masterwordsmith-unplugged

The political landscape of our country is somewhat like a paradox - while we proclaim to be democratic in government, there are signs of an invisible authoritarian hand hovering over the nation. Under such circumstances, I believe that the time has come for civil society to play a more important role in our country.


Civil society can be defined as that realm of activities and institutions that lie outside the direct control of the government. It has an important role particularly around issues such as governance, corruption and as a check and balance for the government and opposition.

Malaysia’s civil society, as broadly defined here, is most diverse. It includes not only social and educational organizations, but also NGOs concerned with the erosion of individual liberties, broader political movements.

Modern society is facing new challenges where abuse of power is no longer a new phenomenon. Throughout history, man has seen how elected officials under the auspices of free and fair elections, use the legislature, courts, and other state apparatus to increase executive power and influence to their advantage. Conflicts within different branches of the government have also besieged effective governance and democratic principles.

Unfortunately, many political parties in our country are in crisis. A weak democratic culture and the competition for the benefits associated with the state have contributed to their failure to effectively articulate coherent positions and respond to popular interests. Parties are charged, often correctly, with corruption, lack of transparency, weak internal party democracy, questionable practices and the reluctance to promote new leaders.

All this and more justify the call for the development of a civil society. Civil society is the voice of the people. Its effective participation in the decision-making is not only imperative for progress and development in a society, but it also contributes to strengthening of pluralistic and democratic political systems. Further, they are increasingly challenged by the complex social and political transformations emerging due to structural changes.

I believe the time has come for us to develop a civil society and this requires persistent efforts for developing a culture of awareness, participation, transparency, accountability and tolerance. Only through pursuit of these principles can creative interplay between parliaments and civil society strengthen democracy and promote development.

Any country needs checks and balances to make sure no individual and no institution can become so powerful that it can make the lives of all other people miserable. Parliament, executive power and justice system must be separated and can keep each other into constitutional limits.

If we look around us today, we can see that not every country which has pro forma institutions of this kind, really has a functioning democracy. A country may have a building called the parliament which may consist of nothing but the docile followers of the all-powerful leader, while the justice system can be just one branch of the repression machine.

Even countries which have started a transformation towards democracy, have yet to succeed and for various reasons can fall back into an authoritarian pattern of power distribution. It is important to bear in mind that just a large building in the capital with big sounding names for ministries don't make up a democratic system.

Whenever the transition stops and the people's opportunity to influence the overall policy is slowly taken away from them, the checks and balances which usually work in democracies are simply not yet in place. We can see how some MSM can get intimidated, opposition parties are under attack and courageous officials 'promoted' some distant place.

In the light of such situations the civil society is an important safety net. It allows people to express themselves directly and independently with no ties to any political party. It also gives them the opportunity to increase awareness of what is happening in our country.

Even when democratic change does progress, it often happens that none or few of the established parties may dare to pick up some topic of vital interest.Even if they do, they may face denials from the status quo and be under attack in various forms such as what we see in our country.

Civil society can fill this gap. For instance, associations can e.g. protest against the proposed GST when other MPs failed to argue against it. Or they can bring to light new topics such as certain health or environmental issues which other MPs or leaders have failed to pick up.

Another point to consider is that civil society can advocate the rights of minorities which are too small to have political significance. A very good example would be the concerns of the orang asli or the Native Communal Rights issues of Sarawakians. Through civil society, public discussion can bring to light certain important issues from the viewpoint of citizens. In this way, civil society adds dynamism and perspective to the issue at hand.

The importance of civil society is not only functional but also constitutive. If free association is either forbidden or simply non-existent, one cannot have any participation into public decisions between elections and outside political parties. For instance, if the parliament decides to impose GST and civil society did nothing to prevent that from happening, it means the rest of us will be GST-ed for life, especially if the MPs etc failed to prevent it from being implemented.

An autonomous civil society is based on ideas - not on prestige, power or money. Remember - associations have no power to make, change or abolish laws or to shape the state's policy. They do not have the financial resources of powerful economic groups. Who then will be in civil society if there are no vested interests? It will be people who really believe in the importance of certain ideals, or topics. Even if not all can agree on all these topics and even if many associations might actually never reach their goals, members of a civil society in voicing out their concerns, can add the idealistic, moral voices to the public arena. That is why I believe the time has come for us to develop and participate in a civil society.

My apologies for this late post. I had to read up lots on this post which I started writing a few days ago. I do not wish to offend anyone with my ideas which I put forward here only with the hope for a better society. Please leave a comment to share your views. Thanks and have a lovely evening.