Don’t be sore losers, Dr M tells defeated parties in elections
(Malay Mail Online) – Parties who have lost in general elections must respect democracy by not taking to the streets hoping to overthrow the government, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.
“In a democracy, the essential element is for the losers to accept losing. The next election would provide another opportunity for the losers to try again. Apparently this is not well understood,” Dr Mahathir said while launching the Kuala Lumpur Summit 2014.
“The power of civil society is great. The minorities can actually overthrow the government. But if this power is abused and governments are overthrown indiscriminately, then anarchy would be the result.”
The veteran statesman said the Muslim world was caught by surprise when an authoritarian government was overthrown by the people, as Muslims paid no attention to the emergence of the civil state.
“We believe that our absolute monarchs and strongman governments would not be affected … Muslim thinkers made no concerted efforts to understand what is going on,” said Dr Mahathir.
“There is a naïve belief that Muslims would all reject ideas which seem to be contrary to the teachings of their religion. Debate and discussions as to how to deal with these ideologies were never seriously entered into.”
However, Dr Mahathir warned that there is at least one Muslim country post-Arab Spring which is trapped in a cycle of instability as the losers of elections kept organising rallies to protest against the winners.
The summit today was organised jointly by the Malaysia-Turkey Friendship Foundation, the Turkish-Arab Relations Centre, and local Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma).
It was attended by delegates from several international Islamic parties and groups such as Turkey’s AK Party, Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, and Muslim Brotherhood splinter chapters from Jordan and Lebanon.
Dr Mahathir, whose 22-year administration was known for its tight control on dissent, said last year that Malaysians would have to pay the price if they wanted to enjoy a more liberal brand of democracy which also entails freedom to take the streets.
He also told Malaysians in May to not to resort to extra-legal means such as public demonstrations to overthrow a government, regardless of how weak or incompetent they find it.
