The confidence and supply agreement between Perak Menteri Besar Saarani Mohamad and the state opposition could be seen as a welcome reform. Sadly, a more accurate epithet would be “revolving door” reform, the new normal in Malaysian politics in which none of the coalition parties can expect to be a “never-ending political incumbent” in the way Barisan Nasional used to be.
Thus, the governing coalition must look after its own long-term interests in the knowledge that they too may become the opposition at state or federal level. In other words, “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours …”. How convenient!
We find that there is now a consensus between the incumbent and opposition parties in Perak that all 59 state assemblymen will receive the same annual allocation of RM200,000 per year to provide services for their respective constituents. Furthermore, all state representatives, including opposition members, will be invited to various district-level committees, namely the action committees, focus groups and disaster management committees.
The office of the opposition leader will finally be given official recognition in the form of salary, allowances, emoluments and reasonable amenities to provide an effective check-and-balance, and the Public Accounts Committee chairperson will be an opposition assemblyman.
Bravo, that is an achievement barely conceivable during the BN years. But is this the limit of their “revolving door” reform agenda or can we expect real reforms? After the historic vote by the Malaysian electorate in the 14th general election, civil society expects serious transformative reforms that will reconstitute truly democratic institutions and improve the lives of the people, especially the B40 Malaysians. At the state level, this should include:
1. An end to race-based policies
We expect race-based policies to be replaced by needs-based measures that truly benefit the lower-income and marginalised sectors.
2. Address the climate crisis now!
One key area in addressing the climate crisis and that is within the state’s jurisdiction is to gazette all permanent forest and wildlife reserves and to regazette those forests that had been degazetted. We want renewable energy projects that simultaneously preserve and protect forests and Orang Asal land, and we reject nuclear power and other toxic industries.
The state government is expected to be at the forefront in the development of renewable energy and not rely on the private sector to suggest projects that are environmentally harmful and socially destructive; to enforce recycling measures, responsible waste disposal and enact laws to protect animal welfare.
3. Prioritise Orang Asal rights and livelihood
The rights and livelihood of the Orang Asal should be placed at the top of the national agenda by recognising their rights over the land that has been their domain for centuries by prohibiting logging on their land and ensuring, in consultation with them, that all Orang Asal villages have adequate social facilities and services.
The autonomy of the Orang Asal must be respected by ensuring their participation in all policymaking involving their interests and introducing policies and laws that comply with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, especially their right to customary land.
4. Bring back elected local councils
It is time to bring back local government elections, which were suspended in 1965. There should be no lame excuses such as lack of funds to conduct these elections.
5. Enact a Freedom of Information Act at state level
This is reflective of the peoples’ right to know.
6. Zero tolerance for corruption
Every discrepancy in the annual auditor-general’s report must be accounted for and the officers in charge and political leaders responsible must pay for any negligence or corruption involved. Political leaders who have been charged with corruption must step down while their case is pending in the courts.
7. A progressive economic policy
State-owned enterprises should be open to democratic control by the people and directed to implement good labour and environmental policies. There should be no political appointments in state enterprises.
We also want a strong and fairly distributed public health sector, education, housing and transport services. Our small- and medium-sized enterprises, farmers and fisherfolk need adequate support in order to develop our local food and industrial production.
8. A fair education policy
Education is not a political football, as it has been treated since Independence. A fair and level playing field provides equal opportunities for all without any racial discrimination in enrolment into all schools, including tertiary educational institutions.
Alongside building national schools in which Bahasa Malaysia is the main language of instruction, mother tongue schools for the various ethnic groups must be built, preferably in education precincts that share facilities to promote integration, ensure proportionate financial support and adequate teacher training for these schools. Schools should also be built according to demand by the local communities under the respective elected local councils and be allocated resources fairly.
9. Defend workers’ rights and interests
The right of all workers to unionise is a universal right and we want a progressive guaranteed living wage for all workers, including foreign workers. Workers must be given the right to association, full employment, retrenchment, pension fund and workers’ representatives should be part of decision-making in enterprises.
We want a retrenchment fund for laid off workers and the implementation of universal pension for citizens aged over 70 years. The state should promote self-governing workers’ cooperatives to produce goods that are useful for society.
10. People-centred and caring social policies
Institute a Housing Development Board, managed by elected local councils, to implement an effective low-cost public housing programme for rental or ownership for the poor and marginalised communities, with adequate space for community activities, recreation and green areas. We need to prioritise the public transport system in the country for the benefit of the majority while regulating highway construction and car traffic in city and town centres.
We also want childcare and crèche facilities in all public and private sectors for working parents, homes and day-care centres for the elderly and disabled – through benefits, support services, including access to mobile healthcare.
These are some of the real substantive reforms civil society expects from the state. In contrast, the so-called institutional reforms agreed to by the Perak assemblymen look more like “revolving door” reforms to look after the interests of politicians in the new normal unstable governments at state and federal levels.
Kua Kia Soong is adviser for Suara Rakyat Malaysia.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.