COMMENT (Malaysiakini)A Malaysian recently wrote to me, "Most Americans don't know or even care where Malaysia is."
Even
among the so-called foreign policy elite, little attention is paid to
Malaysia. There are few American academics who specialise in domestic
Malaysian politics, and except for hosting visits by senior Malaysian
leaders, think-tanks and universities hold few Malaysia-themed
programmes.
US newspaper and magazine
reports are few, with most articles focusing on tourism and the
delights of Malaysian cuisine. As a result, there is a tendency among
Americans to hold an idealised (and outdated) image of Malaysia as a
successful multi-racial and multi-religious paradise, an Asian economic
dynamo, and a stable and moderate Muslim democracy.
As
a result of this deficit of informed analysis of Malaysia, there has
been a failure to notice the internal political and economic changes
unfolding within Malaysia over the past few years.
The
reality today, as one Australian expert puts it, is that the situation
is the "most fluid and dangerous" in Malaysia's history.
A date for the history booksBecause
of this attention shortfall, the events of July 9 came as a surprise.
On that day, tens of thousands of Malaysians - who have been ranked on
Hofstede's Power Distance Index as the most submissive to authority of
any people in the world - chose to defy their government and join a
'Walk for Democracy'.
They heeded
the call of Bersih 2.0, a coalition of 62 non-governmental organisations
that calls for free and fair elections. In the days before the rally,
the Malaysian government cracked down. It rounded up 200 leaders
associated with the movement, claiming that they were "waging war
against the king" and planning to overthrow the government.
It
declared both the Bersih coalition and the planned rally illegal, and
in a truly bizarre action, it declared the colour yellow - Bersih's
signature colour - illegal.
Malaysian
citizens were arrested for possessing Bersih literature or wearing
yellow T-shirts. The police established roadblocks around the city and
banned 91 Bersih and opposition leaders from entering Kuala Lumpur. By
the morning of July 9, the city was in total lockdown.
Then
something remarkable happened. As Ambiga Sreenevasan, the distinguished
lawyer who leads Bersih put it, the Malaysian people showed that they
no longer would be intimidated by their government. They chose to march,
knowing that they would be met by tear gas, chemical-laced water cannon
and police batons.
Even after
Bersih's leadership was arrested, Malaysians of all ages, races and
religions continued their 'Walk for Democracy' through the streets of
Kuala Lumpur. They locked arms, they sang their national anthem, they
blew bubbles and carried flowers.
They
were peaceful. The only muscle seen that day was the heavy hand of the
police. Human Rights Watch later called the use of force excessive, the
1,670 arrests unwarranted, and the police attacks on marchers
unprovoked.
This repression by Prime
Minister Najib Razak and his government drew international condemnation,
and it also put a lie to Najib's two-year effort to portray himself as a
modern, liberal-minded leader.
More
importantly, and of greater concern to Najib and his Umno party - the
main party that has ruled Malaysia continuously since independence in
1957 - is that it awakened a new generation of Malaysians.
It
is too soon to know whether the movement for electoral reform and the
establishment of true democracy in Malaysia will be sustained. If it is,
then July 9 will be remembered as a turning point in Malaysia's
history.
A flawed democracyWhy
should a government be so afraid of a call for fair elections? Like his
predecessors, Najib claims that demonstrations will lead to chaos, even
though the right of assembly is guaranteed by the nation's constitution
and is commonplace in any true democracy.
As
for free and fair elections, Najib says that Malaysia already has them;
if not, then opposition parties would not have achieved the gains they
made in the 2008 elections, when they received 47 percent of the popular
vote and took control of five states. Opposition parties counter that
if elections truly were fair and free, they would form the government
and not the Umno-led coalition.
Political
rhetoric aside, Malaysia's electoral system has been analysed by
academics in Australia, Malaysia, the United States, and elsewhere. In
addition, the state of Malaysia's political freedom has been assessed by
many international groups.
The
Economist Intelligence Unit, for example, labels Malaysia a "flawed
democracy" in its Democracy Index. Freedom House says that Malaysia is
only "partly free". Reporters Without Borders places Malaysia 141st out
of the 178 countries in its Press Freedom Index.
On
elections, the US Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices declares that Malaysian opposition parties are unable to
compete on equal terms with the governing Umno-dominated coalition
because of restrictions on campaigning and freedom of assembly and
association.
"News of the opposition," the report says, is "tightly restricted and reported in a biased fashion."
Academics
point to the Election Commission's gerrymandering, which creates highly
imbalanced constituencies that favour the ruling party, where the
number of voters per seat can range from 7,000 to over 100,000.
Over
the years, there have been numerous credible reports of the use of
phantom voters, stuffed ballot boxes, vote-buying, and abuse of
government resources to attract votes.
In
Sarawak's state elections this past April, Najib was caught on video,
blatantly telling a village gathering that his government would give
them US$1.5 million for a local project, but only if they elected his
candidate.
Lukewarm responseMalaysia's
government may assert otherwise, but the evidence is overwhelmingly on
Bersih's side. Malaysia is not a full democracy, and its elections are
neither free nor fair.
Malaysian citizens have
awakened to that fact. Now the world's democracies need to stand on the
right side of Malaysia's future.
The United States has a multitude of interests in Malaysia, one of which is to help strengthen democracy and the rule of law.
Human
rights groups have condemned what they call the US government's
"lukewarm" response to the events of July 9. This is a moment when the
United States, which named Bersih's leader Ambiga an International Woman
of Courage in 2009, can show the same courage and make a difference in
the life of a nation.
JOHN R MALOTT was the US Ambassador to Malaysia, 1995-1998, and continues to follow developments in that country closely.
The
above appeared in Asia Pacific Bulletin (APB) series, published by the
East-West Center, which promotes better relations and understanding
among the people and nations of the United States, Asia, and the Pacific
through cooperative study, research, and dialogue.
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