Mahathir attacked for opposing local elections

(FMT) – Local elections will substantially increase Malaysia’s democratisation, a civil society group says, after politicians warned they could lead to racial strife due to city demographics.

Kuasa, a grassroots NGO to promote literacy in democracy, said the government’s continued refusal to hold local council elections were “pure fear-mongering, or worst, evidence of weak national leadership”.

Kuasa chief Praba Ganesan said even countries torn apart by ethnic conflicts in the past had local elections.

“Bosnia has had six local elections since war ended following the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995. The first was held two years after peace in 1997. This involved 142 municipalities and in the last one in 2016, nearly three thousand candidates,” he said.

He said Sri Lanka elected 8,293 members earlier this year to the country’s 341 local authorities, while Rwanda held local elections for 15,014 positions.

Praba said these countries went through dark chapters in their history, but they never blamed local elections for any new racial strife.

“Rather, they look at local councils to concretise democracy.”

Praba said Malaysia must move away from a culture of fear as a reason to avoid representation, public discourse and localised decision-making.

He said those against the “third vote” were proponents of authoritarian democracy.

“They prefer federated states to rely on the central government for budgets and growth, and local councils to remain under the federal ministry for operating budgets and dependent on their authority.

“They want all power vested in the PM’s Cabinet post-election and this emasculates politics in the country and blocks off plurality in voices and opinions when it comes to power,” he said.

Praba also questioned the assurance by DAP that Malays would still dominate in cities if local elections were held.

“There are no guarantees in any election, except that the winners will be chosen by the people and not anointed by political leaders who have their own interests.

“That’s all that local councils determine, the legitimate consent from residents for their respective councils,” he said.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said there were no plans to bring back local elections, citing concerns of racial conflicts.

Referring to the possible differences between urban and rural demographics, he said local council elections might produce the “wrong results”.