"ROBERT PHANG TALKS"
"Kabinet Anwar: the whole country kena scam", I read on Facebook this
weekend. Malaysia is renowned for its trolling industry; it also is
home to many scammers who trick Malaysians first. Is the new prime
minister one of them?
The feeling of distrust among voters was very high before GE15 and
disinterest among the youth-led many observers to believe that the voter
turnout would be low. After the Sheraton Move that saw the Pakatan
Harapan (PH) majority overthrown in favor of an alliance led by
Umno-Bersatu, many citizens felt like they had been scammed. After all,
the Perikatan Nasional-Umno combo was not they had voted for.
However, far from causing disinterest, the disaffection for Malaysian
political leaders in fact led to a great turnout on polling day – a
little over 73%. Another surprise at this election was that while many
observers assumed the wave of young voters and first-time voters,
largely young Malay males, would translate into votes for PH, first-time
voters undeniably gave their support to PAS (49 seats), increased
Bersatu’s influence (from 13 seats in 2018 to 24) and rejected its
liberal Malay alternative Umno (down from 54 to 26 seats) and the
multi-cultural alternative PKR (down from 47 to 31 seats).
This means that while the Sheraton Move was certainly another
distortion of the country’s political history – which had remained
rather linear until 2018 – it did not translate in a loss of support for
PN.
The economic tremors in the post-Covid-19 era raised a nostalgia for
the old days of stability: those were the days of Umno. However, the
overlap between Umno and the numerous court scandals added to the
factionalism that did not resolve and in fact annihilated Umno's image
of stability.
GE15 was indeed a plebiscite for the other oldest and most stable
political force in the country, PAS, and its ally Bersatu. Meanwhile, PH
continued its prevalence in urban and non-Malay majority
constituencies. Yet no party or coalition succeeded in obtaining a
single majority, and Malaysia for the first time experienced a hung
parliament.
The drama and intense negotiations that followed increased voters'
anxiety, compounded by an unfamiliarity with the democratic process. In
fact, a hung parliament followed by a long period of negotiations
between parties and coalitions is a normal (democratic) exercise.
Belgium surely holds the world record of functioning without a
government for 592 days. However, the Agong saw things differently,
urging coalitions to form a unity government to ensure the fair
representation of voters’ voices.
The antagonistic position of PN leaders against Anwar Ibrahim and the
Umno court cluster gave Anwar a highway to form an alliance with his
former enemy and the big loser of GE15, the Umno-led BN. Soon, the new
allies were joined by Muda, GPS, GRS, and other smaller parties.
At the same time, the rise of racial threats further amplified
Malaysians’ anxiety in an unfamiliar political territory. The threat of
political chaos and a possible return of the May 1969 violence have been
largely cultivated by political parties for years. It is thus
unsurprising that the ghost of May 13 was used one more time to trigger
fear and play on public opinion.
Two narratives emerged: for some, beyond reformasi, Anwar became the
democratic fortress against the "danger" of a conservative Islamic
government, while for many Malays, the power seized by a non-Malay
majority coalition would be the end of their political hegemony and a
threat to their economic privileges (privileges and policies that in
fact failed to eradicate poverty among Malays but mostly satisfied the
middle class and elite).
In this first narrative, the alliance between PH and Umno was
depicted as the lesser evil, and the expansion of their alliance to the
Bornean coalitions eased the idea of a dangerous liaison and justified
the term "unity government".
In the second narrative, PAS offered the guarantee of the
preservation of Malay rights, while Bersatu represented a perfect image
of Umno minus the scandals and the factionalism (or less factionalism,
at least). The semantic of unity vs coalition government remains a
subject of discussion today, as PN argues that there cannot be unity
without its inclusion – an invitation it denied.
Rather than being a pure racial or ethnic question, the PH-Umno
extended political family versus PN feud is in fact a class conflict.
When looking at the vote share of PH and PN, we see clearly that the
urban elite largely voted for PH while the rural folks voted for PN.
Urban Malay elites surely do not wish for their liberal lifestyle to
be questioned by a conservative Islamic government (that would include
some of the members of this very same government), and these concerns
closely align with non-Malay interests.
Meanwhile, the Malay rural and urban lower-income folks who may have
been disappointed by the Umno scandals wish to secure what they believe
is the only way for them to maintain a decent living (again, the
failures of the NEP are rarely exposed).
Anwar announced his Cabinet on Friday with five Umno ministers and
Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as his deputy. While the co-optation of Umno by PH
was a strategy, supported by the king, to form a majority, it was also a
violent silencing of the Malay voice.
The reformasi agenda promoted by Anwar for over 20 years has faded
over the past few years with the marginalization of some of the key PKR
voices. Anwar has had to make many difficult compromises to build his
majority, and GE15 proved undeniably that his persona and agenda do not
appeal to the Malay masses.
For his government to survive, Umno needs to pacify the hearts and
souls of the Malays, "mission impossible" in a context where PN leaders
have openly declared themselves as the government-in-waiting, a
reference to Anwar's former title of PM-in-waiting.
Anwar will have to navigate very carefully for his government to
stabilize the country. After years of struggle, he inherits an extremely
sensitive social context, and economic distress enhanced by high
political fluidity.
Scams, schemes, and (no) shame seem forever linked to Malaysian
politics, and these notes have left deeper marks in the recent history
of the country. However, the Cabinet of the day, whether
scammers-schemers-shamers or reformists-optimists-capitalists, may be
able to unite on issues and policies that have dominated Parliament
discussions for years: offering an equal voice and future for Sabah and
Sarawak, and implementing overdue legal reforms for social justice and
the expansion of civil liberties. Harapan may not be entirely lost.
