A truly democratic system of governance, coupled with a paradigm shift away from the divisive one we have become so used to, are worth fighting for.

AT last the elections are here. It has taken long enough.

The experience of waiting for GE13 is, I imagine, rather like waiting to give birth in one’s final weeks. You just can’t wait to squeeze the sprog out. Not that I have ever been pregnant.

I have been asked over the past few weeks who I thought was going to win. My answer has generally been “What do I look like to you? Madame Zorba and her Amazing Crystal Ball?”

Of course I have no idea what is going to happen. Naturally, I have my hopes but at the end of the day it is a case of que sera sera, what will be, will be. Because no matter who has the majority in Parliament, and thus who will decide what our government will look like, my ideals and aspirations will remain the same.

I will continue to write (assuming anyone is still willing to publish) on needed changes that I believe are vital in moving our country forward.

These are developments that upon observing the goings-on of our politicians these last few weeks, I am even more convinced are utterly necessary.

Politicians are a weird lot. For the life of me, I can’t imagine a worse job (with the exception of enema technician) and why anyone would willingly choose it is a mystery to me. I am sure there are many of them who genuinely believe in doing nothing but serving their community.

And yet politics, as we know it, is perhaps not the best breeding ground for idealism.

This is because politics is about power, and we all know what power can do. Even when you don’t have it, the desire for it, no matter how well meaning, can lead to unsavoury actions.

Yet, what choice do we have?

As Winston Churchill said: “Democracy is the worse form of government except all the others that have been tried.”

So the horse trading we see with regard to seats, the sulky reaction of the independents who were not chosen by their own parties, the back-biting etc, well it is part and parcel of the modern democratic process and it is a small price to pay when one considers the alternatives.

This being the case, when the danger of politics for politics sake is ever present, it is all the more important that the system of governance we have keeps our politicians (and via them our government) in check and that we ordinary folks do not become nothing more than sheep-like subjects.

Systemic change is sorely needed in Malaysia.

All the institutions that must be independent have to be released from the shackles to the executive that have been placed on them over the last 50 years or so. Only in this way can we have the checks and balance needed for a truly democratic system.

Transparency and accountability are far too important to be trusted to any one person or group of people. It has to be built into the system so that whoever is in charge, they have no choice but to be transparent and accountable.

And believe me, a good system is all that stands between despotism and democracy. Take the late Margaret Thatcher for example. She was an ardent admirer of Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean despot under whose regime thousands of political opponents “disappeared”.

Perhaps she had the personal conviction to admire the dictator but not follow his lead, but I believe the thing which prevented her from following the same path even if she wanted to, is the fact that the British system of government and governance, won’t allow her to.

There has to be a philosophical change in this land of ours too.

Racists and bigots who will simply not stop harping on about “the other” have to be challenged consistently and loudly with the principle that all people were created equal and that their foul insistence on dividing us based simply on the colour of our skin or the method with which we seek spiritual comfort is not only repugnant but destructive.

A truly democratic system of governance coupled with a paradigm shift away from the divisive one we have become so used to, are the things I am convinced are worth fighting for. No matter who sits in Putrajaya.

Selamat Mengundi.

> Dr Azmi Sharom is a law teacher. The views expressed here are entirely his own.

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