Malaysia's 2004 General Elections: spectacular victory, continuing tensions
The new Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, after approximately five months in office, led the ruling coalitionBarisan Nasional (National Front [BN]) into the country�s eleventh general elections in March 2004. The BN won spectacularly. The electoral success has been attributed as mu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of the Philippines
2004
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| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/47587/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/47587/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/47587/2/47587.pdf |
| Summary: | The new Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, after
approximately five months in office, led the ruling coalitionBarisan Nasional (National
Front [BN]) into the country�s eleventh general elections in March 2004. The BN won
spectacularly. The electoral success has been attributed as much to Abdullah�s reform
initiatives, which included war against graft in public and private sectors, efforts to
improve public delivery system and continued commitment to growth-oriented economic
policies, as to his own clean image. Further, his pronouncement of Islam Hadhari
(Civilizational Islam), a progressive Islam suited to the modern times, counterbalanced
the espousal of a theocratic Islamic state agenda by the opposition, Parti Islam SeMalaysia
(Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party [PAS]). This struck a chord with the majority Malay/Muslim
voters and led to the impressive electoral performance of the United Malays National
Organization (UMNO) in Malay-majority constituencies, which seemed to spell an end
to the Malay cultural revolt against the dominant Malay party caused by the sacking,
arrest and imprisonment of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. The
spectacular victory, however, belied continuing tensions in Malaysian politics where the
fault lines are being drawn less along narrow ethnic struggle, than between contending
discourses of democracy, religious identity and economic development. The election
results seem to reinforce politics beyond ethnicity which has been unfolding since the
1990s.
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