LETTER | Fear of the “Green Wave” might be a big factor in the upcoming state elections. Many Malaysians are fearful that PAS and its allies will do well, leading to an erosion of civic freedoms and an increased influence of fundamentalist Islam in our country.

This fear is so great that many otherwise progressive-minded Malaysians are willing to overlook problems of corruption, abuse of power and bad governance, to make voting against PAS and Perikatan Nasional their sole priority.

While voting like this may hinder the “Green Wave” in the short term, in the long term allowing corruption to fester will inevitably lead to a PAS-ruled Malaysia.

One big reason why PAS has been gaining influence is that Malaysians, especially younger ones, are fed up with corruption. PAS leaders are perceived to be more clean, and this is an important part of their appeal.

I live in a Malay-majority town in Selangor, where PAS has a strong presence. When they campaign here, they don’t say that they want to turn Selangor into Kelantan. Rather they had a big billboard in the main intersection proclaiming that PAS’s leaders have never been in corruption scandals.

If parties and voters opposing PAS continue to de-prioritise Malaysia’s corruption problem, PAS’ popularity will only grow.

It is instructive to study how extremist governments came into power in other countries.

The Iranian Revolution of 1979 led to the overthrow of the ruling monarchy and the establishment of a fundamentalist Islamic Republic.

One big reason the uprising was successful was the widespread corruption n the regime of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. As leader of Iran, the Shah wielded enormous power, but his regime was marred by nepotism, cronyism, and embezzlement.

His family and close associates amassed immense wealth, while ordinary Iranians struggled to make ends meet. The stark socio-economic disparities and the perception of a privileged elite ruling with impunity fueled deep resentment among the population.

As another example, the initial success of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS) was, in part, due to Iraqis and Syrians being fed up with their corrupt governments. Transparency International released a statement in 2017 titled “Corruption Helped IS Take Mosul. Victory Cannot Last While It Persists”.

We could also consider how in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood was voted into power in 2012, after widespread anger about corruption sparked protests that toppled Hosni Mubarak. The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamic party with ties to PAS.

From these examples, it is clear that the strategy of deprioritising the fight against corruption in order to constrain PAS is doomed to fail.

The other choice

What can we do instead? We have to realise that most of us will have more than two choices. For those unlucky ones with only two names on their ballot, perhaps it makes sense to vote for the one that will do the least damage.

But many of us will be able to vote for third-party candidates who both stand for a Malaysia that protects the rights of minorities and who stand firm for good governance and against corruption.

For instance, PSM and Muda have emphasised the return of local elections, which prevent corruption by ensuring that local councillors are chosen by the people, not those with business or personal ties with party leaders.

PSM and Muda have also been steadfast in calling for limits on executive power, and greater transparency in government decision-making.

Even if these third-party candidates don’t win, if they gain a lot of votes this will signal to the government that it cannot afford to be lax on the issue of corruption, especially when it involves members of the ruling coalition.

This will motivate the government to take seriously the need to fight graft and promote good governance.

In the long term, this is the only way for the Malaysian voter to beat back the “Green Wave”.

The writer is chairperson of PSM’s Dengkil branch and the party’s candidate for Dengkil in the state polls.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.