Electoral upset in Malaysia

Politicians in Pakistan, all politicians of all parties great and small, would be wise to study closely the outcome of the elections in Malaysia, where a scandal-ridden premier who is leader of a regime that has been in power for six decades has lost an election. Additionally, the man that beat Najib Razak is 92 years old and is himself an autocratic past ruler but this time leading an opposition coalition. The reason Mahathir Mohamad won was that the populace were heartily sick of the monumental corruption scandal that the ruling party were enmeshed in, opening the door to what is one of the more surprising outcomes of the democratic process in recent years. Assuming he is sworn in Mahathir will be the oldest prime minister in the world.

Although a shock the process appears to be peaceful for the most part, and interviews by global news channels suggested that this was a 'rebirth' of the country, a freshly-minted re-run of independence. The Mahathir win is riddled with irony as he allied himself with parties that he ruthlessly suppressed during his time in power. His nemesis then is a man he jailed and who today has been enlisted as a Mahathir supporter, and there is a promise that Anwar Ibrahim will be released in June and granted a free pardon by Mahathir who is reported to be willing to cede power to him at some unspecified date. Ironies do not come much more ironic than that.

It is unwise to read across too closely between Malaysia and Pakistan, the two countries are very different though both Muslim-majority. The coming election is unlikely to bring about such an outcome but there are indicators that the traditional political moulds are cracking, stirrings among parts of the population that feel marginalised and calls for provincial boundaries to be re-drawn, new provinces created. Why the Malaysian result matters for Pakistan is that it was democratic and democracy truly was the biggest winner on the day. Study carefully gentlemen, study carefully.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2018.

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