Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s (PSM’s) recent announcement that we intend to field a candidate in the Ayer Kuning by-election in Perak, has elicited several comments from journalists, political analysts and netizens. Some have opined that as there is absolutely no possibility of winning, it is a pointless exercise.

These critics overlook the fact that the PSM has been, for the past several years, presenting fresh perspectives on many of the problems that plague Malaysia. Perspectives that the mainstream political parties are either unable to conceptualize, or unwilling to articulate. For example, the PSM attributes excessive logging and the resulting environmental degradation to the over-centralization of power over land matters, in the person of the Menteri Besar (MB = Chief Minister).

The MB’s power over land and forests is at present, not balanced by an effective check and balance mechanism. This unfettered power has led to the approval of dodgy projects such as the Kledang Saiong Forest Plantation Project which will destroy 4280 hectares of forest in the Kuala Kangsar District and cause a serious deterioration in the flood situation of the villages on the banks of the Sg Perak and Sg Pelus. The project will also greatly escalate human-wild life conflicts as animals in the project area – there are 66 species of mammals there, some of endangered – are trapped there by the North-South Highway, which prevents them from escaping to the southern portion of the Kledang Saiong Forest Reserve.

PSM, together with a network of Environmental NGOs, organised a round table discussion (RTD) to discuss the issue of forest plantations. Among the recommendations of this RTD was that an independent Monitoring Committee should be set up in each State, to monitor the issuance of logging licenses. At present, too many logging licenses are being issued, driven by the State Administrator’s need to replenish his war chest for the next election cycle.

The RTD recommended that this Forest Monitoring Committee (FMC) should have the power to pause the issuance of logging licenses, pending referral to the State Legislature for open debate and a final decision. The RTD further specified that the FMC must be independent of the executive branch of government (i.e. the MB). It should be appointed by the Sultan on the advice of a Special Selection Committee consisting of a retired judge, the Chairman of the Bar Association in that state, a representative from an Environmental NGO in the state, a Government Assemblyman and an opposition Assemblyman. (The actual composition of the FMC can be debated. That isn’t as important as the requirement that it must be independent of the executive branch of the government.)

In addition, the FMC should be required to present a full report at the second State Assembly Session of each year, detailing the forest areas that have been licensed for logging in the previous year, as well as the logging projects that have been queried by the committee.

Ideas such as this are rarely voiced by mainstream political parties because they have been (or are) using the current system to replenish fill their own political coffers. Then there are political leaders who are wary of offending the MB, because they need the support of the MB’s party to be able to continue to govern the state / nation.

The identification of problems affecting the rakyat, the coordination of civil society feedback on the problem, and the formulation of a set of actionable recommendations for the nation to consider, and the creation of avenues to advocate these recommendations – this set of inter-related efforts encapsulates the modus operandi of the PSM at this point in time. Although small, we play a significant role in the effort to create a better society for all Malaysians.

We intend to bring the some of the issues that we have been working on, to the campaign trail in Ayer Kuning, so that important matters and critical perspectives that are usually avoided by mainstream parties, can be shared with the Malaysian public.

Jeyakumar Devaraj
Chairperson
Parti Sosialis Malaysia

31/3/25