Elections in Malaysia

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So, it’s Election Day in Malaysia today, so I thought it would be appropriate to make a post about it. To tell the truth, I’m aged 32 this year and I’ve never registered as a voter, let alone voted in any election in Malaysia. My excuse is that I’ve never been in Malaysia whenever there’s actually been an election since I left for France immediately after finishing high school and have spent most of my time outside the country since then.

Still, as you can see from the screenshot above, even I can’t run away from it entirely. I was surprised to see a political advertisement for the Barisan Nasional while reading some oddball news about an Israeli researcher who claims that Moses was high on drugs when he saw God on Yahoo News. Since I don’t think that advertising like this is exactly cheap, I suspect that this is a sign that the pressure this year really is getting to the ruling coalition. The buzz from blogs like the one by Jed Yoong and Taiping Coffee also confirms that the people of Malaysia is highly unsatisfied with the coalition that has ruled the country since independence. When you read about stuff like the Chinese stating their willingness to vote for PAS and opposition party rallies attracting crowds of thousands of people while BN rallies have mere handfuls of them, you can’t help but feel hope for real change.

I can’t claim to know much Malaysian politics, given how out of the loop I’ve been. On the one hand, it seems clear that the BN has been busy enriching themselves at country’s expense and more disgustingly, playing up racial and religious differences in a crass attempt to keep power at all costs. On the other hand, I can perceive that Malaysia is still a highly unequal and inhomogeneous country with a wide disparity between rural and urban areas. The incessant complaints of the rising cost of living for Klang Valley residents for example feel out-of-place when you consider how undeveloped many parts of Malaysia still remain compared to the Klang Valley. I also have serious doubts about the competence of many opposition party politicians, especially on economic matters, given the populist and simplistic campaign promises some have been making.

I of course heartily agree that the BN needs to given a good drubbing to wake them up a bit, but I must confess that the idea of DAP or PKR running the country makes me nervous given how inexperienced they seem. Ironically, it’s PAS that might be best at running the country given their experience in Kelantan and previously other states. And don’t count out independent candidates like this 89-year old grandmother!

4 thoughts on “Elections in Malaysia”

  1. While it is probably true that the opposition have no experience running the country, but if they were not given the chance to try, how would we even know?

    If Party Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) is to rule the country, it might work. Remember that Anwar was once Deputy Prime Minister.

    Anyway, the results are out and BN lost big time this round. 5 states – Selangor, Penang, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan were lost to the opposition parties.

    As of now, the 3 major opposition parties – DAP, PKR and PAS are uniting themselves to rule the 5 states for themselves.

    Only time will tell how well the opposition will perform.

    Personally, I hope the change is for the better.

  2. With 5 states in their hands, this will be a good time the opposition can proof their capability in governing. If they are good, then it will be great for Malaysia as we can finally have a more healthy political balance.

  3. Yeah, all things considered, this appears to be the best possible result. The opposition victory is overwhelming enough to give the BN serious pause while being insufficient to form a BA government. On the other the winning of those states gives the BA parties a valuable chance to put their words into practice and actually rules and gain experience from that. The next general election will be very interesting indeed.

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