Politics of Malaysia
Although Malaysian politics has been relatively stable, critics allege that "the government, ruling party, and administration are intertwined with few countervailing forces.
These in turn were primarily influenced by the Egyptian Islamic reform magazine, al-Manar published in Cairo by Rashid Rida from 1898 to 1936.
[6] While these publications were primarily concerned with the Islamic religion, it also touched extensively on the social, political and economic conditions of the Malays.
[9] The Sultan Idris Training College for Malay teachers in Tanjung Malim was fertile ground for the exchange of ideas.
The KM survived World War II and entered into a political coalition with the United Malays National Organisation and the Malayan Chinese Association to form the Singapore Alliance Party.
Nonetheless, the CPM remained an organisation that was predominantly Chinese in composition until the Japanese occupation of Malaya which saw a larger participation of people from other ethnicities.
While registered as a social organisation working to improve Malay youths in sports, education, agriculture, health and other recreational pursuits, the primary aim of the KMM was to struggle for the political independence of all the Malayan states from Britain and oppose British imperialism.
On 14 January 1942, a KMM delegation led by vice-president, Mustapha Hussain, met with the Japanese authorities to negotiate for the independence of Malaya.
The Japanese authorities instead disbanded KMM and established the Pembela Tanah Ayer (also known as the Malai Giyu Gun or by its Malay acronym PETA) militia in its stead.
The current Prime Minister of Malaysia is from Pakatan Harapan (PH) who is the ex-UMNO leader, marking the first time the post is occupied by a non-UMNO party member.
The Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) promotes a more Islamist political agenda, the BN Coalition is rather critical about the current ruling government since the May 2018 General Elections.
[25] The political process in Malaysia from 1957 to 2018 has generally been described as taking the form of "consociationalism" whereby "communal interests are resolved in the framework of a grand coalition".
The executive branch is described as tending to dominate political activity, with the Prime Minister's office being in a position to preside "over an extensive and ever growing array of powers to take action against individuals or organisations," and "facilitate business opportunities".
Critics of the ruling government generally agree that although authoritarianism in Malaysia preceded the administration of Mahathir bin Mohamad, it was he who "carried the process forward substantially".
In 2007, a government agency – the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission – issued a directive to all private television and radio stations to refrain from broadcasting speeches made by opposition leaders.
The gathering was organised by BERSIH, a coalition comprising political parties and civil society groups(NGOs), and drew supporters from all over the country.
The rally was carried out along with the attempt to submit a protest note to Parliament over a government-backed plan to amend a law that would extend the tenure of the Election Commission chief, whom the opposition claims is biased.
[26] Campaigning wrapped up 7 March 2008 for general elections that could see gains for Malaysia's opposition amid anger over race and religion among minority Chinese and Indians.
[27] Election results showed that the ruling government suffered a setback when it failed to obtain two-thirds majority in parliament, and five out of 12 state legislatures were won by the opposition parties.
[28] Reasons for the setback of the ruling party, which has retained power since the nation declared independence in 1957, were rising inflation, crime and ethnic tensions.
[23] PH leader Anwar Ibrahim was then freed after receiving a royal pardon from the king and was designated to take over as PM from Mahathir Mohamad.
[30] However, things did not go well and the 22 months-old Pakatan Harapan administration fell in March 2020 during the 2020 political crisis, having lost the majority number of seats required to hold power as government.
Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition was the biggest loser, securing just 30 seats in the 222-member parliament.
Malaysia is a constitutional elective monarchy, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is selected for a five-year term from among the nine Sultans of the Malay states.
The Executive has the power and authority to generate revenues through the collection of various taxes, levies, fines, summons, custom duties, and fees, to name some, from the general public.
State governments are excluded from the revenues of income tax, export, import and excise duties, and they are also largely restricted from borrowing internationally.
They have to depend on revenue from forests, lands, mines, petroleum, the entertainment industry, and finally, transfer payments from the central government.
The policies provide preferential treatment to Malays over non-Malays in employment, education, scholarships, business, and access to cheaper housing and assisted savings.
Prime Minister Dato Sri Mohd Najib Tun Razak has claimed to attempt to close racial divides through the 1Malaysia initiative.
[63] In June 2023, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim stressed that he was committed to transitioning Malaysia from race-based to needs-based affirmative action policies.
