Without reforms, Bangsa M’sia will be just a dream

A lot of urban Malaysians want a complete overhaul of our democratic system. We want transparency, justice, equity and unity. Yet, until today, these concepts are mere illusions or slogans which occasionally appear during the campaign trail, but goes missing once the government takes office.

The unfortunate reality in Malaysia is that the rural-urban divide is exceptionally clear. Despite the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat’s gain in the last election, Umno as a race-based party won nine additional seats, despite BN as a collective, losing seven more seats if compared to the 2008 general election. Umno is still able to defend its forts in the rural heartlands, while making gains elsewhere.

Race-based politics is a critical feature of Malaysian democracy. From the time of independence until today, a race-based party has dominated the Parliament. Umno on its own with 88 seats can almost match the total number of seats the opposition parties hold as a collective (89 seats). It signals the prominence of identity based politics. The fact that DAP is often made the boogeyman towards the Malay electorate is indicative of that.