https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3631-9913
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ABSTRACT
Many people were surprised by the sudden fall of Mahathir Mohamad and the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government on 21 February 2020, barely two years after winning the historic May 2018 general elections. This article argues that the fall was largely due to the following factors: the ideology of Ketuanan Melayu Islam (Malay Islam Supremacy); the Mahathir-Anwar dispute; Mahathir’s own role in trying to reduce the role of the non-Malays in the government; and the manufactured fear among the Malay polity that the Malays and Islam were under threat. It concludes that the majority of the Malay population, and the Malay establishment, are not ready to share political power with the non-Malays.
Notes
1. James Chin (2018) ‘The Comeback Kid: Mahathir and the 2018 Malaysian General Elections’, The Round Table, 107:4, 535–537. https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2018.1494692.
2. K. Das (1987) Malay Dominance? The Abdullah Rubric p. 85.
3. Strictly speaking, the Malaysian Constitution speaks of ‘special position’ but in common parlance, the phrase used is ‘special rights’.
4. James Chin (2018) ‘From Ketuanan Melayu to Ketuanan Islam: UMNO and the Malaysian Chinese’ In Welsh (ed), The End of UMNO?: Essays on Malaysia’s Former Dominant Party (New and Expanded Post GE-14 Edition, Kuala Lumpur, SIRD) pp. 255–304.
5. Published by D. Moore for Asia Pacific Press in 1970.
6. Strictly speaking, PH had the support of Parti Warisan Sabah (PWS) a regional party from East Malaysia. PWS was not a formal member of PH and did not play a role in the fall of the PH government. Thus for the purpose of this paper, when I refer to PH, I am talking about PPBM, PKR, DAP and Amanah.
7. Kafir (infidel or non-believer) is one of the most insulting term one can used against a Muslim. See ‘Retract “kafir” label on Umno, PAS told’, The Star (Malaysia)11 September 2019.
8. PKR was represented by Azmin Ali, the party’s deputy president.
9. Zainal Kling is a professor at several Malaysian universities and is well known as a leading ideologue when it comes to Malay supremacy. Unfortunately for Malaysia, there are many senior Malay academics in Malaysian universities who share his views and actively promote racism against non-Malays. See Murray Hunter, ‘Malaysia’s Public Universities Falling Behind’, Asia Sentinel, 8 September 2019.
10. James Chin, ‘Setting the stage for race baiting in Malaysia’, Asia Dialogue, 18 October 2019.
11. ‘Accusing DAP of “Christianisation”, PAS leader cites Steven Sim’s “Kingdom of God” remarks as evidence’, Malay Mail, 18 September 2019.
12. ‘Academicians who advised rulers on Rome Statute still keeping mum’, The Star, 8 April 2019.
13. ‘Daim Zainuddin to ministers in Mahathir’s Malaysia: work with civil servants, ignore Najib, stop talking behind colleagues’ backs’, South China Morning Post, 7 May 2019.
14. The ISA allows for detention without trial and many DAP leaders, and other opposition leaders, were incarcerated under the ISA at one time or another in their political career. The truly ironic thing was that many of the DAP leaders were detained on the orders of Mahathir, then leading the UMNO-led government.
15. ‘Civil servants “sabotaging” new officers, defying Mahathir’s orders’, Today (Singapore), 11 September 2018.
16. ‘Malays won’t accept Anwar due to liberal philosophy, says Dr M’, Malaysiakini, 12 March 2020.
17. Personal communication from a senior UMNO leader to the author. Anwar has been dogged by allegations that he was homosexual/bisexual for decades, including through videos allegedly showing him having sex with other men. In fact when Mahathir sacked Anwar as his deputy in 1998, one of the reasons he gave was that Anwar was homosexual and thus unacceptable to the Malay polity.
18. James Chin, Ultimate Game of Thrones in Malaysia, The Interpreter, (Lowy Institute for International Policy), 22 November 2019.
19. ‘How a $7 Billion Dispute Helped Topple Mahathir’s “New Malaysia”’, Bloomberg, 2 March 2020.
20. James Chin ‘From Ketuanan Melayu to Ketuanan Islam: UMNO and the Malaysian Chinese’ in The End of UMNO? Essays on Malaysia’s Dominant Party (Welsh (ed))(Strategic Information and Research Development Centre: Selangor, Malaysia, 2016) pp. 226–273.
21. ‘Dr M: Muhyiddin willing to work with Umno, I can’t, but that’s politics’, Malay Mail, 7 March 2020.
22. ‘GPS will not support a coalition that includes DAP, says S’wak Dep CM’, The Star, 28 February 2020.
23. PAS’s leader Hadi Awang was quoted by a newspaper as saying ‘ … when the time comes, the hudud and qisas laws will be extended to all non-Muslims’, ‘Hudud bill passed’, The Star, 9 July 2002.
24. Robert Norton (2012) ‘A Pre-eminent Right to Political Rule’: Indigenous Fijian Power and Multi-ethnic Nation Building, The Round Table, 101:6, 521–535. https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2012.749093.