From Kua Kia Soong

As usual, when it comes to the general election, the political parties are so busy horse trading, making alliances and jostling for seats that they forget to communicate the only crucial thing that voters want to know – namely, what policies they stand for and what distinguishes them from the other parties/coalitions.

General elections in the past have shown that contenders will only reveal their voluminous manifestoes at the 11th hour – just before election day (“… just in case they are filched by the other coalitions”), at best designed to mesmerise the electorate.

Worst of all, in the last general election, GE14, we saw the winners showing utter disregard for their own manifesto because, as the then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad under the former Pakatan Harapan government had rationalised after they had won, “we didn’t really expect to win…”

How can voters make an informed choice?

So, if manifestoes are not worth the paper they are printed on, nor promoted well in advance, it is especially important to educate first-time young voters and guide early postal voting on what basis voters should make an informed choice.

What could make a significant impact, as in other liberal democratic countries, is to ensure that the leaders of the various coalitions engage in televised debates on the burning issues of the day.

At least voters will be able to judge for themselves if these coalition leaders are sincere about what they say and pledge to do, and not expect the small print of their manifestoes to be their fait accompli.

In these televised debates, the political leaders should be made to state their stand on the big unresolved issues that are of concern to Malaysian voters.

These include:

• The eradication of institutional racism and racial discrimination – are they prepared to legislate an Equality Act and ratify the International Convention on the Eradication of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) that they agreed to in GE14?
• Will they bring back local government elections (suspended since 1965) soonest possible?
• Repeal all laws that allow detention without trial (including Sosma, Pota and Poca), torture, and the death penalty?
• Implement the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) and other recommendations by the Royal Police Commission, 2005?
• Set up a truly independent anti-corruption commission answerable to Parliament and not the government of the day, with powers to recommend prosecution for all corrupt offences?
• Implement wealth and income redistribution by a higher marginal tax rate on high-income earners, an incremental capital gains tax on property and financial assets, progressive taxes on wealth and luxury goods of the T20?
• Reclaim our public assets from privatisation, democratise our government-linked companies (GLCs), and nationalise our public utilities such as water and energy?
• Do away with racial discrimination in enrolment into tertiary educational institutions and provide free tertiary education for the B40, a sliding scale means test for the M40, and full tuition fees for the T20?
• Allow elected local councils to build mother tongue schools based on the need of the various ethnic communities in the locality and recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) of the Independent Chinese Secondary Schools as they promised in GE14?
• Allocate at least 6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) to healthcare and ensure a fair deal to doctors and hospital workers?
• Institute a housing development board, managed by elected local councils, to implement low-cost public housing for rental or ownership by the B40.
• Prioritise the public transport system, especially a modern rail network while regulating highway construction and traffic in cities and town centres.
• Set up a commission to plan the creation of a comprehensive social welfare system with unemployment benefits, child support, child-care facilities, and pensions for senior citizens.
• Have a ministry for the Orang Asal, a commission for Orang Asal self-rule and autonomy in their customary lands and ensure all Orang Asal villages have adequate facilities and services, including schools and clinics.
• Encourage and promote the right of workers to unionise; progressive guaranteed living wages for all workers, including foreign workers.
• Enact a Freedom of Information Act at the federal and state levels.
• A national broadcasting authority that is truly independent and accountable to Parliament and not the “information ministry” concerned.
• Gazette all forest and wildlife reserves and degazette those reserves that have been degazetted.
• Protect the rights of farmers and fisherfolk and create a national food security policy based on food agriculture.
• Promote renewable energy projects and impose strict energy and water conservation measures, including incentives for all forms of demand management.
• Show specific long-term commitments to, among others, protect biodiversity and forest cover, radically reduce the impact of the climate crisis with strict limits on carbon emissions, single-use plastic and targeting zero waste.
• Cut the defence budget to below 1% of GDP and apportion a corresponding higher budget for education, health and social services?

Malaysians deserve nothing less than transparency on all these topics from those that would lead them into the future.

Please spare us the daily prattle about who is standing in which constituency – we are more interested in what they stand for and promise to deliver.

Kua Kia Soong is adviser to Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram).

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.