Off topic photoessay: a new chapter for Malaysia

I have never been interested in politics – mostly because the same party has been in power in my country since independence; more than 60 years. A change of government is no big deal in most democracies; but the concept of democracy had been largely theoretical until two days ago – the incumbents ensured there was simply no credible opposition to vote for even if you were inclined to. I – and many others – had come to the conclusion that democracy was merely an illusion. We were proven wrong two days ago when the opposition was elected into power by a surprisingly large margin; never mind that the opposition was lead by a 93-year old former prime minister who switched sides, and the supporting cast of actors was largely the same as before. Never mind that Malaysians voted for fundamentally the same thing as we had 20 years before (if that’s not a pervasively conservative attitude, I don’t know what is). And never mind that some of the promises made (as with every election) may not make complete rational sense – the real news is that we actually had a choice. At the very least, this gives us hope that things can change: and from now on, change will happen if the people aren’t happy.

Precipitating that change was the attitude and behaviour of the last leader – a kleptocrat wanted by several countries for stealing his own people’s (i.e. our) money, and introducing draconian laws and tricks to do every single thing to keep himself, wife and cronies in power. Billions went missing from our sovereign wealth funds; we took on unnecessary debt from foreign countries to pay for it; laws were introduced allowing control, seizure and arrest of any property or persons deemed by him to be ‘a national emergency’ or ‘in national interests’; distribution of uncorroborated facts became illegal under a ‘fake news act’. His one credible rival was put into prison on a sodomy charge. GST was introduced to cover the enormous hole created by the extraction of funds to pay for his electoral campaigns, cronies and wife’s well-documented shopping sprees. Electoral constituencies were redrawn so their party strongholds would have fewer voters – few enough to be bribed. And I (and others I know) found ourselves registered to vote even though we had no memory of having done so – ironically, this was the one thing that pushed me (and again, others I know) over the edge NOT to vote for them. And even when it was clear the opposition was going to win – the electoral count was stalled and official results not presented until 3pm the following day (instead of usually around 10-11pm on election day itself). There are videos circulating of officials refusing to sign off on the ballot boxes in disbelief.

Don’t get me wrong: the new guy may not be any better, but at least he’s done the job before, and there wasn’t as much collective grumbling and griping and unhappiness at the time. He put the opposition leader in jail first; he started consolidation of power around the PM’s office and removed quite a lot of latitude from the constitutional monarchy; he put into place affirmative action policies for the majority that arguably accentuated racial divides and disadvantaged the people who were actually making money for the country. But: on the whole, you didn’t hear much public grumbling: the country was doing reasonably well, and we just got on with it. We weathered the various financial crises reasonably well, instead of having a currency that yo-yoed like mad (2.9:1 to the USD in 2013, dropping to 4.6:1 in 2016, and now back to 3.9 or thereabouts).

Electoral promises and sequels aside, the one thing that really struck me during this round of polling was that the people were actually starting to care and say ‘enough is enough’: Malaysians in general are fairly easygoing and have a very high activation energy to actually do anything; the fact that we were seeing people supporting in droves campaigns, the election itself and the post-election aftermath was a sign. And it wasn’t just the easily swayed or the activists – it was everybody. This set of images was shot last night at the back gates to the national Palace, where Mahatir was being sworn in as Prime Minister by the King; I was having dinner nearby and a friend and I went to see if anything was happening. Every single social group in society was represented, and fully – all races, all ages, all occupations, all education levels. The energy of that crowd was peaceful but buoyant and probably the most positive thing I’ve ever felt in Malaysia. People watched the events on their phones, just happy to be near it all. For a change, I didn’t feel like migrating, or that I didn’t belong. I did wish I’d brought more camera than my iPhone, but history called and needs must. The people had hope. We voted, and saw that democracy actually opened up a chance to change things. MT

Local context moment: sign aptly reads ‘Caution: ccrossroads ahead’

Local context moment: the billboard is for the former PM/party; the flags decapitating him are for the new one.

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