We need to put some-more pressure upon the Opposition parties to confederate their remodel bulletin into the broader framework of deliberation, contestation as well as accountability, as well as base it upon firm as well as concrete domestic institutions. Rhetoric alone will never do the trick.
Inferior taxis
But there is no denying which the Mar 2008 ubiquitous election has supposing the golden event for Malaysians to break the domestic cover set by UMNO since 1957. For the initial time in some-more than 4 decades, Malaysians rediscovered the courage to dream dreams as well as to suppose the Malaysia though the omnipotent UMNO.
More crucially, you have been seeing good awakening even among Mahathir's own constituents, as some-more as well as some-more Malays begin to subject why you contingency compensate some-more for cars which can be produced some-more cost-effectively, as well as why the supervision contingency continue to make the rakyat foot the check for an illusive car industry which is anything though efficient.
Just visit Jakarta, Bangkok as well as Taipei, as well as the single can rug! ht away see the difference in the taxi use in these Asian cities: cars have been mostly in good condition, purify as well as comfortable, whilst drivers have been generally accessible as well as professional.
Yet many of the taxis plying the roads in KL have been poor Proton Iswara which have been aged as well as smelly, finish with the clanking noise all since the national car plan has grown into the illusion which is too expensive to say though tough to get rid of.
Be which as it may, you contingency finish the new domestic routine which was put in place by accident since 2008, cognisant also of the fact which the passing from one to another phase of democratisation is invariably fraught with pitfalls as well as entails good uncertainties, as Indonesia had experienced since the tumble of the Suharto system of administration in 1998.
However, it is the painful routine which the semi-authoritarian nation such as Malaysia contingency partake in so which you can the single day be unapproachable to say the domestic contestation is the single which is rooted in integrity as well as transparency.
Creating the approved consolidation
In other words, approved converging cannot be attained though domestic transition. Those similar to Mahathir as well as Lee Kuan Yew might wish to think they have ensured the 'democratic process' by carrying regular elections, though what both Malaysia as well as Singapore actually have is zero though procedural democracy, all for the purpose of window dressing.
The opposite of this is approved converging which contains substantive elements, together with guarantees of simple civil rights, approved burden as well as responsiveness, civilian control over the military, neutrality of the Police force, autonomy of the judi! ciary, f orthrightness of the media, approved as well as constitutional checks upon executive authority, as well as low mark of human rights abuses.
As Larry Diamond of the Stanford University argues, approved converging usually comes about when "political competition becomes fairer, freer, some-more vigorous as well as executive; participation as well as representation broader, some-more autonomous, as well as inclusive; civil liberties some-more comprehensively as well as rigorously protected; burden some-more one after another as well as transparent".
In the context of Malaysia, it means you have been duty-bound to normalise the domestic process, in which everyone is next to before the law as well as no-one's faithfulness to the nation or the village (religious, racial or else) should be questioned when he or she seeks to challenge the powers-that-be. For all this to happen, the single contingency initial remove the greatest obstacle, UMNO which is.
The enlargement of democracy no doubt scares people similar to Mahathir et.al, who have everything to remove should it come to pass, even finale up in jail. But Mahathir is usually the least of my concerns here.
I am some-more vehement to see the day when passing from one to another of energy happens upon the regular basement whilst the politicians from both sides of the domestic order can no longer reason themselves on top of the law.
We would not be regarded too pleasantly by the destiny generations should you choose to reverse the suggestive tour only since you have been too shy to overcome transient pains.
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