Malaysia’s ‘Malay First’ Malaise
Who among the Malaysian political elite can feasibly claim to run a clean and competent government? Certainly not new Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who does not have a good reputation, having been accused of corruption going back to when he was the chief minister of the southern state of Johor, next to Singapore. The people Muhyiddin has enticed to join him to form a new government are some of the most mistrusted figures, entangled in the scandals of the last few years.
Chandran Nair, The Diplomat
For the second time in almost as many years Malaysia has a new prime minister. And yet again it is looking to a 94-year-old man to resolve the latest political crisis, described by many as a silent coup. The relationship between Mahathir Mohamad and his former deputy Anwar Ibrahim (himself over 70) is still — as it has been for decades — the locus of Malaysian politics, including in relation to the latest farce. With no disrespect to either of these politicians, it’s worth asking: Is there really no other politician competent enough, or even just politically savvy enough, to drive Malaysian politics?
It seems the people who voted for change two years ago have been short changed and left with a prime minister that many did not vote for and now do not trust. The current political chaos in Malaysia has confused and bemused most Malaysians and many international observers. But beyond the day-to-day breaking news alerts and rumors, there are deep structural issues in Malaysian politics that remain unresolved and have precipitated this latent crisis.
The truth is that politics in Malaysia is stunted. Who among the Malaysian political elite can feasibly claim to run a clean and competent government? Certainly not new Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who does not have a good reputation, having been accused of corruption going back to when he was the chief minister of the southern state of Johor, next to Singapore. The people Muhyiddin has enticed to join him to form a new government are some of the most mistrusted figures, entangled in the scandals of the last few years. This lack of credentials among candidates is deeply concerning and does not bode well for the future of the country.
The dearth of political leadership has held back the country’s growth for years. Malaysia has long been labelled a rising star of Southeast Asia, yet has repeatedly fallen short of both domestic and international expectations. Perhaps this is no surprise considering its shadow economy is valued to be 21 percent of GDP, or 300 billion Malaysian ringgits ($72 billion). The corruption crisis came to a head in 2015 with the 1MDB scandal. This scandal was so big that it finally toppled the rule of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which had governed Malaysia since independence – 61 years of one-party rule in the guise of democracy. But even then, the Pakatan Harapan coalition that defeated the BN still had the familiar faces of Mahathir and Anwar at its head. And now after the PH’s implosion in the last week the BN seems to be engineering a return, with some of the same old cronies.
The core issue of Malaysia’s stagnation remains the country’s treatment of race. The former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew once famously said that Malaysian politics will always be based on race. Given its unique multicultural heritage that is not surprising, but politics need not be racist at the same time. That sadly seems to have become the norm amongst the political elites and was on full display in recent months.
