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Changes in Chinese's Political Involvement in Malaysia

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Changes in Chinese's Political Involvement in Malaysia CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository ISSN: 0128-7702 Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 18 (1): 11 - 21 (2010) © Universiti Putra Malaysia Press Changes in Chinese’s Political Involvement in Malaysia Lee Yok Fee Department of Government and Civilization Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Malaysian Chinese is the second largest group in the country’s population and has been actively involved in politics since their mass immigration during the middle of the 19th century. The main objective of this article is to examine the political involvement of the Chinese, their voting behaviour, bureaucratic participation and reaction to Malay dominance in the country in different periods, i.e. pre- and post-1970, and post-2008 General Elections. This writing is greatly contingent upon a content analysis on secondary data collected from reports, journal articles, book chapters, and newspaper articles. In short, Chinese’s involvement and reaction in politics in Malaysia significantly depend on the discourse of Malay dominance. Malaysian Chinese’s political participation in the period from 1970 to 1990 indicated both continuity and change. Chinese electorate’s voting patterns seem to demonstrate a swing to the opposition candidates, while the parties in the Barisan Nasional government continue to enjoy the confidence of the Malay communities as well as the elites. Meanwhile, the so-called politic tsunami on 8 March 2008 has opened a new phase in the Malaysian political development. The nature of politics is said to have shifted from communal-based politic to multiethnic-based. Keywords: Bureaucratic participation, Malaysian Chinese, Malay dominance, Chinese’s political involvement INTRODUCTION instance, Orang Asli, Kadazan, Iban, etc.). On Malaysia is a highly plural society since ancient the other hand, the Chinese (26.0 percent) and times, i.e. the pre-colonial period, in contrast Indians (7.7 percent) form the majority of the to most scholars theorizing the phenomenon non-Bumiputera category. as a product of colonization. As a plural The ethnic distribution has not altered society, nation building has always been a great considerably in view of the rapid growth of challenge for Malaysia (Shamsul, 1997). The the Malaysian population. The two main ethnic composition of this country comprises demographic categories of the population, i.e. two major constitutional categories, namely Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera, have been Bumiputera (literally means ‘prince of the soil’) regarded as critical in sustaining ethnic balance and non-Bumiputera. Of the total population of in Malaysia. In particular, the Sino-Malay Malaysia in Census 2000, Bumiputera made up relationship plays a pivotal role in the politics 65.1 percent. The Bumiputera category consists of Malaysia’s nation building. The politics of of the Malays and the indigenous peoples of nation-building in Malaysia is basically the Peninsula Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak (for politics of mediating identities. The politics of identity in Malaysia illustrates the prevailing Received: 16 March 2009 Accepted: 20 October 2009 Lee Yok Fee contradictions of various notions of nation- interests, attempted to strengthen a “horizontal of-intent both inter and intra ethnic groups solidarity” among them. They were mostly (Shamsul, 1996). western-educated, conservative, strongly The issue of ethnicity characterizes the very nationalistic, and deeply committed to communal basis of Malaysian politics. This is reflected by interests. They shared an experience that was the fact that political struggles are often fought on unique in the Malaysian political history. In the an ethnic basis and the tendency of most political framework of “horizontal solidarity”, decisions issues to be perceived in terms of ethnics. were made with the participation of these This is a prevailing phenomenon in Malaysian leaders, although their roles in policy-making politics since its independence in 1957. Thus, might not be equally significant. Apparently, the main objective of this article is to examine the Alliance during the initial period of its the Chinese’s political involvement, both their association was more broadly based in terms of bureaucratic participation and reaction to Malay ethnic participatory decisions. Besides this, the dominance in the country in the different periods, coalition of ethnic elites functioned at two levels i.e. pre- and post-1970, and post-2008 General of the bargaining process: internal and external. Elections. This writing is greatly contingent The former was the internal bargaining among upon a content analysis on the secondary data the ethnic elites themselves. This happened, for collected from the reports, journal articles, book example, in the negotiations of the Constitution chapters, and newspaper articles. in 1957. The latter was a united group with an There are four main parts in this paper. external entity. This was illustrated in 1957 The first part is to examine the Chinese’s when the UMNO-MCA-MIC Alliance claimed involvement in politic before 1970. The second independence from the British. part scrutinizes Malaysian Chinese’s political On the other hand, in the context of involvement after the implementation of the “vertical division”, the various ethnic groups New Economy Policy after 1970. In the third were segregated in a plural society. Political part, the author looks further into some critical interactions and communications were extremely ethnic-related issues prior to the 2008 general limited at individual, group, and organizational election. In the final part, the author analyzes levels. While ethnic groups accommodated some latest trends emerging in the Malaysian each other in their daily lives, there was very Chinese’s reactions in the midst of the Malay little exchange of political views. Besides, there dominance. were also internal divisions among the ethnic Malaysian Chinese. Indeed, the Malaysian Chinese elites were not homogeneous. There CHINESE’S POLITICAL were divided by circumstances and traditions, INVOLVEMENT IN THE cultural heterogeneity, and class. Intra-Chinese PRE-1970 PERIOD divisions were also accelerated by pro-Malay In order to understand the Chinese’s political policies. UMNO’s dominance within the Alliance involvement prior to 1970s, the concepts of made the MCA less capable of delivering rewards “horizontal solidarity” and “vertical division” to their ethnic-group client. While bargaining are useful (Ho, 2002). In Ho’s analysis, the existed, the decisions were usually in favour of coalition of the three ethnic communities in the the UMNO. Hence, the MCA consistently failed Alliance which formed the pre-1970 Malaysia to satisfy the demands of its Chinese electorate. a quasi-consociational state happened only at It, therefore, became alienated from the Chinese the elite level. Within the political organization grass roots that began to withdraw their support. of the United Malays National Organisation Indeed, the MCA’s inability to deliver cultural, (UMNO), Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) political and economic goods led to elite-mass and Malayan Indian Congress (MIC), the top political divisions within the Chinese community elites had, albeit disagreements and conflicts of (Ho, 2002). 12 Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 18 (1) 2010 Changes in Chinese’s Political Involvement in Malaysia Meanwhile, Chinese-based opposition CHINESE’S POLITICAL parties emerged. They were Democratic Action INVOLVEMENT AFTER 1970 Party (DAP) and Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia There are two important aspects in the (Gerakan) (Lee, 1987). DAP was a consistent understanding of the Chinese’s political critic of MCA. Gerakan was inaugurated in involvement after 1970, i.e. the shifting of the 1968 and it brought together key leaders from Chinese votes and the Chinese representatives’ two other non-Malay opposition parties, United bureaucratic involvement in the government Democratic Party and Labour Party. These two administrative system or bureaucratic political parties were highly vocal in criticizing participation. The shifting of the votes the Malay-dominated state and its policies, indicated the response of the Chinese voters and championed non-Malay rights in terms of towards establishment and the role of MCA in education, language, and culture. With these representing the Chinese society. The May 13 alternatives, the Chinese voters were able to riot and the 1969 general election have brought have a choice in terms of selecting their own notable impacts on both the Malay and Chinese representatives. Political divisions within the politics. Compared to the previous general Chinese community, in particular among the elections, the percentage of votes received by the voters, were intensified. Alliance for the first time went below 50 percent. The most distinguishing feature in the The significant shift of the Chinese votes to the Malaysian political system, as far as ethnic opposition in many ways continued in the next Chinese political participation is concerned, two decades with only one or two exceptions was the representation they enjoyed at the (see Table 1). elite level. Important cabinet positions, As stated in Table 2, MCA emerged from such as the portfolio of the finance ministry, this election with one of its worst results in were held by MCA politicians traditionally. the 1986 general
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