The Malaysian Insight

MALAYSIA is seeing the rise of a new political era, where the days of single-party dominance are over, said Lim Kit Siang.

The DAP veteran in an interview said this will be showcased during the Malacca elections on November 20, as parties will have to work with one another, adding that this will have a huge impact on state and national politics.

The polls will take place amid a new political landscape, which follows a historic cooperation between the government of the day and opposition that led to the first national-level memorandum of understanding (MOU), he added.

“The days of single-party dominance are over.

“The MOU, which was unthinkable in earlier decades, is now possible because of the new landscape, as the days of single-party hegemony are over.”

Lim said like some countries in Europe, Malaysia has now reached a situation where no single political party can dominate the legislature on its own.

“As such, parties will have to learn to work together,” he said, commenting on the latest political development.

The Iskandar Puteri MP was speaking in conjunction with the launch of his new biography by veteran actor, author and journalist Kee Thuan Chye.

The biography (Lim Kit Siang – Malaysian First. Volume 1: None but the bold) will be available in book stores from October 25, while the official launch will be on November 9.

The biography traces Lim’s life and is one of the first attempts at documenting his political journey from student activism to being one of the most active and longest serving MPs in Parliament.

Lim said the current political situation is something that the nation’s founding fathers did not see coming.

“For instance, the Malaysian constitution talks about how the party in government has to command the majority in Parliament. But what happens when there is a situation where no party has the majority?

“This was not anticipated, and is among the changes that are taking place now.”

Malaysia had been under the single-party rule of Barisan Nasional (BN) up until the 2018 general election, when Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Warisan won and formed the federal government with 121 MPs in the 222-member Dewan Rakyat.

The PH government later welcomed 15 more lawmakers following defections from other parties, but was toppled when Bersatu pulled out and about a dozen PKR MPs defected in February last year.

But, the new Perikatan Nasional government led by Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin had only 114 lawmakers, and the Pagoh MP was forced to resign in August after 14 Umno lawmakers withdrew their support for him.

Following this, newly appointed Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob – who also has 114 MPs – decided to sign the MOU on transformation and political stability last month.

The MOU served to stabilise his government in exchange for parliamentary and legal and institutional reforms.

Malacca also reflects this national scenario in that no party has full control of the 28-member state assembly.

The BN state government had only 13 assemblymen before the state assembly was dissolved earlier this month, while PH had 11 and the four representatives who pulled support for the chief minister were independents.

Hope, not despair

While the fall of PH at the federal level is a bitter pill to swallow, Lim remains optimistic for the future.

“It is easy to give in to despair (after what happened), but there is hope. Nobody thought that the Umno hegemony could be broken before 2018, but it did.

“And while there is still politics of hatred and lies, we must never give up the Malaysian dream. There will be ups and downs because progress is not linear.”

He said political maturity and transformation is a complicated process, “but we are making headway despite the setbacks”.

“The important thing is to not despair, but grasp the new political situation and move the nation forward.

“The country is seeking to find a new equilibrium and that may take a few years, but we must not despair with the process.

“These are the pains of change. The very fact that there is an MOU shows that (the situation) is not entirely pessimistic.”

He also believes that politicians should obey a certain code of conduct.

“There are certain basic principles that must be observed in politics.

“Politics by itself is not dirty, but it is the politicians who make it dirty. That is why there is an MOU at the federal level to stop party-hopping.

“And for the four who are responsible for the present situation in Malacca, they should not be nominated by PH as candidates in the state elections.” – October 21, 2021.