Politicians: Raise Your Game!

Idealism and pragmatism. This is what I like to answer to most political questions asked by my friends.

Political parties are the cornerstone of a democratic society and serve a function unlike any other institution in a democracy. Parties should aggregate and represent social interests and provide a structure for political participation. They train and allow political leaders who will assume a role in governing society and contest, and win, elections to seek a measure of control of government institutions. We should promote responsible and reasoned debate, thereby enrich greater maturity and develop an integrity in our democratic process. In our democracy, many parties have little experience in organising their activities in parliament, which greatly affect the public’s perceptions of a party and thus its effectiveness.

In non-election periods, it is common for the parliamentary parties to become the public face of their political parties. In Malaysia, political parties (or its MP) are often either too weak, too personalistic, too constrained by oppressive governments or too corrupt and out of touch to earn the respect and support of the public. Our current performance in the parliament or state assembly need no further elaboration. It is perfectly realistic to expect a party to strengthen the culture of democracy within itself. It can limit the distorting influence of money, be open and transparent in our governance and promote participation and representation of women and youth. In fact the democratisation of a political party must be a priority in the efforts to restore public confidence in parties and the democratic process as a whole.

Anas Zubedy recently suggested that, in future, the public should vote for the individual candidate who have the calibre and capability instead of the parties. Hence the parties or government must provide the necessary resources, information and access to the required need of the constituent so that their MP or potential candidate is able to discharge his/her duty effectively. Unless the politics of democracy results in greater transparency and increased acceptance of quality and partnership politics, representative politics will be undermined.

In my last posting, it was argued that political parties, both those who govern and those who aspire to govern, must find constructive ways for working together while articulating their disagreements. To achieve this, the choice of candidacy is crucial not only one is good by the books but also with the people. It is then our democratic government will be strenghtened and bear fruit.

As for Gerakan, my plea is for all aspirants to commit themselves to the reform and renewal. That means personal development and active commitment not to the party as they are today but as they can and should be. We all know that Gerakan can do much more, for instance, to show that they are in touch, to demonstrate the relevance of politics to the lives of ordinary people and in particular to make democratic politics interesting for all Malaysians. Gerakan just cannot afford to remain or be perceived as stagnant anymore.