No going back

THE CHANGE IS IMPOSSIBLE TO REVERSE

If there is something that unites Malaysians, it is their great fondness for catchy political buzzwords. This year, “308” and “Rahman” are the It words.

The Straits Times

The first, of course, refers to March 8, 2008, the watershed date when the Barisan Nasional ruling coalition took a thumping for the first time in 50 years and the political landscape was overturned in the process.

And that led to the fulfilment of the “Rahman” prediction. At least it will, if all comes to pass by end of this month.

This is the curious prophecy that predicts that the names of Malaysia's premiers will follow the letters in the name of the country's first prime minister — with some imagination applied, that is.

The scheduled handover of power from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to his deputy completes the “Rahman” cycle.

For those of a Nostradamus bent, the first PM Tunku Abdul Rahman was succeeded by Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, followed by Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Abdullah, and in-waiting, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

But perhaps a more apt buzzword might apply to Malaysia one year after 308 — different.

The biggest transformation — the one that will be the hardest to manage politically — is the birth pangs of a democracy. The symptoms are stark: a more vocal people, a shattering of the BN's 50-year-old invincibility, and the switching of once rock-solid party loyalties.

Take the upheavals so far this year. In the Kuala Terengganu by-election in January, the BN suffered the shocking loss of a seat that it had won last March.

A month later, the Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition lost the Perak state that it had governed since last March, when four defectors jumped ship.

Voters, flexing their new-found sense of power, did not allow this to pass without protest. They demonstrated in Perak and set the Internet ablaze with vitriol over the toppling of the state leadership.

Some analysts believe that the political tsunami that began as a protest against the BN's arrogance has begun to solidify into votes for the opposition.

The change is subtle but noticeable, and probably impossible to reverse.

It helped that the political shake-up was not violent. Many older Malaysians fear a drastic shift in the balance of power, remembering how a similar situation had triggered race riots in May 1969.

Instead, people power now is being directed at grassroots issues. One was staged by residents protesting against the development of the swanky Damansara 21 housing project on a steep hillside near their homes.

To their surprise, politicians — BN and opposition — rushed to show support.

And a violent demonstration by residents of a housing estate in working-class Cheras forced the government to reinstate their access to toll-free roads that had been blocked with concrete slabs by the highway developer.

More recently, the family of a suspected car thief, A. Kugan, won a second autopsy after they claimed that he died in custody as a result of police brutality. MIC politicians turned up to support the family.

Najib has acknowledged this newfound outspokenness and the need to accommodate it. The PM-in-waiting told Al-Jazeera news network last December that BN has no choice but to respond to a new Malaysia that had emerged. “Malaysian society is now more mature and demands more openness,” he said.

Yet, this transition to a more inclusive democracy has been extremely rocky.

Neither the BN nor the PR has an iron grip. The sands have been shifting repeatedly as political loyalties move, often for the flimsiest reasons.

The declarations of three PR assemblymen in Perak that they had become independents — albeit aligned with BN — and the resignation of a fourth from Kedah show that the fledgling coalition has many weak links.

It is a fragile entity, cobbled together after 308 with its Parti Keadilan Rakyat anchor having only a sketchy grassroots network and a structure that can be picked apart easily.

But what is really striking is the ease with which politicians have moved between the two sides.

In the past, it was a one-way drift that rarely saw promising talent going to the opposition. The DAP broke this trend a few years ago when it began to attract bright young talent like the Oxford-educated Tony Pua, now MP for Petaling Jaya Utara.

Since last March, opposition leaders say they have been attracting a steady stream of idealistic young professionals who like the vibe of the opposition.

Top BN names like Dr Tan Kee Kwong from Gerakan — those seen as the voices of conscience — have also crossed over.

And it was noticeable that those moving from the opposition to the BN were not the most sterling personalities.

The defections have also been accompanied by charges of money politics, with opposition figures accusing the BN of buying over lawmakers with sums going into the tens of millions.

There has even been talk of a third coalition being formed, by breakaways from the BN. The Sabah People's Party left the BN last September to turn independent, and there was talk of other Sabah MPs following suit.

Such messy coalition politics is all new to Malaysia. For all its novelty and shifting allegiances, however, it is still far from a post-racial Malaysia, despite what the opposition claims.

Repeated surveys by the independent Merdeka Centre show a stark opposing perspective between Malays and non-Malays on issues of communal interests. Non-Malays see more discrimination in the current set-up than the Malays do.

In some ways, racial issues have become more prickly as Umno tries to reclaim its dominant position through stronger Malay rhetoric. Meanwhile, the opposition claims to have transcended racial politics, choosing to cast its fight as a class struggle: The masses versus the elite.

While the non-Malays have taken to it, the Malay response remains lukewarm.

This is not surprising. After a rah-rah campaign, opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has yet to flesh out clear alternatives to the pro-Malay BN economic policies.

So yes, Malaysia has changed but amid the transformation, much remains the same.

Some think that Malaysia is worse off now than a year ago. Obsessive politicking has distracted its leaders from governance and the floundering economy, and others are suspicious about the ethics behind some of the political manoeuvres.

Politicking is also exhausting. The need for politicians to play to their constituencies means that many opportunities to set right social problems were lost. Case in point: The much-delayed promise to resolve the overlap of Islamic law with aspects of non-Muslim living.

Yet not many Malaysians — except perhaps those in the BN — want to return to pre-308. No going back. Those are perhaps the real buzzwords for this new era.