Coalition Politics in Malaysia
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Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 8-1983 Coalition Politics in Malaysia Zakiah Awang Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Awang, Zakiah, "Coalition Politics in Malaysia" (1983). Master's Theses. 1565. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/1565 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COALITION POLITICS IN MALAYSIA by Zakiah Awang A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment for the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Department of Political Science Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan August 1983 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. COALITION POLITICS IN MALAYSIA Zakiah Awang, M.A. Western Michigan University, 1983 This thesis has attempted to explain the success and the stability of the coalition party system in Malaysia from 1955 to 1982. This success has been attributed to three factors. The most important factor is the role played by political elites. Malaysian political elites come from a different racial background. It is their willingness to cooperate, work together in harmony and to find solutions through compromises that helped to hold the coalition party together. Elite cooperation, in turn, has been fostered through similarities in the leaders' socio- educational-linguistic backgrounds. The success of the coalition party is also closely linked to the dominant role of UMNO which is the leader and the strongest party in the coalition. UMNO has been able to attract and maintain overwhelming support of the Malays. Lastly, the success is also due to the effectiveness of the coalition party in meeting the goals of national development, particularly in socio-economic fields. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My deepest thanks and gratitude are due to Dr. C.I. Eugene Kim for giving me endless guidance and painstaking ly reading through the drafts and making suggestions. With out his invaluable assistance and guidance, this thesis could hardly be finished. My thanks also go to Dr. Alan C. Isaak and Dr. Atilla Dicle who read this thesis and made numerous suggestions which greatly improved this thesis. I also feel special debt to Miss Hamidah Yusof from the Malaysian Embassy for sending me invaluable materials and giving me assistance throughout my academic life as a student. Lastly my thanks go to my husband, Mohammad Hussein whose contributions would be belittled by any attempts to describe them. Zakiah Awang ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INFORMATION TO USERS This reproduction was made from a copy o f a document sent to us for microfilming. While the most advanced technology lias been used to photograph and reproduce this document, the quality of the reproduction is heavily dependent upon the quality of the material submitted. 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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1321653 AWANG, ZAKIAH COALITION POLITICS IN MALAYSIA WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY M.A. 1983 University Microfilms International300 N. Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. M I 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PLEASE NOTE: In all cases this material has been filmed in the best possible way from the available copy. Problems encountered with this document have been identified here with a check mark V . 1. Glossy photographs or pages_______ 2. Colored illustrations, paper or print______ 3. Photographs with dark background______ 4. Illustrations are poor copy_______ 5. Pages with black marks, not original copy_______ 6. Print shows through as there is text on both sides of_______ page 7. 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INTRODUCTION .......... 1 Statement of the Problem..... 1 Theoretical Background ............. 7 Review of Literature ................... 12 Objective of the Thesis ..................... 13 Research Method .................. 16 II. MALAYSIA: AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ......... 1? British Intervention in the Malay States ..... 22 The Makings of Pluralism.......... 27 Malaya Between the W a r s ................ 30 The Emergence of Political Parties ......... 37 Evolution of the Alliance Coalition...........f+3 Organs of Government ........ £*5 III. THE ORGANIZATION AND THE OPERATION OF THE ALLIANCE PARTY ............................. k8 The organization of the Alliance Party ........ ff8 The Alliance Party in Operation .......... 55 IV. THE POST 1969 POLITICS: COALITION BUILDING AND THE FORMATION OF NATIONAL FRONT ......... 69 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Ma.ior Developments Within the National Front Coalition ......... 77 National Front and the Post 1969 Elections ... 79 V. POLITICAL LEADERSHIP AND THE SUCCESS OF THE COALITION ................................. 83 Characteristics of the Political Leadership With Special Reference to Educational Background ............................ 84 Date and Place of B i r t h .................... 91 The Role of Prime Ministers in the Coalition.. 93 Tun Abdul Razak as the Leader of the Coalition .... 97 Datuk Hussein Onn as the Leader of the National Front Coalition ..... 101 VI. THE ROLE OF UMNO IN THE COALITION .......... 105 Political Attitudes of the Malays With Special Reference to UMNO ................. 109 Electoral Performance of UMNO and Its Mobilization for Support ................... 110 The Position of Other Component Parties of the Coalition Vis-A-Vis UMNO .............. 122 VII. THE COALITION PARTY AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC 'DEVELOPMENT ................................ 129 Progress in the Socio-Economic Development ... 140 Progress Toward Eradication of Poverty ..... 144 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Progress in the Restructuring of Society li+9 Progress in Industrialization ............ 159 Progress in the Public Services ............. 164 VIII. CONCLUSIONS AND SUMHAPY OF FINDINGS ......... 168 NOTES ............................................. 177 APPENDIX .......................................... 178 BIBLIOGRAPHY .....................................