From Asia to South America, strong political parties have known to have fallen. But some like India’s Congress Party or Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party have reinvented themselves and risen to the fore again.

THAT’S the question many Malaysians are asking themselves as we anxiously await elections and ponder who to support.

My answer is: yes, of course they can. But sometimes, they need to lose and spend time in the wilderness before renewal kicks in.

Look at how India’s Congress Party, having lost power to the BJP in 1996 was able to make a stunning comeback in 2004.

True, Congress may lose power again in the next elections (expected in 2014) but they would reinvent themselves (if not under Rahul Gandhi then certainly his sister, Priyanka) and remain a force in Indian politics.

A more recent example is Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Most analysts consigned Shinzo Abe and the LDP to oblivion after their 2009 defeat.

Fast-forward to today and both are back in office, determined to remake Japan’s economy and defence as they see fit.

The most remarkable example of a ruling party losing power and then reviving themselves has taken place in Mexico.

Last December, around the time Abe was staging his comeback, the 46-year-old former governor of Mexico State Enrique Pena Nieto was sworn in as president.

He’s a member of the Institutional Revo­lutionary Party (PRI), which ruled Mexico for 71 years before losing the presidency to Vicente Fox of the National Action Party in 2000.

PRI maintained power through massive corruption and fraud, leading the Peruvian Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa to label its regime a “perfect dictatorship”.

Indeed, PRI was more opportunistic rather than ideological even though its cadres claimed to be leftist.

Certainly, deep (almost symbiotic) relations with the labour unions helped secure continuing electoral support.

Conversely, the PRI also spawned a host of multi-billionaires, most notably Carlos Slim when they initiated a slew of privatisations, including the country’s telephone operator, Telmex in 1990.

Telecommunications was the foundation of Slim’s fabulous fortune, currently estimated at over US$73bil (RM226bil).

However, telephony costs in Mexico are amongst the highest in the world as two groups – Slim’s Telmex and América Móvil control 80% and 70% of Mexico’s fixed lines and mobile telephone markets, respectively.

At the same time, another plutocrat, media mogul Emilio Azcarraga Vidaurreta’s Televisa media company controls 60% of Mexico’s commercial television.

Some Mexicans therefore greeted Pena Nieto’s victory with trepidation: would they experience a return to the abuses of the past?

The personable new president, however, has sprung many surprises.

One of his first acts was to persuade Mexico’s other political parties to sign a “Pact for Mexico”, a 95-point document that pledges sweeping reforms, such as making it easier to fire underperforming teachers, imposing a value-added tax (VAT) on food and medicine to boost revenue, as well as greater transparency over local government finances.

Rhetoric aside, Pena Nieto has shown that he has the courage to push his reforms th­­rough.

The president won plaudits for jailing the head of Mexico’s all-powerful teacher’s union, Elba Esther Gordillo, over an alleged US$160mil (RM496mil) embezzlement.

Gordillo, dubbed “The Teacher”, was once seen as untouchable and had stood in the way of educational reform.

Pena Nieto is also expected to open up Mexico’s promising but stagnant and under-performing oil industry, which is currently dominated by state producer Petroleos Mexi­canos (Pemex).

Details are sketchy but it may include allowing for greater foreign participation.

Pena Nieto has also announced plans to break the monopolies of Slim and Azcarraga by limiting telecommunication companies to a 50% market share and creating two new TV network concessions which Televisa will be banned from bidding for.

The president has also badgered his PRI cadres to give him more power to tweak party policies on energy reform and introducing the VAT.

PRI’s shift on VAT represents an especially dramatic reversal as the party had been dead-set against such measures when they were in opposition.

Realising the president’s determination, members of the establishment, including the head of Pemex’s union Carlos Romero Deschamps (who interestingly has also been accused of impropriety) and Carlos Slim himself, have lined up to endorse Pena Nieto’s reforms.

His brand of conviction politics proves that it’s possible to resist pressure from vested interests, whether on the left, right or from within and outside a party.

Indeed, Pena Nieto has shown a laudable willingness to put the national interests first: Azcarraga’s Televisa, which would be hurt by his reforms, is ironically an ally of PRI which always gave the party favourable coverage.

The president has also shown unusual courage in striking out so early into his term in office, proving the importance of acting immediately if a leader is serious about any kind of reform agenda.

True, it remains to be seen if the reforms can be enacted in totality.

Nevertheless, it’s not impossible that Mexico can reach its full potential under Pena Nieto’s leadership.

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