The difficult battle for Malaysia’s democratic soul
The challenge isn’t just implementing reforms, but also navigating an ideological split.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
There are two contending visions of democracy in Malaysia – one that demands equal rights for all citizens, and one that infuses democracy with the preservation of the traditional Malay-Muslim status quo.
PHOTO: AFP
Elvin Ong and Jeremy Siow
Various reasons have been offered as to why the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government has performed so poorly in Malaysia’s state elections in recent months, despite being the leading coalition in the federal government.
In the Johor and Negeri Sembilan polls held in July and August respectively, the PH coalition was trounced by the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and its electoral alliance with Perikatan Nasional (PN).