What kind of government does Perikatan wants to be?
In the 14th general election held on 10 May 2018, the people elected an alternative coalition of political parties called Pakatan Harapan (PH) to take over the reign from the Barisan Nasional (BN) which had ruled our nation for more than 60 years after having being tainted with massive corruption, mismanagement and power abuse which caused billions of rinngit missing from our nation’s coffers. This is what the people want, change for a better.
However, after a mass defection of PH MPs from their original coalition and following the resignation of the then prime minister, then also the withdrawal of Bersatu from PH, the Perikatan Nasional coalition of “convenience” was established to take over the reign from PH after almost 22 months of the governance.
During PH’s governance, a number of reforms were initiated, most importantly, putting the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Election Commission (EC) under the parliamentary purview, and started the process of ensuring the independence of parliament and making it and effective check and balance institution by having some parliamentary select committees established to provide checks on various government expenditures, implementations, policies and other matters on administration.
Asides, work is also on the way to amend the federal constitution to limit the positions of prime minister, chief ministers and menteri besar to only two-term of service for each candidate as well as drafting and finalising the Parliamentary Services Bill (2020) in order to restore the independence and autonomy of the parliamentary institution. Until today, the parliament and its administration is still under the purview of the prime minister’s department.
Asides, the PH had also been reviewing and planning to repeal the Sedition Act (pending) and Anti Fake News Act (which was done), amend the Peaceful Assembly Act and the Communications & Multimedia Act (pending) as well as having the dictatorial National Security Council Act reviewed. The Independent Police Complaints & Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill is also being finalised and expected to be tabled at the next parliamentary sitting.
The amendments to allow youth of 18 years of age to vote has also been approved in the last parliamentary sitting but the law has yet to be gazetted until today, which means should and election is called anytime from now, the 18-year olds are still not eligible to vote.
However, the progress of having such reviewed, repealed or amended were stalled due to the fall of the PH government towards the end of February last month following a mass defection of PH MP and the withdrawal of Bersatu from the then ruling coalition.
So, with Bersatu leading the Perikatan Nasional coalition government today, together with Umno, PAS, GPS, and the minor parties MCA and MIC, the government is still in a very slow moving phase which regards to having have to make important decision and to carry out some implementations urgently. The nation’s economy is slowing down very fast, the oils price is dropping drastically, ringgit has dropped to its lowest, and the coronavirus is spreading to our population.
And yet the Perikatan Nasional government has yet to decide on what to do, other than going after the MAS cabin crews attire and asking children to wed their rapists in the name of religion.
The question here is, has Perikatan Nasional decided what kind of government does it want to be after Bersatu decided to team-up with conservatives like Umno, PAS, GPS and the smaller MCA and MIC parties, when Bersatu keeps on insisting that they are for the reforms to continue? If Bersatu is still reform-minded whereas Umno, PAS, GPS, MCA and MIC are not, how is Bersatu is going to lead this coalition of convenience till the next general election, probably in 2023? Umno, PAS and some eastern province Perikatan-linked politicians are beginning to complain that their parties were not given important cabinet positions but merely minor ministerial positions and their representation in the government is being unfairly decided.
People who voted in the last general election are now voicing their concern over the conservative nature and one-race dominated federal government which is not demonstrating their effort nor showing any interest of moving forward. Instead leaders of the new Perikatan Nasional government are still complaining of not getting enough position for themselves.
People are wondering with a conservative, racial and religious government in place, will it bother to even proceed with the changes and reforms initiated by the previous government? Are we going to start seeing people got arrested, detained and prosecuted again under the notorious Sedition Act, Peaceful Assembly Act, SOSMA, POTA, Communications & Multimedia Act for merely criticising or giving opposing opinions on the way this government administers our nation?
Today, we have greater freedom of expression, more independent state institutions, press freedom are broader now, effective anti-corruption measures and a higher empowerment of citizens as well as greater civil liberties. People’s awareness in politics and policies has also increased. Our concern is, are all these going to fade with Umno and PAS back in full control? We had seen what they have done before May 2018. Many victims and former detainees of the previous BN dictatorship still lives today to see the changes but only to see it whether it is going backwards or not.
Is the 8th primie minister Muyhiddin Yassin able to convince the people and our nation that his government is not going to backtrack on the various reforms initiated previously. Can Muhyiddin and his cabinet ministers give us their pledge that they are going to continue to instil clean and inclusive politics, respects for freedom of speech and human rights, accountable public institutions, parliamentary and electoral reforms, and enhance progressive democracy in this country?
Lastly, we must not allow any attempts from any leaders to have these progress and reforms reversed in the name of and racial or religious barriers. They are merely hiding behind such if they were to reason such.
The reflection is that, reformists who defected will eventually reverse or backtrack on their reforms.
