LETTER | Reductionist politics of current parties

LETTER |  A new year has come and Malaysians who have gone through a tough time due to Covid 19 pandemic, social-economic woes, inflation and the recent floods would want to see some light of enlightened politics and good governance emerging.

While the BN and PN thrive on reductionist part of simplistic ideology of race, religion, and social-economic privilege, Pakatan Harapan is also going through ideological reductionism where its politics have been made simple, with leaders of yesteryears still remaining in charge such as Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang, Mat Sabu, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Shafee Abdal and elite politicians aligned to them.

The nation is in dire need of a new vision of a society where the dignity of labour, equitable distribution of wealth, businesses that exist for the common good, local government empowerment and the preservation of the Environment becomes a rallying cry of politicians and civil society.

The emergence of youthful Muda as a political party that represents a multi-ethnic Malaysia brings great hope, but unless it takes a progressive part of the common good that articulates the real spirit of sustainable development in the core areas as mentioned above it could end as a political party that serves a mere capitalist interest.

Therefore, it is hoped that the new year 2022 would be a year of soul searching among elite politicians who have overstayed their welcome. There is a need for a new concrete alternative to the BN and Perikatan National, and unless the Pakatan Harapan leaders make preparations to step down and mould a broad spectrum of grass root leaders, I don’t see any changes emerging.

The new alternative politics might take time to win the general election, but an alternative foundation for the future generation to steer the country from reductionist ideology could be put in place.

In this context, a broad-based people movement that pursues equity and justice could prevail against reductionist elitism that is currently dictating the course of the nation.

RONALD BENJAMIN is ACID secretary.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.