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The rise of left-wing politics in Malaysia

By CHAN SHIJUN

Where has the Left gone in Malaysian politics?

Such is the demise of the Left in the past 50 years since Independence that it has hardly had any influence in the Malaysian political sphere. Through harassment, intimidation and censorship, the establishment has successfully made the words ‘Left’, ’socialist’ and ’social democracy’ taboo words in polite Malaysian society.

Ironically, the Malaysian public has in the process has also been made to believe that racism and ethnic chauvinism was ‘fine’, or at least to be left unchallenged and ‘tolerated’.

This sad state of affairs started during the ‘Red Scare’ of the 1940’s which coincided with the rise of the Communist state of the USSR, along with its affiliates in Eastern Europe and China. The response by the then British overlords in containing the Communist insurgency in Malaysia was alarmingly blunt: Blanket suppression of anything which was a few inches to the left of the political spectrum.

As such propaganda was used to subvert political freedom and the socialists, social democrats, trade unions as well as student bodies were all accused as being communist sympathizers and dealt with accordingly. The hypocrisy of this situation was increased a further few notches by the fact that the British allowed a healthy labour movement to thrive in their own backyard while not blinking an eye in ruthlessly crushing leftist movements in its various colonial outposts.

Which brings us to the Left in Malaysia today. After being stillborn for, well, its whole life really, the Left has finally started to see the day of light in this country. On the 8th of May, the social democratic Democratic Action Party (DAP) finally won real power in the form of the government of Penang.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), which often calling itself a centrist party but with clear left-leaning tendencies formed the Selangor government. And the latest political party, Parti Sosialis Malaysia, was finally given permission to be officially registers, while its president, Mohd Nasir Hashim won a state seat in Selangor while Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj ousted the ‘un-oustable’ Samy Vellu from his Perak parliamentary seat in the last elections.

We should be glad with this development as the Left have a lot to offer to many Malaysians, but especially to the poorer segments of society. The Left is synonymous to the concepts of equality, secularism and multiculturalism. With the rise of the Left, a push for an adequate and responsible minimum wage will obtain much more momentum. I personally disagree with PKR’s RM1500/month minimum as I think it’s too high, but agree more with the MTUC’s figure of about RM900/month.

Despite what many neo-liberal economists would have you to believe, studies have shown that countries with the minimum wage do not have significantly higher unemployment rates, provided it is done in a responsible manner.

IT is no secret that the current conservative government has in the past adopted many of the Left’s ideas on one hand while hypocritically disparaging them on the other. The double-edged sword of the NEP is a form, albeit flawed one, of affirmative action which was another of the Left’s creations.

With the death of the ‘old Left’ ala communism and hard socialism and their belief in ‘equality of outcome’, the ‘new Left’ in the form of social democracies have instead rectified this and now champion ‘equality of opportunity’ for all. Following this, they believe that fairness cannot prevail in society if some people are allowed to start much further behind the starting line in life’s race through no fault of their own, such as being born in a poor family or living in rural areas.

As such, affirmative action policies seek to rectify these inequalities. The NEP, similar to the affirmative action policies in the US is, however, flawed because they use race as the sole criteria in deciding who to give assistance to. I am all for an affirmative action policy which is colour-blind and based solely on one’s socio-economic background.

The welfare safety net has also been ridiculously demonized by the establishment for no logical reason. Malaysians who are unemployed due to disability or not through their lack of trying should be assisted by the government financially.

I sometimes wonder what those libertarians and conservatives have against a government helping its own people, what with their dogmatic chants for ’small government’. One might as well take that to its logical conclusion and live in an anarchist society where ‘government interference’ is a thing of the past. Then they shall be free to starve in peace when they fall on hard times.

Another much-maligned area at the moment under the current government is the trade union movement. Due to the aforementioned suppression of the authorities on trade unions, the present labour movement is weaker than a piece of keropok. A viable trade unionism is vital for the preservation of the blue-collar working class as due to their lower skilled status and thus being easier to replace, their only bargaining chip for better pay and working conditions against their employer is through strength in numbers through unionization.

Flowing from the general Malaysian public’s aversion to the word ‘leftist’, many also view strikes and demonstrations with fear. This is unfounded as workers have a right as anybody else to safeguard their working conditions. It is indeed laughable to suggest that a low-skilled worker can go into the negotiating room with his employer with any kind of leverage, as what many conservative governments would like for you to believe. A worker has a family to feed too.

Thankfully, things seem to be on the upside now for Malaysia. Hopefully those social democrats elected into public office after the 8th of March elections will continue to push for more social democratic reforms to ensure that Malaysia becomes a fairer, more equitable, and better place to live in.