Our politics is changing

MARCH 8 —Today marks the second anniversary of the “Tsunami” election, or 308 as the Chinese likes to call it.

Has Malaysian politics changed? Are we seeing a deepening of the democratic process in Malaysia?

By James Chin (The Malaysian Insider)

I have to say “no” to the first and “yes” to the second.

If anything, Malaysian politics has gone backwards.

The rise of nationalist groups such as Perkasa is a reminder to all that Ketuanan Melayu and ethnic sentiments are so deeply engrained in a section of the Malay community that change may not be possible without a major upheaval.

I am often reminded of the observation by a veteran Malay journalist, Ismail Kassim, that there are Malays in this country who would rather “burn” the country than sharing political power with the non-Malays.

The recent attacks on houses of worship and the cow-head incident is a reminder that ethnicity and religions remains the trigger point of Malaysian politics, just as it was in 1957 and prior to 308.

The Perak incident reminds us that a small, vocal section of the Malaysian polity is willing to use extra-constitutional means to remain in power regardless of globalisation-  a world has changed but they are not interested.

If anything, the Perak incident shows that a peaceful change of power may not take place under the constitution if the key institutions do not respect the most basic tenet of concept of democracy — a peaceful change of government.

The cancer called politics of race and religious bigotry is spreading, at a much faster rate since 308.

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