'If we are not ready now, we will never be ready. The two-party system is less about the people than the maturity of politicians. The incumbent parties in BN have to accept that.'
'M'sia not ready for two-party system'
Multi Racial: If we are not ready now, we will never be ready. The two-party system is less about the people than the maturity of politicians. The incumbent parties in BN have to accept that they can lose the right to govern and when that happens, they have to hand over power peacefully.
Usually, it is not the fault of the parties but certain individuals with vested interests who will encourage or instigate disruptions in the handover of power. In relation to that, there are worries that there are too many vested interests who fear they may be prosecuted and/or put into jail for their wrongdoings over the years.
Regardless, Malaysia has to go through this for the sake of long-term maturity. Once a two-party system is established, government services, the armed forces, the Election Commission, the police and the MACC will become more independent mainly thanks to the change of officeholders and the reforms that are initiated. We can only hope that peace will prevail.
Kgan: Saying that Malaysia is not ready for a two-party system is like saying that BN is not ready to give up its corruption and plunder of national resources. The three reasons given by Wong Chin Huat are weak, speculative and irrelevant to the question of readiness.
He is totally off the mark here. He appears to be frightened of a Malaysia without BN's dominance rather than welcoming a two-party system.
Allan Kong Sin Foong: The people are ready but Umno is not.
Spokenthots: For all intents and purposes, the two-party system will not be favoured either by the BN or Pakatan Rakyat. But the reality is that Malaysia needs to move in that direction as soon as possible.
This is to provide Malaysians with a truly democratic and diverse spectrum of parties from which to make their choices. Ask any political party whether they want to share power and the answer would be a loud ‘no'. But circumstances force these marriages of convenience, for example BN and Pakatan.
It is also an accepted fact that in Malaysia this will be that much more difficult to achieve. Why? Because our parties are all communal-based even the multi-racial ones. Moving towards a conservative, liberal, Green, and democratic spectrum of parties requires a total overhaul of the way politics operates in Malaysia.
But move we must and the first steps have already been taken thanks to Pakatan's victories in the last general elections. How slow or fast the transition occurs depends on the commitment of Pakatan in challenging the status quo.
We already have in place a two-coalition system in Penang, Selangor, Kedah, Perak. While that is only on the state level so far, it is just one step away from the federal level. The people in these states will have the firsthand opportunity to see for themselves how Pakatan governs and compare its performance to BN. From there on, it's up to them to make their choice.
Prior to the 12 th general election, the excuse given by Malaysians for not voting for the opposition was that it did not have the required experience to govern. The rakyat are now watching the states under Pakatan and assessing their successes and failures.
It is time for Pakatan to take this to another level - the national/federal level. The key here lies in the negotiated agreements and pacts with the East Malaysian parties to form the next federal government.
As it stands today, if the parties in East Malaysia swing over to Pakatan en bloc , we will see a new federal government in place tomorrow. Malaysians need to see the light of a two-party system and believe in it as the necessary next step for the country's political evolution.
Habib RAK: Political maturity is not like an ‘on' or ‘off' switch. There's no such thing as ‘being ready' for a two-party system and then you turn it ‘on'. Political maturity is a process and it evolves.
Perhaps what Wong Chin Huat intends to say is that we are at the beginning of the process. Malaysians, as a whole, are maturing and being more participative in political matters. This leads to groupings of like-minded people.
As such, the emergence of a two-party system is inevitable and it will be akin a new-born baby which will grow and mature over time. Like all babies, it will have its fair share of knocks and bruises along the way.
