Topic.

The word democracy comes from two Greek roots:

Demos, which refers to the people, and Kratos, which means power.

From the combination of these roots, you can see:

The very idea of democracy is power by the people.

That's the reason that we gather every few years for a general election and we cast votes for one of the two suboptimal parties to try to get a good outcome or at least one that won't completely screw us over - it is our attempt to assert power over our circumstances.

In the Malaysian context, we saw a ‘victory’ for democracy with the Madani government coming into power.

Admittedly, democracy doesn't cease to exist just because you disagree with its outcomes. Yet there are clear ways in which we see all sorts of things impacting that very democracy, especially in Malaysia.

Right now, bills about online safety and also a mufti bill are moving quickly beyond the reach of average citizens, funding is being thrown out for political entities that most Malaysians support along racial lines, and entire political parties are taking part in manipulation of the population on a large scale, one of which is taking part in lies and getting sued over and over again, paying money just as the expected tuition costs for wresting control over the Malay mind (I’ll let you decide which partie(s) are taking part in this. If you have no answer, feel free to call me a crazy person.) even as feudalism rears its ugly head and ikut ikut ikut mentality continues and the 3R’s which we’re not supposed to talk about become a daily tool to manipulate Malaysians by some of the usual suspects.

Do you feel that democracy works in Malaysia, at least in its current state?

How much do you feel that democracy works in Malaysia and is it really a sustainable way for continuing to run this country given the way that people are repeatedly manipulating the process, whether by conducting psychological operations or influencing the way that we vote while at the same time going against the actual will of the people through a process of subterfuge that fails to actually engage citizens and in the first place, many Malaysians aren’t even educated about democracy and refuse to be, instead engaging in all sorts of enlightening takes such as that you can fail English if you want because you’re ’not British’? 😅

Curious to hear your thoughts!

This post has been edited by Exoflare: Dec 14 2024, 08:07 AM

most of the Asia countries unable to adapt democracy unlike the western countries…

First of all, there is no perfect human and perfect government system.

Secondly, democracy makes it easier to undo stupidity.

Thirdly, even democracy can be eroded and pave way towards authoritarian.

The wild thing is that each frames itself as a way to undo stupidity but in reality it is likely more stupidity as a result of tebuk atap and mass scale manipulation that will take place rather than any meaningful democratic change in all scenarios 🥲

Well, I am glad that you got to the main point.

What you described is a problem of rule of law, which is closely linked to democracy but has a distinct nature in the functioning of the country.

I'm sure everyone knows Malaysia's track record for the rule of law. That's what Najib did when he changed AG and sacked his ministers. Or when Mahathir did when he changed the federal court judges.

The thing with modern Western democracies is that they come with a package - rule of law, democracy, freedom, human rights, etc., a set of values closely linked to each other.

The Malaysian system is Western democracy in its framework. But we may not practice all the values that they do, nor did we interpret them like the western countries.

Human society is a complex organization. While we might have adopted the structures of Western democracy, the inner stratum of the people holds different values. These inner strata, such as Eastern and Islamic values, often conflict with the assumptions of the Western system. This clash can create tension and instability, hindering the effective functioning of democratic institutions. In terms of governing, finding a way to reconcile these differing values and move forward is the key.

The Online Safety Bill was passed with 90 MPs absent.

You vote for them to debate laws, but almost half of them were absent.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024...pite-resistance

Yes because government reflect the will and thoughts of the majority. This is what most Malaysians are really like even if minority disagrees.

Democracy is just a form of governance, of which the power to decide lies more in the hands of the people (compared to others).
Keyword being power. Nothing about requirement of morality, ethics, humanitarian values, altruistic behaviour, spiritual enlightenment, unified vision, etc. Purely only power to decide.

Democracy is just force multiplier that depends on the people. Unlike monarchy, oligarchy, dictatorship, etc., the people ultimately decides the direction it's steered.
Bad for when majority are self-destructive, good when they're unified for a greater good. Sometimes those 2 are interpreted interchangeably subjective to the people.
Let's take normalizing prostitution for example. It's a vice at the end of the day, yet some communities weighed them as 'good for society' instead of not and pushed for its implementation.

Your question can be explored in 2 distinct direction.
1. Address type of governance for the current group people. (Usually frowned upon by ANY form of governance btw. Questioning quality execution is one thing, questioning the type implies revolutionary thinking. People in power don't like to be not in power.)
2. Address group of people that make up the current governance.

Also you said about things moving quickly like online security & mufti bills, you can still do things like writing to your local MP (making sure they address this in parliament),
conveying it to the party that you think would support your stance, or if you rallied enough people you can even make your own party and contest. Have you done any of what's available to you?
Imagine that in most other form of governance where power is even more concentrated. If the person(s) in power decided it to be so, you wouldn't even be able to anything about it.

tl:dr people say politicians are stupid, but are the rest of the population much better? They too are individuals cut from the same cloth.

The democracy you speak of not working very well in western countries either right now.

Problem is you cannot undo stupidity if voters keep voting in stupid people into the gomen.

Yes. Then the country and people will suffer.
Then, foreigners come take their money their land and their woman.
They will suffer.
Perhaps then they will learn to be less stupid or just hilang from bumi.
We have seen the previous but yet to see the latter, by far.

Yes, simply because if you have a multiethnic community with different socioeconomic levels, theres no other choice.

The alternative is to have one group telling every other group what would be the law. Basically you'd have myanmar and the civil war it's having now.

No

But this is the same situation in many countries around the world today.

Democracy does not work becos if the majority of the people are dumb, then their majority votes will count over the votes of a smaller intelligent group.

And it is proven that smarter people are in the minority.

Here in Malaysia, it also does not work, becos of religious difference. One slim majority group got a different religion compared to another slightly minority group who is "free thinker". So both pull in different directions all the time. No harmony.

any form of governing ideology will have flaw - human
they will work somehow up to a period, then replaced again by another "working" one, but none will be perfect, as human are

I suppose everyone wants to talk about issues in our country, but I'll just throw a mathematical perspective in:



Long story short, by "first past the post" method that we use now, political parties will often converge into two to fight for simple majority.

Without, as evident in the previous election, we end up with a non-majority government: two coalitions with different views band together against the third, and the resulting government is a mixed mess that majority dislikes (and mind you, any other combination between PH/BN/PN/others would've been just as messy because all 3 coalitions had considerable votes).

Nevermind the blind leading the blind, even the system itself is flawed.

Democracy dies when election is tainted.

We can no longer hold our leaders to account; the state has too much power; and they will never tell us the truth.

Democratic principles in Malaysia are further eroded by the lack of political education among the population. Many Malaysians are not properly informed about the workings of democracy or the power they hold. Instead of fostering critical thinking and an informed electorate, the country’s political culture encourages blind allegiance and a 'follow the leader' mentality. This makes it easier for political elites to manipulate voters, steering them away from true democratic engagement and towards subservient conformity.