Capturing opportunities for renewal

I FIRST worked with a team from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in 2009 on a dual-language book commemorating the installation of the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negri Sembilan.

Since then, I’ve played in the UKM Royal Concert nine times, played squash and tennis with students and shot with their uniformed officers.

With their Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (Ikmas), I’ve spoken at forums, been inspired by eight cohorts of the Asean Youth Volunteer Programme, learnt much from the astounding natural beauty at their Langkawi Research Centre and been enlightened by the Chancellor’s Lecture series.

UKM’s medical facilities – represented by Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz and the new children’s Hospital Tunku Ampuan Besar Tuanku Aishah Rohani – have been venues of healing, but also of sadness for my family and thousands of others, especially at the height of Covid-19, during which the Ideas Hospital Emergency Fund helped to supply equipment.

Thus, I’m flattered that UKM’s Graduate School of Business conceived the Tunku Zain Lecture Series, asked me to be its inaugural speaker and obtained the support of the entire university.

It is indeed an apt venue to discuss capturing opportunities for national renewal.

“Normal” will never be the same as the realisations from Covid are embedded in our lives. For the economy, the catalysation of digital transformation means that many organisations – from think tanks organising conferences to retail, including social enterprises, supporting Orang Asli handicrafts, healthcare, education, banking, insurance and even the judiciary – will require a digitally literate workforce necessitating society-wide upskilling and reskilling.

The success of these projects rest upon our national institutions, originating from our Federal Constitution.

Since Merdeka, it has succeeded in lifting millions out of poverty, creating a new middle class, making us the envy of the developing world. But the renewal must be constant.

Investors want stability and businesses want evidence-based policies.

Skilled young Malaysians stay when they feel valued, international talents come when there are opportunities, and the brain drain will reverse when the regulatory environment is right.

Democracy as a concept faces challenges – even in established democracies – as confidence in institutions is riven by polarising interpretations with the United States being the clearest example.

We in Malaysia must work hard to reaffirm the legitimacy of what our predecessors established. If we don’t, we too will suffer paralysis as populist demagogues impose their own interpretations on our Federal Constitution – or outrightly dismiss it.

Parliamentary reform is a key plank of this. Undi18 and automatic voter registration – examples of how civil society proposals can become law – have broadened the electorate, while parliamentary select committees have given backbencher MPs a meaningful role in improving legislation (instead of just obeying their party whip).

Efforts to resolve party-hopping continue, but should also include internal party reforms to democratise candidates, too.

As secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Political Financing, Ideas will continue pushing for the transparent funding of our politics.

At the heart of the digitalisation agenda is placing power closer to the people, and Malaysia’s federal structure provides a logical framework for this. Greater policy competition – and we can see this already, thanks to Sabah and Sarawak – can lead to more innovation and better services for citizens.

At both federal and state levels, check-and-balance institutions must perform their constitutional duties. As shown during the pandemic, monarchs can encourage stability and curtail draconian states of emergency, and more recently, halt the extremism that is justified in the name of religion.

But other institutions such as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, and indeed the judiciary itself, must also step up.

Naturally, a free press and active civil society is vital in auditing these bodies while also commenting on government policy.

Most importantly in the long-term, civic education must be drastically improved so that every Malaysian understands the importance of these institutions – that the contents and application of the Federal Constitution actually matters to their lives. Even so, that effort must acknowledge the reality of Malaysia’s place in an already complicated world.

Covid-19 and war have shown the fragility of supply chains while geopolitics has had tremendous impact on domestic politics.

We need to work in concert with others to contain extremism and ultimately, achieve sustainability and planetary health through meaningful international treaties while empowering institutions and citizens to cooperate across borders.

All these aspects exist in an interconnected web, and we all have a role to play in strengthening and expanding our connections. That way, a catastrophic failure in one place doesn’t cause the whole structure to fall.

On the contrary, the smallest inspiration can grow exponentially. I hope speakers of the Tunku Zain Lecture Series will provide exactly that.

Summarised from the inaugural Tunku Zain Lecture at UKM on June 8.

The views expressed here are the writer’s own.