Opposition Contestation in Multi-Ethnic Malaysia

333 Pages·2015·2.01 MB·English

by  The Chews

Striving for Regime Change, 1998-2014:
Opposition Contestation in Multi-Ethnic Malaysia
Chew Huat Hock, David
MA, BCA (Hons), Cert in Ed (Malaya)
This thesis is presented for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy of
The University of Western Australia
School of Social Sciences
Asian Studies
2015
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Abstract

Until 1998, opposition contestation in Malaysia had lacked focus, with parties
attacking one another even more ferociously than they separately clashed with the
government. Different ethnic compositions, divergent ideologies and varied agenda
caused the fragmentation of opposition parties when the country became independent
in 1957. They found themselves disadvantaged vis-à-vis a more cohesive inter-ethnic
government coalition which articulated ethnic issues in order to mobilise electoral
support. Over the next forty years, government initiatives such as the New Economic
Policy (NEP) favouring the Malays alienated the Chinese and Indians. The
exploitation of religious differences further accentuated the Malay/non-Malay divide
in contestation, extending the schism between Malay and Chinese-based opposition
parties in the peninsula to Muslim and non-Muslim parties in Sarawak and Sabah. As
opposition contestation weakened, the government increasingly turned authoritarian
and by 1997 it was openly asserting Ketuanan Melayu or Malay/Muslim supremacy.
However the Asian financial meltdown which led to the collapse of authoritarian
regimes in the region exposed many of the government’s weaknesses such as human
rights abuses, cronyism, nepotism and corruption. It paved the way for opposition
contestation to become more cohesive in the 1998-2014 period with the formation of
broad-based opposition coalitions having significant support from both Muslims and
non-Muslims. Opposition contestation resonated with large sections of civil society
that grew increasingly sceptical of government propaganda disseminated in the pro-
establishment mainstream media. News, analyses, opinions and editorials
consistently underlined the NEP’s ethnic approach to redress Malay economic
backwardness. Denied meaningful access to the mainstream media to convey its
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views, the opposition embraced the social media, especially the internet which
succeeded in breaking the mainstream media’s monopoly of news dissemination.
The opposition was able to link the NEP to corruption, cronyism and nepotism as
well as human rights abuses. Its measures to address these inter-linked issues
through a needs-based affirmative action agenda formed the basis of Ketuanan
Rakyat or People’s sovereignty. Ketuanan Rakyat, which prioritized a common
Malaysian citizenship ahead of ethnic divisions, posed a strong challenge to
Ketuanan Melayu in several general elections from 1999 to 2013. The two-coalition
system which it ushered in from 2008 and reaffirmed five years later, has become the
stepping stone for the opposition to take over the federal government in the
Fourteenth General Election which must be held in 2018 at the latest. But the path
towards regime change is fraught with many obstacles, not only because of
government determination to reinforce ethnic politics with religiosity, but also intra-
opposition differences. These continue to underline the fragility of the opposition
coalition despite moves by opposition parties at mutual accommodation. The
opposition pins its hopes for regime change on a growing post-1971 generation of
Malaysians of all ethnic groups forming the majority of voters in future elections.
Being educated and urbanized, and more significantly with no emotional baggage of
the 1969 ethnic riots, this Malay-led multi-ethnic group can prioritize politics of
need and class over ethnic/religious politics.
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Declaration

This thesis does not contain work that I have published,
nor work under review for publication
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Acknowledgements

I would first of all like to thank my supervisors Dr Stephen Dobbs and Dr David
Bourchier, both in the School of Asian Studies, University of Western Australia, for
their meticulous guidance and unstinting support in the writing of this thesis. They
helped to shape my thoughts and fine-tune my writing skills to come up with a thesis
on a complex prevailing development in Malaysian politics. I encountered a lot of
problems while doing this thesis, but it was Dr Dobbs who understood the difficult
personal circumstances I was then going through and did all he could to help me
address and resolve them. To him, I am eternally grateful.

My interest in doing a PhD on Malaysian politics arose from twenty years (1987 –
2007) of journalism in covering developments in Malaysia from Singapore, where I
was based, first with the Business Times, then Straits Times and finally as a
freelancer. In the course of my frequent working trips to Malaysia, I got to know
many people from Parti Keadilan Rakyat Malaysia (PKR), Democratic Action Party
(DAP) and Parti Islam se Malaysia (PAS), as well as NGOs and journalists, some of
whom have become close friends over the years. It is this group of people who were
most helpful and forthcoming when I decided to do a PhD and approached them for
information on their respective parties. My thanks go to the following for having
kindly consented to be interviewed: From PKR, vice-presidents Mansor Othman and
Tian Chua, secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution and exco member (2008-2013) of
PR Selangor state government, Dr Xavier Jayakumar. From DAP, Election Strategy
Adviser and MP for Bukit Bendera (Penang)Liew Chin Tong, vice-chairman and MP
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for Seputeh (Kuala Lumpur) Teresa Kok, MP for Kepong (Kuala Lumpur) and
former deputy president, Dr Tan Seng Giaw and MP for Serdang (Selangor) and
Election Strategist, Dr Ong Kian Ming. From PAS, Chairman of National Unity
Bureau and MP for Parit Buntar (Perak) Dr Mujahid Yusuf Rawa, MP for Shah
Alam (Selangor) and former deputy Selangor Commissioner, Khalid Samad and
secretary-general Mustapha Ali. There were also other PKR, DAP, PAS members
and even a United Malays National Organization (UMNO) divisional leader, Ishak
Ismail, from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition whose earlier feedback I
greatly appreciated. But much as I had also wanted to interview other BN
politicians/ministers for my research, I encountered numerous constraints posed by
bureaucratic red tape. Had I known them as well as I knew their opposition
counterparts, I might perhaps have overcome this formalities handicap. Still where
appropriate, I have utilized their official statements and speeches at functions or
made available in Malaysian mainstream newspapers and popular internet websites
in my research.

It was my good friend, Professor Leo Suryadinata of the Rajaratnam School of
International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore
who encouraged me to do a PhD thesis on opposition contestation in Malaysia. I
benefited from the many discussions with him on ethnic politics and national
integration in third world countries prior to enrolling for a PhD degree at the
University of Western Australia in late 2007.

I would also like to put on record my appreciation to the University of Western
Australia for a grant to conduct my field work in Malaysia and Singapore from
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November 2012 – January 2013, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS)
Singapore, for allowing me to make use of their library facilities and my niece Ms
Wong Kah Wei, an academic librarian in Singapore, for her help in my research.

Last, but not least, a big thank you to my wife Chui Lian, for her encouragement,
love and support in the long and winding road I took to complete my thesis. She was
with me both in my moments of grief when three of my siblings passed away in
Malaysia in 2007 and 2011, and joy when my grand daughters Eve Rui En Pearson
and Cara Rui Xuan Pearson were born on 25 October 2011 and 26 July 2013
respectively in Singapore. In Perth, what I looked forward to most while taking a
break from thesis writing were the daily tele-conversations with my wife in
Singapore through Skype where she never failed to get my grand daughters to say
hello and talk to their kong kong.

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Table of Contents

Abstract …………………………………………………………………iii
Declaration……………………………………………………………….v
Acknowledgements……………………………………………….…… vi
Table of Contents ……………………………………………………… ix
Abbreviations and Glossary …………………………………………… xi
1.0 Some Theoretical Considerations and Setting
Introduction………………………………………………………. ……. 1
1.1 Main Arguments, Research Questions of Thesis……………… 6
1.2 Literature Review: Communal politics and Counter-hegemonic
Writing………………………………………………………… 7
1.3 Plural Society, Consociationalism, Consensus and Majoritarian
Democracy…………………………………………………. 31

1.4 The Opposition………………………………………………. 44
1.5 Political Contestation and Democracy………………………… 56
1.6 National Integration Concepts and Strategies………………… 64
1.7 Summary of Chapters………………………………………… 75
2.0 Forging Opposition/Civil Society Cohesion: Origins, Development and
Ideologies of PAS, DAP and PKR

Introduction………………………………….. ……………………… 78
2.1 PAS – Malay and Islamic Party……………………………… 79
2.2 DAP - Malaysian Malaysia Restated………………………… 95
2.3 PKR - Third Force in Malay Politics…………………………. 108
2.4 Proto-Opposition and Civil Society in Malaysia……… …… 114
2.5 Anwar reorganizes opposition, seeks civil society support…… 118

3.0 Discrediting Government-controlled Mainstream Media
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Introduction…………………………………………………………… 125
3.1 Government/Mainstream Media Symbiosis…………………….128
3.2 Opposition challenges Government media control……………..144
3.3 Conclusion…………………………………………………… 168

4.0 Needs-based PR Economic Policies to counter Malay-centric NEP
Introduction……………………………………………………………. 172
4.1 NEP as ethnic instrument in social engineering ………. …… 173
4.2 PR Economic Policies as alternative to NEP……………….. 191
4.3 PR Economic Policies’ growth/redistribution objectives.. 194
4.4 PR Economic Policies’ implementation state level………….. 206
4.5 Conclusion…………………………………………………… 219
5.0 Contesting Malay Ethnocentrism in Constituency Delineations
Introduction………………………………………………………… 221
5.1 Ketuanan Melayu…………………………………………………… 222
5.2 Constituency Delineation: Apportionment and Districting…… 227
5.3 Islamic Revival reinforces Ketuanan Melayu…………………… 240
5.4 Ketuanan Rakyat…………………………………………………… 243
5.5 Ketuanan Rakyat’s inclusive approach towards Islam……… 255
5.6 Conclusion…………………………………………………… 264

6.0 Struggle for Regime Change intensifies
Introduction ………………………………………….. ………… 268

6.1 A communal paradox exposed …………………………. 270
6.2 Emergence of two-coalition system………………………… 272
6.3 Post 2013 contestation dynamics…………………………… 278
6.4 Conclusion………………………………………………… 284
Bibliography……………………………………………………………… … 291
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