Malaysia is at the cusp of change. The question is if we are at the tipping point why then did we not tip over? Malaysia did tip over as PR won the 2013 general elections, not BN. BN won despite losing, due to the insurance provided by unfair gerrymandering implemented more than 40 years ago.
Many people have asked, what are the implications of Pakatan winning 51% of the popular vote? Will it lead to a more unstable BN government since Najib is being seen as a minority Prime Minister leading a minority government? Will there be a ‘Malaysian Spring’ as a result of the on-going protests against the election results? Yes there will be a Malaysian spring but a peaceful one, sprung for a common cause to free Malaysia from poverty, ignorance, fear and corruption.
I will not dispute the fact that Najib is a minority Prime Minister leading a minority government because no-where else in the world, in a democratic country using a First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) system, would a party win 51% of the votes but end up with only 40% of the seats. By any standards, the party which wins a majority of the vote would win an even greater % of seats. Only in Malaysia, because of the unfair delineation exercise, would a party which won a majority of votes can end up with less than a majority of seats. Perhaps, this is what BN means by “Malaysia Boleh”.
And yet there BN leaders who defy logic by disputing even that PR won the elections or that winning the popular vote does not matter at all. But how can that be so when democracy is about the majority ruling over the minority and respecting the rights of the minority? Democracy can not be about the minority ruling the majority. Neither can it be compared to a badminton match.
Democracy Is Not A Badminton Match or about the Minority Ruling The Majority.
Even in a badminton match, every set is given equal weightage. But for BN there is no equal weightage for every seat because some seats like Kapar(160,000 votes) have nearly 10 times more weight than Putrajaya(17,000 votes) and yet each has only a value of one seat. If Malaysian election system was played like a badminton game, the PR badminton player would have to win 10 sets to every set won by BN.
The Minister for Home Affairs must be pretending to be mad when he asks Malaysians who do not agree with the injustice of the electoral system to leave the country. But there is method in his pretence of madness as no one can ask a majority or 51% of the population to leave the country. He wants to frighten the rakyat not to focus on BN losing the popular vote or distract their attention by blaming the Chinese. But how can BN lose 51% of the popular vote when the Chinese constitute only 24%? Are the remainder 27% of the PR voters Bangladeshi? For this reason neither will the people be frightened or lied at or distracted no more. The people know they are the majority and demands poll reforms that are clean, fair and provide a platform that reflect the will of the majority.
The people will not be cowed by the re-arrests of 3 opposition activists or charging many PR leaders in court for sedition. After all, why are those pro-BN who made anti-Chinese remarks not punished?
I reject the contention that the future prospects of the country have been negatively affected by the presence of a stronger opposition. Of course, if Pakatan had taken over, I would be confident in saying that Malaysia is definitely on the right track to achieving its full potential. But even if we did not achieve our objective of winning Putrajaya, I very much believe that our stronger presence in parliament, together with the 2nd term in office for the state governments of Penang and Selangor, will have a positive impact on the country’s development.
For one, you can be sure that the BN will find it much more difficult to push through deals that will only benefit their own cronies. When we were only 10% of parliamentarians, it was easier for the BN to push things through, especially since the sheer volume of these kinds of crony contracts was too much for the small group of us in parliament. But now that we are 89 MPs strong, coming from every single state in Malaysia except for Perlis, you can be sure that we will dig up every nook and cranny to make it ‘hard as hell’ for the BN to push through another ‘Cows for Condo’ NFC type deal. You can count on MPs such as Rafizi Ramli, Nurul Izzah or Dr Ong Kian Ming and one of your very own Oxonians – Tony Pua, Mahfuz Omar, and many of the younger MPs to play their duty as check and balance against the BN government.
This is not to say that they will not try. As the whole 1MDB set up has shown, BN will never change its ways. 1MDB, which is nothing better than a slush fund, should be absorbed into Khazanah. This was our proposal in the Pakatan Rakyat Manifesto.
We can already see how policy competition is forcing the BN to respond to Pakatan’s proposals. The first generation Independent Power Producer (IPP) contracts, which are expiring soon, are being renewed at a lower cost because of the spotlight put on them by Pakatan Rakyat. You can see how the BN has been forced to slowly reduce car prices as a result of Pakatan Raykat’s manifesto.
We have already demonstrated that we can govern Penang and Selangor better than the BN. And we have been rewarded with a larger mandate, both in terms of seats as well as our share of votes. In Penang, we increased the number of state seats from 29 to 30 and our popular vote from 58% to 67%. In Selangor, we increase the number of state seats from 36 to 44 and our popular vote from 55% to 59%. We have shown that we can increase our state reserves and at the same time, redistribute financial aid and allocation equitably and transparently.
We will continue to come up with even better ways to govern both states. In the state of Penang, we will continue to find creative ways to fulfil our vision of creating a balance society that is driven by progressive ideas, sustainable private investment and well planned public investment. The creation of the Penang Paradigm, which was launched earlier this year, provides a roadmap which we have and will continue to use in order to demonstrate to the people of Malaysia that this is how Pakatan will govern in Putrajaya.
The process of change and improvement is part and parcel of life. And it is a reality in political life. Human talent can only be built and developed by training and hard work. If America faces a fiscal cliff that threatens the financial health of the world, Malaysia faces a talent cliff that threatens our future economic prosperity.
We need our young and talented to return home to make Malaysia stronger. We know you will return to a Malaysia that is livable and provide equal opportunity for you to prosper. Competition and accountability will make Malaysia a better country that is clean, green, healthy and safe for all to live, work and play in. A stronger Pakatan Rakyat means a stronger future for democracy, justice, freedom, integrity and performance-based culture in Malaysia.