The advancement of Information technology (IT) has brought about changes to the development of democracy in Malaysia, said two Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) lecturers.

Nidzam Sulaiman and Zaini Othman said although the widening democratic space is in a virtual form, it has conceptually opened societies to opportunities for political participation in an atmosphere of less fear.

"This democratic space is seen to be beyond the control and dominance of the ruling government whether legally or mentally," they said.

The lecturers said this when presenting a paper entitled 'Information Technology, Cyber Power and Democracy' at the Malaysian Studies Conference in UKM yesterday.

According to them the growth of IT knowledge and cyber power have also released the grip of the government's intellectual hegemony which is evident in Malaysia's limited democratic space.

Pseudo-democracy

Meanwhile, an Australian lecturer said at the same conference that Malaysia has been frequently depicted as an exemplary pseudo-democracy with its government armored in single-party dominance.

William Case of Griffith University Brisbane said the Malaysian government has thus "greatly limited but not extinguished civil liberties, while distorting, but not tightly rigging electoral procedures".

"Indeed, what stands out in Malaysian elections is the extent to which they are competitive, enabling the opposition to routinely win 40 to 45 percent of the popular vote at the parliamentary level, while capturing some of the state assemblies outright," said Case.

"Accordingly, despite the gerrymandering, mal-apportionment, and highly partisan use of state facilities and media outlets, rule bending has never been so severe that exasperated opposition parties have responded with boycotts, street actions, organised rural violence or other anti- system strategies," he added.

Dutifully endorsed

Case claimed that these characteristics of Malaysian elections were often dutifully endorsed by a 'pliable' Election Commission.

"Instead opposition parties have duly taken their seats in Parliament and state assemblies, there to try and keep the state government at least mildly accountable," he added.

Case said that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had been able to draw deftly upon the electoral competitiveness that takes place to add legitimacy to his government's tenure.

"He (Mahathir) thus advises plausibly, or at least not absurdly, 'Our way is through general elections. If (the people) like us they will elect us. If they don't they can elect someone else'," he quoted the premier as saying in the New Straits Times (April 21).

Case presented a paper entitled 'Elections as Flywheels: Advancing or Reversing Malaysia's Hard-driving Democracy?' at the three-day conference which ends today.

The conference with the theme 'Malaysia in Transformation: Problems and Challenges' was organised by Malaysian Social Sciences Association, in collaboration with UKM's Institute of Malaysian and International Studies and Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation.

The topics covered at the conference include government and politics, labour, immigration and management, women and development, science and technology, environment and society, education and health, international relations, globalisation and culture, language and literature.