Malaysia’s General Elections Amidst the Shadow of Re-Mahathirisation (original) (raw)

Assessing Political Dynamics in Contemporary Malaysia: Implications for Democratic Change

ASIANetwork Exchange: A Journal for Asian Studies in the Liberal Arts, 2012

Introduction 1 The "Arab Spring" of 2011 has renewed interest in the study of democratization in the Muslim world. 2 While Muslim societies in the Arab world are attracting much attention, progress toward democracy has also been witnessed in Southeast Asia, another region with Muslim majority societies. Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, experienced its transformation from authoritarianism to democracy in the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. This article examines political dynamics in Malaysia, the second largest Muslim country in Southeast Asia, and assesses the prospects for change in the direction of greater political liberalization. The 12th General Election (henceforth 12 GE) of March 2008 marked an interesting turn in Malaysia's political development. The outcome of this election was extraordinary in many ways. It was the best showing for the political opposition in almost forty years (since the 1969 GE). Although the incumbent Barisan nasional (National Front, hereafter BN) coalition government won 144 of the 222 seats in the Federal Parliament, it only managed to garner 49.8 percent of the popular vote in Peninsular Malaysia, which almost tied the combined votes won by the three main opposition parties. 3 The shift in electoral outcomes for the ruling coalition in the 12 GE was particularly significant when compared to the out

ELECTIONS AND HEGEMONIC POLITICS: A MALAYSIAN CASE

umepublication.um.edu.my

In today's modern democratic system, elections are considered one of the institutional ways to symbolize the citizens' participation in the system. Political scientists such as ), Dahl (1971 and others, recognize election as an important characteristic that must exist in any community or nation which practices democracy. This paper serves three main purposes. Firstly, it analyzes and debates issues pertaining to the practice of democracy in Malaysia with particular reference to Sarawak state election 2001. Secondly, it studies the extent to which election practices in Malaysia manifest the fundamental tenet of democracy i.e. a fair and just political competition. Finally, it presents a possible explanation on the unsuccessful attempts of the opposition parties to overpower the political hegemony of the Barisan Nasional.

Electoral Reform Movement in Malaysia: Emergence, Protests and Reform

2014

Protests are not new in Malaysia, though it is restricted by the ruling government. The trend of street protests and demonstrations since the emergence of Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih), Malaysia's first people movement on electoral reform, has triggered a sentiment of people power among Malaysian citizens. With protests and popular mobilization becoming pronounced in Malaysian politics, political activism becomes for Malaysians a channel of discontent and expression of political preferences. Using information obtained from interviews with individuals linked to the movement, this paper articulates that protests are no longer exclusive to Malaysians. This paper illustrates the emergence of the Bersih movement and explores the three Bersih mass rallies that took place in 2007, 2011, and 2012. This paper further links the protests with the electoral reform initiatives. It argues that the Bersih movement has managed to lobby fundamental changes in the Malaysian political culture.