This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: Lau, Zhe Wei Title: De-ethnicisation of Politics in Malaysia General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. 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DE-ETHNICISATION OF POLITICS IN MALAYSIA LAU ZHE WEI A dissertation submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements for award of the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies August 2018 ABSTRACT This thesis examines how de-ethnicisation of politics takes place in Malaysia. Malaysian politics has been dominated by ethnic politics since independence in 1957, yet currently there are indications that there may be a recent move towards a de-ethnicisation of politics. Although the scenario of de-ethnicisation of politics in Malaysia is still in an embryonic stage, it is interesting to look at how such de-ethnicisation could take place in Malaysia. This thesis applies the concept of de-ethnicisation of politics in discussing the issue. In a context of very limited literature on de-ethnicisation of politics due to a lack of scholarship on de-ethnicisation of politics, this thesis offers a three-dimensional exploration of whether, how and to what extent de-ethnicisation of politics is taking place in Malaysia. These three dimensions comprise party membership, party stance and party electoral strategy. As party membership is determined by party Constitutions, discussion is centred on how the Constitution enables\makes difficult the party from moving away from ethnic politics. On the dimension of party stance, focus is paid to the direction each political party is taking in practising/distancing from (non-)ethnic politics. The third dimension explores on how these two dimensions relates to electoral politics, which inclines towards power politics rather than rhetorical politics. As the main unit of analysis in this thesis are political parties, a qualitative interviewing method has been employed with high-level party leaders who have the authority to speak on behalf of their party. The thesis, then, investigates whether, how and to what extent de-ethnicisation of politics is currently taking place in Malaysia at the level of and in the competition between political parties. i Dedication I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my loving family and friends. PhD is a long journey and I am grateful that I have never lacked any support throughout the path. I can never thank enough those who were always there in times of joy and pain. ii Acknowledgement First, I would like to extend my greatest appreciation to both of my supervisors. They have been extraordinary supervisors throughout the whole process. Without their careful supervision, this thesis would never have been completed. I am also indebted to my friends who contributed to bettering my thesis. They have been a great help in proofreading some of my work. Some has even helped me to establish connections with my interviewees during the fieldwork. I am also thankful to both of my sponsors, International Islamic University Malaysia and the Government of Malaysia for giving me the opportunity to complete my PhD in University of Bristol. Lastly, my heartfelt gratitude goes to my family who had supported me tirelessly throughout the stressful journey. Without them, I would never be who I am today. iii Author’s declaration I declare that the work in this dissertation was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the University's Regulations and Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes and that it has not been submitted for any other academic award. Except where indicated by specific reference in the text, the work is the candidate's own work. Work done in collaboration with, or with the assistance of, others, is indicated as such. Any views expressed in the dissertation are those of the author. SIGNED: .............LAU ZHE WEI............................ DATE:......06/08/2018.................... iv ABBREVIATION BN Barisan Nasional/National Front DAP Democratic Action Party IMP Independence Malayan Party MCA Malaysian Chinese Association MIC Malaysian Indian Congress PAS Malaysian Islamic Party PGRM Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia PKN National Justice Party PKR Justice Party PPP People’s Progressive Party PR Pakatan Rakyat/People's Alliance PRM Malaysian People’s Party UMNO United Malays National Organisation v TABLE OF CONTENTS PRELIMS Abstract i Dedication ii Acknowledgement iii Author's Declaration iv Abbreviation v Table of Content vi INTRODUCTION 1 THE HISTORY OF ETHNIC POLITICS IN MALAYSIA 2 Post-World War II Period 3 Independence Era and 'Old Politics' 4 'New Politics' 6 RESEARCH QUESTION 8 THEORETICAL APPROACH 9 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT 15 CHAPTER OUTLINE 16 Chapter 1: Background on Malaysian Politics 16 Chapter 2: Theoretical Context 17 Chapter 3: Method 17 Chapter 4: Party Membership 18 Chapter 5: Party Stance 19 vi Chapter 6: Electoral Strategy 19 Conclusion 20 CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND ON MALAYSIAN POLITICS 21 1.1 INTRODUCTION 21 1.2 MALAYSIAN BACKGROUND 25 1.2.1 History 29 1.3 PAST POLITICAL LANDSCAPE 34 1.3.1 Ethnicity Cleavage 36 1.3.2 Class Cleavage 38 1.3.3 Religious Cleavage 39 1.3.4 Reform-of-politics Cleavage 41 1.4 CURRENT POLITICAL CONFIGURATION 42 1.4.1 Partnership and Registration 43 1.4.2 Membership of Barisan Nasional 43 1.4.3 Membership of Pakatan Rakyat 46 1.4.4 Supreme Leader 47 1.4.5 Working Relationship 48 1.4.6 Current Political Configuration in Ethnicity 48 1.5 CONCLUSION 50 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL CONTEXT 52 vii 2.1 INTRODUCTION 52 2.2 ETHNICISATION OF POLITICS 53 2.2.1 Ethnicity 54 2.2.2 Ethnicity and Politics 57 2.2.3 Ethnicity and Cleavages 59 2.3 DE-ETHNICISATION OF POLITICS 63 2.3.1 Bridging the Gap of Literatures 68 2.3.2 Party Membership 70 2.3.3 Party Stance 75 2.3.4 Electoral Strategy 80 2.4 CONCLUSION 84 CHAPTER 3: METHOD 87 3.1 INTRODUCTION 87 3.2 DATA SAMPLING 90 3.3 DATA COLLECTION 97 3.4 DATA ANALYSIS 102 3.5 ETHICAL PRACTICE 106 3.6 CONCLUSION 108 CHAPTER 4: PARTY MEMBERSHIP 111 4.1 INTRODUCTION 111 viii 4.2 COALITION PARTY OF BARISAN NASIONAL AND PAKATAN RAKYAT 114 4.3 INDIVIDUAL POLITICAL PARTY 121 4.3.1 UMNO 123 4.3.2 MCA 126 4.3.3 PKR 130 4.3.4 DAP 133 4.3.5 PAS 136 4.4 DISCUSSION AND COMPARISON 139 4.5 CONCLUSION 142 CHAPTER 5: PARTY STANCE 144 5.1 INTRODUCTION 144 5.2 DE-ETHNICISING MALAYSIAN POLITICS THROUGH PARTYACTION AND DIRECTION 147 5.3 NEW POLITICAL PARTY DIRECTION AND STANCE 153 5.3.1 UMNO 155 5.3.2 MCA 162 5.3.2 DAP 168 5.3.3 PKR 174 5.3.4 PAS 178 5.4 CONCLUSION 183 ix CHAPTER 6: ELECTORAL STRATEGY 185 6.1 INTRODUCTION 185 6.2 COALITION PARTY IN MALAYSIA 186 6.3 ELECTORAL PRACTISES IN MALAYSIA 189 6.4 CLASSIFICATION OF GROUPS 191 6.5 CLASSIFICATION ON ETHNIC BLOCK VOTING 192 6.6 ELECTION RESULT ANALYSIS 196 6.7 MINORITY CANDIDATE FOR PAS AND DAP 214 6.8 CONCLUSION 215 CONCLUSION 218 INTRODUCTION 218 PARTY MEMBERSHIP IN BRINGING DE-ETHNICISATION 220 PARTY STANCE 221 ELECTORAL STRATEGY 224 THE RISE OF DE-ETHNICISATION OF POLITICS 226 CONTRIBUTION TO EXISTING SCHOLARSHIP 227 FUTURE RESEARCH PROSPECT 230 PROSPECT OF MALAYSIAN POLITICS 231 x INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION Since Independence, ethnicity has played a central role in Malaysian politics. Political parties formed at that time are largely ethnic-based. Politicking during Independence inclined towards ethnicity issues, too. This kind of political scenario was inevitable due to the historical background of Malaysia. Different ethnic groups were segregated within their own ethnic communities. There was a lack of inter-ethnic communication. It is, therefore, not surprising that ethnic politics emerged due to the condition of the political landscape at that time. Such an emergence of ethnic politics endured for four to five decades before a new trend of negating ethnic politics began to emerge. Usually, there are two general elections that are linked to the de-ethnicization of politics in Malaysia. The first was in 1999. The then deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, was sacked from his position and jailed the following year on charges of corruption and sexual misconduct, charges that were strongly denied by Anwar Ibrahim. Such a scenario also propelled the emergence of a new movement, the Reformation movement, which sought Ibrahim’s release, justice and such like. It was also during this time, before he was sent to jail, that Ibrahim became actively involved in opposition party events, including those dominated by Chinese opposition leaders.