The Muslim thinker Tariq Ramadan once said that the public are swayed by emotions and partisanship, and not facts. I find his opinion especially true in Malaysia. There is a clear-cut lack of willingness on the part of Malaysians to engage with facts.

Each time an election comes around, I find myself asking where the policies are. What are the proposed policies of a political party on issues such as inflation, violence against women and reducing crime, for example? I must applaud, though, Pakatan Rakyat for sending us booklets during the follow-up to the last election. These booklets contained the policies of the party, and was critical in informing my choice of vote.

But there is still so much more to be done, and therefore I suggest the following:

Strengthen our education system and boost intellectual culture

To make informed opinions and actions, we must think critically, and in order to do so, we must have a solid education. The Malaysian education system, unfortunately, does not promote critical thinking. We are told that there are specific answers to a question. It is important to remember that  true objectivity, e.g. empiricism, does not truly exist and that we must stop relying on an external authority for truth.

In order to boost the education system, we must re-evaluate our archaic education system which we inherited from colonialists. After all, Karl Marx said that educational institutions transmit the ideas of the dominant class. Encourage our children to ask questions, search for alternative solutions to problems and read far and wide.

Strengthen the capacity of civil society

Civil society has an important role to play in fostering democracy. It serves as a check and balance to the powers of the government in highlighting issues, presenting unbiased research and making sure that the government enact certain policies and laws. Therefore it is important that the government does not  curtail the freedom of non-profit organisations, think-tanks and other civil society organisations in doing their job.

Movements such as Bersih 2.0 must be allowed to flourish.

Think critically and make up our own minds

It is not enough to subscribe to alternative media, and leave our knowledge-seeking to that. We must also learn the skills of critical thinking, how to decode journalists’ spin and to read statistics and figures. Due to peer pressure, it is tempting to subscribe to the opinion of our friends, but we have to make sure to think independently. Lay aside emotions and prejudice in assessing a politician’s proposals, for example, and we’ll have a clearer picture of what is best for our country.

Democracy is our responsibility, and each one of us has a role to play.

MOHANA NIZA works as a communications specialist in a local non-profit organisation.