Political Commentary

For all his and his administration’s mistakes, excesses and various wrongdoings, one thing that history will look kindly on our current Malaysian PM on will be the freedom he initially gave to the press. I say initially because by and by, as his hold on power became increasingly faced with criticism, and his tenure became more shaky, he succumbed to the same mentality adopted by previous insecure leaders of other countries: he clamped down on freedom of information. The press duly became extended PR arms of the ruling coalition, license and permits to speak were not granted to certain charismatic personalities (who would be able to spill beans on the government) and bloggers were taken to task.

This is not to say that they were not successful; instead, the more the government tried to clamp down on normal media as well as the mass media spinning their content, the more the people turned to the alternative media, i.e. cybermedia. (Let it be remembered that I coined the word here first). And the cybermedia is bereft of controls at this point in time in Malaysia, and hence, the momentum gathering against the government was able to gain more momentum.

It is still early days, but the previously opposition coalition must prove that it is a viable government. The next few years will be critical. It is bad luck that the next year is forecasted to be a tight one economically, but if that is the card we have been dealt, then that is what we must contend with. If the coalition can rule the 5 opposition held states well, there is no telling what will happen at the next GE; perhaps the toppling of the BN. In fact, as it is, the BN is close to its death throes. MCA MIC and Gerakan have had their balls cut off. UMNO is facing a strong internal challenge from KuLi and its strongest ever Opposition, helmed by its most viable and threatening leader ever, the former Education/Finance and Deputy PM.

2 things we need to do when we reflect on this election results. One. The groundswell of anti BN movement was made possible by the PM’s more relaxed hold on the press compared to his predecessor. The same sentiments prevailed under Dr M’s time, but without a channel to be expressed through, and with the Net still in its infancy here in Malaysia, Dr M’s iron grip was able to suppress all this. With everything clicking at the same time however, Badawi had not a chance. Second. We must remember that Badawi inherited a government that was rotten and corrupted. But in good times and amidst a rolling economically progressive era, Dr M was able to get away with/suppress all this. Come Badawi’s time, he was not a strong enough PM to repeat what Dr M could do, and could not control his underlings. Given all this, and his inability to clean up what the previous administration gave him a huge mandate for promising to do (i.e. clean up the government he inherited), he was bound to go.

In the future, all eyes will be on the newly won states for the opposition. In Perak, the new MB is holding tremendous goodwill and support from the people, of all races. As his recent forays into speech making has shown, the ability to converse in 3 Chinese dialects, Tamil, English and Malay has won him the hearts of the people. In Penang, the new CM also has the people eating out of his hands. This is a great start and a wonderful new mandate to work with. The only things to watch out for are the bad debts, loans, and legal liabilities inherited from the previous administration. This is in abundance, as the empty offices that they walked into have proven, having had all files and papers shredded away.

In the still government controlled states, the BN is also experiencing a battle on yet another front; the Rulers. Perlis has successfully installed a Ruler’s choice MB over a BN choice. But in Terengganu, where there is much misdoings to cover up, Badawi is still fighting hard to install his puppet Idris. If the Ruler’s man gets the job, it will be tough to cover up all the misdoings that have been going on. So, it remains and exciting time ahead, as new developments continue to unfold.