Crisis of faith in the political class

By Amir F. Abdul Rahim (The Malaysian Insider)

The Malaysian political class is in danger of losing the trust of voters nationwide. At present they still command a considerable respect from the society, but no longer enjoy the strong confidence of the masses as it once did. Back in the post-Merdeka years, the political class was looked up highly as guardians of the citizens, the ones who chased away the colonial masters. Today, allegations of self-serving, corrupt and incompetent are some of the kindest words hurled at our political class.

Cynicism is breeding fast now when one speaks of politics at home. In no time we are becoming more like our British friends whose cynicism was elevated to a whole new level after finding out recently that they had to foot the bill for the lavish lifestyles of their MPs.

The consistently warm political temperature in Malaysia since the electoral tsunami of March 8 has left many Malaysians uneasy not just about the state of politics in the country but that of the politicians. A persistent series of a highly-charged political drama since last year, starting with a failed promise of a change in government by the opposition leader, accession of the new premier and at present the Perak impasse — all taking place while the economy is spiralling downwards — is testing the faith Malaysians have of politicians.

A Malaysian businessman who bought a page in a national newspaper asking the political class to focus on economic recovery sums up the feelings of an average Malaysian. Yes we do enjoy political drama and political gossips in little Malaysia but not at the expense of the people’s livelihood!

The 6 per cent contraction in the first quarter of the year and a predicted 5 per cent annual decline in economic activities should serve as food for thought for both sides. Rising unemployment should be the issue of the day, not “political acrobatics”, theatrics or even rhetoric could save the day if this issue is not addressed. The new PM realises that he has to fix the economy to remain in power, and has begun rightly by liberalising certain markets and finding a new economic model to generate greater prosperity.

However, new models might not be sufficient to rescue our economy if corruption especially among the political class is not tamed. Malaysians on the streets have tolerated the fact that corruption is prevalent across the echelons of our political class- confirmed by a recent survey published on The Malaysian Insider recently. Yet, we still voted them in.

A whole different term is given to bless this criminal offence — money politics — reserved only for the elites. But up to 2008, for most part of history, this was by large the major flaw in our politicians, apart from a few cases of administrative incompetence and sex scandals. But now, their behaviour is also a subject of contention, their every word scrutinised.

We have members of the political class wanting more power — disregarding ethics, a speaker refusing to unseat the chair after being dismissed by the assembly, private naked pictures splashed across the Internet by an ex-lover, and two presidents fighting for control over a small party. On top of that, we have series of orchestrated by-elections for pure political interests and not out of necessity. This is without mentioning all the allegations relating to murders, thugs, land scam, sexual behaviours, many of which cases are heard in courts across the land and a few which remain unsubstantiated yet prominently discussed in cyberspace. With corruption, sex, party-hopping, murder, how can we still believe that the political class is in this not for themselves?

Politics at present, given these exciting developments, continues to dominate the Malaysian mind and forces the restless electorate, who are already facing the brunt of the economic contraction, into embracing partisanship. Similar to the experience of 1999 people are forced to choose sides with the middle ground dangerously getting smaller. This creates a divided society which sees things only through partisan lenses. This trend must be discouraged — let reason triumphed over partisanship, and let good ideas be heard regardless of which party it comes from.

Greater political awareness must go hand in hand with democratic maturity of the society and of individuals, if not it will do more harm than good. However, despite the rising political awareness in the country, the political class seems at best to disappoint. It is a simple case of a mismatch between supply and demand — rising demand for good politicians to champion certain causes, and the lack of such talents around.

If the market failure is allowed to continue, then the political class is in for a crisis of confidence. We want more of the principled, able candidates to represent us; not shady, frog-legged political creatures. We want to believe something or anything from someone who can be trusted, not a conman in disguise as learned, holier-than-thou representatives.

The political class of today must move swiftly to tackle this impending crisis. A loss of confidence in the political class and subsequently the system is a damaging prospect for a young democratic nation like ours. Malaysia’s growth over the years has depended on the active role played by the political class in governing and providing check and balances onto the system. A market of 27 million people, we welcome state intervention in most sectors, so much so that the economy is seen as overtly dependent on the political class.

The absence of good breed of political class will create a credibility gap and this is set to destroy our appeal of having a dependable system of governance to operate an open market economy. A crisis of faith will also diminish the ability of politicians to fight for social causes and hence the premise of a legitimate connection between voters and politicians will suffer a breakdown. Big government model like the one in Malaysia will cease to function should this premise of trust collapses.

It is best that the political class across the divide get their act together and sort out their houses immediately. Strengthen your parties and work on delivering quality politics. Shenanigans can take a back seat while national interests should be prioritised. It’s more than three years away before they go to the people again. As such more attention must be paid to policies and governance rather than indulging in trivial political games. Act in the interest of the majority and not the people on the sides. Performance must be monitored and results must be delivered. Give Malaysians a reason to have faith in our polity. Turn cynicism into optimism, negativism into the rhetoric of hope and change — that is a challenge I throw to all YBs and grassroots political leaders nationwide.

A nation of disbelief is a nation in discontent. Redeem our politics, redeem the trust of the people and avoid this impending crisis of confidence now. Bring class back to the politics of today. Bring back honesty, decency and competence too. We need to believe changes are undertaken to address these issues, lest we allow cynicism to fester in our political domains. Buck up, and do not confirm the voters’ perception that the political class are self-serving machines — or else belief and trust in the system will crumble. If the voters do not believe in the political class, who else will?

Amir F. Abdul Rahim is a second-year student of history and economics at the University of Oxford and the chairman of UKEC.