GE14 | Partisan politics has transformed the nation into a toxic wasteland. Nothing is inviolable. Race and religion are belittled and exploited, insults are traded and the indefensible is defended. The moral compass points south.

Amid this dystopian backdrop, there is a band of politicians who refuse to participate in the mudslinging match, preferring to focus on policies and the problems of the poor instead.

And while history is replete with examples of how politicians would devise diabolical schemes, manipulate, lie and even kill for positions and power, PSM, however, has to twist the arms of its members to contest in elections.

Its chairperson Mohd Nasir Hashim is no different. Despite writing letter after letter to dissuade members from electing him as party leader, he keeps winning unopposed.

In an interview with Malaysiakini, PSM's central committee member S Arutchelvan discusses what sets the socialist party apart and its struggle to find a place in the hearts and minds of Malaysians...