The Malaysian Insight

TWO years after its most historic general election, Malaysia has lost the opportunity to become a stronger democracy and to create a fairer, more equitable economy.

Reflecting on the second anniversary of GE14, academics, analysts and civil society groups mourned the fact that these promises, made in the run-up to the 14th general election on May 9, remain unfulfilled till today.

These unfulfilled aims are not just because the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, which came to power in GE14, was overthrown in a bloodless coup by a motley gang of traitors and political rivals.

In its 22 months in power, PH itself slacked off on pushing key reforms and laws that would have made its institutions independent and able to stand up to unscrupulous politicians.

Instead of being better technocrats and administrators than its rivals, Barisan Nasional (BN) and PAS, PH leaders were distracted by infighting and jostling for power, said political economist Prof Edmund Terence Gomez.

It was this infighting that culminated in the “Sheraton move” on February 23, where about 30 MPs from component parties Bersatu and PKR left PH, thus triggering its collapse.

In its place, PH’s defectors built a new coalition comprising MPs from Bersatu and those from its former rivals, Umno, MCA, MIC and PAS, dubbed Perikatan Nasional (PN).

The worry is that what little good PH has achieved will be undone by PN because it comprises Umno – a racialist party whose top leaders are being prosecuted on allegations of corruption and abuse of power.      

Anti-graft activist Cynthia Gabriel still feels betrayed by leaders such as Muhyiddin Yassin and Mohamed Azmin Ali.

Muhyiddin is Bersatu president and now prime minister, while Azmin is former PKR deputy president, who is now a senior minister in the PN government.

Both had fought alongside their PH colleagues in GE14 to defeat Umno and its allies in BN, but both were also architects of the “Sheraton move”.

“We are still angry because the Sheraton move brought the corrupt people back into power. These were people that Malaysians had thrown out in GE14,” said Gabriel of the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4).  

Achievements easily undone

In his speech on the first anniversary of GE14 last year, then prime minister and PH chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the coalition had fulfilled 39.01% of its promises made in its election manifesto.

PH’s efforts to clean up endemic graft and wastage in the public sector saw Malaysia’s score on the global corruption perception index by Transparency International improve in 2018 and 2019.

This included prosecuting those involved in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal and repairing wrongdoing in statutory bodies such as Tabung Haji and Felda.

The coalition also argued that its commitment towards good governance and institutional reform had earned the confidence of investors when foreign direct investment shot up by 250% in the first nine months of 2018.

Yet PH’s achievements can be undone by PN because the coalition did not codify them in law, said electoral reform activist Thomas Fann.

“The little reforms that PH brought were not codified in law and as a result the country is at risk of going back to pre-GE14 times,” said Fann, chairman of Bersih 2.0.  

“We don’t yet know whether the PN government is committed to continuing PH’s reforms because they have been focused on dealing with the coronavirus crisis. But there is concern that we will revert back to BN times,” said Fann.

For instance, over the past few weeks, PN has appointed a slew of its MPs from Umno into plum positions in government-linked companies and statutory bodies, a practice that BN was often criticised for.

PH also took too long to table laws that would make their reforms permanent, such as diluting the power of the prime minister to appoint critical officeholders in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the Election Commission and the inspector-general of police.

Failing the nation

Terence Gomez of Universiti Malaya echoed these sentiments, saying that PH had even indulged in some of these BN-era practices such as dispensing GLCs appointments to loyalists.

He said ministers in the four PH parties, Bersatu, PKR, DAP and Amanah, tended to work in silos and did not communicate with each other to craft meaningful policy, he said.

“Where were the new economic policies? We got the Shared Prosperity Vision but it was a vision not concrete policy,” said Gomez referring to the 10-year national development vision unveiled by Dr Mahathir last year.

Another criticism of SPV2030 was that it took a race-based approach instead of one that was needs-based as PH had promised to end communal politics.

“The problem was they were not communicating enough with each other. The elites were busy feuding with each other,” he said referring to the constant spat between factions aligned to Dr Mahathir, PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and Anwar’s deputy Azmin.

Terence Gomez said the SPV2030 is an example of the lack of coordination between parties, saying it should have had the input of the prime minister’s department, the ministries of Economic Affairs, Finance and International Trade and Industry.

“Instead, it was the work of only one party. They did not have enough time to plan because they didn’t put their political differences aside and work together.”

In the end, the feuding destroyed PH as Azmin and Muhyiddin took their supporters out of the coalition and formed a government with PN.  

“PH was given a clear opportunity to reinvent and transform Malaysia and to create a just economy. But they failed the nation.” – May 9, 2020.