https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2667-9571
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ABSTRACT
Malaysia’s May 2018 elections saw the ignominious defeat of the long-dominant Barisan Nasional (National Front, BN) coalition at the hands of the alternative Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope, Pakatan). Bolstered by communal sentiments, habit, and charisma, the BN also relied heavily on deeply penetrating clientelist networks and carefully pitched patronage. Opposition parties have long decried the BN’s trading of infrastructure, projects, and payments for votes. Yet as these parties have gained greater power themselves, voter expectations have pressed them to rely on similar modes of cultivating support. Whereas diminished access to patronage resources has imperilled dominant parties elsewhere, Malaysia demonstrates a different dynamic. Here, long-term competitive electoral authoritarianism had fostered the emergence of duelling systems of enduring, well-nurtured clientelist ties, despite vastly unequal access to public resources. The demonstration effect of Pakatan performance, including sustained outreach and distributions in states it won substantially via programmatic appeals, reinforced its standing. This “relational clientelism” perversely both helped sustain the BN over decades and reassured voters that they could also rely on Pakatan. I consider Malaysia’s intriguing relational clientelism in terms of networks, resources, and discretionary control over those resources, to assess the effects of these practices for electoral outcomes and governance.
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ORCID
Meredith L. Weiss http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2667-9571
Notes
1 Following Hutchcroft, “Linking Capital and Countryside.”
2 See, for instance, Bogaards, “How to Classify Hybrid Regimes”, Schedler, “Authoritarianism’s Last Line.”
3 Levitsky and Way, Competitive Authoritarianism, 3–5, Lindberg, “Democratization by Election,” 19.
4 Magaloni, Voting for Autocracy, 4–6.
5 Levitsky and Way, “The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism.”
6 Templeman, The Origins and Decline, Scheiner, Democracy without Competition, Reed, Scheiner, and Thies, “The End of LDP Dominance.”
7 du Toit and Jager, “South Africa’s Dominant-party System,” 96–8, Howard and Roessler, “Liberalizing Electoral Outcomes,” 372.
8 Wilkinson, “Patronage Politics,” 269–72, Greene, Why Dominant Parties Lose, 266, Reed, Scheiner, and Thies, “The End of LDP Dominance,” 356–61.
9 Greene, “The Political Economy”, Howard and Roessler, “Liberalizing Electoral Outcomes,” 372–3, Scheiner, Democracy without Competition, Haggard and Kaufman, The Political Economy of Democratic Transitions.
10 Greene, Why Dominant Parties Lose, 19–21.
11 Scott, “Patron-Client Politics,” 107–9.
12 Howard and Roessler, “Liberalizing Electoral Outcomes.”
13 Interviews with Nur Jazlan Mohamed, 6 January 2015, Kuala Lumpur; Ahmad Shabery Cheek, 31 July 2015, Kuala Lumpur.
14 Among other debilities, a number of interviewees noted cases of “sabotage” when local party branches disapproved of a candidate the central party leadership “parachuted” into their district.
15 E.g. “PKR Polls Reveal Rise of Factions in Reformist Party.” The Edge, April 29, 2014. http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/pkr-polls-reveal-rise-factions-reformist-party.
16 “Umno: Surge in Party Membership as GE14 Nears.” Star, April 12, 2017. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/04/12/umno-surge-in-party-membership-as-ge14-nears/.
17 TNA CO 537/6020, Extract from Political Summary, August 1950.
18 Funston, “UMNO,” 50–1.
19 Gomez, Minister of Finance Incorporated. Postwar GDP growth has been negative only in 1985, 1998, and 2009, approaching 6% in 2017. See https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.Kd.zg?locations=my.
20 Krauss and Pekkanen, The Rise and Fall.
21 “The Alliance Wins Again.” Straits Budget, November 4, 1954.
22 TNA FCO 141/13006, Secretariat, North Borneo, Paper for the Malaysia Commission of Enquiry No. 4/62, 29 March 1962.
23 For instance: TNA CO 1022/299, letter from Lennox-Boyd to Wyatt, 30 January 1952; Report on the Introduction of Elections in the Municipality of George Town, Penang, 1951 [7 March 1952]; TNA CO 717/186/12, “Note on Municipal Elections in Malaya” [1951].
24 Weiss, Protest and Possibilities, 114–5, 64.
25 Ho, The Malaysian Chinese Guilds, 2–3.
26 TNA FCO 141/13006, Secretariat, North Borneo, Paper for the Malaysia Commission of Enquiry No. 4/62, 29 March 1962.
27 For instance, former MP Lee Kah Choon sat on 20–30 of these bodies before standing under Gerakan. Interview, 2 January 2015, Penang.
28 Ho, The Malaysian Chinese Guilds, 8–13, 20–3, 27.
29 Ng, “The Contest for Chinese Votes,” 94–6.
30 Cheah, Malaysia, 187, 90.
31 Interviews with Gan Ping Sieu, 17 July 2014, Kuala Lumpur; Teng Cheng Yeow, 3 January 2015, Penang; Chong Sin Woon, 20 March 2015, Kuala Lumpur.
32 Interviews with Ibrahim Ali, 9 January 2015, Kuala Lumpur; Nur Jazlan Mohamed, 6 January 2015, Kuala Lumpur.
33 Holland and Palmer-Rubin, “Beyond the Machine,” 1187.
34 Thachil, “Embedded Mobilization,” 465.
35 Young, “Is Clientelism at Work,” 1–2, 8.
36 Interviews with Saifuddin Abdullah, 16 June 2014, Kuala Lumpur; Jahara Hamid, 3 January 2015, Penang; Musa Hitam, 28 July 2015, Kuala Lumpur; Ahmad Fauzi Zahari, 15 June 2015, Kuala Lumpur; Leo Moggie, 13 January 2016, Petaling Jaya; Darell Leiking, 16 June 2015, Kuala Lumpur; Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, 15 July 2015, Petaling Jaya; and others.
37 Interview with Saifuddin Abdullah, 16 June 2014, Kuala Lumpur.
38 Interview with Khairy Jamaluddin, 6 March 2015, Washington, DC.
39 Heitshusen, Young, and Wood, “Electoral Context.”
40 Landé, “Political Clientelism,” 445.
41 Thachil, “Embedded Mobilization,” 465.
42 Brun, “Introduction,” 5.
43 Field notes, Hulu Selangor, 12 July 2014.
44 Field notes, Shah Alam, 5 August 2016.
45 When a PAS Selangor state legislator caught flak for including his image and the logo of his party, which had left the ruling coalition, on envelopes with state welfare payments, making it seem less a state-government programme, he countered, reasonably, that it had “been done by other assemblypersons before.” Ghazali, “What’s Wrong with PAS Logo on S’gor Gov’t Aid Envelopes?”
46 Lindberg, “What Accountability Pressures,” 120–1.
47 Ibid., 125–6.
48 Candidates may spend several years laying the ground for a win via constituency service; serving as coordinator helps. Interview with Ding Kuong Hiing, 25 April 2016, Meradong. On the new government, for instance: “Villages Under the Opposition Will Receive Allocation – DPM.” Malaysiakini, June 28, 2018. https://m.malaysiakini.com/news/431721.
49 Loh, “Towards a New Politics.”
50 Loh, “Developmentalism versus Reformism,” 172.
51 E.g. the DAP requires elected representatives to contribute part of their legislators’ allowance and party headquarters takes 10% of what they fundraise.
52 Interview, 21 April 2016, Kuching.
53 Fernandez, Reforming Political Financing, 67, 69–73.
54 Unpublished Merdeka Center field-research data. Researchers faulted BN operatives more frequently, however.
55 Wong, “Introduction,” 23, 26.
56 For example, Ahmad Fadli KC, “Rais – Okay to Use Gov’t Machinery for Campaigns.”
57 Yeoh, States of Reform, 142.
58 Funston, “UMNO,” 48.
59 Ibid., 73, Greene, Why Dominant Parties Lose, 271–4.
60 Shefter, Political Parties and the State.
61 Funston, “UMNO,” 39.
62 Ibid., 40.
63 Ibid.
64 Ibid., 44–6.
65 Ibid., 89.
66 Another deemed the database of recipients just as helpful. Interviews with Nur Jazlan Mohamed, 6 January 2015, Kuala Lumpur; Shahrir Samad, 3 August 2015, Kuala Lumpur.
67 Tam, “Govt to Hand Out RM1.6bil Living Aid from Mid-Aug.”
68 British officials believed UMNO’s bank balance to be a mere $35 as of 1950. TNA CO 537/6020, Extract from Fed. Of Malaya Political Report for May [1950].
69 TNA FCO 141/7413, DC Watherston, “A Note on Electoral Arrangements in the Federation of Malaya with Particular Regard to the Racial Composition of the Population,” 21 March 1955.
70 TNA FCO 24/483, letter from GC Duncan to TEJ Mound, 15 November 1968.
71 Hilley, Malaysia, 90–2.
72 TNA FCO 24/809, telegram from Lewis, 29 May 1970.
73 TNA FCO 24/809, letter from Grubb to Sullivan, 16 June 1970.
74 Loh, “Understanding Politics,” 6, Loh, “Understanding Politics,” 5–8.
75 Ibid., 5–8.
76 Quoted in Aeria, “The Politics of Development,” 58–9.
77 Ibid., 59–60, 63.
78 Aeria, “Sarawak,” 132.
79 Loh, “Understanding Politics,” 10.
80 LeBas, From Protest to Parties, 47.
81 Fernandez, Reforming Political Financing, 96–9.
82 TNA FCO 24/479, Confidential conversation record, of lunch meeting of Lord Shepherd, et al. and “members of various Malaysian political parties,” 1969.
83 Interviews with Teresa Kok, 31 December 2014, Kuala Lumpur; Oscar Ling, 18 June 2015, Kuala Lumpur; Sim Tong Him, 1 August 2015, Malacca; Baru Bian, 21 April 2016, Kuching; Wong Ling Biu, 23 April 2016, Sarikei.
84 Interviews with Rodziah Ismail, 5 August 2016, Shah Alam; DAP staff, 13 July 2014, Kuala Lumpur; and others.
85 Interview with Chong Sin Woon, 20 March 2015, Kuala Lumpur. Scions of both varieties toppled in 2018, given the push-pull combination of outrage over corruption (which Pakatan framed as connected with rising costs of living), Pakatan’s own state-level record, and reassurance that with Mahathir at the helm, preferential policies were secure.
86 Scott, “Patron-Client Politics,” 94.
87 Funston, “UMNO,” 42.
88 Fernandez, Reforming Political Financing, 25.
89 Ibid., 67.
90 Ibid., 77.
91 Ibid., 76–9.
92 Chandra, “Patronage, Democracy,” 155–6, 62–8.
93 Interviews with Mahathir Mohamad, 10 October 2016, Putrajaya; Lee Kah Choon, 2 January 2015, Penang; Teng Cheng Yeow, 3 January 2015, Penang.
94 Funston, “UMNO,” 118.
95 Aeria, “Sarawak,” 126.
96 C.f. Lindberg, “What Accountability Pressures,” 129–30.
97 Islamist opposition parties do both: they promote voting as/for Muslims, but also tout policies in line with their ideology. Inasmuch as these parties also seek non-Muslim votes for their “clean” agenda, we may consider them issue-based.
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Meredith L. Weiss
Meredith Weiss is Professor and Chair of Political Science at the University at Albany, State University of New York. She has published widely on political mobilization and contention, the politics of identity and development, and electoral politics in Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia and Singapore. A forthcoming book explores the resilience of electoral-authoritarian politics in Malaysia and Singapore; other current projects include collaborative studies of “money politics” as well as local governance in Southeast Asia, and an edited volume on Malaysia’s 2018 elections. She co-edits the Cambridge University Press Elements book series on Southeast Asian Politics & Society.