New Mandala Mahathir Series – Part 2

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The second part of my Mahathir series for New Mandala.

Mahathir and Malaysia’s money politics

In a country where cash is king, soon nothing will happen without bribery, alleges former PM.

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad looked on Thursday like a man with important calculations to make. Even as he smiled and laughed, he seemed quiet and reflective as he discussed Malaysia’s dramatic political realignment.

“We had a wrong understanding of the level of concern on the part of the people about what is happening,” he said.

A few days earlier, Mahathir had campaigned with the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition in twin by-elections, called after two incumbents died in a helicopter crash. Held in the federal electorates of Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar, both by-elections were won with increased margins by the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

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New Mandala Mahathir Series – Part 1

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Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Last week, I interviewed Malaysia’s former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, about his intentions for his campaign of public opposition to current Prime Minister, Najib Razak. This is the first of my essays based on that interview for New Mandala, the Southeast Asia blog published by The Australian National University’s Coral Bell School for Asia Pacific Affairs.

Mahathir prepares for Najib confrontation

In Malaysia, the battle lines between a former and current prime minister are being drawn. As the country braces for a clash of the political titans, here’s how it could all play out.

For former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, defeating PM Najib Razak at the next election is “theoretically” possible, albeit not with money politics which he claims is Najib’s only competitive advantage. “Najib is very, very weak,” Mahathir said on Thursday in his Putrajaya office, adding that “if he is not able to bribe, he will lose. He has to bribe, because he believes that bribery is king.”

Despite his perceived weakness, however, and after his twin by-election victories earlier this month, calls have resumed for Najib to call a snap election soon, while fractious opposition parties remain in a state of tactical disarray. Najib may be preparing to do exactly that, foreshadowing on the weekend that he will announce a cabinet reshuffle today. Whenever Najib does call the election, which is due in or before 2018, Mahathir appears to have concluded that he will not win by developing a competing brand of money politics. “I can’t,” Mahathir said, “because if we give money he will always give more. He has tons of money.”

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KITLV Southeast Asia Update

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Today I had the pleasure of speaking at this year’s Southeast Asia Update, organised by the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), in the first Round Table session of the day, titled ‘Religious Renewal’. The discussion featured themes such as the continued reality of religious plurality and diversity alongside strong efforts by state and non-state actors to generate new orthodoxies. Picture: KITLV.

Violence, Displacement & Muslim Movements in Southeast Asia

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Today I spent the day with colleagues in a fantastic workshop on Violence, Displacement & Muslim Movements in Southeast Asia, hosted by the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies and the Leiden University Centre for the Study of Islam and Society. The full program is available from the KITLV website.

Review in Indonesia

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The American journal Indonesia has published a review by Robert W. Hefner of an edited volume in which I published a chapter, namely From Anatolia to Aceh. Ottomans, Turks and Southeast Asia, edited by A.C.S. Peacock and Annabel Teh Gallop.

Hefner’s specific comments on my work are:

In chapter ten, Amrita Malhi examines the repeated invocations of the Ottoman Caliphate made by native rulers in the Malay peninsula between 1874 and 1928, as the British made their “forward movement” into the previously independent Malay states. In an original and important reading of these overlooked events, Malhi demonstrates that the practice of invoking the Caliphate was emblematic of a profound reworking of the global order, recognized by Malay Muslims, and expressed in their increasingly desperate appeals to the ideal of the Caliphate even as a global British imperialism was ushering in the Ottoman collapse.

Review in The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences

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The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences has published a review by Philipp Bruckmayr of the edited volume From Anatolia to Aceh. Ottomans, Turks and Southeast Asia, edited by A.C.S. Peacock and Annabel Teh Gallop, in which I have a chapter.

Bruckmayr’s comments on my chapter are:

Amrita Malhi, in contrast, discusses how British colonial authorities as well as later western and nationalist Malaysian historiography failed to grasp, and have therefore misconstrued, the implications of the deployment of Ottoman caliphal symbology in anti-colonial uprisings on the Malay Peninsula. For the author, the Ottoman Empire’s symbolic relevance in the struggle against the British in Malaya represented neither religious fanaticism nor pious proto-nationalism, but rather resulted from the fact that during the first decades of the twentieth century, “nationalism had not yet established itself as the primary mode in which Malay Muslims expressed their counter-colonial desires” (p. 224).

The Australian on Malaysia’s Media Crackdown

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Image: The Australian.

The Australian’s Amanda Hodge has published a story quoting my most recent New Mandala piece on Malaysia’s arrest and detention of Four Corners journalist Linton Besser and camera operator Louie Eroglu, along with broader issues of media freedom and public criticism.

Hodge has been doing some excellent work on Malaysia lately.

My quotes are:

Amrita Malhi, a researcher and writer on Southeast Asian politics and history, said Ms Bishop’s decision to frame the Four Corners team’s detention “as an issue of freedom of speech in democracies” secured their release, though the Malaysian government has denied that.

Malaysia still wants to be seen as a democratic nation, notwithstanding recent rollbacks, just as its close ally Australia needs to ­believe that it is.

“In the context of these interconnected interests, Bishop’s statement that democracies should uphold their commitment to freedom of speech has carried sufficient weight to produce a change of heart from the Malaysian government,” Dr Malhi wrote in ANU’s New Mandala.

Four Corners journalists detained in Malaysia

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Australian cameraman Louie Eroglu (left) and journalist Linton Besser. Photo from Twitter.

Yesterday I was interviewed by Patricia Karvelas on ABC Radio National’s Drive program on the recent detention of two Australians, Linton Besser and Louie Eroglu, in Kuching. The full audio of the interview is available here.

Today, I expanded on my interview in a fuller explainer for New Mandala, which I’ve also pasted below with the link at the bottom of the page. Update on 17 March: my piece on New Mandala has been quoted by Amanda Hodge writing in The Australian, and her article is available here.

A pressing concern

By Amrita Malhi, Guest Contributor — 15 March 2016

Amrita Malhi goes beyond the headlines to examine what’s behind the expulsion of an Australian journalist and cameraman from Malaysia.

ABC Four Corners journalist Linton Besser and camera operator Louie Eroglu are returning to Australia, having been “deported” from Malaysia after authorities decided not to charge them with obstructing a public servant under Section 186 of Malaysia’s Penal Code.

In recent days, both men have been detained in a Kuching hotel, facing allegations by the Malaysian government that they had attempted to “barge into” the path of Prime Minister Najib Razak, not only creating a security risk for him and his minders, but also violating Malaysian journalistic norms. Read more

Malaysia’s Direction Matters to Australia

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Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is currently in the United States for an ASEAN Summit. Stock image selected by New Mandala.

Yesterday, I published a piece on New Mandala that looked at how Australia is managing its relationship with Malaysia in light of the scandals surrounding its Prime Minister Najib Razak, and the lack of a viable alternative government for international governments to deal with. It also mapped out some of the moves UMNO has made since the 2013 election to restructure politics in its favour as the nation approaches the next election in 2018. The full text is below.

Najib and Malaysia’s Road to Redemption?

BY AMRITA MALHI, GUEST CONTRIBUTOR – 19 FEBRUARY 2016

As leading party UMNO and its embattled PM desperately cling to power, there could be even darker times ahead for Malaysia’s democracy. 

The actions of Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak have been met with widespread disbelief from domestic and international observers.

For many, there seems to be no end to the series of scandals directly or indirectly linked to Najib and his associates, beginning with a financial investigation abruptly brought to an end by a newly-appointed Attorney-General, Mohamed Apandi Ali.

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