To preserve Malaysia as a democratic country, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said important components of a democractic society such as freedom of speech, a free press, and the right to demonstrate and strike must be circumscribed.
In today’s posting on his personal blog, Tun Dr Mahathir argues that the right to publicly demonstrate and strike might be justified in a totalitarian state where change could not be affected any other way, but not so much in a country which practices elections, such as Malaysia.
He also supports a two-party political system over a free-for-all environment of many political parties vying for a percentage of voter support, and cites Malaysia’s divide between the Barisan Nasional and opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalitions as an example of a fair and stable democracy. However, he says the losing party must accept their electoral loss, or else the country will be destabilised, likely a jibe at PR protestations over the results of last year’s 13th General Elections.
Mahathir cites Egypt, Ukraine and Thailand as examples of democracies that have been destabilised due to the opposition being unwilling to accept electoral results, and inciting their people to demonstrate in the streets. He also calls out electoral reform movement Bersih as being one of the organizations in Malaysia trying to tip the country over into anarchy through their demonstrations.
He bookends his argument with the idea that Western democracies are willing to destroy themselves and other countries in the name of upholding democratic principles, and that Malaysian democracy will be destroyed if the hallmarks of a democratic society – free speech, a free press, and the right to demonstrate and strike – are abused in the name of democracy.
