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6 - Malaysia: Close to a Tipping Point

from SECTION II - COUNTRY ANALYSES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2017

Ooi Kee Beng
Affiliation:
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
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Summary

A NEW CONSCIOUSNESS ARISES

The political changes occurring in Malaysia since the Asian financial crisis have been persistent and profound. Most significantly, these have not led to the ruling coalition — which has ruled the country since independence almost 60 years ago — losing power.

This tight hold on power by the Barisan Nasional (BN) — a coalition of more than a dozen parties led by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) — has largely been possible due to a race-based discourse and a race-based central policy put into place following racial riots in 1969 in Kuala Lumpur which has sought to advance the interests of the majority Malay community. Backed by draconian laws, legislative restrictions on the freedom of speech and assembly, and a tight control over the mass media, the BN has managed to survive all general elections — sometimes winning them with huge margins, as it did under the leadership of Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1995.

This formidable power structure suffered its biggest shock in 1998, however, when Mahathir sacked his deputy and heir-apparent Anwar Ibrahim in September that year. Anwar refused to go in silence and instead took to the streets, organizing huge demonstrations throughout the country against the prime minister. On the night of 20 September, police stormed his house and Anwar was arrested, tried in cruel and humiliating fashion, and sentenced to 15 years on charges of abuse of power and sodomy. Thus began the reformasi movement that continues to foster political consciousness for a whole generation of young Malaysians.

The 18 years since Anwar's dismissal marks a new period in the political history of the country. In ways Anwar could not have foreseen — Mahathir certainly did not — the conflict between the two men precipitated a split in the Malay community that saw Anwar functioning as a lightning rod for discontented Malaysians, which surprisingly nurtured a powerful alternative coalition within ten years. The country began running up continuous budget deficits during this period, although strangely, Mahathir's vision to turn the country into an advanced nation by 2020 continues to be parroted.

Anwar was released in September 2004 after his conviction on the sodomy charge was overturned on appeal. His years in prison were also the final years of Mahathir's premiership.

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Chapter
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Publisher: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
Print publication year: 2015

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