MALAYSIAN POLITICS 101

One the most exciting things we learned in Malaysia was the nuances of their political structure. Since I was already here interning for a research think tank I was exposed to Malaysia's Political Parties early on. 

Malaysia is technically a democracy with a free press. In reality, there are just a few political parties who recycle the government, as well as limited press freedom. This means that the general population actively works to remain informed. Here's a quick breakdown of the political parties. 

1. There’s not just one mainstream culture, there are three 

Whereas the United States is a melting pot of ethnicities, Malaysia is comprised of three distinct cultures: Malays, Chinese and Indian. That means there are three entirely different sets of languages, food, religious sites and most importantly politics!

2.  There are usually 2 main coalitions that run the country

Barisan Nasional (BN), which is made up of UMNO the leading political party in charge sine independence. The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) represents the Buddhist Chinese-Malaysian population, and the Hindu Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC).

The opposition coalition is People's Justice Party (PKR), which represents the moderate Malay Muslim population. Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), which is dedicated to Malay Muslims that are more right wing and the Democratic Action Party (DAP), which caters to the Secular Chinese Majority. The Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS)

  3.  The Prime Minister is Najib Razak and the Opposition leader is Anwar                   Ibrahim

If you’ve been in power since the birth of a country’s independence you tend to eventually get a bit paranoid about your position. For the first time in Malaysia’s history the BN coalition actually lost the majority in parliament, but still remained in power. This loss starting revealing cracks in the BN/UMNO dominance, which has led to a series of scandals and sackings

Left to Right: PM Najib Razak and Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim

    4. Recently threats to the government started to be silenced in opposition

Anwar was arrested for the 2^nd time in his political career on sodomy charges. His assistant has come out and claimed that he sexually assaulted him. He was sentenced to 5yrs in jail, making him ineligible to run for government after winning election.

Left to Right: Anwar Ibrahim and his accuser and former aide Mohx Saiful Bakhari Azlan

   5. Over-covering a financial scandal meant you were closed  

      Once Anwar was removed, the biggest challenge to Najib’s administration was the financial scandal of 1MDB. He’s been accused of corruption, stealing millions from a government fund. When a media company was over-covering the scandal in a negative light, they started to be closed. 

        6. Now the war is internal 

     

      The Scandal has gotten so serious the internal struggle within UMNO is the only real challenge to Najib’s control. If you become the head of UMNO, which is the largest party in the BN coalition, then you were basically Prime Minister. Because of the 1MDB scandal there are many members of the party who are vying for Najib’s place. To remedy this there has been a recent cabinet reshuffle which has resulted in the removal of those vocal against the scandal. 

As everyone we met stated, this is a very exciting time to be in Malaysia. I look forward to seeing what the next step in this saga will be...stay tuned
   
    Fahmiya Ismail

    2nd year GGPS