A WATERSHED DAY
It not only commemorates the day when Malaysia reclaimed its sovereignty, it also signifies the freedom Malaysians had exercised to effect a change in government peacefully
AS the first Merdeka Day after we witnessed the first-ever transfer of national political power from a long-ruling coalition to another in May, today, Aug 31, ought to be particularly meaningful to every Malaysian who cares for and about the country.
Some among us — who are still trying to shake off the euphoria over what we have done — have proclaimed that we have never been as proud in a very long time to be Malaysians. Indeed, we are entitled to be rather pleased with what we have achieved.
Arguably the best thing about a democracy is, of course, the fact that popular antipathies against any sitting government need not lead to the massive disruptions caused by a revolution — coloured or not — in order to effect a change in government. Which is not in any way negating the inevitable disruptions that any change in government necessarily causes. But as Joseph Schumpeter would argue, creative destruction will bring in its wake the building of something better in its place.
Quite a few Malaysians — many of them young and mobile — made the momentous personal decision on May 9 to travel home (at great personal expense and inconvenience to some) because they really believed that their individual vote counts. The results of our collective vote reaffirmed them in such a conviction.
For these Malaysians, it is as if the nation has been reborn and Merdeka Day 2018 cannot but be especially meaningful for them because of that. And it is likely for this reason that the new Federal Government sees it fit to mark the day with perhaps extra vim and style.
Merdeka Day commemorates the day when the nation reclaimed its sovereignty. It also signifies freedom for Malaysians and nothing better exemplifies that than the freedom to exercise real political choice that a change in government epitomises.
The first time such change takes place is, as with most things, the hardest. But if it is really that meaningful, it also cannot be the last time. Nor should it induce in the popular imagination a certain cavalier-ness that having done it once, we will do so again with almost nonchalant regularity.
Change if we must, but not simply because we can. Any newly elected Malaysian government must constantly prove to us that it is truly worthy of getting re-elected or the opposition — having shown itself capable of mending its old ways — will deal the sitting government its comeuppance.
As we celebrate Merdeka Day on a hopeful and optimistic note of national renewal and rebirth, we must also not be carried away by any notion that democratic theory and practice do not diverge and often badly at that.
We live in an era where democratic dysfunction is plain for all to see in countries we once looked up to as political paragons. Be it the spectacle of an erratic and illequipped leader elected as president of the United States or Australia’s revolving-door governments coming even mid-stream between parliamentary terms, we are reminded of how democracies can go awry.
Barisan Nasional’s long and even predictable stewardship of the country at least made possible long-range planning which has undisputedly served the country well while it lasted.
One of the serious imponderables that Pakatan Harapan’s ascendancy must, nevertheless, cause us to mull over is whether it will not also make us look back with some nostalgia for the time when our government was not just governing on a strictly fiveyear span until the next electoral cycle kicks in.
Is a truly competitive two-party political system all that it is cracked up to be if at the end of the day, we get nothing but the governmental paralysis besetting Western democracies today?
Merdeka Day may lose its meaning, if, apart from joyous commemorations and celebrations, we do not also spare moments to reflect on all that is yet to be and how things may yet be. A renewed sense of national purpose must be channelled towards the serious challenges and work that lay ahead of us collectively.
Freedom may be a heady sensation but it must not become a licence for us to become a quarrelsome and disagreeable lot that makes working for the common good all but impossible.
We must all also be mindful of the reality that a change in government does not wipe clean the deep-seated fundamental issues bedeviling the country. These have much to do with the ongoing search for a true national identity beyond the multiple identities of race, religion or region.
Change if we must, but not simply because we can. Any newly elected Malaysian government must constantly prove to us that it is truly worthy of getting re-elected or the opposition — having shown itself capable of mending its old ways — will deal the sitting government its comeuppance.
The writer views developments in the nation, the region and the wider world from his vantage point in Kuching, Sarawak