*Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia New Year Message for 2017*
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> *Prioritise Political Institutional Reforms in GE14 *
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> The year 2016 has come to a close. This has been a very challenging year
> for most Malaysians. On the economic front, we have a worsening exchange
> rate for the Malaysian Ringgit, rising prices of everyday goods and
> expenses, and increase in uncertainty. All these happen against a backdrop
> of even greater political uncertainty, with many unresolved issues such as
> the 1MDB scandal, which ultimately can be traced back to Malaysia’s
> political institutional framework.
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> Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia (GBM) calls upon all Malaysians to put
> political institutional reforms before personalities and identity politics
> in the equation of change, especially for the upcoming 14th General
> Election (GE14). Overly winner-takes-all with power increasingly
> concentrated in the past three decades, our current political system has
> not only led to power abuse and corruption, but also makes any reforms
> overly risky and intimidating.
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> GBM empathises with many Malaysians who feel alienated and disempowered by
> Malaysian politics which has become directionless since 2013 and had only
> gotten worse in 2016. On one hand, endless episodes of ethno-religious
> contention loom large and have dwarfed concerns of good governance. On the
> other hand, the political parties are undergoing unprecedented political
> realignment, which see allies becoming enemies and enemies becoming allies
> in seemingly pure expediency.
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> These, coupled with the absence of any consensual prime ministerial
> candidate, not only leave voters with practically no meaningful choices to
> the extent that some voters are contemplating abstention or casting spoiled
> votes. Such situation also locks Malaysia into a political stalemate and
> quicksand, where the government is becoming increasingly unpopular but can
> and is likely to survive by being more repressive and manipulative.
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> GBM is worried about the future of the nation. However, we do not believe
> that middle-ground voters abstaining from polls is a viable solution, such
> action will only exacerbate polarisation and likely result in the capture
> of power by extreme forces such as Trump and the European far right
> parties. In principle, we view positively compromises and realignment as
> politicians in any multiparty democracy should see each other only as
> competitors, not enemies.
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> What worries us is the lack of a clear road-map to transition and
> post-transition political settlement. The lack of such roadmap will make
> any rapprochement look expedient and opportunistic. Sadly, political elites
> from all sides continue to speak in moral and self-righteous tones,
> apparently unaware of the public’s growing anger, distrust and disgust of
> them.
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> GBM sees Malaysia’s deepening political crisis is an inevitable outcome of
> the existing political system. Horizontally, the Executive marginalises and
> dominates the Parliament and the Judiciary. Vertically, the federal
> government marginalises and dominates state governments and local
> authorities. Combining the two, the power of prime minister is effectively
> not checked by either law or public opinion in between elections. Such
> concentration of power directly induces gigantic cases of corruption which
> triggers the current political and economic crises..
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> Meanwhile, the current winner-takes-all structure makes any changes
> extremely risky and intimidating to many. Where ethno-religious group
> interests are concerned, many fear a change of prime minister and
> government would mean a total collapse of status quo. Where personal
> ambitions are concerned, many fear that whoever occupies the Prime
> Minister’s seat would emerge as another strongman for many years..
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> To overcome such fear from preventing clear choices to emerge in the GE14,
> GBM calls upon all political parties to commit to sustaining the basic
> structure of status quo where ethno-religious group interests are
> concerned, from affirmative action to criminal jurisdiction of courts, for
> the 14th Parliament’s term while upholding and enhancing human rights. Any
> substantial changes should happen only with dialogues and consensus in a
> democratised environment after GE14.
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> For the GE14, political parties should instead promise in their manifestos
> and compete on bold political institutional reforms to restore democracy
> and good governance through enhancement of check and balance among and
> within different branches of government – Executive, Legislative, Judiciary
> - at all levels. Such an agenda is already well articulated in the Bersih 4
> and Bersih 5 rally, stressing 10 key institutional reforms. Whichever
> parties that form the new governments after GE14 must implement such
> institutional reforms, such as free and fair elections, reform of the
> Parliament and other key institutions such as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption
> Commission, Attorney General’s Chambers, enactment of Freedom of
> Information laws as well as the abolition of draconian laws such as SOSMA
> and Sedition Act.
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> With these reforms, Malaysia will have a real parliamentary democracy,
> whereby the executive branch especially the Prime Minister will be held
> accountable for their actions, rather than enjoying effective impunity.
> With the reduction of prime minister’s power and the ease to sack a corrupt
> prime minister, the question of who will be the next prime minister will be
> relatively less important.
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> The call for political institutional reforms over ethno-religious polemics
> and personalities is also indirectly a reminder where Malaysian politics
> has gone wrong. Despite the high stake, increasingly heated political
> competition since 2013 has not brought about enough attention to bread and
> butter issues. The poor and the marginalised are feeling the pinch the most
> as seasonal cash handouts are inadequate to cushion the effect of rising
> prices throughout the year. Hopefully with the right incentives, a less
> “winner-takes-all” and more decentralised political system will drive
> politicians and political parties to also compete in reviving our economy
> and building sufficient social safety net for those in needs.
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> With GE14 on the horizon, GBM therefore calls upon all political parties,
> civil society groups, businesses and individual citizens who want a healthy
> democracy to prioritise political institutional reforms in the GE14. We
> should all press for democracy, good governance and good socio-economic
> policies, rather than getting bogged down with disputes over
> ethno-religious group interests or rivalries between personalities.
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> Let us stay focused. Happy and rewarding 2017!
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> Zaid Kamaruddin,
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> Chair, Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia
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