The Malaysia Divide


An institutional overhaul is long overdue in Kuala Lumpur.
By ALICE LLOYD GEORGE
Kuala Lumpur | The Wall Street Journal

“The Leopard,” Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s celebrated novel about the crumbling feudal order in 19th century Sicily, made famous the line, “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.” That pretty much sums up the predicament of Malaysia’s ruling elite today.

The sodomy trial of Anwar Ibrahim drags on in Kuala Lumpur, with the opposition leader’s freedom and political career hanging in the balance. But the true significance of this anachronistic case does not depend on the outcome in the courtroom. The political assassination of Mr. Anwar aside, Malaysia is witnessing the death throes of a political machine that has run the country for over five decades. Mr. Anwar is a skilled politician who holds together an unlikely alliance of opposition parties—his conviction would certainly be a blow for the prospect of real political pluralism in Malaysia. But he also serves as a vessel for wider social forces and a disenchantment with the country’s leadership. Another figure would surely take his place at the head of the reform movement.

The ruling coalition was founded on the principle that the three main races—Malays, Chinese and Indians—participate in politics through their own parties. Coupled with an elaborate system of affirmative action, this has allowed the United Malays National Organization to maintain a lock on power by protecting Malays from the winds of competition. After the opposition made unprecedented gains in the March 2008 elections, desperate tactics were called for, hence a rather tired repeat of the homosexuality charge first brought against Mr. Anwar a decade ago, now dubbed “Sodomy II” by a skeptical public. The government has denied that the trial is politically motivated.

That the political system and patronage network are under increasing stress is clear, but the prognosis is not yet apparent to all. Some in UMNO, like Prime Minister Najib Razak, think they can maintain the old system by merely tinkering around the edges. Mr. Najib has gestured toward loosening long-standing affirmative-action policies, but any good intentions are obstructed by entrenched interests in UMNO’s conservative wing—to date the repeals have been cosmetic at best. Others are coming to a different realization—Malaysian society has matured and even Malays now recognize that outdated and discriminatory policies must give way to a more transparent and accountable system.

One such leader is Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, a former finance minister of royal blood. Mr. Razaleigh has re-emerged as an outspoken critic of the government in recent weeks, though he strongly denies any intention of switching to the opposition. The 73-year-old party veteran has a history of challenging the leadership; in 1988 he left UMNO and formed a rival Malay party before returning to the fold in 1996.

Sitting in his Kuala Lumpur home—a remarkably exact replica of the White House’s Oval Office—Mr. Razaleigh argues that UMNO politicians have not been responsive to calls for reform. “The young want to see a really multiracial organization, fighting on egalitarian issues, without having to fall back on race,” he explains. “Unless the party system and the political system are reformed exhaustively, I think we are going to be pulled back into the same boat we have been in for the last 50 years.”

Mr. Razaleigh believes that Malaysians want to move beyond identity politics, but UMNO is unable to break away from its Malay nationalist roots. Most recently, the government appealed a court ruling that allowed the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims. Though UMNO called for calm, the prime minister’s statement that he couldn’t stop protestors from expressing their opinions only served to fan the flames. The ruling was followed by a spate of desecration and arson attacks on churches and mosques. Mr. Najib further undermined the government’s response to the crisis when he flew across the world for a 10-day tour of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and India, taking key cabinet ministers and senior officials with him.

By contrast, in a milestone decision, the opposition Islamic party PAS—which only 10 years ago campaigned to create a theocratic state with Sharia law—took a more moderate stance, urging Malaysians to respect the court ruling. The irony is that while UMNO continues to play race politics to out-Islam its opponents, PAS is appealing to a more progressive voter base.

Part of the reason for the electorate’s change of heart is the realization that Malaysia risks being left behind economically if it doesn’t climb out of its middle-income trap and eliminate the inefficiencies inherent in racial policies. These policies were formulated in the 1970s, when Malaysia was a tiger economy. Now its growth lags behind Southeast Asian neighbors like Indonesia—the new “i” in BRIC—and China and India increasingly pose competitive challenges.

The country has suffered from an acute brain drain over the last decade, as individuals seek education and employment in countries where talent is better rewarded. Now it faces capital flight, too, with foreign direct investment dropping to $2.7 billion in 2009 from $8.1 billion the previous year, according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development estimates. One reason is the fear that UMNO will continue to play the race card and stir up tensions to keep itself in power. Another is the government’s failure to undertake much-needed institutional reforms and address issues such as corruption, civil liberties and judicial independence. Malaysia’s risk index, as calculated by Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, rose to 5.4 in January from 5.24 in December on a 10-point scale.

If there is a silver lining here, it is that even as UMNO has stoked tensions, by and large Malaysians have refused to be provoked—a stark contrast to the May 13 Incident in 1969, when rumors of ethnic slights quickly snowballed into massive riots and emergency rule. And that is one more indication that leaders like Mr. Anwar and Mr. Razaleigh are right that Malaysian society is ripe for change. If the current UMNO elite is to stand any chance of remaining in power, it needs to focus on remedying the very real challenges on its doorstep, rather than felling the opposition. Societal reform based on equality of opportunity is a change that is long overdue.

Ms. Lloyd George is a Princeton in Asia fellow at The Wall Street Journal Asia.

  1. #1 by chengho on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 - 3:00 pm

    George,
    we are looking at China for the new superpower , look at Toyota , how the US attack them . the shareholder of GM and Ford is uncle Sam , sound like unfairly competition?

  2. #2 by dagen on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 - 3:13 pm

    Malaysia ripe for change? Sure. But umno is not willing to change. Two reasons. (1) They have not quite had enough yet. They needed more time and more opportunities to accumulate more wealth and more and larger mansions and villas and bellies. (2) New people in power will surely investigate their (i.e. old people) abuses. That cannot do. Look at Ah Bian, the ex-president of taiwan. Whole family in jail. This is also a reason (my suspicion) for the capital flight. Umnoputras relocating their loots to overseas.

  3. #3 by Kasim Amat on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 - 3:41 pm

    Reply to Lloyd George:

    1. China and India are no way the new superpowers of the world, as they are still perturbed by serious poverty and corruption issues. Malaysia is still ahead of these two countries in many areas such as financial service, aviation, education, research and development and biotechnology. Many European countries, Japan and the US prefer to invest in Malaysia rather than India and China as evidenced by the latest efforts made by our Deputy PM.

    2. Anwar’s trial is clearly not politically motivated because the plaintiff was Anwar’s ex-aide and not someone from the BN. Only Anwar knows what is going on here.

    3. Foreign direct investment has drastically fallen in other developing countries including Singapore and Indonesia as well due to the recent economy downturn originated from the US. Thanks to the US.

    4. The Malaysian has not objected to the racial policies since its induction as evidenced by the strong victories of BN in elections in the past 5 decades. The policies are tailored to maintain peace and racial harmony in Malaysia. It is not surprising for the US to criticise this policy because they do not like to see peace in other countries being a war-orientated nation.

    5. We agree that UMNO needs a reform but not to the extent that it betrayed our own value and sells away the Malay’s rights. UMNO is there to protect Malay’s rights and they always will, no matter what happen.

  4. #4 by Bigjoe on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 - 4:02 pm

    The problem with this view is that Malaysia has always made difficult changes long after everyone else does it. For example, while Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, threw open the doors for foreign investment decades before, we only opened up after Mahathir came into office in the 1980s.

    They started adopting higher productivity measures or so called ‘high income model’ as far as 1970s and 1980s when we are doing it only now.

    They also opened up their services sector in the 1990s and the ultras are still fighting the few marginal sectors that is supposed to be opened up already.

    Put it this way, Japan and Korea was anti-English for decades now its encouraged even in public road signs while we are still fighting over it in schools and god forbid in public road signs.

    No, BN govt have always been overdue for many things and still do not change.

    Put it another way, the past changes in FDI, productivity, English, etc. was actually easy relative to these current rounds of required changes. If those changes took decades to catch up, what do you think these rounds of required change will take?

  5. #5 by waterfrontcoolie on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 - 4:03 pm

    To the rest of the bloggers, PLEASE IGnore this ignoramus Kasim Amat; especially on the first Para!

  6. #6 by hibou on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 - 4:40 pm

    Yeah, waterfrontcoolie, seems to be an epidemic in UMNO, like what’s contracted also by DPM Muhyiddin.

    Symptoms are talking without any facts to substantiate their claims and through their noses

  7. #7 by Voter get Voters campaign for PR on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 - 4:59 pm

    “VOTER GET VOTERS” campaign .
    It’s NOW or NEVER
    Vote for a BETTER & a FREE Malaysia.

    Be an active political activist.
    Vote 4 a Goverment bend on eradicating Corruptions,Racisms,Abuse of Human Rights,IS

    A Goverment of the People,by the People & for the People..

  8. #8 by Voter get Voters campaign for PR on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 - 5:13 pm

    Kasim Amat is an umNo storm trooper who are paid crumps.The real traitors to the Malays like himself is umNO ( esp the umNOputras ) who enriched themselves with Millions and Billions and the expenses of millions of poverty grinded Malays. Maybe this scumbag is happy with some breadcrumbs while his umNO master live lavishly in BIG mansion. Long Live DSAI, Long Live PR

  9. #9 by undertaker888 on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 - 8:57 pm

    ///…Malay’s rights.///kasim amat

    what does that mean anyway, malay right? malaysian rights i can understand. malay rights? sorry does not register.

    malay rights = umno rights to steal. ha…this i understand. understood, kasim amat tongkoi?

  10. #10 by waterfrontcoolie on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 - 11:44 pm

    ChengHo, don’t talk about Toyota in US. just talk about your attitude and that of Asmat kasim’s; how much different are you from those Americans who wanted to vent their anger on Toyota because they couldn’t compete on even field?? Don’t you think they just mirror you??

  11. #11 by DCLXVI on Thursday, 25 February 2010 - 12:09 am

    Kasim Amat: “1. China and India are no way the new superpowers of the world, as they are still perturbed by serious poverty and corruption issues. Malaysia is still ahead of these two countries in many areas such as financial service, aviation, education, research and development and biotechnology. Many European countries, Japan and the US prefer to invest in Malaysia rather than India and China as evidenced by the latest efforts made by our Deputy PM.”

    Sadly, there are still Malaysians who complacently mock the ‘perceived backwardness’ of some countries until the day they were rudely awaken by news that those countries had already caught up and overtaken us…

    Kasim Amat: “2. Anwar’s trial is clearly not politically motivated because the plaintiff was Anwar’s ex-aide and not someone from the BN. Only Anwar knows what is going on here.”

    The plaintiff admitted that he had taken 2 days from the time of the alleged sodomy before he decided to report it to the police, and within that time period, he had met Najib to ‘seek advice’. Unbelievably, despite medical reports that there was no sign of penetration on the plaintiff, the trial has been allowed to continue. It should have been dismissed if this case was actually motivated purely by justice.

    Kasim Amat: “3. Foreign direct investment has drastically fallen in other developing countries including Singapore and Indonesia as well due to the recent economy downturn originated from the US. Thanks to the US.”

    Even before the 2008 global financial meltdown, there were already foreign companies relocating their operations from Malaysia to other countries with more favourable business climate…

    Kasim Amat: “4. The Malaysian has not objected to the racial policies since its induction as evidenced by the strong victories of BN in elections in the past 5 decades. The policies are tailored to maintain peace and racial harmony in Malaysia. It is not surprising for the US to criticise this policy because they do not like to see peace in other countries being a war-orientated nation.”

    What ‘racial policies’ is Umno-BN advocating?
    ‘1 Malaysia’ in one hand but racialistic Umno-BN politicians on the other hand?
    It is not surprising that the Americans are criticising such a ‘racial policy’ because for the first time in their two hundred over years of their nation’s history, they have elected an African-American as their president.

    Kasim Amat: “5. We agree that UMNO needs a reform but not to the extent that it betrayed our own value and sells away the Malay’s rights. UMNO is there to protect Malay’s rights and they always will, no matter what happen.”

    Our Federal Constitution already has provisions that protect the rights of the Malays and other bumiputra groups in Malaysia, but of course, not at the expense of the rights of the non-bumiputras. Umno’s reform should include going back to the constitution and actually understand it, not twist it to suit the party’s own agenda…

  12. #12 by DCLXVI on Thursday, 25 February 2010 - 12:29 am

    chengho: “we are looking at China for the new superpower”

    That’s odd. Your comrade in arms, Kasim Amat, had begged to differ.

    chengho: “look at Toyota , how the US attack them . the shareholder of GM and Ford is uncle Sam , sound like unfairly competition?”

    Look at DCNS. They knew they were building submarines for a country in the tropics. Why couldn’t they ensure that their cooling systems will not fail in warmer waters?
    Why couldn’t they design a reliable ballast system that could be repaired in hours instead of weeks which could leave the submarine unable to submerge, making it vulnerable to enemy attack on the surface?
    Sounds like insufficient R&D funds due to money being used to ‘persuade’ certain unscrupulous politicians to buy their subs…

  13. #13 by monsterball on Thursday, 25 February 2010 - 12:50 am

    Alice Lloyd George is well informed and accurate in her message.
    Anwar must be put in jail at all cost…and Sodomy is the only way UMNO can do it again….since kangaroo court cases are nothing new in Malaysia.under UMNO BARU.
    Anwar needs to be prepared and spend more time to support and strengthen PR leaders and unity…and if UMNO wins and put Anwar into jail..you will see a mightier determined Malaysians…unite to vote UMNO out and set him free…in 13th GE.
    Yes…with Anwar free to speak and talk in an election…it does make the event exciting…but we have heard it all and remember.
    So with or without Anwar…UMNO BARY will be finished by Malaysians..once and for all.
    Now we wait for Najib to come out with more smart ideas how to frighten us.

  14. #14 by Black Arrow on Thursday, 25 February 2010 - 8:16 am

    Monsterball is right. BN wants to destroy Pakatan Rakyat by putting Anwar in jail. BN is stupid enough to use the old Sodomy Scrip. Even the dialogue is rotten to the core.

    BN is now like a wounded tiger. Extremely dangerous when fighting for its survival.

  15. #15 by rockdaboat on Thursday, 25 February 2010 - 8:58 am

    Thank you Kasim Amat for the entertainment you so unfailingly provide!

    You write good English, only that you have the brain of a new born baby, :-))

  16. #16 by lopez on Thursday, 25 February 2010 - 10:54 pm

    The animals in us, tells us we have to flock and gather among the like.

    if you trying to bluff and one this and one that..it okay but treat others fairly and with sincere respect..simply put..
    ….all you really need to do is just respect the cow, and the cow will respect you.
    If you dont maybe you become a cow in your rebirth…if you dont belief in this, you can sleep easy and know it later.

    Nobody can say you will be a cow anyway..unlike other beliefs…the judgment begins before you die.
    listen lah please…is it really that hard…likewise many can hear you .,,,,too.

You must be logged in to post a comment.