Hi everyone, I'm a crow.
Malaysia's general election recently ended. The election received special attention because of an unprecedented new situation in the election situation – for the first time in the history of the key Southeast Asian country, there was a hanging parliament.
Pakatan Harapan Harapan (PH), which won 82 seats, became the largest coalition of political parties, while the Chinese Pakatan Harapan Democratic Action Party became the largest party in Pakatan Harapan with 40 seats. However, the leader of PH, Prime Minister candidate Anwar's PKR Party, suffered a crushing defeat in the Malay constituency, and Pakatan Harapan became a ruling coalition without the support of the main ethnic groups, and there were many hidden dangers.
On the other side, the National League (League) won 79 seats, of which the Islamic Party won 45 seats, which is the biggest winner of this election. The long-ruling National Front (BN), with UMNO as its core, won only 30 seats, while the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a Chinese party in BN, won only one seat and became a laughing stock again. But while Barisan Nasional lost without knowing his mother, he unexpectedly became a kingmaker, which shows that Malaysian politics is already chaotic.
In the end, Pakatan Harapan and BN, who had been fighting for decades, formed a coalition of Umno, which had previously abused PH leader Anwar, making Anwar the prime minister of Malaysia. To put it truly, politics is the art of compromise.
1
Of course, most people are probably not familiar with the Malaysian political landscape, and the names of this string of parties and coalitions of parties are so dizzying that people are dizzy... The crows are here one by one, first talking about the National Front (BN), which has long monopolized the Malaysian regime.
Malaysia is racially diverse, with a large population consisting of the majority ethnic Malays, the largest ethnic minority Chinese, the even more minority Indians, and the Sabah and Sarawak people of East Malaysia. The political party structure in Malaysia is highly ethnic.
Among the BN are the Malay political party UMNO (UMNO, also known as the Malay National Unity Organization), the Chinese political party Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), the Indian political party Malaysian Indian National Congress (MCA), and the Sabah People's Unity Party (SABP).
Correspondingly, Pakatan Harapan Harapan (PHP), which has long rivaled Barisan Nasionalis, is the PKR based on the Malay community, the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (ROCKET), and the Sabah nationalist party Kinabalma Forward Unity Agency (SNA).
In short, Malaysian politics is based on ethnic parties in different races, and they look for ethnic parties of other ethnic groups across races to form alliances, so there are different ethnic parties in basically each party alliance.
(Malaysia-designate Prime Minister Anwar)
In each election, each ethnic base party runs in the area where the ethnic group is the majority, for example, the Chinese constituency is the MCA and the Rocket campaign, the Malay constituency is UMNO and PKR competition, and the final total competition depends on the MCA + UMNO VS Rocket + PKR...
It is not surprising that there are many political parties in a country, it is not surprising that a political party alliance is formed, and it is even less surprising that a country has many races, but it is really quite rare for different races to have multiple ethnic base parties, and on this basis, multiple cross-racial party alliances are formed...
It should be noted that the Malaysian Parliament adopts the same small constituencies as the United Kingdom and the United States, and this election method is actually very easy to form a two-party system. For example, in the United States, whether white, Chinese, Latino, Italian, Turkish, black, can stand under the banner of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party respectively, Malaysia has given birth to six major political party alliances, more than 70 political parties, it is not surprising.
Such a strange political situation in Malaysia stems from the serious estrangement between various races, especially the Malays, the main ethnic group, and the largest ethnic minority, the Chinese...
During the British colonization of Malaya, the colonial rulers adopted a divide-and-rule strategy, with commerce going to Chinese immigrant merchants and grassroots rule relying on indigenous Malays. In terms of cooperation, it also colludes with the upper echelons of various nationalities, so that the leaders of each ethnic group can lead their own ethnic groups.
This style of rule naturally led to distrust among the various ethnic groups, especially the Malays and Chinese. Because the Chinese compradors monopolized commercial interests, the Malay community was very hostile to the Chinese, and in the process of gradually withdrawing from the British and granting autonomy to the Malayan colonies, political power was gradually transferred to the Malays, and the life of the Chinese began to be difficult.
The first half of the 20th century belonged to the rebels, and communist ideas spread throughout the world. The Malay Chinese, who were oppressed by the British colonialists, Chinese compradors and Malay nationalists, naturally did not accept their fate, and China's revolutionary heat wave also affected the Malay-Chinese society.
The Communist Party of Malaya was born in 1930, a predominantly Chinese party that fought to the death against its rulers.
During the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia, the MCP established the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army, which launched guerrilla warfare in the rear of the Japanese army and became one of the main anti-Japanese forces during the Japanese occupation period. The MCP adopted the anti-Japanese policy of uniting with the British, and the People's Anti-Japanese Army led by the MCP grew to more than 10,000 people and controlled half of Malaya.
After the surrender of Japan in 1945, the MCP began to turn to anti-colonial activities, carrying out strikes and school strikes, and became a major problem for the British imperialists.
In order to compete with the MCP among the Chinese, the British Empire let the Chinese comprador take the lead, and in 1947 established the Malayan Chinese Association, the predecessor of today's MCA.
At that time, the Chinese community in the world was either the Communist Party or the Kuomintang, and the guerrillas and rebels were under the banner of the Communist Party, and this comprador party MCA was naturally the power of the Kuomintang.
Many of MCA's top officials were themselves Kuomintang members, such as Leung Yugao, a Kuomintang major general, Li Hsiao-shi, a Kuomintang army colonel, and Lam Cang You, who joined the MCA in 1952, and who worked as Chen Cheng's personal doctor.
If you look up at the MCA's party flag, isn't this the color-changing version of the blue sky and day... As a result, the left and right Chinese split under the manipulation of the colonists.
In 1948, the British declared the MCP a rebel organization and suppressed it. The MCP also counterattacked and entered a state of guerrilla warfare.
Because the MCP is mostly Chinese and traditionally has close ties with the CCP, it is difficult for the MCP to gain the trust of the Malays. The British also took advantage of this to carry out defamatory propaganda against the MCP's guerrilla warfare, as if the MCP were waging a racial vendetta against the Malays. Malay fears of the MCP deepened. The comprador party MCA cooperated with the British imperialism in the Chinese community and cut off MCP support.
The Malays are mostly Muslim, and the British have responded to this by amplifying the anti-religious plot of the MCP. In fact, the MCP does not have extreme measures against Islam, but the British targeted smear propaganda makes the Malays fear that the MCP will destroy the Islamic faith.
Finally, under the joint stranglehold of the reactionary forces, the MCP gradually declined. But years of British smearing propaganda and the tradition of divide and rule have led to a deepening hatred between the Chinese and the Malays.
2
In 1957, the British left completely, and Malaysia became an independent state. Through Article 153 of the Constitution, independent Malaysia established the privileged status of the Malays as an Aboriginal people, with the Malays having quota advantages in the fields of government, equity and education. As the largest ethnic minority, the Chinese are in a marginalized position.
As mentioned earlier, the Chinese top brass had commercial privileges during the colonial era, which aroused the hatred of the Malays. The Chinese fear being suppressed, while the Malays believe that they have been trampled under the feet of the rich Chinese and that it is time to turn over.
In fact, behind this so-called "racial antagonism" is actually a naked class contradiction. Imagine that between a poor Malay and a poor Chinese, there should be no confrontation. However, this class contradiction was transformed by the British Empire and some Malay nationalists into a contradiction between the two races of Chinese and Malay.
Malaysia is not without opportunities to reverse this deformed racial politics.
On the day of Malaysia's independence, the Malayan People's Party, representing the Malay Left, and the Malayan Labour Party, representing the Chinese left, decided to form the Malayan People's Socialist Front (FSHP).
Despite the suppression of the Communist uprising, the parliamentary leftists formed class parties that straddled the line between Malay and Chinese.
In the 1959 general election in Malaya, the FSI won 8 seats in Selangor, Johor and Penang, and won a total of 34.6% of the vote in the constituencies in which it participated. The Social Front received 13% of the vote nationwide and became the third largest party in Parliament.
In the 1961 local elections, the SPF won 13 of the 14 seats in George City, Penang. The BNP grew further after the National Assembly Party, led by former Minister of Agriculture Abdul Yaz, joined the BNO.
The rising social front has put class discourse ahead of racial politics and has created a new wind in Malaysian politics.
However, UMNO, which inherited the British Empire, also relied on divide and rule to govern Malaysia, and they also wanted to take advantage of the contradiction between the Malays and the Chinese, turn the class contradiction into a racial conflict and then rule the country. The FPI's strategy of fighting against class contradictions made UMNO extremely panicked, and it was impossible for them to allow the existence of the PFI.
In 1963, the UMNO government used the Internal Security Act to bypass all legal procedures by arresting FNP leaders and suppressing left-wing opposition figures.
Those arrested included Busdaman (Chairman of the Malayan People's Party), Isamohd (Chairman of the Malayan Labour Party), Abdul Yaz (Chairman of the Malay Awakening Power Movement), Datuk Kampo Radjo (later Chairman of the Malayan Labour Party), Tan Kai Hee and more than 100 others.
Under this unreasonable repression that ignored the law and was unreasonable, in the 1964 Malaysian general election, the Social Front lost its original 6 seats and retained only 2 seats. The Malayan People's Party and the National Assembly Party were unable to gain any seats, while the Malayan Labour Party lost a large number of seats.
In 1965 the Malayan People's Party decided to withdraw from the Social Front. Soon after, the National Congress Party ceased its activities. The Malayan Labour Party, the only remaining member party of the FLIN, decided on 10 January 1966 to abandon the BNY and revert to the original electoral symbol.
Putting class above race is that hard in Malaysia.
3
Lee Kuan Yew led Singapore to join Malaysia, and his advocacy of "Malaysia for Malaysians" was also an opportunity for Malaysia to bridge racial tensions and build a supra-racial national identity. However, UMNO is equally reluctant to accept this approach.
At that time, the PAP was still a member of the Socialist International, and Lee Kuan Yew was a social democrat who believed that racial contradictions should not replace class issues.
"Of course there are some Chinese who are millionaires, drive big cars, live in big houses. Could it be that making some Malays rich and owning big cars and big houses is the answer? ”
Lee Kuan Yew hit the nail on the head: "What would happen if we deceived the people into believing that their poverty was because they did not have Malay privileges, or if the opposition opposed Malay privileges?" Umno convinced the people in the countryside that they were poor because the Chinese did not speak Malay and the government did not use Malay, so he expected a miracle to happen when Malay became the only national language. When all Chinese begin to speak Malay, their standard of living will improve. But if you don't improve then, what else can you say? ”
In the face of such claims, UMNO made two moves. They first used the merger with Indonesia to scare the Chinese society, knowing that as a neighbor in Southeast Asia, Indonesia is also a Muslim country, and the implementation of stricter Sharia law, Chinese community Chinese schools are restricted and suppressed. If the two countries become one, the Chinese make up less of the population and the way of life will be completely changed.
The MCA, who used to fight the British colonialists, is now also acting as a junior brother for UMNO, and they cooperate with UMNO's intimidation measures, saying that the Chinese society should not stimulate the emotions of the Malay people, otherwise everyone may have to become Indonesian.
Lee Kuan Yew wanted the Malaysian government to stop the racist propaganda of the Malays, but the MCA asked Lee Kuan Yew to stop provoking the Malays... This traitor performance is also nobody.
When the Chinese community was intimidated by the prospect of Indonesianization, the UMNO government resorted to a second move – demanding that Singapore secede from the Union. In this way, in 1965, Lee Kuan Yew had to bring Singapore to independence, the proportion of Chinese in Malaysia declined, and Southeast Asia added a small country with an absolute majority of Chinese.
At this point, the interracial contradictions within Malaysia became the focus of the country's political life, and all class or supra-racial political discourse was seen as a provocation to Malay power and would be forcefully suppressed by UMNO.
But imagine that the Chinese see their interests betrayed, the state uses the constitution to ensure the privileges of the Malays, and the comprador party that claims to represent the Chinese will only be the ruler to answer the worm, whether the ruler is British or Malay... Can the Chinese endure?
In 1969, Malaysia held parliamentary elections. The coalition of the three major racial parties organised by UMNO, MCA and Congress hopes to maintain an absolute majority. But angry Chinese voters rejected the MCA with their ballot and voted for the Democratic Action Party, the successor to the Malayan branch of the People's Action Party in Singapore (referred to DAP as a rocket due to a rocket on the party emblem).
(DAP Malaysia emblem)
The independent MCA People's Party has also formed an alliance with DAP to confront MCA in the Chinese community.
Because of the demographic advantage of the Chinese in urban areas, the Rockets and the Democrats won many urban constituencies, almost losing a two-thirds majority in parliament to the previously smooth UMNO, MCA, and Congress coalition.
Jubilant Rocket and Nationalist parties staged a victory march in the capital Kuala Lumpur on May 11 and 12, with participants mocking Malays with radical slogans such as "Semua Melayu kasi habis" (Kill all Malays).
Some UMNO radical activists were outraged and staged counter-demonstrations. On May 13, the two factions clashed in the streets, which eventually turned into a bloody riot. Many Malay radicals wantonly attacked the Chinese people in the streets, causing panic in the Chinese community.
On 15 May, the country declared a "state of emergency".
The Chinese believed that this incident was a massacre by the Malays against the Chinese. This bloody ethnic conflict resulted in many deaths and injuries.
The partition and rule of the British and the smearing propaganda of the MCP caused a serious gap between the Chinese and the Malays; UMNO continued this way of ruling in such a way that the contradictions between the two communities could not be bridged; This intense racial vendetta, and the ensuing political repression of the "state of emergency", further created inter-ethnic rivalries.
The Chinese will not vote for the Malays, and the Malays do not dare to vote for the Chinese, so Malaysia can only adopt the ethno-based party system, and then the ethnic based parties form a political party alliance, and cannot form a cross-racial large political party that represents the interests of class and strata.
Moreover, the presence of Singapore and Indonesia provides excellent arguments for Chinese and Malay nationalists to stoke racial antagonism.
As a minority, the Chinese are afraid of being forced to change their lifestyle by Malay Muslims and are afraid of being persecuted like Indonesian Chinese; The Malays, on the other hand, saw themselves as Orang Asli but were second-class citizens of Singapore, and naturally feared that Malaysia would become like this.
With UMNO's strength, MCA has been in the ruling party for many years, and moderates among the Chinese are willing to vote for MCA. However, because the MCA has been a traitor for many years and has no status in front of UMNO, unable to fight for the rights and interests of the Chinese, let alone respond to the demands of the Chinese in terms of nationalism, the rocket has become more and more powerful in recent years, encompassing almost all the Chinese constituencies in the country.
With the rise of rockets, Malay nationalists described the center-left Huaji party as a communist, blowing a dog whistle to evoke Malay fears of the MCP and in turn arousing Malay voting enthusiasm. In this election, it is not surprising that the Malay supremacist Islamic Party became the largest party in Parliament.
When the fear of each other of the two ethnic groups is amplified, the original suspense of competition between the race-based political parties in various ethnic groups gradually disappears, and voters of all ethnic groups each vote for a race-based political party, I am afraid that the story of the May Day Three vendetta will be repeated...
Malaysia's future is really not good...
Resources:
Al Jazeera: What do we know about the negotiations to form a new Malaysian government?
Song Xiaofeng: Political Stability in Malaysia's Modernization Process: A Perspective on the Party System
Institute of Migration, Shandong University: The space for Chinese participation in politics in Malaysia from an institutional perspective
Shi Cangjin: A Comparative Study of the History of Political Participation of Chinese and Indian Malaysians