The Malaysian general election of 2018: Razak routed
The Malaysian general election of 9 May 2018 will go down in political history, for a wide variety of reasons.
1. The ruling coalition, Barisan National ("National Front" of Malaysia) was finally ousted after 61 years in office, despite always stacking the odds firmly in its favour. Barisan National had in fact won fewer votes than the main social-democratic coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, in 2013 but because of grievous malapportionment and gerrymandering of constituency boundaries (the majority of urban constituencies have a population that is on average eight times that of rural constituencies, which gives the coalition parties of Barisan National an obviously unfair advantage) Barisan National still won 133 seats for a safe majority of 24. As this malapportionment, rivalled only by Japan in terms of democratic nations (although Japan also has proportional representation seats which Malaysia lacks) has not been rectified for decades, and as the Electoral Commission of Malaysia is biased and controlled by the Prime Minister meaning it is not independent unlike Britain's Electoral Commission, it has been almost impossible for opposition parties to put up a fair contest. Opposition politicians have also been routinely harassed and arrested on politically motivated charges, and several opposition candidates were unfairly barred from standing in this year's election. PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chang was barred on the basis of a court conviction despite a High Court ruling stating he was eligible to stand; the same High Court later refused to intervene on the grounds of "lacking jurisdiction over election-related matters". Another opposition candidate was prevented from entering the nomination centre on the grounds of lacking an entry pass, even though there is no legal requirement for entry passes to be presented under Malaysian law. A further four opposition candidates were barred for bankruptcy even though they had confirmed they were not bankrupt on nomination day.
In spite of all these barriers, Barisan National had become so unpopular that even with the outcome stacked in its favour it secured only 79 seats in the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives), the lowest since Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957, and it now only governs 4 state assemblies compared to 8 in 2013; Pahang, Perak, Perlis, and Sabah are now the only Malaysian state assemblies where it has an overall majority. Its vote share also dropped to 34%, compared to the 48% won by Pakatan Harapan (the alliance of which Pakatan Rakyat makes up the major part; the Sabah Heritage Alliance won 8 seats under the endorsement of Pakatan Rakyat). The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Alliance also won 17% of the vote and 18 seats and took a considerable number of BN votes this year, and Independent candidates won 3 seats; no Independent candidates won in 2013 but this year some were endorsed by PKR candidates who were not permitted to stand for one reason or another. Ironically, despite the higher potential for change than ever before, turnout dropped significantly from 84.84% to 81.38%, which came about as a result of more conservative BN voters who preferred staying at home rather than voting for a liberal-minded opposition. With PKR obtaining a secure majority, Malaysia will experience the biggest changes in decades.
2. It will in all likelihood mean the repeal of so many draconian laws that have remained in place for decades, and a significant improvement of human rights. Among nations at least somewhat classifiable as democracies, Malaysia has one of the world's worst human rights records. Freedom of expression is very limited due to its 1948 Sedition Act and 1984 Printing Presses and Publications Act still being in force; this greatly limits even fair criticism of the Malay government and independent bloggers and writers are routinely arrested without good cause. The Internal Security Act allowed the detention of people without charge for up to 60 days; this was later changed to 28 days by the more recent SOSMA (Security Offences [Special Measures] Act) but it is also more repressive in many ways, especially with allowing police forces rather than judges to intercept communications without a warrant.
Discrimination is rife in Malaysian society, especially against indigenous people and people identifying as LGBTIQA+. Homosexuality is specifically prohibited by Malaysian secular law (and intercourse between people of the same gender is in fact punishable by up to 20 years' imprisonment and/or whipping in Malaysia) and Sharia law, as is cross-dressing; there is also no legal right in Malaysia to change gender or be recognised as transgender. The rights of indigenous people, notably in North Borneo, are not protected and their traditional lands are routinely exploited by logging companies for the purposes of producing palm oil.
The core parties of the Pakatan Harapan alliance, the People's Justice Party and the Democratic Action Party, are liberal and broadly social-democratic in outlook meaning there is likely to be a significant improvement in the human rights situation in Malaysia. However, there must be regular and effective enforcement if the human rights improvement is to have any meaning, as many rights supposedly guaranteed under the Constitution of Malaysia are routinely not enforced.
1. The ruling coalition, Barisan National ("National Front" of Malaysia) was finally ousted after 61 years in office, despite always stacking the odds firmly in its favour. Barisan National had in fact won fewer votes than the main social-democratic coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, in 2013 but because of grievous malapportionment and gerrymandering of constituency boundaries (the majority of urban constituencies have a population that is on average eight times that of rural constituencies, which gives the coalition parties of Barisan National an obviously unfair advantage) Barisan National still won 133 seats for a safe majority of 24. As this malapportionment, rivalled only by Japan in terms of democratic nations (although Japan also has proportional representation seats which Malaysia lacks) has not been rectified for decades, and as the Electoral Commission of Malaysia is biased and controlled by the Prime Minister meaning it is not independent unlike Britain's Electoral Commission, it has been almost impossible for opposition parties to put up a fair contest. Opposition politicians have also been routinely harassed and arrested on politically motivated charges, and several opposition candidates were unfairly barred from standing in this year's election. PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chang was barred on the basis of a court conviction despite a High Court ruling stating he was eligible to stand; the same High Court later refused to intervene on the grounds of "lacking jurisdiction over election-related matters". Another opposition candidate was prevented from entering the nomination centre on the grounds of lacking an entry pass, even though there is no legal requirement for entry passes to be presented under Malaysian law. A further four opposition candidates were barred for bankruptcy even though they had confirmed they were not bankrupt on nomination day.
In spite of all these barriers, Barisan National had become so unpopular that even with the outcome stacked in its favour it secured only 79 seats in the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives), the lowest since Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957, and it now only governs 4 state assemblies compared to 8 in 2013; Pahang, Perak, Perlis, and Sabah are now the only Malaysian state assemblies where it has an overall majority. Its vote share also dropped to 34%, compared to the 48% won by Pakatan Harapan (the alliance of which Pakatan Rakyat makes up the major part; the Sabah Heritage Alliance won 8 seats under the endorsement of Pakatan Rakyat). The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Alliance also won 17% of the vote and 18 seats and took a considerable number of BN votes this year, and Independent candidates won 3 seats; no Independent candidates won in 2013 but this year some were endorsed by PKR candidates who were not permitted to stand for one reason or another. Ironically, despite the higher potential for change than ever before, turnout dropped significantly from 84.84% to 81.38%, which came about as a result of more conservative BN voters who preferred staying at home rather than voting for a liberal-minded opposition. With PKR obtaining a secure majority, Malaysia will experience the biggest changes in decades.
2. It will in all likelihood mean the repeal of so many draconian laws that have remained in place for decades, and a significant improvement of human rights. Among nations at least somewhat classifiable as democracies, Malaysia has one of the world's worst human rights records. Freedom of expression is very limited due to its 1948 Sedition Act and 1984 Printing Presses and Publications Act still being in force; this greatly limits even fair criticism of the Malay government and independent bloggers and writers are routinely arrested without good cause. The Internal Security Act allowed the detention of people without charge for up to 60 days; this was later changed to 28 days by the more recent SOSMA (Security Offences [Special Measures] Act) but it is also more repressive in many ways, especially with allowing police forces rather than judges to intercept communications without a warrant.
Discrimination is rife in Malaysian society, especially against indigenous people and people identifying as LGBTIQA+. Homosexuality is specifically prohibited by Malaysian secular law (and intercourse between people of the same gender is in fact punishable by up to 20 years' imprisonment and/or whipping in Malaysia) and Sharia law, as is cross-dressing; there is also no legal right in Malaysia to change gender or be recognised as transgender. The rights of indigenous people, notably in North Borneo, are not protected and their traditional lands are routinely exploited by logging companies for the purposes of producing palm oil.
The core parties of the Pakatan Harapan alliance, the People's Justice Party and the Democratic Action Party, are liberal and broadly social-democratic in outlook meaning there is likely to be a significant improvement in the human rights situation in Malaysia. However, there must be regular and effective enforcement if the human rights improvement is to have any meaning, as many rights supposedly guaranteed under the Constitution of Malaysia are routinely not enforced.
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