I’ve had the pleasure of both chairing and speaking on a panel at the 2018 Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) biennial conference, which was held 2-5 July at the University of Sydney. My talk was titled Race and the ‘Multi-Racial’: Malaysian Opposition Campaigning, 2008-2018, which I presented alongside some other excellent talks on politics and identity.
Today I spoke alongside Prof James Chin, Director of Asia Institute Tasmania, with ABC Radio National’s Phillip Adams about the changing of the guard in Malaysia, and re-investigation of the 1MDB scandal and likely arrest of former Prime Minister Najib Razak.
You can listen to the broadcast here.
Image: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images
I enjoyed being part of this panel hosted by The Lowy Institute’s Director of the Southeast Asia Project, Aaron Connelly, where I was joined by James Chin, Director of the Asia Institute Tasmania, and Kean Wong, contributing editor at New Mandala.
We discussed how the newly elected coalition will address fundamental social issues, such as those of race and ethnicity; the relationship between PM Mahathir and Anwar Ibrahim; the culpability of former PM Najib Razak with regard to the 1MDB scandal; how UMNO will adapt to life as the opposition; and what Malaysia’s change in government means for Australia.
You can also listen to the panel discussion here through The Lowy Institute channel on Soundcloud.
(Photo: Australian Institute of International Affairs)
Here’s an article I’ve written based on my presentation at the AIIA ACT Branch on 23 May, where I discussed Dr Mahathir’s historic election victory and how the winning Pakatan Harapan coalition flipped the ‘China threat’ on its head, separating in their campaign narrative the external ‘Big’ (or really mainland) China from local Chinese that are part of Malaysian society.
Flipping the Chinese Threat: How the Malaysian Opposition Won
A white Himalaya Crocodile Hermès Birkin handbag, allegedly purchased by Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor for US$380,000 (RM1.5 million) (Photo: Christies)
My Twitter musings on the value of handbags have ended up included in an article by Zurairi AR in the Malay Mail, which dissects the meaning behind the expensive handbag collection of Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, the wife of the former Prime Minister, Najib Razak. A massive collection of handbags, jewellery, cash, and other items was discovered during police raids on Najib’s home and those of his family members.
Former and current Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Photo: AIIA.
On Wednesday 23rd May at 6pm, I’ll be giving a talk at the Australian Institute of International Affairs (ACT branch).
I’ll share my thoughts on how the Pakatan Harapan coalition led by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad managed to win a historic election victory, through a carefully crafted campaign narrative of a multiracial people defeating a corrupt government that was ready to mortgage the nation to China.
You can buy tickets to see my talk from the AIIA website.
Follow this link to read a timely and significant report prepared by the Australian Government’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee, released on 17 May 2018.
I gave expert advice in my capacity as Development Economics Adviser in the Australian Council for International Development; you can find some of my contributions on pages 77 and 84.
ACFID’s submission to the inquiry is available here.
Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur (Photo: David McKelvey/Flickr)
The Interpreter has published an article of mine that analyses the immediate post-election situation in Malaysia; as the country adjusts to a non-Barisan Nasional government for the first time, many decisions must be made by the new Harapan coalition government over how to implement the reforms Malaysians have shown they want. The defeated UMNO Party’s next moves are yet to be determined, while Malaysia’s new leader Mahathir Mohamad has announced to the world that Malaysia is open to most foreign investment. Mahathir is also moving fast to reinstate an investigation into now resigned UMNO leader Najib Razak’s connection with the 1MDB scandal, preventing Najib from leaving the country on the weekend.
Malaysia: what now?
Malaysians have rejected Barisan Nasional so overwhelmingly that the electoral system designed to protect its rule has been overcome. The party received its lowest popular vote in history, around 36%, and won only 79 seats in a 222-seat federal parliament.
The once multiracial coalition has been stripped back to 54 seats held by core party United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), with another 13 held by United Bumiputera Heritage Party (PBB), UMNO’s partner in Sarawak state. There is barely any representation left from its other component parties, including the Malaysian Chinese Association and the Malaysian Indian Congress.
On Sunday night, police cordoned off defeated former prime minister Najib Razak’s street, after Malaysia’s new leader Mahathir Mohamad stopped him from leaving the country on the weekend. Mahathir is moving fast to reinstate an investigation into Najib’s connection with the billions of dollars missing from Malaysia’s 1MDB development investment company.
The rout has been comprehensive. Before the election, however, Malaysians weren’t prepared to give their voting intentions away without a lot of careful prompting. Read more
Wan Azizah will serve as Malaysia’s first deputy prime minister. Photo: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images
In the wake of an unprecedented opposition win in Malaysia on Wednesday, voters are concerned about whether or not Najib will respect the decision of the public as he said he would in a remarkable concession speech that sounded less like conceding defeat and more like trying to buy time. Read my essay published in Inside Story for more details!
Malaysia’s Day on Edge
Having won the most seats, the opposition parties endured twenty-four hours of suspense. Was the old government working on plan B?
“We’ve asked the sultans not to be on the wrong side of history,” a Pakatan Harapan candidate told me in a posh cafe in Kuala Lumpur in February. “They should not emulate the Indonesian royalty during the Indonesian revolution,” he continued, referring to East Indies rulers who sided with the Dutch on the eve of Indonesian independence. “We are very confident. Very confident.”
I sensed his confidence was genuine, and it was vindicated on Wednesday this week when a surge of public support for Harapan, the opposition coalition, overwhelmed all the obstacles built into Malaysia’s electoral system — a system that has tipped the scales in the government’s favour in contests with successive opposition coalitions over the past six decades. The result will also deliver another important first for Malaysian society, a woman deputy prime minister, Wan Azizah. (Azizah’s husband, Anwar Ibrahim, is still in prison and was unable to run.)
Despite stating repeatedly that he will not be seeking revenge against vanquished prime minister Najib Razak and his allies, Malaysia’s new leader, Mahathir Mohamad, had to wait for most of Thursday to get an audience with the King. Only then was he sworn in and able to form a new government. The ceremony finally took place at 9.30 last night in Kuala Lumpur. Najib tweeted his congratulations and an assurance that he would assist in a smooth transfer of power.
I was interviewed by Joe O’Brien on the Australian ABC this morning on Malaysia’s historic election result in which Pakatan Harapan has won enough seats to form a government – subject to a transfer of power. I’ve uploaded the video here.