Personalized Politics: The Malaysian State under Mahathir

Foreword

xi Foreword© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore In 1955, when Malaya was still part of the British Empire, the colonial authorities held a general election as a step towards independence in 1957.That election was won by an alliance of three racially based parties headed by its Malay component, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO). Over the next decades, that alliance expanded to include other parties but its essential structure remains much the same — a dominant Malay party heading an alliance of parties representing smaller ethnic groups.The UMNO-dominated alliance won all but one seat in 1955 and has won overwhelming majorities in every election since then — usually occupying around 80 to 85 per cent of the seats in the national parliament and controlling almost all of the state governments. If, as Samuel Huntington has said, one of the marks of an institutionalized political party is adaptability in the face of changing circumstances, then UMNO and the Barisan Nasional (BN), as the alliance is now known, must be considered as very successful cases of institutionalization. Malaysian society has undergone enormous change since the 1950s. The predominantly rural population of the 1950s has become increasingly urban. An economy based on the export of tin and rubber Foreword Foreword xii© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore is now moving towards industrialization. An economy which was largely owned by foreigners is now largely in the hands of Malaysians. Malays, Chinese, and Indians who were concentrated in their own segments of a plural society are now all represented in the modern economy and have increasingly acquired a common “Malaysian” identity. And a society that appeared to be on the brink of national disintegration after racial rioting in 1969 has not witnessed major ethnic violence for more than thirty years. Most societies that have undergone the type of transformation experienced by Malaysia have also experienced considerable political upheaval and often drastic change in their political system. But in Malaysia the core framework of the political system has largely survived while adjustments have been implemented only gradually. How has the political system, and particularly the dominant party institutions, UMNO and the BN, adjusted to social and economic change? Political scientists have always debated the nature of Malaysia’s political system. Concepts such as consociationalism, limited democracy, semi-democracy, soft authoritarianism, and personal rule have all appeared in this debate and are used by Dr Hwang in this book. It is Hwang’s argument that the nature of the political system has in fact changed quite radically despite the continuity in formal political institutions. In the 1960s the consociational model provided insights but by the 1970s and 1980s the system was moving from semi-democracy to a form of authoritarianism. By the 1990s, according to Hwang, Malaysian politics could be best understood as a form of personal rule. Although the main institutions remained in place, the long-serving prime minister, Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, exercised almost unfettered personal dominance. The extent to which the Malaysian political system has adapted successfully to social and economic change was shown most clearly in its response to the economic collapse that hit Asia in mid-1997. Many had argued that Malaysia’s political and social stability was simply a product of a rapidly growing economy and that the system would be very vulnerable to a major economic setback. But when the setback occurred in 1997–98, the much anticipated renewal of ethnic violence did not eventuate and the political system continued much as before. This does not mean, however, that no challenges are looming. At xiii Foreword© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore the conclusion of his book, Dr Hwang discusses what he calls “the rise of new politics”. He devotes particular attention to the extraordinary treatment meted out by the prime minister to his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim. Although public protest against Anwar’s imprisonment was not sustained, it was clear in the 1999 election that Malay support for UMNO had declined sharply. On the other hand, non-Malay — especially Chinese — support for the BN had strengthened. At the turn of the century, many of the basic assumptions of political analysts about Malaysian politics were being undermined. UMNO’s record of adapting itself to new challenges has been impressive but it remains a question whether it can successfully adapt to the post-Mahathir era. In-Won Hwang is a young scholar who has...