Election

Searching for the old Mahathir-Anwar glory days?

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The federal Opposition’s election campaign will likely be about returning to the good times when many sense the economy was better and there was easy interaction among multiracial Malaysians. (Photo: Shafwan Zaidon).

Today I was quoted in an article in The Malay Mail Online by Ida Lim covering a forum, “GE14: The polls, the money, the stakes”, which was hosted yesterday by the Australian National University (ANU)’s Malaysia Institute and Gerakbudaya. I discuss how the Opposition’s strategy is to focus on the “glory days of the Mahathir-Anwar team” during Malaysia’s financial boom of the 1990s, and on promoting the narrative of past multiracial harmony.

 

Mahathir renews old alliance with Anwar in bid for PM

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At 92, former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad is again vying for the country’s top job. Photo: Reuters, Lai Seng Sin

The Conversation has published an op-ed I wrote discussing the unprecedented political development of Mahathir Mohamad becoming leader of the coalition of opposition parties against Najib Razak. Mahathir’s rise to leadership puts him on the same side as his former political enemy, Anwar Ibrahim, who is currently serving a jail term and will likely seek a royal pardon in June to readmit himself to political life.

This is an abridged version of a longer piece published by Inside Story.

Mahathir Mohamad crops up again in bid to lead Malaysia – with Anwar on the same side

“On January 8, former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad announced his intention to contest the next general election, due sometime before August this year.

In an unprecedented political turnaround, Mahathir is now leader of the alliance of opposition parties bidding to oust the incumbent, Najib Razak. Mahathir handpicked Najib in 2009 to head his former party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), and the coalition it has led since the 1970s, Barisan Nasional.

To add further intrigue, Mahathir now appears to be on a unity ticket with his old enemy, Anwar Ibrahim, for control of the country.

Mahathir, who first rose through UMNO ranks to become prime minister in 1981, is 92. His decision to stand again has raised questions about the state of politics in this young nation, whose median age is 28. Malaysian and international media outlets alike have carried comments along the lines that nominating somebody so old is a “laughable” choice.

Yet the key to this decision is not in the nation’s age profile but the calculus of building electoral coalitions in a diverse nation bearing the scars of political battles fought since 1998.

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Radio Interview: Political Dynamics of the 14th Malaysian General Election

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Today I visited the independent Malaysian radio station BFM 89.9, along with Kean Wong, Contributing Editor on the Malaysian election campaign at New Mandala, to give an interview on the political tactics of both sides during the GE14 and point out which issues people should be paying attention to. The full podcast can be heard through their website, linked above.

Political Turnarounds and the Battle for the “Real” Malaysia

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Unlikely allies: longstanding opposition figure Wan Azizah (left) with former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad (second from right) after Malaysia’s opposition named Mahathir as its candidate for prime minister (Photo: Fazry Ismail/EPA).

Today Inside Story published an essay of mine on the rise of Mahathir Mohamad to leader of the Pakatan Harapan coalition opposition parties at the age of 92. I discuss Malaysia’s current political faultlines and why Mahathir is now allying himself with former nemesis Anwar Ibrahim.

The battle for the “real” Malaysia

“It’s hard to think of a more surprising political turnaround. This week former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad announced that he will contest this year’s general election as leader of an alliance of opposition parties committed to ousting the government of Najib Razak. It was Mahathir who chose Najib back in 2009 to lead his former party, UMNO, and the coalition it has headed since the 1970s, Barisan Nasional. In taking the candidacy, the former PM allies himself with his one-time colleague and later nemesis Anwar Ibrahim, whom he famously sacked from the deputy prime ministership in 1998.

Mahathir, who rose through UMNO’s ranks to become prime minister in 1981, is ninety-two years old. His decision to stand this year has raised questions about the state of politics in a nation where the median age is only twenty-eight. Malaysian and international media outlets alike have reflected the view that Mahathir’s selection to lead the coalition is “laughable.”

For answers to this apparent paradox, though, look not to the nation’s age profile but to the calculus of building electoral coalitions in a diverse nation that still bears the scars of the political battles of the past two decades. Look also to Mahathir’s singular success in building coalitions over even more decades, using a combination of Malay nationalism, an Islamist ethic favouring entrepreneurship and capitalist development, and selective minority representation. In combination with favours for allies and civil and judicial pressure on opponents, his use of these themes has been masterful.

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Installing Mahathir is an intentional political strategy

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ABC News interview: discussing Mahathir Mohamad’s bid for PM at 92 years of age and the calculations informing this choice (Photo: ABC News Twitter).

Today I gave an interview to ABC News on the current state of politics in Malaysia. I told the ABC’s Del Irani that Installing Mahathir as a Pakatan figurehead is a move full of intent, aimed at rewinding Malaysian politics back to the 1990s days of the ‘real’ Barisan Nasional – led by Mahathir and Anwar – and organised as a multi-racial coalition, not a seemingly Malay Muslim bloc.

The decision aims to neutralise voter concerns in two directions; on the one hand it reassures Malay Muslims that there is no threat against them from either minorities or Islamists in the form of PAS; and on the other, it reassures liberal and non-Muslims that there remains a political bulwark against stronger Islamisation in the future.

I also touch on Mahathir’s age and the party’s plans for succession, and the remarkable history of the Anwar and Mahathir relationship.

Comments in the Southeast Asia Globe: The enemy of my enemy is my friend

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Mahathir (left) and Anwar (Photo: Reuters).

My thoughts have been included in a great piece by Holly Robertson in the Southeast Asia Globe on the unlikely renewed alliance between Anwar Ibrahim and Mahathir Mohamad, an alliance born of both men agreeing that their much larger, mutual problem of Prime Minister Najib Razak is worth combining forces over.

Comment: People-friendly budget to save Najib’s reputation?

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Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak speaks at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, Germany, 27 September 2016. (Photo: EPA/Bernd Von Jutrczenka)

I was happy to give Logan Connor some comments for his article today in the Southeast Asia Globe, which talked about Najib using social welfare programs in the 2017 budget as a way to salvage his damaged reputation. You can read the full article here, and I’ve put my contribution below.

“Najib’s reputation has certainly been dented, yet it appears he is taking the view that offence is the best defence. It seems he will campaign on a mixture of issues related to Malay Muslim uplift, such as social welfare and mobility, and Malay Muslim unity.”

Mahathir’s New Party

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Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at a ‘Save Malaysia’ rally in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 28 March 2016. Photo: EPA/AHMAD YUSNI, selected by Southeast Asia Globe.

I’ve made some comments in the Southeast Asia Globe on Mahathir’s new political party. My comments were:

According to Amrita Malhi, a researcher on Malaysia based at the University of Adelaide, the new party was established to oppose UMNO and current Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is facing allegations that more than $1 billion from state development fund 1MDB was transferred into his personal bank accounts.

“[Mahathir] believes that Najib is using money allegedly siphoned out of 1MDB to pay both his allies and many voters to continue to support him,” she said. “As Mahathir has determined that he cannot possibly outspend Najib, he is moving to convince disillusioned UMNO members to leave and join his new party instead.”

Malhi added that some UMNO party members admire Mahathir and are growing increasingly disillusioned with Najib.

“They feel awkward about defending him, especially before international audiences,” she said, “even while Najib’s allies continue to defend him before the Malaysian public.”

Migrant Workers Also Have Politics

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A group of people thought to be migrant workers, holding up Barisan Nasional flags. Stock image selected by New Mandala.

The 2013 Malaysian election was characterised by repeated claims that tens of thousands of migrant workers would be mobilised to vote in support of the government coalition. As truth claims, such statements did not hold up. Yet my view is that they should be evaluated not as truth claims, but as a highly effective ‘get out the vote’ campaign. As these statements circulated, they drove up voter attendance at polling places, because they connected two important issues that many Malaysians hold grave doubts about, and harnessed those doubts to mobilise voters. These issues are the conduct of elections and the use of migrant workers. Anyway, I decided to talk to a migrant worker about the election, and New Mandala published the interview.

How would a foreign worker vote, anyway?

AMRITA MALHI, GUEST CONTRIBUTOR – 4 MAY 2013

In Taman Desa, in Teresa Kok’s (Democratic Action Party/DAP) electorate of Seputeh, I asked a Bangladeshi worker about Malaysian politics. Why not, after all? These workers have invested their labour, their lives, and their aspirations in Malaysia, just as much as past generations of foreign workers have. Unlike the foreign workers of today, those of the past are familiar. They became Malayans. Their descendants are now Malaysians.

Rumours and leaks are circulating like wildfire that legions of foreign workers are being mobilised and transported by air to vote for BN in tomorrow’s election. Organisations like Anyone/Anything But UMNO (ABU) are preparing to monitor polling stations tomorrow, and one of their aims is to identify these workers and discourage them from voting. Read more

Imagining a Nation After its National Front

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A supporter holds an opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia flag on election nomination day in Pekan, Pahang state. Photo: Lai Seng Sin/ AP

I was in Malaysia during its 2013 election, a historic event that has since unleashed a major restructure of Malaysian politics. I’m putting up a series of posts from 2013 to provide a bit of depth to what’s going on now in 2016, beginning with this one from Inside Story, where I tried to imagine what a post-racial Malaysia might look like, while also attending a funeral and watching an election campaign. The full text is below, and the link to the original article is at the bottom.

CORRESPONDENTS

Can Malaysia find life after the National Front?

4 MAY 2013

A historic election campaign reopened old questions about what kind of nation Malaysia should be, writes Amrita Malhi in Kuala Lumpur

When Balbir Kaur arrived in Malaya, the country’s ethnic groups – Malays, Chinese, Indians and “Others” – were already said to be living racially bounded lives. The educated Malay elite was part of a broader Malay nationalist group, the United Malays National Organisation, or UMNO, which had emerged from the struggle over competing visions of a postcolonial Malaya in the heady days of the 1940s. One option, Britain’s Malayan Union proposal, saw Malaya as a nation-state in which citizens would have the same status, regardless of their racial origin. But this proposal was abandoned the late 1940s as UMNO rose above the various organisations jockeying for leadership of the national struggle. All pro-independence groupings to the left of UMNO were banned, and the colonial authorities had set about eradicating the Malayan Communist Party, whose politics were Malay nationalism’s strongest competitor. Read more

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