This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on October 24, 2022 - October 30, 2022

Cynicism is ironically an important commodity in politics, although politics is supposedly about trust. Cynicism is about mistrust, a jaded point of view about most things formal or institutional. However, a second, possibly longer reflection about it explains how mistrust can actually be an effective weapon in political competition. Instead of promoting trust for yourself, you can sow mistrust of your opponent, or even of the process itself.

In the US, former President Donald Trump and his supporters have sufficiently damaged and undermined public confidence in the most important process in politics — the elections themselves. They have maintained that the presidential election result of 2020 was fraudulent and there is a sizeable part of the electorate who believe it even today. And since politics is about numbers, these cynics, creating a platform built around mistrust of public institutions, became a real political force; not a productive force that makes society better, but a disruptive one. All to the detriment of the political process and overall well-being.

Cynicism destroys reasoning and ignores facts. It sows seeds of distrust of data, knowledge and even experience. It reduces everything to the gutter level. The Brexit decision in 2016, for example, was a vote that flew in the face of economic reasoning. It has been proven true. Six years on, there have been no dividends to the UK from exiting the EU, and while there has not been a crash, the economic vitality and resiliency of the UK economy have suffered and will continue to suffer as a result of ushering in this “going it alone” mode. It was a decision that was not based on facts or reasoning; that is how corrosive mistrust can be. But it fulfils the political agenda of some politicians.

If it works, the political class will not hesitate to use cynicism as a competitive tool to undermine their opponents, even if it also undermines confidence in the very political institutions in which the political contest is taking place. It is the political prize, power, that is valued more than even the sanctity of institutions. As the examples in the US and UK show, even with the power to govern, they will not be able to solve problems to improve overall welfare. It is akin to selling religion or even salvation as a political product that we are familiar with here. Even when they obtain power on the basis of playing God, they are incapable of doing anything good here on earth.

For far too long, the political class has also been behaving as if, and propounding the proposition that, somehow the political enterprise is an exception; it is unlike private business or civil society or the civil service. While businesses serve only their shareholders, the political enterprise serves the national interest, the highest and broadest of interests. Hence, justifying the exceptionalism displayed by political actors. Such is the basis of their claim.

We thus create titles and protocols and endow privileges on the political class to exhibit this exceptionalism. The places of political business — from parliament to their offices — are the epitome of power, laden with ostentation funded by public funds befitting this exceptionalism. Even laws and regulations recognise this exceptionalism in practice. In fact, the value of the political class is its ability to go around laws and regulations, to create exceptions using this exceptionalism. At times, even the constitution is a secondary matter, a tool of expediency. We have had this political exceptionalism for far too long and it must end.

There is increasingly a new feudalism that is defined by this exceptionalism that starts with the political class but has expanded beyond that, to those who have access to power and have the means to exploit that access. Our own societal values have been corrupted by this neo-feudalism and that has debilitated our own growth and development. The powerful and rich become the knowledgeable. They know everything from the arts to music, economics, finance, history and of course, religion — just by being rich and powerful. We endow privileges and exceptions on the rich and powerful, which by definition is a small minority.

While the life and livelihood, and in fact, the destiny of nations, are not just dependent on politics and political institutions, these are the only public institutions, and their functioning and well-being are of primary importance. Of course, there are other social institutions and civil society organisations that must also be robust and do what they do, but the final arbiter of the common interest is government. That is why it is endowed with the powers it has under the Federal Constitution. That is why it has to be functional and be an institution that invites participation of and represents the welfare of everyone, befitting its role as the arbiter and custodian of the common interests.

This exceptionalism of the political class has now grown beyond the pursuit of narrow interests; it even shields itself from criticism and with that, it inverts the relationship between its members and the people who voted them into office. They are no longer the servants of the public and its common interests; they become its masters, averse to criticism. They dominate everything and, over time, the lines of division of powers get blurred. A country does not just run on politics; there are many other institutions that make the country’s wheels go around. Each supposedly does its own thing, regulated by the separation of powers and the independence of the different branches of government. This separation must be upheld, and the walls of separation must be rebuilt and strengthened.

We have a decreasing window to address some very serious problems the country is facing; problems that have eroded our competitiveness and are tearing apart the very fabric of what holds us together. The school system and the preparedness of Malaysians to compete; the competitiveness of Malaysian firms; the dire state of public finance; the needed social safety net; the prospect of an ageing population without the means to support themselves ... the list goes on and on.

This upcoming election represents an opportunity to do something; it should not be dismissed as an exercise in futility. The choices matter. Who gets elected matters. The electorate must reject the cynics who spread mistrust and propagate the idea that voting does not matter and the choices available are the same, and that nothing will make things better. They are the collaborators of the propagators of the exceptionalism of the political class. Reject them as we should also reject the propagators of political exceptionalism themselves. We must reclaim the public space expropriated by the political class, by the minority, that has subverted the integrity of public institutions most people depend on. So, go out to vote.

Dr Nungsari A Radhi is an economist

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