Malaysias pace of democratisation improved only marginally over the years and it remains a “flawed democracy” in 2014, the same category it occupied in 2008, according to the Economist Intelligence Units (EIU) latest findings. The country placed 65th out of the 167 nations and federal territories reviewed in the EIUs Democracy Index 2014, putting it 10 spots ahead of neighbouring Singapore but far behind other southeast Asian peers such as Indonesia, 49th, and the Philippines in the 53rd spot. For 2014, Malaysia was categorised as a “flawed democracy” from its aggregate grade of 6.49 out of 10, according scores tabulated from expert assessments and public surveys. Malaysia first entered the category in 2008 with a score of 6.36 and a ranking of 68 out of 167 countries, during the EIUs second instalment of the democracy index. In 2010, however, the countrys aggregate dipped by 0.17 points to 6.19 while its overall ranking climbed three spots to 71, due to a “gradual erosion of civil liberties and political culture in the past year”, the EIUs report said then. Malaysia’s ranking then improved in the following years with an aggregate of 6.19 in 2011, 6.41 in 2012 and 6.49 in 2013, the same score it earned last year. “Flawed democracies”, according to the EIU, are countries that respect basic civil liberties and generally hold free and fair elections, although they may be marred by problems such as infringements on media freedom. Civil society movements in Malaysia have long railed against how national polls are conducted here, alleging that clandestine gerrymandering, the abuse of government machinery, strict media controls and vote-rigging are what allowed the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) to stay in power for over five decades. Despite the allegations, BN lost five states to the opposition as well as its customary parliamentary supermajority in Election 2008 that was later described as a “political tsunami”. Allegations of unfair polls arose more strongly after the next general election in 2013, when BN lost the popular vote but remained firmly in power and whittled down the number of opposition-held states to just three in the process. According to the EIU, apart from possible irregularities in elections, a “flawed democracy” also suffers other significant weaknesses such as “problems in governance, an underdeveloped political culture and low levels of political participation”. The EIU report, which is available in full on its website, does not specify how the findings are collated. In an explanation of its methodology, the EIU said the index, which is a snapshot on the state of democracy worldwide, is based on ratings for 60 indicators grouped into five categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation, and political culture. Each of the 167 nations surveyed is given an aggregate grade on a scale of zero-to-10 from their scores within the five categories. They are then segregated into four types of regimes: “full democracies” (8 to 10), “flawed democracies” (6 to 7.9), “hybrid regimes” (4 to 5.9), and “authoritarian regimes” (below 4). Malaysia shares its category with 51 other countries, while there are 24 nations categorised as “full democracies”, 39 as “hybrid regimes”, and 52 as “authoritarian regimes”. In a breakdown of Malaysias 6.49 aggregate for 2014, the country was weakest in the “political participation” category and scored 5.56 points, followed by 5.88 points for “civil liberties”, 6.25 points for “political culture”, 6.92 points for “electoral process and pluralism”, and 7.86 points for “functioning of government”. “Political participation”, the index said, evaluates voter turnouts during national elections as well as the preparedness of citizens to participate in politics. “Civil liberties”, on the other hand, includes indicators such as media freedom, free speech and expression, religious freedom and independence of the judiciary. Human rights groups, both foreign and local, are generally critical of Malaysias treatment of fundamental liberties here, often expressing concern over the alleged abuse of minority rights and the curtailing of basic freedoms. In October 2013, Malaysia went through the United Nations Universal Periodic Review to assess its human rights conditions. In the process, some 19 countries, including Muslim-majority ones, asked Malaysia to sign one or more of the six core international conventions on human rights that it has yet to ratify. Malaysia has also been heavily criticised for abusing the justice system to clamp down on free speech, such as its use of the Sedition Act against those critical of the government. The colonial-era law, which the government had initially pledged to repeal in 2012, will be strengthened instead through a number of amendments to be tabled during the March opening of Parliament this year.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 10:19:00 +0000
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