Malaysia: New Dawn for Democracy and Human Rights? Perhaps not quite.
By: Napat Rungsrithananon
Tags: Human Rights, Politics, Democracy, Malaysia, Southeast Asia

On 9 May 2018, the administration led by then prime minister Najib Razak experienced what one may call a perfect storm. For the first time since Malaysia became independent in 1957, the opposition defeated a ruling government at the polls.

At the centre of such a phenomenon was Mahathir Mohamad. A former prime minister from 1981 to 2003 and a past mentor to Najib, Mahathir shocked the country two years ago with his departure from the Barisan Nasional (BN) for the opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan, citing his embarrassment at the 1MDB corruption allegations embroiling the BN. Then, in January 2018, he announced that he would directly challenge his former mentee in the upcoming general election, and that he was confident of victory “unless Najib cheats”.

Despite Mahathir’s assured rhetoric, the actual victory came as a surprise, and the shock of election outcome was even likened to be as great as “Brexit and the Trump election”. It even caught Mahathir by surprise — he admitted that he and the PH might have over-promised during the campaign as they did not truly expect to emerge victorious.

NEW DAWN

The long rule of the BN saw Malaysia suffering serious degradation of its legal and political institutions. Opposition leaders were prosecuted and harassed with politically motivated charges, the nation’s independent media censored or shut down, and peaceful activists jailed.

Considering how the idea of a democratic transition was not even a pipe dream in early 2018, the PH’s victory was widely perceived to herald a new era for democracy and human rights.

While Mahathir himself does not have an excellent track record when it comes to promoting democracy and respecting its core values, and while he may appear an unlikely reformer, his supporter suggested that Mahathir has now entered a new stage of his political life where he is determined to focus on his legacy.

MAHATHIR’s PAST

Mahathir’s previous rule attracted mixed reviews, depending on different standpoints one may take.

Under his past premiership, Malaysia saw itself transformed into one of Asian economic tigers of the 1990s, with prestige projects such as the Petronas Twin Towers demonstrating the extent of his ambitions. Indeed, Mahathir was widely credited as the architect of the economic miracle of the 1990s.

His reputation, however, was tarnished by his scant regards for human rights. Opposition politicians, for instance, were often detained or jailed without trial under a much-criticised Internal Security Act. Equally notorious was how his then deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, was sacked, accused of corruption and sodomy, and later imprisoned on the latter charge — the charge which he has always denied.

Mahathir was even known for interfering with the independence of the judiciary, having sacked a number of Supreme Court judges in 1988 and spawning a constitutional crisis which has been dubbed as a national tragedy that continues to haunt the judiciary till today.

When criticised for his authoritarian style of leadership by those from the West, Mahathir responded by questioning the very notion of universal rights. He argued that the principles of human rights and civil liberties were not universal but harmful to the civilisation of the East.

Also known for politicking, Mahathir was perceived to be behind the resignation of Abdullah Badawi — who was publicly pressured and criticised by Mahathir for the lacklustre election results in 2008 — and the ascension of Najib — Mahathir’s very own mentee — and this was all during Mahathir’s supposed retirement.

A CHANGED MAN?

Mahathir seemed determined to put all his past behind. He publicly admitted that he was wrong on a number of things and apologised for them.

The early progress achieved by his administration has helped to reassure that Mahathir is indeed a reformed man and that he intends to make good on his election promises. In his first 100 days, for instance, Mahathir oversaw a 1MDB investigation that led to a high-profile arrest of Najib, his lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and several other 1MDB officials, with over 400 suspect bank accounts subsequently frozen. Najib and his wife have been banned from leaving the country, and the police has seized jewelry, hundreds of handbags and other valuables at more than $273m from properties linked to Najib.

Given how the previous administration had previously sought large-scale financial assistance of $2.3bn from the Chinese amidst the 1MDB corruption scandal, the new government has also been looking into the allegedly colluded deals between Najib’s government and Beijing, where several big-ticket Chinese infrastructure projects worth close to $40bn are now being reviewed for cancellation. Besides their lack of transparency, Mahathir has also raised concerns over these project’s questionable economic viability and minimal inclusion of local labour, technology and management.

Personnel of doubtful probit have also been removed from important commissions, while a clean-up of the police is underway, with two senior judges whose appointments were perceived as unlawful by the bar having already stepped down.

Besides cleaning up corruption, the new administration has delivered quick results in areas of democracy and human rights as well. The Malaysian opposition leader Anwar was granted a full pardon, and so were Zulkiflee Anwar Haque — a high-profile satirical cartoonist who had had nine sedition charges filed against him — and Fahmi Reza — another Malaysian artist who became one of the most public figures in the fight over free speech and whose caricature of Najib as a clown landed him a charge under a law prohibiting online content deemed offensive.

CHALLENGES AHEAD

One may argue that the results achieved so far — while urgent and important — were relatively straightforward. The real test for Mahathir lies in the more long-term systemic reforms, which would be far more crucial if the new government were to usher in a new era of democracy and human rights.

The judiciary, for instance, will need new and firm guarantees of its independence and competence, while official bodies that regulate elections, fight corruption and cope with crime will require foolproof insulation from political meddling.

Unsurprisingly, this is easier said than done, and Mahathir himself may not fully intend to establish such independence. Following the electoral victory, Anwar received a full pardon and Najib found himself under dozens of charges related to the 1MDB. While in line with promises made on the campaign trail, these developments have raised concern on Mahathir’s tendency to meddle with the judicial process and his potential unwillingness to install separation of power.

Mahathir, for example, granted Anwar a full pardon — not because he objected on principle to the sodomy charge but because he was relying on the once-rival Anwar to support him in the election. Bizarrely, Mahathir even admitted that he personally asked Shafee to prosecute Anwar.

On the other hand, the unfolding of Najib’s trial has been marred by allegations of political showmanship and score-setting, and Najib himself frequently questioned whether the new government would give him a fair trial at all while arguing that the charges brought against his lawyer Shafee were solely intended to interfere with his legal defence. Similarly bizarrely, Mahathir has found himself forced to publicly deny that the prosecution of Najib was part of a revenge act, and, if anything, this development only casts doubt on the new government’s anti-corruption effort — that it may not extend beyond the PH alliance’s political opponents.

Besides the concern surrounding the future — and independence — of Malaysia’s political and legal institutions, there has also been a growing sign of wavering support for human rights.

Despite Mahathir’s promise to renew respect for human rights and while full pardon has been granted to those charged under the laws which violated these rights, Mahathir still has yet to address the main elephant in the room — the Sedition Act 1948 or the very law that has time and time again been used to lock up dissenters and undermine universal fundamental rights entitled to every citizen of a democratic society.

In addition to failing to repeal the law within the first 100 days in office — one of the central election pledges in the PH’s manifesto — Mahathir has recently come out to say that the new government will not set a timeline to revoke the sedition law, pointing to the lengthy bureaucracy as an excuse.

Worse, there have been several occasions since the election where the new government has been complicit in the use of the very same sedition law, with the more recent case in point being Azman Noor Adam — who was arrested for spreading images that allegedly insulted the new prime minister on social media.

Government’s response to the criticism is also far from satisfactory. Although the deputy Home Minister Datuk Azis Jamman was forced to publicly clarify his objection to the law, he appears content with the police continuing to use Sedition Act as long as it still exists.

Another blow to Malaysia’s human rights is do with the LGBT community. While Mahathir publicly pledged to rectify all remaining core UN instruments related to the protection of human rights — in his address to the 73rd United Nations General Assembly this month — one has every reason to be skeptical about such a promise. It was only back in September that the new prime minister stressed that Putrajaya would not and could not accept the LGBT culture or same-sex marriage even though they were considered basic human rights in the West. He unconvincingly cited different value systems in Malaysia.

The skepticism is further warranted when one looks at how Mahathir responded to the incident involving the public caning of two women who attempted to have lesbian sex back in early September. Being the first of its kind in Malaysia, the caning drew sharp criticism from human rights groups from both within and outside Malaysia. More importantly, perhaps, it may also have also drawn out what Mahathir truly felt about basic universal rights — instead of speaking up for the LGBT community or arguing for the gay sex to be decriminalised, he merely stated that the women should have received a lighter sentence.

NEW DAWN OF DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS…?

Judging from what the world has witnessed so far, Malaysia may not be entering a new era for democracy and human rights any time soon, and the chance of such grows dimmer every time Mahathir backtracks on any of his election promises.

In fact, having seen how Aung San Suu Kyi betrayed all that she had previously stood for while she was battling against the military dictatorship, one ought to be very cautious in putting too much hope in Mahathir, that is, if one wanted to avoid further disappointment.

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