KUALA LUMPUR: Identity politics, which is entrenched in the Malaysian political landscape, only deepens divisions among the people, a political analyst said today.
Syaza Shukri, of International Islamic University Malaysia, said identity politics had often been used to delegitimise political rivals.
“In Malaysia, if you want to win an election, you talk about race and religion.
“But in doing so, you create divisions within society, and when parties or coalitions are later forced to work together, it becomes difficult after years of portraying each other as enemies,” she said during a panel discussion at a conference organised by the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs.
To overcome this, Syaza said political parties needed to find a common direction or set of policies that all of them could agree to work on, for the sake of the nation.
“Regardless of their rhetoric or ideology, all these parties are ultimately speaking the same language — what is best for the country, what is best for the nation and what is best for the economy.
“And whichever party you look at, they all talk about national harmony,” she added.
‘Mature democracy starts from the top’
She said current leaders in Putrajaya needed to move beyond the “unity government” label and focus on concrete issues that all political parties could agree on, and then work towards getting the public’s support on these issues.
Syaza said a mature democracy in Malaysia must start from the top, adding that if leaders had the political will to push through reforms and bring people together, the majority of Malaysians would follow suit.
“The thing is what they’re seeing at the top now is something else: all of this divisive rhetoric that we’re used to, but this is not the way to become mature.”
However, Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research director Woon King Chai disagreed, arguing that there was still value in identity politics.
He said its value was less in the way it was often practised by politicians and more in recognising why it continued to matter, which was to highlight the values and significance of differences among Malaysians of various cultures.
