KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — Malaysia’s effort to position itself as a moderate nation is still a work in progress as it takes time for the country to completely embrace the middle ground, Datuk Paul Low said
The minister in charge of integrity and governance said, however, that although “moderate” Malaysia is still just a vision, it was better to have a goal to work towards than none at all.
“The government is putting the moderate agenda out. It’s still a vision and it takes time. You can say it’s a rhetoric but it is better to have a vision then none,” Low said.
The minister, who was speaking to reporters after attending the British High Commission’s forum on moderation last night, pointed out that many Malaysians still identify themselves according to their respective races.
“Can you change a character overnight? No, because people come from certain mindsets,” he said.
“We are still a very young nation… 53 years (sic) is not enough for a transitional period… we are a very young country in this matter,” Low said.
He cited the political landscape as one example, noting that many parties often resort to pulling the race card during elections, especially when campaigning in rural areas.
This, he said, is the only way the parties feel they can survive.
“In the urban side, many people don't care about race as there are more concerns about issues of rights. Rights to speak, rights to security... but on the rural side, there is still much importance on race and religion.
"So, there is this limitation… if you are a politician, which are you going to satisfy?" Low said, adding this is why politicians are usually “forced” to comply with voter sentiments.
He said that it is also difficult to use politicians as agents of change to help voters look past their racial differences as they would not want to risk losing votes.
"Suppose you want to say tell them that they should change now, then the question they will ask is, yes I will change, but will I receive votes from the rural people?
“They are not willing to take the risk?" he said, adding that in the last election, racial and religious issues affecting rural voters had helped return Barisan Nasional (BN) to power.
The talk titled 'The Great Debate: Everything in Moderation' was jointly organised with the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) and featured Selangor State Executive Councillor Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, social activist and Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee co-chair Firdaus Husni, writer, lecturer and social activist Niki Cheong as well as Universiti Malaya (UM) law professor, Prof Gurdial Singh Nijhar as panellists.
