As Malaysia assumes the chair of Asean on 1 January, the nation faces critical choices at home and abroad.
Global tensions, regional turmoil and domestic challenges demand serious attention.
Global challenges
China and Russia’s rivalry with the US has intensified, with Brics being set up to rival Western hegemony.
Malaysia is treading a delicate middle path. It has joined Brics as a partner country, a prelude to full membership, while accepting Western investments.
In the Middle East, Malaysia has taken a principled stand to oppose the Israeli genocide in Gaza, which threatens to spill across the region.
Closer to home, Myanmar’s struggle for democracy poses a crucial challenge for Malaysia’s Asean leadership. The Myanmar military’s suppression of the people has forced thousands to flee, many seeking refuge on our shores. Hopefully, Malaysia’s leadership of the regional grouping can help bring about a democratic transition in Myanmar.
Economic crossroads
Within Malaysia, two years since Reformasi’s standard bearer Anwar Ibrahim took over government, we need to take stock.
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The economy shows some signs of recovery: the ringgit has strengthened, and investors are returning.
Yet, serious concerns remain. The government has to be wary of what kind of economic activities it is encouraging and their ecological impact. Data centres consume enormous amounts of water and electricity. Rare earth mining could result in deforestation and displacement of indigenous people. The benefits of carbon capture, utilisation and storage are highly questionable.
The minimum wage rise from RM1,500 to RM1,700 is welcome but still falls far short of a living wage. Labour’s share of national income remains too low.
Both federal government debt and household debt have reached levels of concern. The amounts spent on servicing these loans eat into funds that could have been used for social spending and personal welfare.
People’s burden grows heavier
For most people, their retirement savings are way too low, as the population ages. That is why groups have urged the government to introduce a universal pension scheme for those without any pension or retirement benefits.
We understand the government’s financial burden and the heavy burden of petrol subsidies.
But the government should reconsider its plan to remove subsidies for the top 15% of households. It should not create two classes of people at universities, hospitals (through private wings) and petrol stations.
Instead, the government should revamp its taxation system and make it more progressive. Are the real ultra-rich, the top 5% or top 1%, paying their fair share of taxes? Instead of burdening the low and middle-income groups with more taxes, should the government not close the gaps for tax avoidance and even evasion? Shouldn’t we consider windfall profits taxes and wealth taxes for the ultra-rich?
What about curbing high-level corruption and rent-seeking to stem the loss of public funds?
The country faces many challenges, such as food security, climate change and how to manage artificial intelligence.
But politicians are dithering, playing divisive games over race and religion. All the while, neighbouring countries are working on making their economies more resilient.
Reforms at snail’s pace
So, this is an urgent message for politicians in Malaysia: stop playing such divisive politics. Just stop.
Instead, focus on all the reforms, which have been slow in coming. The separation of the roles of public prosecutor and attorney general is taking too long. We see some action against the corrupt at the middle level. But more has to be done to dispel the perception of selective action against the high-profile corrupt.
One red line that the government must not cross is to allow kleptocrats to avail themselves of the proposal to introduce home detention. That would send a wrong message to the entire nation.
Key appointments – from the chief judge to the Electoral Commission chair – need bipartisan parliamentary oversight. Political appointments to government-linked companies must end.
Revamping the education system should be a priority. Aliran recently held a hybrid webinar where we dissected the key issues plaguing the system. We encourage you to look up the YouTube recording of that event.
People’s Agenda
The past two years have shown us we cannot rely solely on the politicians who once championed the reform agenda to bring about change. Some of them are now caught in a delicate tightrope act to remain in power.
While politicians balance elite interests against the people’s interests, ordinary people must step forward. If there’s anything we should have learnt by now, it is that we cannot rely on the politicians alone.
We have to make our voices heard and look after each other’s backs. Let’s keep alive the five demands of the People’s Agenda:
- Uphold human dignity and quality of life
- Promote equitable sustainable development
- Celebrate diversity and inclusivity
- Strengthen democracy and the rule of law
- Fight corruption and cronyism
Amid the divisive rhetoric around us, we need to redouble our efforts to build a Malaysia where everyone has a place.
Aliran and civil society
Aliran has played a role in keeping alive the struggle for change ever since its formation in 1977. When we first started, we were often a lone voice in the wilderness, championing the cause of reforms.
Now the civil society movement has swelled, and we are represented in NGO coalitions like Bersih, Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia and Penang Forum.
Indeed, civil society has a major role to play in keeping the reform agenda alive.
As part of this struggle, Aliran is embracing technology and social media to reach out to more people. Over the last year, we organised hybrid webinars almost every month in either Penang or the Klang Valley. At the Aliran office in Penang, we invested a small sum to improve the audiovisual quality of webinars.
Our website readership is rising slowly but steadily. So too our social media presence. Our newsletters are read widely and sometimes picked up by news portals.
In all these efforts, we take tremendous pride at being funded by the ordinary people of Malaysia. So we are not beholden to elite, foreign, corporate or any other vested interests.
Such is the support from our members and the public that it has been six years since we last needed to hold a fundraising event. That last event was several months after the 2018 general election, when people power toppled the Barisan Nasional government which had ruled for over six decades.
But that is too long ago. We want to reconnect with our members and supporters. So in February, we will hold an anniversary dinner with the theme “A Malaysia for all – Celebrating diversity and inclusion”.
More voices needed
The only problem is that many are feeling jaded, perhaps deflated at the slow pace of reforms and unmet expectations. The vision of a more inclusive nation that celebrates its diversity appears elusive.
But we live in hope! Roman Rolland, the French Nobel laureate for literature in 1915, talked about “pessimism of the mind, optimism of the will”.
The philosopher Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) expanded on this: “My own state of mind synthesises these two feelings and transcends them: my mind is pessimistic, but my will is optimistic. Whatever the situation, I imagine the worst that could happen in order to summon up all my reserves and will power to overcome every obstacle.”
This means we cannot ignore the grim reality. But we need to question everything, not out of despair or cynicism. We need to ask, should we be resigned to the prevailing bleak reality as our lot in life?
Shouldn’t we imagine a more inclusive and egalitarian nation and then persevere with courage, tenacity and hope to realise that vision?
But is such hope and optimism unfounded, given the grim odds?
The British-Turkish novelist and storyteller Elif Shahak said: “My hope is the people, the society, which is ahead of the government.”
Yes, we the people have always been ahead. Consider how many social changes have come about because of ordinary people’s deep desire for genuine change.
So we need you to play a role as well! Let’s all continue building on the struggles of the past. In this quest, we the people are guided by a higher power – God, the divine, the universal light.
Together, we can reshape our destiny in our journey towards justice, freedom and solidarity!
The above is an adapted, edited version of the president’s address at Aliran’s annual general meeting on 22 November 2024.
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
