Pakatan states came together several times at Menteri Besar Summits over the last few years to discuss how to more closely cooperate. This was published in January 2011 of the Penang Monthly.
Tighter cooperation between Pakatan Rakyat-run states
Malaysia’s political clamour as presented by the mass media tends to drown out the steady progress of what the Pakatan Rakyat (Pakatan) state governments are actually doing on a daily basis. Their learning curve on gaining power at state level was no doubt challengingly steep, but where policies are concerned, their achievements have been impressive.
Political events tend to overwhelm public space and are always more exciting than state administrative and policy matters, although it is the latter that actively and ultimately determine the welfare and livelihood of people.
The measure by which people generally judge the strength of political coalitions is therefore slightly inaccurate; in all likelihood using political cohesion versus division between individual political players as a gauge. This tendency is displayed in the evaluation of Pakatan as a political body. The recent Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) party elections and Democratic Action Party (DAP) Selangor state elections that both saw deep rifts emerge between key leaders, for example, remain in people’s minds as indicators that the Pakatan coalition is in complete disarray.
In my previous column, I emphasised the importance of a thorough examination of the state annual budgets as a method for analysing common policies, which I proceeded to do by comparing the Penang and Selangor 2011 budgets. My argument is simply that a perfect avenue does exist by which the public can evaluate Pakatan principles and philosophy through actual policy and programmes. Whilst the media still actively pursue doubts about how PKR and DAP can consolidate their internal party differences in various states, readers should be equally keen to investigate what is taking place at the policy level.
The political clamour drowns out the steady movement and progress of what the Pakatan state governments are actually doing on a daily basis.
Pakatan held its first national convention in December 2009 in Selangor, at which it unveiled its Common Policy Platform (CPP), outlining a framework that all three parties agreed to. The CPP covered the topics of Transparent and Genuine Democracy, Driving a High Performance, Sustainable and Equitable Economy, Social Justice and Human Development, and finally the Federal-State Relationship and Foreign Policy. This 30-page document was a comprehensive summary of what the coalition subscribes to and believes in, and was considered a success as the coalition’s first substantive policy booklet to which people could refer as a guideline for its objectives, goals and vision for the nation.
The best way to test the validity of these ideals is through the state governments that Pakatan actually govern. Hence, the gathering of the Pakatan state government chiefs on November 29, 2010 at the Second Pakatan Rakyat States Menteri Besar/Chief Minister Summit was highly significant. More than 100 state government leaders and their officers came together in Shah Alam, Selangor, with the objective of sharing valuable lessons learned in governing respective states, continuing the process of honing and fine-tuning common policies amongst the four states, and adopting new methodologies learned.
The Summit began with each of the four states’ chiefs giving opening speeches, namely Lim Guan Eng of Penang, Khalid Ibrahim of Selangor, Nik Abdul Aziz of Kelantan and Ustaz Azizan Abdul Razak of Kedah. More interesting were paper presentations that were delivered by each of the state chiefs on specific topics, which were commented upon by representatives of other state governments. For example, where Penang’s Chief Minister spoke on the topic of Administration and Politics, there was an opportunity for Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan to respond. Kelantan’s Nik Aziz, represented by Husam Musa, spoke on Social Development and Mass Communication; Selangor’s Khalid Ibrahim delivered his speech on Economics, Infrastructure and Investment, and Kedah’s Ustaz Azizan Abdul Razak on Ethnic Equality and Agriculture. Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin, the former Menteri Besar of Perak, gave a special presentation on Federalism and Federal-State Relations. Small group discussions on the topics of Local Government, the Water Industry, Investment, and Environment allowed participants a more informal opportunity to exchange the thoughts and experiences of their respective governments.
The Summit concluded with a Shah Alam Resolution themed “Continuing the People’s Aspirations”, or “Meneruskan Cita-cita Rakyat”. The Resolution is broken up into three sections: the first details the commitment of Pakatan states to continue meeting the desires and hopes of the people through responsible and transparent public administration amongst others; the second outlines Pakatan states’ plans to develop an economic alliance, focusing on investment and administrative improvements; and finally the document fl ashes out action agenda items that will be taken up by the four states. Some of the more interesting public policy and action items on the list include the adoption of the Freedom of Information Enactment, already underway in Selangor and Penang. This example will possibly be followed by Kedah and Kelantan soon. Local authority services are another common area that all states recognise as a major issue that must be dealt with urgently.
The mainstream media infrastructure being so tightly controlled by the ruling government or conglomerates close to them is another problem, and the proposed solution in the Resolution is to form a body with shared news amongst Pakatan states, which would be revolutionary but entirely possible with optimal use of the Internet. The Summit, with its interpersonal interactions, seemed an ideal session for executive council (Exco) members, state officers and elected representatives to learn from each other on a wide spectrum of topics.
Finally, the Selangor Menteri Besar proposed in his speech that Selangor would provide RM10mil as seed money to promote investment from international players in forming a “club deal”, which would serve to help all other Pakatan states. This was premised on his belief that as existing and legitimate state governments, Pakatan states should not merely be bystanders in the process of national growth and development. Where presently our highly centralised system of government makes for a top-down approach in all matters of the economy and administration – the current buzzword being the Economic Transformation Programme – state governments are in fact crucial players in the process of attracting investments into the country. Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan together accounted for more than 50% of Foreign Direct Investment coming into Malaysia for the first half of 2010, an evident display of the Pakatan states’ economic strength. They should therefore be considered key decision-makers and stakeholders in the direction and manner of Malaysia’s national development.
The Summit may have been just a one-day event, after which all officers travelled back to their respective states. This was however an important milestone in continuing the engagement between the Pakatan state governments. It is certainly good to have a common policy platform as an end-goal for Malaysia, but the real evaluation method comes through its manifestations at the state government levels. Obstacles and challenges were also shared at the Summit, with suggestions made about overcoming these.
This interaction is positive, but it is hoped that a periodic series of forums involving the officers of all four states would continue.
The four states of Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan are by no means identical in population makeup, geographic conditions or otherwise. Each has a unique quality of its own, which should be allowed to flourish through its state government’s respective policies. Nevertheless, what this Summit has demonstrated is – perhaps this is long overdue – that the states can and should think of themselves as an alliance, both economically and socially. The strength of the Pakatan states lies clearly in the commitment to transparency, accountability and the ability to generate new ideas towards sustainable, clean and green living environments. (Note that the current Barisan Nasional’s economic framework has borrowed many of the ideals originally espoused by Pakatan, at either party or state level, including the Klang River cleaning and rehabilitation project.)
The potential for cooperation and cross-germination of ideas, policies, programmes and events across the four states is great, and this must be optimised. Through a sufficient period of time, the Pakatan states must be able to demonstrate unity through their common policy practices, which Malaysians in turn will use to project an image of what a potential future Pakatan federal government may embody.
However, in the end, the saying holds true that the road to hell is paved with good intentions; the best policy documents must eventually be translated into effective and efficient implementation. What people experience and feel in their daily lives ultimately will be the best report card of Pakatan state governments’ performances.
