The changing landscape of Malaysia’s coalition politics

Name: The changing landscape of Malaysia’s coalition politics
Uploaded: 2023-08-11T09:27:47+00:00
Duration: 4 min 30 s
Channel: Free Malaysia Today

Free Malaysia Today

last year

Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan make unusual bedfellows, but such alliances seem to be the future of Malaysian politics.

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Transcript

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00:00 Malaysia is no stranger to coalition politics,

00:04 but many things about our political landscape have changed,

00:07 and our political parties and the politicians who lead them

00:11 are struggling to adapt.

00:13 The 15th General Election, or GE15,

00:17 held in November last year was a game-changer.

00:20 For the first time in history,

00:22 three major coalitions did battle for the people's mandate.

00:26 RSA Nasional, or BN, which ruled Malaysia for six decades until 2018.

00:33 Pakatan Harapan, or PH, which wrested Putrajaya from them.

00:38 And Perikatan Nasional, formed in 2020 after Bersatu broke away from PH

00:43 to join forces with PAS for a short-lived stint as government.

00:47 None of the three secured a simple majority of 112 seats in the Dewan Rakyat

00:52 to rule the country on its own.

00:54 That saw PH, led by PKR and DAP,

00:58 and BN with UMNO at the forefront,

01:00 form a broad alliance with coalitions in Sabah and Sarawak

01:04 to take over the reins of government with Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister.

01:09 Political analyst James Chin explains why coalition politics

01:13 has always been Malaysia's formula for government going back to Merdeka in 1957.

01:18 Merdeka!

01:22 The reason why this is the only model available to Malaysia

01:26 is because Malaysia's politics is driven,

01:31 at least in the initial period, driven by race.

01:35 According to Chin, the three main races that make up the rakyat

01:39 were each dominated by one party.

01:41 UMNO for the Malays, MCA for the Chinese, and MIC for the Indian community.

01:47 These three parties then got together to form the coalition known as Alliance,

01:52 which later became BN.

01:54 BN expanded to include a host of political parties in Sabah and Sarawak.

01:59 These days, however, each of the Borneo states has its own coalitions.

02:04 Gabangan Parti Sarawak, or GPS, which presently leads the Sarawak state government,

02:09 and Gabangan Rakyat Sabah, or GRS, which heads the administration in Sabah.

02:15 Over time, however, Islam began to shape the political discourse in the country.

02:20 Now it's mostly driven by political Islam.

02:24 With race-based politics firmly entrenched in Malaysia's political landscape,

02:28 no party has been able to grow beyond the boundaries of its racial configuration.

02:33 There is not a single party in Malaysia that is capable of collecting votes

02:40 from every segment of the different racial groups.

02:44 On the contrary, the last 10 years or so have seen shifts

02:47 which have affected the balance of the traditional coalitions.

02:51 Unhappiness with UMNO and the rise of political Islam has seen the Malay vote,

02:55 which UMNO once had a stranglehold of, breaking up.

02:58 Malay politics is basically divided into past PKR and UMNO.

03:05 There is also, of course, Bersatu.

03:09 Likewise, the Indian vote is now divided between PKR, MIC, and DAP.

03:15 The Chinese vote has essentially gone over to DAP.

03:21 That was why each of the three West Malaysian coalitions were left short of numbers

03:26 and unable to form a government on its own.

03:29 And that was what made longtime political foes UMNO and DAP partners

03:34 in the present Unity government.

03:37 I am a little bit shocked because I have never spoken in this area.

03:41 That was how Secretary-General Lok Siu Fook began DAP's maiden speech

03:46 at the Unity Government Convention.

03:48 These are the new political realities that Malaysia's politicians

03:53 and the rakyat must learn to accept moving forward.

03:56 We are united!

04:02 The upcoming state elections in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, and Penang

04:06 will be a useful early test for the new PHBN alliance

04:10 as it comes up against the green wave led by PAS that has gathered force in the north.

04:15 That will set the stage for GE16, due in 2027.

04:20 Nanish Rajareza, FMT News.

04:23 [Music]

04:29 you

The changing landscape of Malaysia’s coalition politics

Transcript

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