With just five years for the country to achieving the status of a mature democratic nation in 2020, former Bar Council president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan believes it can be done if changes are made now.

“There is hope if we can change now,” said Ambiga, when asked if Malaysia is on the right track to fostering and develop the nation into an ideal society, at par with the other developed countries in the world.

This vision is part of the nine strategic challenges envisioned by the former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who had outlined ‘Vision 2020’ in 1991.

“It can be done as we have the raw material -- the people are ready for it but there has to be a complete change right now.

According to Ambiga, Malaysians are generally more mature today than what it was before due to seamless access to information.

“Malaysians are more mature because we have access to information now than we ever had before. Malaysians are also ready to have bigger democratic space, but the government that is not ready.

“It is their right to raise issues -- whether they are emotions or factual – that concern them. It is the responsibility of the powers-that-be to respond to them with facts and not emotions,” she said.

Ambiga outlined several steps including a free and fair election.

“
Give us more freedom of speech, more space, allow people to disagree or allow people to question the government
”
- Ambiga
"The problem now is the government is closing all the spaces because it does not want to be questioned. We should also fight corruption," Ambiga said in a phone interview with Astro AWANI, recently.

Change is paramount, said Ambiga as the current democratic space is narrowing.

“I think we are going backwards. Our institutions are severely compromised -- there is a lack of trust and confidence in our many purported democratic institutions like the elections, parliament, and police.


“The problem of our legislation is, it is getting more oppressive as compared to less oppressive and I’m talking about POTA and the Sedition Act. There is a narrowing democratic space. How can we ever become a mature democracy like this?" she said.

The social media, Ambiga added is an ideal space for people to share ideas and opinions which could eventually lead to real change.

“It (social media) is a good space. Some may not find it comfortable but that's what free speech is all about. You have the right to ignore what you don't like.

“Social media has made all the difference worldwide in elevating the rights of the ordinary people, to elevate information sharing among the people and to elevate people's thought process into a more mature one,” she said.

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