BN’s Loss Not a Surprise

Ho Yi Jian | rockjianrock@gmail.com
The Ridge News
A NUSSU Publication

March 16, 2008

Story Highlight:
1. Malaysia’s one-party system was born out of colonial legacy
2. Opposition and ruling party not a simple two-party system. Myriad forms of oppositionism converge.
3. The opposition alliance need to be registered, otherwise a threat to the two-party system.

Malaysia’s ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN)’s worst electoral performance this March was a shock to many, but to a professor from University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), it is not even a surprise.

Professor Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, founding director of the Institute of Ethnic Studies at UKM, gave a talk on Mar. 14 at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) on “The Positive Future Of The Opposition in Malaysia: A Post-Analysis Of The 2008 Election”.

Ms. Yeo Lay Hwee, senior research fellow at SIIA, introduces Prof. Shamsul to the audience.
Photo credit: Ho Yi Jian

Examining the results from a historical perspective, he argued that Malaysia’s one-party system is an artifact of colonial legacy. The Communities Liaisons Committee (CLC), established in 1949, approached the leaders of the various ethnic groups to form political parties and a alliance of such multi-racial parties.

“These groups were not parties in the political sense,” He said. “They were closer to NGOs. MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association) was basically a lottery and funeral society. UMNO was actually a combination of 32 different associations, and some were actually kuda kepang associations and sports associations.”

The committee’s objective was to socialise Malaysians into conditions of peaceful negotiations rather than to fight it out in the streets. However, since the committee only supported the alliance, minor parties had to make do by themselves without cooperation.

He mentioned that Penang once tried to secede from Malaysia to drive home the point. Combining the CLC suppression of non-ideological parties and the reality of modern electoral politics, the one-party system in Malaysia was born.

He also claimed that the results did not shock him; he had written two articles to the News Straits Times warning the ruling coalition that they had to cautious of the tactics used by the opposition and that the historical reasons for BN’s majority status did not apply as much as before.

The political landscape of the electoral districts was composed of three kinds of seats— the Malay-dominant seats, the Chinese-dominant seats, and the “mixed” seats where ethnic distribution was even. Now, the DAP (Democratic Action Party) caters towards the Chinese seats, PAS for the Malays and PKR for the mixed and Malay seats, according to him.

The Bersih rally, organised by opposition parties and NGOs, attracted an estimated 40,000 people on Nov 10.
Photo taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/19733259@N04/1944726669/in/pool-549864@N20

He also characterised the opposition as moving from “oppositionism” to “the opposition”. He warned that many authors write as though that the opposition in Malaysia was like those found in the two-party systems of other countries but instead a convergence of different oppositionisms. Oppositionism takes many forms; some in the form of NGOs because they can take up certain issues that the ruling coalition doesn’t, such as environmentalism.

He said Anwar Ibrahim had lead Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM) and 30 to 40 other societies in a successful protest against the Societies Act, which will give a legal definition of friendly societies and political associations, severely curbing the freedom of association in Malaysia.

The same leaders who participated in that protest are the key leaders of the opposition today. “I still have the list of those people, and they’re in the opposition right now. The building of the opposition has begun since a long time ago.”

That also explains why Anwar is the de facto leader of the opposition alliance today. Not only is he charismatic, he also maintained ties with the NGOs despite joining UMNO and entering government service.

Another form of opposition which BN did not account for comes from the Internet and the new media.

“This is a new community and a different form of oppositionism. It is independent and its members are not necessarily in Malaysia. In 2007, there were rallies and demonstrations every month from January to December, and they were all peaceful. Sometimes the police came, sometimes they did not. Just because of SMS and the Internet, overnight you have 40,000 people on the streets, marching to the Yang Di-Pertua Agong’s palace.”

He recalled personal experience as he once received a SMS which calls for attending a gathering at a national mosque to appeal to a Sultan after Friday prayers.

On the BN, he remarked that their alliance must have kept alive so far solely through goodwill and elite political arrangements.

UMNO on the other hand, are possibly less concerned about the grassroots. He cited the existence of Mubarak, a group of former member of parliaments, which he estimates the number to be several thousands. He said these are the elite, business-owning Malays which UMNO has to cater to.

He recommended the current opposition alliance to register themselves as a political party so that a two-party system can finally appear in Malaysia. Then, it will be possible for the opposition to form the government, otherwise the opposition alliance will begin to fracture.

“They have to get registered. Otherwise, each political party will be bringing their own referees and goalposts, and start shifting them around. They have to learn to organize themselves or they will break up and it will be a threat to a two-party system in Malaysia.”