What crossing the 60th National Day milestone means
Its democratic foundations key to progress, says Low
MALAYSIA’S 60 years of independence proves that it is moving in the right direction in nation-building alongside progressive democracy.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan said despite racial and ethnic differences, it must be appreciated that the basis of Malaysia’s democratic foundations was laid in a carefully drafted constitution.
This, he said, was adopted by all stakeholders and formed the basis of the country’s socio-political system.
“For the past six decades, Malaysia has continued to uphold democracy, having held 13 general elections in accordance with the constitution, without disruptions.
“Although there were accusations made by civil society groups, it should be noted that in the 12th and 13th general elections the incumbent government’s coalition party lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament.
“There were changes in government in three states to the opposition coalition. Under the country’s democratic process,
disputes giving doubt to the integrity of the conduct of the election can be challenged in courts, and this was done in past elections.
“If democracy did not exist (as accused), the incumbent government would not have lost its twothirds majority,” said Low at the opening of the “Democracy in Southeast Asia: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects” conference.
He said while integrity in Malaysia was of high standards,
not everything was perfect.
“There is room for improvements.”
He said the essence of a democratic state was where citizens had the right to elect their representatives who formed the Parliament, and the political party or a coalition of parties that won a majority of seats would rule until the next election.
“Malaysia, like any society in the modern contemporary world, faces key challenges that affect its democracy and these include
the impact of social media, which provides easy and fast access to information.
“Social media and fake news are some of the challenges that we need to face. Now, everyone who owns a smartphone or computer can be a journalist, but they may not be credible.
“That is a challenge for the Malaysian government as this creates a political competition in communications of the right information to the voting public.
“Social media can be abused by politics of hate, condemnation and fake news. Hence, this is a challenge to the government on how much intervention is appropriate to tackle the spread of fake news.”
He said there was a stronger demand for personal rights, such as more freedom of expression, more space for inclusiveness in the formulation of public policy and freedom to hold public demonstration.
“This is in contrast to demands by rural communities that are more related to the availability of physical amenities and infrastructure. The main challenge faced by the government is to balance the need to maintain security and peace with civil rights.
“Without security and peace, there is no point for us to have freedom of expression.”
Low also addressed disputes over whether non-citizens were allowed to protest in the country.
“There is no restriction against foreigners staging a peaceful rally in the country, subject to provisions available according to the law. The recent rally in support of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority was a form of freedom of expression, which Malaysia upholds.
“There are quite a significant number of them here and they should be given the chance to express themselves. They are allowed to protest as long as they obey the law.”
Last Wednesday, about 1,000 protesters gathered here, calling for an end to violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar.