TRUTH be told, the Pakatan Harapan manifesto is deserving of some praise, provided the coalition is ready to walk the talk once they are in power.

For instance, the commitment to abolish the much-maligned Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 is an important first step toward restoring academic independence and autonomy.

In comparison with Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional, PH is arguably superior in committing to institutional reforms to begin the process of fixing our broken politics and democracy.

Following PH’s ousting in 2020, voters will appreciate that the coalition is still determined to put on paper its promises, such as enacting a parliamentary service act, separating the role of public prosecutor and attorney-general, and letting parliament to have the final say on the nominations of top officials in the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission and the Election Commission.

These are long-standing reforms that were promised since 2018, which were either delayed or disrupted because of the power struggle between Dr Mahathir’s Bersatu and the coalition during the 22 months PH was in power.

However, some legislative and institutional reforms that were in the 2018 manifesto are either missing or watered down in the new version.

While there is no evidence to suggest that these reforms were deliberately or carelessly omitted, some of them were unpopular.

PH risks being criticised for being inconsistent for pledging to empower the recently passed Independent Police Conduct Commission (IPCC) bill to be in line with the recommendations of the Dzaiddin Report in 2005 after opposing the bill even though it did not have enough votes to stop the bill from passage.

It opposition of the weak IPCC was well explained and aligned with the demands of civil society. Therefore it is confounding to see PH supporting the same commission to which it was opposed merely months ago.

PH has rightly criticised the commission for lacking power to hold police officials accountable and its independence on the home minister’s authorisation for the appointment of secretary.

Clearly, the IPCC does not meet the recommendations of the Dzaiddin Report.

Another case in point is the the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012, to which PH’s opposition is well documented.

PH MPs spoke passionately about how detainees were mistreated and denied their right to a fair trial but why hasn’t this passion been turned into a written promise in the manifesto?

In fact, the PH coalition was accused of abusing Sosma to protect its interests after it vowed to amend the law in 2018. Abuse of the law has also not been addressed in the new manifesto.

It appears that PH will only speak out against regressive legislation only when it is the opposition and not when it is in power.

Some might argue that PH has learnt some painful lessons while in power and is now avoiding controversial policies.

As the government, it was caught between its progressive audience and a mostly conservative society; and those two issues cost them dearly.

It probably thinks now that it is a safer bet to focus on bread-and-butter issues, such as inflation, to win over the fence-sitters.

Nevertheless, the question of Sosma remains.

The public will still hold the PH government accountable for arrests and detentions under Sosma solely.

All this suggests that the current PH is more pragmatic after making the mistake of over-promising in 2018, but it also comes at the cost of progressive policies that have been abandoned because they were unpopular with some quarters.

Voters do not take kindly to politicians who change their positions once they gain power. – November 13, 2022.

* Kenneth Cheng has always been interested in the interplay between human rights and government but more importantly he is a father of two cats, Tangyuan and Toufu. When he is not attending to his feline matters, he is most likely reading books about politics and human rights or playing video games. He is a firm believer in the dictum “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.