2019: The Year That Was

If I am going to be perfectly honest about Malaysia in 2019, I would have to say that the country despite the early zeal of reform, seems very comfortable splashing about in its favorite muddy waters of race and religion.

- Sreejit Pillai

Very little progress has been publicly made in the areas of addressing lingering bread and butter issues which sparked voters to overthrow a kleptocratic regime in May 2018 in favour of a patched-up coalition. Many in the new government now are largely inexperienced in running a nation in distress, somewhat broken by large-scale thievery committed by the previous government, together with a parallel rise in worrisome racial and religious rhetoric emanating from the new opposition coalition.

As one officer to a government, the minister told me after the crushing defeat suffered in the Tanjung Piai by-elections on November 16th - It is not easy running a government, and people are unrealistically impatient. Sixteen months after GE14, these are precisely the talking points no one wants to hear from a member of the government. The Tanjung Piai results were a watershed moment for Pakatan Harapan if ever they needed to hear a resounding signal from the voters and that is - start working and institute reforms without fear or favour or risk getting booted out in GE15.

But these imploring calls from the populace seems to be falling on deaf ears even after the latest by-election defeat suffered by Pakatan Harapan if rumors of a power shift which could include members of the Opposition are anything to go by. Game of Thrones Malaysia-style is not what the country needs after a bruising and underwhelming sixteen months of Pakatan Harapan rule. Many of my friends have started writing off Malaysia, pointing out that “Malaysia Baru” is just a convenient political clarion call and nothing more, and nothing will actually change. Going by the goings-on in 2019, I am inclined to go with this view unless the evidence tells me otherwise. Identity politics have become even more ingrained in the Malaysian political landscape so much so that we unnecessarily angered an Asian economic giant over a black-andwhite legal matter concerning a fugitive from India.