Restore Local Elections, Not Racial Fear

Agora Society Statement on 12 December 2018

Agora Society is disappointed at the statement made by the current Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad at a local government event for insisting there would be no reinstatement of local elections under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government. Local elections formed an integral component of Malaysia’s democracy until it was unceremoniously suspended in the 1965 and formally abolished with the passing of Local Government Act in 1976. By abolishing local elections, Malaysians are essentially being denied the right to vote for its local councillors which contradicts the principle of democracy. Therefore, Agora Society is of the view that local elections should be restored as soon as possible.

The Prime Minister reasoned that local elections may produce the wrong result which will create a division between urban and rural local councils. Firstly, Agora Society wishes to emphasize that a political mandate coming from a free and fair local elections would only lead to a democratic result which is certainly not wrong in any manner. In fact, local councillors that are elected through local elections would have more political legitimacy and accountability towards its voters unlike the appointed councillors Malaysia currently has now.

Also, the suggestion of an impending racial conflict due to local elections is baseless and could be easily refuted. Since 2008, Malaysians have had witnessed a change of state governments numerous times without descending to racial violence and the change of federal government from the most recent General Election further exemplifies Malaysian’s propensity towards accepting any election results without resorting to physical violence.

The newly appointed Deputy Minister of International Trade and MP of Bangi YB Ong Kian Ming has also correctly pointed out that the ethnic composition of urban city councils have changed significantly through an article dated 2015. For example, the 2010 census data shows that the Malay population (45.9%) within Kuala Lumpur City Hall is more than the Chinese population (43.2%). The Deputy Minister even proclaimed that out of the 3 city halls, 9 city councils and 37 municipal councils in Malaysia, only 6 have populations where the Chinese outnumber the Malays. This gives further credence to the argument that local elections might not produce an outcome where Chinese would occupy most of the local council seats in urban areas.

Agora Society was also aware that at the same event, the Prime Minister has also warned the local authorities not to simply abuse its power and even uttering the famous phrase 'power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely'. However, the local authorities in Malaysia would always be more susceptible to instances of corruption and abuse of power so long as local councillors are appointed by state government. The appointment system falls short of checking the decisions made by the local government as the only entity

that the local councillors are only accountable to are the governing parties of the state government. Therefore, if the Prime Minister is sincere in preventing corruption and abuse of power, he should immediately restore Malaysian’s long abandoned ‘third vote’.

Furthermore, Agora Society is also dismayed by the fact that strong advocates of local elections prior to the last General Election has seemingly turned a deaf ear or feeling indifferent towards the Prime Minister latest announcement. For instance, the aforementioned article written by YB Ong Kian Ming was actually a rebuttal towards Hadi Awang who has expressed similar racial concerns towards having local elections in Malaysia in 2015.

Other than that, the current Minister of Finance also had a history of trying to restore local elections through judiciary means when he was still the Chief Minister of Penang. In fact, the former Chief Minister of Penang used to explain that the state government is powerless to unilaterally push for local elections as long as the Local Government Act 1976 is not amended. Thus, with the change of federal government, PH has ran out of pretexts and advocates of local elections acting lukewarm towards this issue now is wholly unacceptable.

Equally, the Housing and Local Government Minister has also said that local elections will be implemented in 3 years. To sum up, there is no shortage of people in the PH’s cabinet that are supportive of the idea of reinstating local elections. Agora Society is concerned that the current Cabinet would bear no difference to the previous BN’s cabinet if the Prime Minister’s views are deemed to be final and not properly challenged within the cabinet or by the government backbenchers in the Parliament.

Finally, Agora Society also opposed to the idea that restoration of local elections to be deferred indefinitely because it was not stated as one of the promises from PH’s Manifesto. Agora Society ought to remind the PH government again such excuses are at best naive and at worst disingenuous. PH’s Manifesto has explicitly stated that Pakatan Harapan is committed to strengthen local democracy and the PBT’s accountability to the local community will be improved, and only by reinstating local elections where the local governments in Malaysia would have any semblance of local democracy and a certain degree of accountability. Therefore, until there is a proper local election in place, Malaysia will continue to have a local government that is not by the people or of the people.

Agora Society Malaysia

12.12.2018

*Agora Society Malaysia is a loose network of individuals who believe in the principles of democracy and good governance. More information please visit http://agoramalaysia.blogspot.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/agora.msia

Reform requires not just proper politicians but proper institutions as well

Agora Society's Statement on 7 June 2019

(photo credit: NewMalaysianPost.com)

Agora Society is ready to give goodwill to whoever is appointed to helm key public institution, especially when the person is determined to reform Malaysia, and has a proven track record of performing his/her duty professionally, impartially and without fear or favour. Latheefa Koya, who is appointed as the new chief Commissioner of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) generally fits the bill.

However, the process of her appointment, though it might be lawful as it is the prerogative of Prime Minister, lacks transparency and accountability. The Prime Minister himself has even conceded that the decision of appointing our new Chief of MACC is his alone.

Lest the government forgets, they were widely viewed as having taken Putrajaya on the slew of institutional reforms which they vehemently promised. Promise no. 14 of the manifesto has stated that the ‘appointment of these Commissioners must be validated democratically by Parliament.’ Other than that, promise no. 16 also spelled out that ‘key national positions such as appointments to the Human Rights Commission, Election Commission of Malaysia, the Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission, and Judicial Appointments Commission must be approved by a suitable parliamentary committee. This will reduce the ability of the Prime Minister to intervene in these important appointments.’

We understood that the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on major public appointments is set up mainly for such purpose, and it was rather unfortunate that PSC was not even notified, never mind consulted. As it stands, the appointment of key official is still very much the same and we are worry about how much power are still in the hands of the Prime Minister without any check and balance. The new government should also be reminded by the fact that the previous government met its demise partly because of absolute power wielded by the previous Prime Minister which leads to a series of corruptible practices.

Furthermore, it is undeniable that the Prime Minister is appointing a MACC chief which was tainted by political partisanship, and it is a political appointment in any sense. Would the new MACC chief be courageous enough to investigate any of the Pakatan Harapan politicians - or even Mahathir himself – she is ostensibly associated with. Having said that, Latheefa would also alleged with political biasness if she chose to show leniency towards any politicians she favours, regardless if it is a correct or wrong call. Equally, investigating politicians that Latheefa has previously shown misgivings might give the public the impression of political revenge. To sum up, whoever was seen as a political appointee in key institution proves to be political divisive and lacks public legitimacy.

The role of the Major Public Appointments committee entails that any key public institutions’ candidates should be reviewed and vetted by the committee itself to ensure a check on executive appointments by the legislative. If the new government has no intention of allowing the committee to fulfil his task, we Malaysians should rightly wonder and question why the committee was created at the first place.

Also, if the government is committed about reform, they need to show their political will by going through the legislative process to amend the process of selecting and scrutinizing candidates to be more transparent and accountable. For example, the opinions of the committee and subsequently Parliament should be taken into account so that such appointment could command the confidence of the executive, parliament and the public. However, what the latest episode has shown was that the selection process was a unilateral decision made the Prime Minister himself.

As the saying goes, actions always speak louder than words. While we are heartened by the fact that the new MACC chief has proven to be a fighter against political corruption and a tireless human rights activist, yet we should equally be reserved until she has indeed performed well with the position she was appointed. Malaysia has been let down by many false dawns who had done so in the past, thus it is only logical the echoes of praises should be withheld for now.

If we could take one lesson from the previous General Elections, it is that Malaysians should no longer believe in rule of man, instead democratic institutions should be reformed, enhanced and protected to ensure no politicians could hold political power that was beyond his/her mandate. ‘Benevolent ruler’ politics is a thing of the past and as long as power corrupts, institutions must be always in place to check the power of the executives. Thus, it is imperative to urge the Pakatan Harapan to be serious in honouring the promises in the manifesto, especially those concerning institutional reforms to ensure proper check and balance among the 3 branches of power. Appointing 'good persons' alone by whip and fancy through the decision of Prime Minister alone might generate 'feel-good' factor only on to a narrow section of the public – especially those that are associated with the appointee. Yet a MACC chief should be accountable to all Malaysians and such appointment does not generate public confidence and it does not conceal the fact that such flawed appointment process harkens back to the days of BN where the Prime Minister’s authority and power is unchallengeable.

Agora Society

Agora Society is a loose network of intellectuals, writers and activists who advance democratic progress in Malaysia through critical analyses and propositions based on the principles of democracy and good governance. Please visit our page at http://www.facebook.com/agora.msia or http://agoramalaysia.blogspot.com/ for more information

Stop Cross Over, Respect GE14’s Result!

31 Civil Society Organisations Joint Statement on 31 October 2018

We, the undersigned civil society organisations, are deeply troubled by the revelation of UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi that the Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had allegedly demanded dissolution of UMNO (baru) and crossover of UMNO (baru) MPs to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) in a meeting. PPBM supreme council member Abdul Kadir Jasin also claimed that 40 UMNO (baru) MPs might join PPBM.

We believe that any crossing over of MPs from an opposition party to a ruling party, or vice versa, is an act of subverting the collective democratic decision made by the Malaysian voters in the GE14 to bring about our country’s very first regime change in history.

Malaysian voters sent a clear signal in the GE14 that they rejected UMNO (baru)-led Barisan Nasional (BN) for returning to power and instead elected the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition who promised a series of institutional reforms. Therefore, the purportedly cross-over of 40 opposition MPs to the ruling coalition will be a betrayal of people’s mandate, serve only for the self-interest of PPBM and UMNO (baru).

Mahathir Mohamad must recuse himself from the MA63 Committee

//Press Statement by Agora Society Malaysia on 12 October 2018//

The Agora Society is shocked at the announcement by Liew Vui Keong, Law Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, that the committee set up to review the 1963 Malaysia Agreement will be headed by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

We are of the view that, for over 20 years as prime minister, Mahathir undermined the democratic and electoral processes in Sabah, and connived at the plunder of Sarawak’s wealth and natural resources by corrupt politicians, all at the expense of the Sarawak people. It would therefore not be too far-fetched to say that Mahathir is the root cause of the various problems and the inequality gap between East and West Malaysia today.

Given Mahathir’s lack of moral credentials to assume such an important role, the pledge by the PKR, DAP and Amanah leaderships to promote democracy, integrity and clean politics will ring hollow should the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government give its approval.

Joint Statement : Malaysia Free of Corruptors and Dictators

Joint Press Statement on 4 January 2018

We, the undersigned 17 NGOs and 107 concerned citizens, are of the view that the upcoming 14th general election (GE14), instead of serving as a catalyst for democratization, will be a ‘race to the bottom’, with severe implications for the civic activism that emerged in the wake of the 2008 political tsunami.

With this in mind, we would like to issue a joint statement on the current democratic struggle and the integrity of political leadership as follows:

Kenyataan Bersama: Malaysia Bebas daripada Perasuah dan Diktator

Kenyataan Media Bersama 4 Januari 2018

Kami, 17 Pertubuhan Bukan Kerajaan (NGO) dan 107 warganegara prihatin yang menandatangan di bawah, berpandangan bahawa Pilihan Raya Umum ke-14 (PRU-14), daripada berfungsi sebagai pemangkin demokrasi, akan menjadi “perlumbaan ke paras terendah” yang membawa implikasi buruk kepada aktivisme sivik yang muncul selepas tsunami politik 2008.

Dengan ini, kami ingin mengeluarkan sebuah kenyataan bersama tentang perjuangan demokrasi semasa dan integriti pemimpinan politik seperti berikut: