Published by Malaysiakini, images from Malaysiakini.
Allow me the dubious honour of (probably) being the first writer ever to compare BN to Brad Pitt.
Looking at the Cameron Highlands results, I can’t help but think of this scene from Guy Ritchie’s Snatch.
Brad Pitt’s character is beaten to bloody pulp, seemingly down for the count, and then… Well, I don’t want to spoil the movie for you.
Suffice it to say, it looks like vibrant political competition is far from dead in Malaysia.
Pakatan Harapan dealt BN a crushing blow in GE14, and soon faced BN again in no less than four by-elections in this last year, winning all convincingly – about as convincingly as they were beaten in Cameron Highlands yesterday.
I guess the honeymoon is over – it’s time to wake up and smell the Boh Tea.
Some will ascribe this victory to Umno and PAS’ driving home a hard ethno-religious line, and say that Malaysians are swinging back to the right.
I think ultimately, however, this element only succeeded because it filled a vacuum created by Harapan’s complacency.
‘What good has Harapan done?’
In politics, perception is everything.
I’m vastly underqualified to give a thorough A to Z accounting and assessment of precisely how Harapan has performed as a government. I imagine it’s not too far from the “B+” given by Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil.
I’m a little less underqualified to comment on how people perceive the Harapan government to be performing.
The short answer is, it’s probably not too far off from a ‘C-‘, venturing as of this last weekend well into ‘D’ territory.
People are already naturally cynical about politics. Without clear indications that a government is doing well, it’s almost second nature to assume that they are doing badly.
It’s not uncommon for such a perception to have relatively little to do with reality sometimes.
It boils down quite simply to the ability of the everyday Malaysian in the street to answer the question: What good things has the Harapan government achieved?
I think if you did a straw poll, you’re unlikely to find a lot of people being able to enthusiastically list down a convincing number of answers.
It ain’t broke… is it?
The reality is, in this day and age, a government which wishes to stay in power has to drastically reverse this state of affairs.
Here we may be facing a generational difference. Let us focus on Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, first.
Many of us employ an ‘if it ain’t broke, why fix it’ mentality – relying on tools and strategies that we know best. Old habits die hard, after all.
When Mahathir was first prime minister, he reigned supreme over Malaysian politics, and he did so with a pretty straightforward toolbox.
Of course, the world was quite a different place back then – most notably in the realm of technology and public discourse.
Back then, information was largely a one-way street, especially in Malaysia. The government controlled all the media, and thus decided exactly what Malaysians saw, heard, and to a large extent, thought about their government.
Information and public perception wasn’t something to worry about too much, given how much you could influence it.
Watching the government 24/7
Things couldn’t be more different today.
Firstly, the ability of ordinary Malaysians to scrutinise every move of the government is higher than it has ever been. Everyone has WhatsApp and a phone camera, and no one seems able to keep a secret.
Secondly, everyone has their own loudspeaker. Donald Trump has proved beyond reasonable doubt how easily echo chambers and twisted narratives can appeal to our basest sides, and turn reality on its head – especially when there aren’t any other strong voices out there.
This isn’t the 1980s or 1990s, with centralised control of the media. The Malaysia of today is a free for all, with multiple eyes watching and judging the government’s every move at any given point in time.
Long story short – things are broken, and they need fixing.
The need for a New Malaysia roadmap
A strong voice is precisely what Harapan needs to stem this tide.
It isn’t enough to quietly try and fix everything that BN broke, no matter how well you do so.
That silence creates a vacuum which the hardliners in Umno and PAS are all too eager to fill with narratives of how Islam and the Malays are under threat(a brilliant meditation on whether this is indeed the case was recently written by Hilman Fikri Azman).
What Malaysians need now more than ever is contained in Harapan’s very own name – hope.
Malaysians need to know that their leaders have a vision, a compass by which the Malaysian ship can set its course.
The government can be forgiven for trying and failing, and even for falling short of some of its goals; but it cannot be forgiven for not trying at all, or for looking like it is adrift with no direction.
In more practical terms, I have written before about the need for a New Malaysia roadmap or blueprint.
A university professor of mine once told me that the writing of academic papers was easy – all you had to do was tell them what you’re going to say, say it, then tell them you said it.
Wawasan 2020 and 1Malaysia had their faults, but at the very least they gave people an idea (if not always true, in case of the latter) of what the government was trying to do, and what they had achieved.
We are not looking for more empty slogans; but we do need an encapsulating theme that will help Malaysians understand what the government is trying to do, and whether or not they are succeeding.
With a properly planned, well-thought-out roadmap, we can see where we’re going, how we’re doing along that journey, and how every Malaysian can do their part to better Malaysia.
In the beautiful hills of Cameron Highlands, the first shot has been fired.
Countless Malaysians stand ready to follow their leaders into battle; the only question is, do those leaders know which way they’re going?
PART 2
Najib reinvented, Harapan regressing?
Nathaniel Tan is Director of Media & Communications at EMIR Research, an independent think-tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based upon rigorous research.
