Political Evolution
By Hakim Joe
What is Evolution but a progression of nature? Through the generations, humans have evolved from cavemen with no knowledge of language, science or humanity to what we are today.
Of course it can be acknowledged that not all populated regions on this earth evolve at the same pace but collectively we can accept that the degree of evolution is almost on par with one another. Biologists agree that the two major mechanisms that determine the evolutionary pace are natural selection and genetics. Whether this is true or not is debatable.
In a sense, political evolution is also determined by two major mechanisms. They are social science and evolutionary psychology. In layman terms, it means the susceptibility to change and the interaction between different races of people. Now regardless of what we say or what we think, these forces are at work here in this country.
Nonetheless, there are many contributing factors that are causative to it (like culture, economics, technology, geography, war, disease etc.) but political change can be determined and only be brought about by the necessity of the common people to demand reforms. Nothing is ever taken for granted and nothing is constant, well perhaps only age and taxes, and this provides the stimulant for progressive reforms to be introduced as time passes us by. As humans evolve, so does their philosophy. What might have been taken for granted before might be taboo today, and vice versa.
Humans are born with a selfish and inquisitive nature. What we don’t know, we want to learn. What we don’t have, we desire to own. Okay, it is not as simple as that but you get my drift. Similar concepts apply to politicians everywhere. For those that have reached the pinnacle, they want to stay there. It is called the nature of the beast. They would tell you that status quo is best but humans are just not geared for stagnation. Oh yes, status quo IS
stagnation. For those aspiring to reach the top, they must be wary of those already above them as all means will be taken to stop their progress.
This is where political devolution is introduced in forms of repressive legislations and regressive reforms to the system. When that fails to prevent the progress, ephemeral political systems are adopted whereby a union of smaller political parties is encouraged to dilute the opposition’s strength (collective survival enterprise) or an invitation is offered to co-opt them into the organization (to remove the threat). Both are at work here in this country as exhibited in the BN coalition and the attempt(s) to tempt PAS with a unity government. When this is evident, it illustrates the weakness of the government whereby its survival is dependent on outside forces.
For the people at the top that try to stop political progress, let it be known that the political sphere on earth advances mutually and collectively. Akin to the searching for equilibrium, all political systems tend to evolutionize together as a single coordinated system. Look at communism. The concepts attributed to it is so adulterated that the Karl Marx concept of pure communism is but a fading memory. Same thing happened to fascism. Political evolution will happen regardless of the attempts by any governing political parties to halt their progress as these changes are not isolated but dependent on survivability. To survive, one must change with the times – it is as simple as that. Failure to recognize this guarantees extinction. To paraphrase the American founding father Benjamin Franklin, “…in the long run either we will survive together or go extinct separately.”
In Malaysia, we have noticed these political changes, especially after the Political Tsunami here last year. People are no longer afraid to air their disappointments at a central government that has failed to move with the political times. Look at the average age of these politicians and one can understand their need for status quo. Some cannot even understand English and these are the ones that rely on the “kampong” votes to pull them through. On the majority, most just cannot be bothered with change and it is this group of non-reformers that has elected to the apex someone from their own group. However, the total collapse of their system is imminent as no political party is immune to reforms, whether they accept it or not. It is but a matter of time. Ignorance can never be a valid method to stop evolution.
If one were to study the science behind the political motives here, one would recognize the central government’s intervention in everything that we do, whether directly or indirectly. This is owing to the multi-culturalism here. Not a simple task but after half a decade of trial and error, it can be assumed that they are relatively proficient at it. Being influenced, exhorted, manipulated, pressured or extorted can always be dismissed by legal means or strong arm tactics.
What they forgot to take into account is that the people are evolving as well. No longer are we singularly subjected to indoctrination by a government-controlled media and the desire for equality and a stronger say in how the country should be governed will eventually bring about the demise of those who champion status quo. Change is inevitable … depend on it.
