Who is a true blue democrat?

By KJ John

Democracy is a very ancient ideal but turned modern by our language and political discourse; originally birthed in Athens vide a participative form of local governance of the people, by the people, and for the people.

It was a framework for good governance of any locality by a legitimate and fair process of selecting and electing right “governors for the administration of justice for people.” If we do not like such governors; we get to remove them through a process of change at the next round of elections, when we next exercise our choices.

A true blue democrat is one who believes that, as a human being, and based on his assumptions about human nature, all human beings have a right to be considered equal before GOD ALMIGHTY and therefore enjoy equality, fraternity, and liberty, as does everyone else; without any conditionality or caveats! Maybe the French version of this ideal in their three words captures the heart of such a democratic vision.

Having said that we are all equal; are some then more equal than others, in ordinary life? If not so, “Animal Farm” should never have hit the best seller list ever, or “To Kill A Mocking Bird” should never have been so well read, right. The truth is that most American Republicans believe in some kind of class-based society; usually premised on historical but often out-dated realities and some age-old assumptions. Even the Boston Tea-Party original proponents had to “pretend to be Indians” to make their point, right.

The protestant religious reaction in the non-united States of America was for groups like the Mennonites and Amish-type communities who moved out of “Town Centres and Town Halls” and lived outside town limits in the country where they grew and nurtured their own communities and culture there.

They remained a community of true blue believers in personal human dignity and therefore free choice but they also believed in their community’s local values and culture. But, unlike the Republican Boston Tea-party types who slowly but surely began over time to worship their unholy Trinity of I-Me-Myself, or to be portend the Ugly American I, which the rest of the world does not like or love. The classic exemplars of such a worldview applied today are now, Trump and followed closely by Ted Cruz.

To me, both John Kasich and Dr Ben Carson are still true blue American Evangelicals of the kind and quality which any Christian Community or faith can support or agree with.

Of course on the democratic side; we have two real life secularists, who claim to also be evangelical-type Christians, but I do not know what their real and true faith is, and the Good Lord says judgment belongs to him and not us; humans. I rest my case; and I continue to pray for the day we can have some real and public verbal battles of dialogue and debates by Malay Republicans and Democrats in Malaysia.

I wonder which direction then this country will really move towards. I will continue to pray for CHANGE in fundamental and radical forms; to move us beyond mere formalities and so much untruths. Truth and mutual trust must find its right place again in Malaysia.

Nurturing a Democratic foundation of Malaysia

I fully agree with Syed Saddiq who wrote in Malaysiakini.com about his democratic dream for Malaysia (Need for Independent candidates in a democracy) Our democratic foundation is currently located in a narrow understanding and assumption of “the validity and reality of only political parties” and their presumed support, or lack thereof. The middle majority who form maybe about 60% of average middle class Malaysians, but who do not belong to any political party per se, are discounted and remain irrelevant in all such calculus!

The debate about real and true democracy in Malaysia is therefore not complete yet and we cannot let “merely those registered as partisan political parties to define them!” But, these political parties are the only ones currently premised as the “legitimate and real players and actors in the national and local political game.” Are they really? But, why do we even agree with such a premise?

Moreover, party loyalties define all their current political choices and therefore truths, including the many lies of misinformation or disinformation. Party loyalty requires such truths to be placed at the altar of blind obedience.

Take the TPPA discourse as one clear and simple example and their consequential voting record as a focal point. All our Members of Parliament and Senators had to “sell their intelligence and rationality” and sacrifice much citizen concerns about the dangers and compromises of the TPPA. All BN party members voted for the TPPA, and they all succumbed to party discipline (or blind loyalty to their party interests) over national interest when they demonstrated positions through their votes. We, the majority, have in fact voted otherwise.

We must consequentially be reduced to be idiots to believe their declared truths. Dato Mustapa Mohamed is a personal friend and my PTD colleague at INTAN, and a first class honours student of Monash University. Under what conditions and permutations that we can agree on would he expect me to close one eye over the entire TPPA, which Dr KS Jomo, Prof Gurdial Singh and I have vehemently argued and rallied against?

If the MyHOPECoalition (or Malaysian HOPE Coalition) is to become a serious player, we must do the following few things urgently:

• Gather and garner support of all ethnic-types of English speaking middle class Malaysians but who are landed or property owners, and mobilize them into GE politics.
• Mobilize their vested interests to protect and preserve this multi-ethnic nation-state before we are raped dry by mis-governance.
• Identify those especially in urban areas (which is about 80% of modern Malaysia today), and we need to think differently to make a real difference in time for 2018 GE.

MyHOPE Coalition- a crazy idea for growing a real democracy

Realistically, we may never politically revert to Local Council Elections. Even Opposition parties have backed off their commitment to this ideal. They all do not truthfully believe that they should keep the promises to redefine governance through Local Government Elections in Malaysia.

Therefore we need an alternative form of local governance system if we want to see a true blue democracy thrive in Malaysia for the sake of our grandchildren and their children.

We need this alternative model of grassroots democracy which addresses real and practical issues before we can consider “bigger and more strategic national issues.” My proposal assumes a hierarchical responsibility structure which makes MPs responsible for national and strategic issues. It also assumes that ADUNs focus on state-level governance issues and are responsible for all land-related resources management.

We need to nurture this different and higher quality of grassroots democracy which focuses primarily on real local governance issues and concerns; often classified as “longkang issues.” We need better quality and research based reports on these basic issues of concern to all moderate middle Malaysians in all urban settings.

KJ John was Director of Industrial Policy with MITI until 1996 before he moved to the NITC at Mimos Berhad to develop the National IT Agenda.

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