Personalized Politics: The Malaysian State under Mahathir

5. Towards Mahathir’s Personal Dominance

143 UMNO Factionalism and towards Mahathir’s Dominance© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore [T]he first critical threshold in the transition to democracy is precisely the move by some group within the ruling bloc to obtain support from forces external to it. (Adam Przeworski 1986)1 I am sad and disappointed that UMNO which my colleagues and I had built and supported until it became a huge and powerful party, a party which for 42 years the Malays depended upon to protect their well-being has suddenly been demolished and destroyed. … It is those with power that have destroyed UMNO. It is because they have become intoxicated with their power that they forgot to save UMNO. (Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra 1987)2 Until recently, many scholars have given primary attention in their analysis of conflict management in multi-racial societies to the role of national élites and sub-élites. And it has been assumed that in a severely divided society the national élites and sub-élites tend towards a consociational framework in preserving regime stability as well as democratic procedures. In a recent study of Malaysia, Case argues that the behaviour of the ruling élites and the extent of consensual unity between them is crucial in managing socio-political and ethnic conflicts. 3 But, what if the ruling élites are not unified? What if they are divided, being from different ethnic communities and from different factions Towards Mahathir’s Personal Dominance Reproduced from Personalized Politics: The Malaysian State under Mahathir, by In-Won Hwang (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2003). This version was obtained electronically direct from the publisher on condition that copyright is not infringed. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Individual articles are available at Chapter 5 144© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore within the ruling bloc? In other words, how do rivalries within the dominant ruling élites affect their behaviour and the extent of consensual unity in a multi-racial society? In Malaysia, would the unambiguous Malay dominance after the 1969 racial riots be renegotiated towards the recovery of consociational frameworks or would the Malay dominance be strengthened and consolidated, if the national leadership were severely fragmented? Or would it eventually be replaced by another, possibly more severe, form of authoritarian rule? For our purpose, the few years after the 1987 UMNO general assembly, which led to a bitter split in the ruling bloc, provide an invaluable and unprecedented situation to examine not only the relations between élite disunity and ethnic politics but also the very nature of the Malay ruling élites’ political adaptability and responsiveness to the changing structure of conflict in an ethnically divided society. While the 1969 inter-racial riots marked a new epoch in renegotiating the postindependent consociational contract in Malaysian society, the 1987 intraMalay leadership crisis was another turning point.The dominant Malay political party, UMNO, had never experienced such a divisive and bitter fight over the question of leadership. And the country was able to witness political events which had never been seen, heard nor even read of before. The period 1987–90 was very controversial. On the one hand, this period has been perceived as a more responsive and competitive one than any other in the history of Malaysian politics. 4 There might have been a transition from “semi” to “full” democracy due to the factional rivalries and the growing electoral competitiveness within ruling-élite circles during this period. 5 Indeed, as Przeworski observes in his chapter in Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Comparative Perspectives, regime change in authoritarian or semi-authoritarian states has often been attributed to conflicts and/or disintegration within the ruling group, especially in countries with a strong tradition of single dominance power. 6 In Malaysia, therefore, a more responsive political system would be expected to emerge from the severe factional split in the country’s dominant political party, UMNO. Gomez and Jomo speculated that the breakdown of an authoritarian regime, if it is to emerge, may come from severe factionalism within UMNO circles. 7 145 UMNO Factionalism and towards Mahathir’s Dominance© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore However, there is another side to this argument. While conflicts within the ruling bloc seem to have contributed to more competitiveness and more favourable consociational conditions in the political sphere than ever before, such a desperate situation...