Malaysia political landscape changed when Pakatan Harapan took office on May 9, 2018. No doubt, it is a big change for Malaysians and this transition is very crucial. Pakatan Harapan cannot afford to make any mistakes, at all.
After three weeks or so, with intense anticipations on Pakatan Harapan fulfilling its promises, I cannot help myself to notice how liberal the movement has became.
In essence, liberalism is a political ideology that believes in more power for local government, more personal freedom and a gradual development towards a fairer sharing of wealth and power within society.
There is a variety of liberalism – classical, social and economic – among other that collectively endorse a market economy, expansion of civil rights and addressing economic and social issues such as poverty, health care and education.Dr Mahathir, previously was famous in promoting classic economic liberalism, or sometimes referred as Thatcherism (by the late former Prime Minister of Britain Margaret Thatcher). The fundamental feature of this policy includes a free-market approach to public services (privatization) based on the sale of publicly owned industries.
That said, People’s Justice Party or PKR embraces social liberalism. The core principles focus on promoting social justice, economic justice, eliminating political corruption and human rights issues within a non-ethnic framework.
As progressive as it may become, it mirrors the American “social liberalism” political landscape with progressive stances on social-political issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.Until recently, I came across many public requests and petitions demanding to favor certain individuals to hold key government positions. Some are nothing short than being Islamophobic, sexist and feminist.
You can sense the milder social liberalism is creeping in when local dailies openly published articles about LGBTQ Malaysians and the right way Perkasa has also claimed that the LGBT community rejoiced over Pakatan Harapan’s victory in the name of freedom of speech.
I wonder - are Malaysians being liberated?
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://www.teebpost.com/pakatan-harapan-are-malaysians-liberated/