What does ‘future PM’ really mean?

So Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, the defence minister, is the person most Malaysians would prefer as prime minister.

This is according to a survey done by the Merdeka Centre. Commissioned by The Malaysian Insider, it is one of the most talked about stories this week.

Hishammuddin, of course, has said that he will not entertain such a survey and that it is just a ploy to create discord in his party, Umno.

What is interesting is that Malaysia has never had direct elections for prime minister, and Malaysians probably will never have the opportunity to decide the nation’s leader.

Elections in this country have always been about voting for a certain party and never about a particular candidate. And when a survey like this is done, it gets people excited.

Though the survey does not directly result in how the country is governed, I guess it’s just interesting to see how Malaysians would decide if they were able to decide.

In the last general election, the popular vote when to Pakatan Rakyat (51%) as opposed to Barisan Nasional. That shows that the majority of Malaysians want a change in government.

However, this want isn’t reflected in the recent survey because if it was, then the person most Malaysians would want as prime minister would have been from the opposition.

And herein lies the problem. Malaysians don’t really know what will happen if there was a change to the federal government; if the opposition were to win and take over Putrajaya.

The country has never had a change in leadership since independence. Basically, we really only know how to eat rice and although we have tasted bread, we still automatically go back to rice.

It’s like how Merdeka Centre’s director Ibrahim Suffian put it – people are so used to the idea of Barisan Nasional as government that is has affected their choice of future prime minister.

It also probably shows how stagnant politics has become for Malaysians since the last elections, because they feel like they really don’t have a choice and can’t make a difference.

Or that no matter how they vote, there is never going to be a way to beat the system and they just have to accept that. Hence, when asked to choose, they just pick whoever is available from the lot.

Of course, this could also mean that Malaysians are really above party-based politics and would rather choose the best person to do the job regardless of which party he or she belongs to.

Hishammuddin can be seen as a potential candidate. He is rather controversial-free – he has never been linked to corruption like so many other politicians.

He has also managed to keep his mouth shut when it comes to inciting racial authority (aside from that keris-wielding fiasco a decade ago at the Umno General Assembly).

The survey also probably indicates that Malaysians want a fresh change in leadership no matter the party. Most of the politicians in the top cluster of the survey are young ones.

Many people are fed up with the old guard who are stuck with practicing politics the old fashioned way and ruling the country (and their parties) like absolute monarchies.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that it’s hard to conclude what the recent Merdeka Centre survey really says about the state of Malaysian politics.

It could just mean that Malaysia still hasn’t matured enough politically to make any real decisions and we need hand-holding in deciding the direction of the country.

At the end of the day, maybe we are just so entrenched in our system that we will just continue to unconsciously choose it because it is all we know. – March 13, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.