The proposed law on political financing and electoral funding should now be of the highest priority for both legislators and citizens, Chandra Muzaffar writes.
The conviction and sentencing to jail of former Prime Minister Najib Razak is an act of tremendous significance to Malay and Malaysian political culture.
Since independence in 1957, the prime minister has been perceived as the principal protector of a large segment of the citizenry. As protector he is not just the most important office-holder in the Malaysian political system. He is the inheritor of political authority in a governance structure rooted in a traditional polity, namely the centuries-old Malay sultanate.
To protect the interests of his people, specifically the Malays, he is ‘entitled’ to unquestioning loyalty from his ‘subjects’.
Unquestioning loyalty, regardless of whether the ruler is right or wrong, was a much-eulogised trait in the relationship between leader and led right through Malay history.
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Though it has been eroded by education, social mobility, democratic practices, electoral competition and the like, it continues to be perpetuated in contemporary times through Umno, as I argue in my 1979 book Protector? A Study of Leader-Led Relationships in Malay Society from the Malaccan Period to the Present.
Umno wore the cherished mantle of protector of the Malays for decades against real and imagined threats to the community up to 9 May 2018, when it was defeated in 2018 general election.
Despite its defeat, Umno is still a formidable political force. It remains to this day the most powerful political party among the Malays. Its influence within the grassroots of that community is pervasive.
In the last two years, it has attempted to present itself as the only genuine protector of the Malays through the articulation of issues, some real, others false, which, on the whole, have resonated with the community.
The inability of its main adversary, the Pakatan Harapan (PH), in power from May 2018 to February 2020, to demonstrate that it is more capable than Umno of protecting the genuine interests of the Malays unwittingly strengthened the hand of the latter.
Besides, the two main actors in PH, Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim, were engaged in an all-consuming wayang kulit (shadow play) battle revolving around the question of when one should succeed the other. As a result, PH and its allies could not concentrate their energies on curbing and curtailing Umno’s perceived role as the protector of the Malays.
Now the present ruling coalition, Perikatan Nasional (PN), or at least some components of it, perhaps along with PH, has yet another opportunity to try to diminish the impact of the protector-unquestioning loyalty syndrome.
The court decision on Najib focuses on alleged wrongdoings – abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money-laundering – of someone who was once a principal protector. Should one continue to be unquestioningly loyal to such a leader? Surely loyalty is only to virtue. How can there be loyalty to vice? Isn’t such a perverted notion of loyalty a betrayal of the very fundamentals of Islamic ethics?
Shouldn’t the majority of Umno leaders and its three million or so grassroots members see the Najib verdict and the trials involving other Umno bigwigs as a wake-up call to the party to get rid of corruption and wrongdoings?
In other words, shouldn’t this unprecedented event, the conviction of a former Umno president and prime minister on charges related to corruption and venality, prompt the party to undertake the sort of introspection that will lead to a thorough cleansing of its body and soul ?
It is not just Umno that needs this sort of cleansing. Given the lack of transparency in electoral funding and the opacity of political financing in Malaysia, all political parties should be willing to cleanse themselves. This is why the proposed law on political financing and electoral funding, which has yet to see the light of day, should be of the highest priority for both legislators and citizens.
We Malaysians should be encouraged to push for this and other similar reforms at this juncture, for two reasons.
One, Najib’s conviction reminds us that the Malaysian judiciary – whatever its warts and pimples – has over the decades found well-known public figures guilty of wrongdoings and punished them accordingly. There are not many judicial systems in the world that have done this without fear or favor.
Two, it is equally remarkable that the executive, specifically Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, upheld his pledge not to interfere in the judicial process though the man in the dock is still a political leader of considerable weight in Umno, the main component party of the ruling PN.
Indeed, Muhyiddin’s position as Prime Minister in a sense depends on the continued support of Najib’s party. It was in that sense a bold and brave move to allow the rule of law to prevail and justice to triumph, as Muhyiddin said he would.
As a result, the cynicism and skepticism displayed by a large segment of the so-called educated stratum of Malaysian society on the eve of the High Court verdict in Najib’s case turned out to be totally misplaced.
It shows that there is a need for us Malaysians to show some faith in the willingness of certain individuals at the apex of society to exercise restraint in their use of power and to observe the basic norms of governance. Likewise, there are individuals of integrity in our judiciary who cherish their roles as custodians of justice.
It is such individuals, wherever they are, who will help to transform our political culture into one that values the dignity of the human being.
Dr Chandra Muzaffar is president of the International Movement for a Just World. Protector will be republished by Gerakbudaya in the next few months with an afterword written in the wake of the 2018 general election
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
We should not rush to claim that our judiciary has suddenly become bold and brave just because Najib was found guilty. Our courts have a long history of controversial decisions in numerous cases. Judges [allegedly] in the payroll of business magnates is not something alien to our judiciary.
For all we know Najib’s conviction could be a case of political drama for it is just a court of first instance. Many people believe Najib will not spend a day in jail. We have to wait for the decision of the appeal courts to come to a conclusion regarding the credibility of our courts.
A single sparrow does not make for spring.
This is in no way to deny the significance of the verdict by Judge Mond. Nazlan against Najib. But before we sing praises of the backdoor PM let us not forget the other 2 politically sensitive cases before Najib’s that smells of interference.
Najib’s conviction will hopefully improve political culture in Malaysia. But if we look at the fresh state elections called in Sabah, it is obvious such improvements will not be forthcoming as yet.
The proposed law on political financing and electoral funding will not see the light of day under this backdoor govt. It is one of the failures of the deposed PH govt. not to have seen through this GE14 election promise during its 22 months rule.