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We must work to make sure Malaysia becomes a true liberal democracy. The Executives must be bound by the Constitution, and they must not be given a freehand to amend the Constitution wily nilly. That means ensuring that no one gets a 2/3 majority.
 Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob is a trained lawyer and Malaysian political commentator. He writes for numerous international newspapers and online journals as well as hosts Face to Face, an interview segment of Malaysian/regional issues and personalities hosted on Malaysia Today. He also serves as Foreign Correspondent for foreign news organisations. Wan Saiful Wan Jan is the Director General of the Malaysia Think Tank (www.malaysiathinktank.org) based in London. He served in the Conservative Party’s research department and prior to that at the think tank - Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit. In May 2007, he contested local elections as a Conservative Party Candidate. Face to Face talks to this settled overseas Malaysian in the heat of battle for the hearts and minds of the Rakyat in the 12th General Elections. 1. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: Are you satisfied with the current administration’s performance? Should the BN be given another fresh mandate? Wan Saiful Wan Jan: The first part of the question is easier to answer than the second. No, I am not happy with the current administration’s performance. There has been a lot of effort, or should we say a lot of talk? about developing the country’s physical infrastructure, and this is good. But our freedom and liberty are still being curbed and central planning is rampant. So, no, I am not happy with the way things are going. But the second part of your question requires us to look at the alternatives. Our opposition is too divided and it is not possible to see how they can work together in a unified government. The DAP talks to PAS only through Keadilan as the middle-man. And I doubt if they will be talking at all if Anwar was not there. Building all our political hope around one man is not very wise, nor does it indicate a sustainable coalition. At the same time, the main opposition parties are also quite left-leaning. This makes me ask myself, if they do get into power, can we be sure that they are not just going to plan and control from the centre just like what is happening now, albeit perhaps with a different “flavour”? So, am I satisfied? No. But will the BN be given a fresh mandate? I am sure they will be. 2. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: Abdullah Badawi seems confident of retaining BN’s two-third’s majority in Parliament. What’s your projection? Wan Saiful Wan Jan: He is likely to be right. But this is not good for liberal democracy. 3. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: It appears as if the Chinese and Indian communities are unhappy over a host of issues. If they were to vote against BN, would that have the real effect of denying the two-thirds of the ruling coalition? Wan Saiful Wan Jan: I agree with you that more Chinese and Indians may not be very happy with the BN. But that does not necessarily mean they will vote opposition. There may indeed be some post-election changes. The BN may not have as many seats any more, but they will still be quite comfortable. As I said earlier, this is unfortunate for liberal democracy in Malaysia because a stronger opposition is necessary to balance the Executive power. Having said that, it would be better if one day we can move away from the discussion about “the Chinese are unhappy about this, the Indians are unhappy about that, the Malays want this, and the non-Malays want that”. I do hope that one day it will be possible for us to speak of Malaysians not on the basis of ethnicity or religion, but as Malaysians, full stop. 4. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: There appears to be a chasm in political perspectives and legitimate concerns with that of rural Bumiputeras and that of the professional class/urbanites of Bumiputeras. How will this play out in terms of support for the BN? Wan Saiful Wan Jan: This is interesting. You are right. When you talk to urban Bumiputeras, particularly professional Malays, you can feel the change. Nowadays, it is not difficult to find Malays who feel that it is time to get rid of positive discrimination and to go for meritocracy. It is no longer difficult to find Malays who want to be treated as equals to the non-Malays. And it is no longer difficult to find Malays who dream for a one-nation Malaysia. These are all good. It may not be so widespread in the rural areas yet, but change takes time and I am very hopeful. In terms of support for the BN, it would be interesting to see what happens in areas with majority Malay professionals. I don’t think there will be much difference in rural areas, though. Information is just not flowing freely enough to them due to the biased nature of our media. 5. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: You are a member of PAS, but you recently released a book entitled "Who Needs an Islamic State?". You have also been quite vocal in criticising PAS. Please elaborate…. Wan Saiful Wan Jan: Well, I think any serious political party should welcome internal debates, and that those debates should be done in the open so that both members and the public know that the party is not afraid of debating difficult issues. This is a sign of a strong and confident party. You can see that very openly happening in America now. Look at the process that both Democrats and Republicans have to undergo in order to choose a presidential candidate. The candidates would go all out to highlight how they are different from each other, but they are still from the same party and they all want their party to win. There is nothing wrong with open debate about policy issues. If you disallow internal debate, be you PAS or UMNO, what is the difference between you and the communist in China or Putin in Russia or even Saddam when he ruled Iraq? As to the issue of the Islamic State, the Malaysia Think Tank published the book “Who Needs an Islamic State?” (www.my-islamic-state.com) as part of our bigger programme to look into democracy in Malaysia. The book argues strongly for Islamists to simply abandon this idea of “Islamic State” and focus on creating a liberal democracy. 
6. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: Najib Razak, was of the view that a resulting backlash could have occurred if not for the swift action of the Government in detaining certain HINDRAF leaders. The question is whether this will in turn cause a unifying impetus to the Muslim-Malays in support of Umno and BN. Wan Saiful Wan Jan: Most certainly! I think what HINDRAF did must have given additional confidence to the Prime Minister to call the elections now. He knows that when people feel threatened, they will seek refuge where they feel “safe”. It may sound ironic, but UMNO and BN will gain electoral brownie points as a result of HINDRAF’s actions. I want to also say that HINDRAF was trying to do a good thing, which is highlighting the plight of a minority group in Malaysia, and the neglect that they have suffered. But the way they do it is questionable. The aims do not justify the means. The Indian community has been neglected because of the ethnic-based politics currently practised in Malaysia. But HINDRAF is also another ethnic-based group, and they call for more ethnic-based policies, only this time they want to make sure the Indians are included. You cannot change a wrong by repackaging the same wrong. If they were to work together with the poor of all ethnic and religious backgrounds, they would have received wider support. 7. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: An informal grouping of bloggers has declared cyber-war on BN and some unfortunate candidates. To what extent, if any will these cyber-troopers have on the electorate? Wan Saiful Wan Jan: The bloggers can reach a certain group of audience – mainly urban IT-savvy voters. So, if any, the impact would be in urban areas. And we have to remember that there are also bloggers who are with the BN. It is not going to be a one-sided “cyber-war”. I think the key issue is how to convey your message to voters on the ground, who may not be regular readers of blogs, and the pakcik and makcik in kampung areas. Unless the message can trickle down to the masses, it will not have that big an impact. 8. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: What’s your verdict on Anwar Ibrahim’s make-or-break political comeback? Wan Saiful Wan Jan: This is not going to be a very popular answer, I am afraid. I am not quite an “Anwarista”, but we have to call a spade a spade. I have long felt that we have in Anwar a very talented politician beaming with charisma and is respected at the international arena. Whatever grouses there may be previously, the government cannot ignore who he is and what he has to offer, not just to Malaysia, but also to the world. I think Anwar should put himself above Malaysian politics and go to the international arena instead. The government must also appreciate that they have a role to play in supporting Anwar. But I do understand the difficulty he faces. When he was imprisoned, many Malaysians rallied for him and they fought tooth and nail to free him. He cannot ignore those who sacrificed themselves for him, who are now calling for him to lead them politically. So, maybe now he feels that he has to “pay back” the support he has received. I remember when Anwar was previously travelling the world. Some of his supporters were very critical of him, calling him kacang lupakan kulit and many more. This is a classic case of us Malaysians looking for a leader, found a leader in Anwar, but unfortunately our expectations of him is actually holding him back. 9. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: Malaysia is thought to have one of the world’s largest ministerial cabinet in terms of its population. Many of these ministers, for example Syed Hamid Albar, have served for about twenty years in some Ministerial position or other. Would a change for younger Ministers with new ideas bode well, particularly when Malaysia has such a big young population? Will this election see the end of the careers of some top officials? Wan Saiful Wan Jan: I don’t know if the careers of some long-serving cabinet ministers will come to an end, but I do feel that an overhaul is called for. When a minister stays on for a very long time, his or her “power” within that ministry will be more consolidated, making it difficult for civil servants to properly “advice” the minister. The size of our cabinet is also worthy of mention. If I remember correctly, we have about 35 cabinet members. But our population is only about 25 million. The United Kingdom has 60 million people but less than 25 cabinet members. Surely more can be done to streamline the number of people claiming ministerial salaries! In terms of changing the line-up to accommodate a bigger number of younger people, yes, and not just at ministerial level. We should aim to have younger and more female MPs too. 10. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: What’s your opinion on former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir’s call for the Rakyat to carefully consider the eligibility of the candidate and not to just blindly vote the party? Do you believe that on the ground UMNO stalwarts will adopt this new approach in voting? Wan Saiful Wan Jan: Well, I applaud him for saying that, but I don’t think it is going to have any effect. The reality is, in a DAP area, if DAP puts a kettle as candidate, the kettle will win. In an MIC area, if a different kettle was put by MIC, that kettle will also win. Ditto UMNO, PAS, and all other main parties. Unfortunately for Malaysia, we are too attached to party-politics. For liberal democracy to be healthy, we need smaller political parties and more “pengundi atas pagar”. Democracy is, if you like, akin to a market system. In Malaysia now, we have several political parties who command votes regardless of what policy they offer. So, what we have in Malaysia now is a dysfunctional political market – voters will pay money to the party even when they do not know what the party is actually selling. The majority, either in BN or in Barisan Rakyat, are loyal without really knowing what policies they are loyal to. I bet you that a big number of members in some political parties in Malaysia haven’t got a clue what are the policies of the parties that they support. Does a typical UMNO member know what UMNO’s policies are to improve hospitals? Does a typical PAS member know what PAS’ policies are vis a vis ASEAN? Additionally, we work in a party-based democracy. Regardless of what individual MPs say, they cannot go against party decision in the current system. So, no matter how good an individual MP is, it is the party that counts. Of course, all these need to be changed. But, to strictly answer your question, I think the answer is no. Tun Mahathir’s statement will not have much impact on voters in this election. And, even if voters do follow his advice, I am afraid it will not have much impact on our parliament because of the extremely strong grip that parties have on MPs. 11. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: There is a lot of speculation that BN will increase oil and diesel prices soon after the elections. Put it the other way, can BN avoid from doing so in any event? Wan Saiful Wan Jan : Fuel prices will have to go up regardless of what happens at the elections. In the UK, the price has been going up by about 1-3 pence (circa 6-18 sen) per litre every quarter for the last couple of years. It is now £1.05 (RM6.50) per litre whereas about a year ago it was around £0.80 (RM5.20). It is inevitable, and in fact, only logical, that the price will go up. 12. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: What’s your latest info in the grapevine in Penang? It appears as if the voters in the Pearl of the Orient are unhappy. Issues like Penang’s lacklustre economic future, the scaled down Penang Global City Centre project and etc. Wan Saiful Wan Jan: I heard the same from several friends in Penang. But I must admit I do not know the details. 13. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: What would be the most likely outcome/scenario for Abdullah Badawi at the Umno General elections to be held later this year if BN is ‘taught a lesson’ by those who are disgruntled? Wan Saiful Wan Jan: This election would be crucial for Abdullah Badawi. Many, including from within UMNO and BN, have been very critical of him and he has to show that he can deliver. He does have a very difficult task, though. He set a very high standard by winning a landslide in the last election. I don’t think he can repeat that this time. It is difficult to judge now if he will be challenged in the UMNO AGM. If it does happen, the likely challenger would be Najib. Does Najib have the courage to do what his father did in affecting a coup against the Tunku? I don’t know. But, I have also heard that Tengku Razaleigh’s friends have been “talking” for quite a while. 14. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: Any message for the Malaysian people before they cast their votes? Wan Saiful Wan Jan: We must work to make sure Malaysia becomes a true liberal democracy. The Executives must be bound by the Constitution, and they must not be given a freehand to amend the Constitution wily nilly. That means ensuring that no one gets a 2/3 majority. We have seen in Kelantan that it is possible to govern even when you do not have 2/3 majority. So, the argument that such a big majority is needed to govern effectively is rubbish. If you want to see Malaysia as a liberal democratic country, if you love democracy, if you want democracy to flourish, the aim must be to reduce the 2/3 majority held by BN. Face to Face interviews are conducted by way of e-mail unless otherwise stated.
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Well Wan Saiful,
What kind of analysis is this? In two weeks time you may have to eat your words. Doesn't reflect well on a think tank!