After 1,000 Malaysians - mainly ethnic Chinese - were murdered in the 1969 race riots, the politically dominant Malays instituted the New Economic Policy (NEP), which was intended as an affirmative-action type of system to improve the economic well-being of Malays by giving them preferential access to education, business grants and the like.
In recent years, however, Chinese and Indian Malays - the latter mainly Tamils imported as inexpensive labour during British rule - have argued that the NEP is long past its sell-by date, with Malays already attaining the social and economic benchmarks set under the deal.
The NEP is unlikely to be shelved anytime soon.
UMNO has effectively ruled Malaysia uninterrupted since independence, pitching in with Chinese and Indian parties to ensure at least a veneer of inter-ethnic fraternity in the Malay-dominated BN coalition.
However, after a tumultuous couple of years marked by racial tension (and a much-reduced Chinese/Indian vote for BN parties), sectarian rabble rousing and the worst electoral result in the party's history, UMNO’s affectations of change must be seen for what they are.
Uneasy electorate
Such an opaque process has not gone unnoticed. A recent national voter survey conducted by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research showed that 79 percent of voters say that “UMNO delegates must take into consideration the views of ordinary Malaysians in determining [the] UMNO leadership line-up as it influences national politics.”
Only 16 percent of voters are happy with UMNO maintaining full ownership of leadership decisions, which is probably fair enough, given the party's long-standing predominance.
“The recent clampdown on opposition newspapers showed Najib's desperation. The already limited space of freedom is further curtailed. Democracy in Malaysia is looking bleak,”
In recent years, however, Chinese and Indian Malays - the latter mainly Tamils imported as inexpensive labour during British rule - have argued that the NEP is long past its sell-by date, with Malays already attaining the social and economic benchmarks set under the deal.
The NEP is unlikely to be shelved anytime soon.
UMNO has effectively ruled Malaysia uninterrupted since independence, pitching in with Chinese and Indian parties to ensure at least a veneer of inter-ethnic fraternity in the Malay-dominated BN coalition.
However, after a tumultuous couple of years marked by racial tension (and a much-reduced Chinese/Indian vote for BN parties), sectarian rabble rousing and the worst electoral result in the party's history, UMNO’s affectations of change must be seen for what they are.
Uneasy electorate
Such an opaque process has not gone unnoticed. A recent national voter survey conducted by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research showed that 79 percent of voters say that “UMNO delegates must take into consideration the views of ordinary Malaysians in determining [the] UMNO leadership line-up as it influences national politics.”
Only 16 percent of voters are happy with UMNO maintaining full ownership of leadership decisions, which is probably fair enough, given the party's long-standing predominance.
“The recent clampdown on opposition newspapers showed Najib's desperation. The already limited space of freedom is further curtailed. Democracy in Malaysia is looking bleak,”
Economic downturn
The country's trade-dependent economy is being hit hard by the global recession. . The political implications of the downturn. “Economic progress and better education have directly resulted in the birth of a class of voters who are better informed, very demanding and highly critical,"
"If we do not heed this message, their seething anger will become hatred, and in the end this may cause them to abandon us altogether."
For now, however, an apparent regression to Mahathir-era repression - only this time in a polarized political environment, with religious and ethnic overtones - seems imminent.
14/08/10
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