Ku Li: We're still stuck in 1997
Recent events have shown that the state of Malaysian democracy has not progressed since 1997, said veteran Umno lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in scathing remarks today.
Recent events have shown that the state of Malaysian democracy has not progressed since 1997, said veteran Umno lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in scathing remarks today.
“If any one of us was tempted to imagine that Malaysia had outgrown the sordid events of 1997, the government's newspapers bring to our breakfast tables each day - Sodomy II,” he said.
Tengku Razaleigh cited several issues in the news that, he said, prove Malaysia is only a “democracy in name”.
These include Anwar Ibrahim's ongoing sodomy trial, the row over the use of the term 'Allah', the Perak constitutional crisis and the government's failure to act on two royal commissions of inquiry findings.
“We are still in a whitewash of bad taste, authoritarianism and arbitrary power that destroyed our practice of parliamentary democracy, compromised our judiciary and police, and disenfranchised our people,” said the Gua Musang MP.
Razaleigh made his remarks in a speech when launching the Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) at the Tunku Abdul Rahman Memorial, Kuala Lumpur today.
Ideas was founded in 2006 as Malaysia Think Tank London and is a cross-partisan think-tank dedicated to promoting market-based solutions to public policy challenges.
It was founded by Wan Saiful Wan Jan, Tunku Zain 'Al-Abidin Muhriz and Wan Moh Fuaad. The organisation, which is inspired by the vision of Tunku Abdul Rahman, runs workshops and research on policies for the public, focusing on students and politicians.
Razaleigh, the former finance minister, warned his audience not to expect reform from the political old guard who are entrenched in the prevailing order.
“We have left it to the deranged for too long…To expect change from the incumbents is to expect, in the Malay saying, 'the mice to repair the gourd',” he said.
Razaleigh, who has courted much attention for his severe attacks on the current government, said that it is time for the young to reclaim their place in the corridors of power.
“The average age of our first cabinet was below 30. Tun Razak was 28. Tun Dr Ismail was barely 30 years old," he said.
"Men of their calibre would not have made it up the ladder of (Umno Baru). They would have been too untainted, too young to do so.”
‘Infantile ethnic politics’
He also lamented the state of the country, which deviated from the vision of its founding father Tunku Abdul Rahman.
A good friend of the Tunku, Razaleigh shared that Malaysia was founded on the basis of “love of freedom”, “mutual consent” and the “spirit of co-operation and concord”.
“That basis has been replaced by something alien to it, his memory has been suppressed and our history revised,” he said, adding that this memory has been replaced by slogans.
The current system, he noted, is one of “infantile ethnic politics”, when it should be a “call to service”.
Asked if he was deliberately trying to provoke the Umno top brass with his speech, Razaleigh enigmatically said, “siapa yang makan cili, dia yang terasa pedasnya” (you'd feel it if you are guilty).
He also denied suggestions that he ‘sounds like the opposition’, saying he is only voicing the views of many.
“Nobody is questioning the value of the ringgit as people are still confident in the ringgit. But people are questioning our institutions,” he said.
Razaleigh’s vocal criticism, especially on the topic of oil royalties, has upset some quarters in Umno, who have urged that he be brought before the party’s supreme council.
When asked about this, he nonchalantly said, “They have the right to do so. If they want me to leave (Umno) then I will leave. If not I will stay,” he said.
