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Federal-State Friction: Amid Malaysia’S Dual Political and Pandemic Plight

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Federal-State Friction: Amid Malaysia’S Dual Political and Pandemic Plight Federal-state friction: Amid Malaysia’s dual political and pandemic plight 2020 August AUTHOR: RESEARCH BRIEF BRIEF RESEARCH Tricia Yeoh 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Federal The author would like to acknowledge Paul Hutchcroft and Catherine Yen for - their feedback and edits, Bridget Welsh state relations amidst political and pandemic plight Malaysia state relations amidst in political and for her piece on state government COVID- DISCLAIMER: 19 initiatives which she drew from in the report, and Lim Wei Jiet for sharing some This article is part of a New Mandala series related to the Supporting the Rules-Based legal perspectives. Order in Southeast Asia (SEARBO) project. This project is run by the Department of Political and Social Change at the Australian National University and funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The opinions expressed here are the authors' own and are not meant to represent those of the ANU or DFAT. THE AUTHOR: Tricia Yeoh is CEO of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), an independent public policy think tank in Malaysia. She is Visiting Research Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute and PhD Candidate at the University of Nottingham Malaysia, studying federal-state relations and opposition subnational politics in authoritarian regimes. She is the author of ‘States of Reform: Governing Selangor and Penang’, editor of ‘The Road to Reform: Pakatan Rakyat in Selangor’, and director of the award- winning documentary ‘The Rights of The Dead’, about the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock in 2009. Tricia was also an aide to the previous Selangor chief minister. 2 clearly expressed and maintained.” Federal n May 2018, the (Pearn, 2001). opposition coalition Over the years, state powers have Pakatan Harapan (PH) gradually eroded, giving rise to greater - I state relations amidst political and pandemic plight Malaysia state relations amidst in political and defeated the ruling central powers within the federal incumbent Barisan government. That process began when Nasional (BN), which local council elections were abolished in ranked as one of the 1965 and continued with federal world’s longest-standing emergency measures in 1969 and the use dominant party regimes, of state economic development having been in power corporations (SEDCs) to spearhead the since 1957. But this nationwide New Economic Policy in 1971. victory was short-lived. Over the following decades, other After only 22 months, PH institutional mechanisms were collapsed due to a introduced that further strengthened the prolonged leadership federal government’s hold over states. tussle in February 2020. On the surface, there appears to be a clear A new coalition, the demarcation of powers between the Perikatan Nasional (PN), Introduction federal and state governments. The Ninth took over government. Schedule of the Federal Constitution Then came COVID-19. Malaysia in 2020 recognises the semi-autonomous nature has been hit not only with political of states, which have some turbulence but also by the crisis of the “constitutionally entrenched division of pandemic. This report examines these powers in the legislative, executive, twin shocks from the perspective of judicial and financial fields.” (Shad federal-state relations. Specifically, how Saleem, 2019, p. 74). have political turbulence and the In practice, there has been ample scope pandemic affected federal-state relations? for the solidification of a powerful central How have federal-state relations in turn government. For example, Article 71(3) affected the response to the pandemic allows the federal government to amend and national-level political turbulence? a state constitution if there is non- Article 1 of the Federal Constitution of compliance by a state with the federal Malaysia 1957 describes the country as a constitution. Article 75 provides that the federation of 13 states and three federal law shall prevail when any state territories. A spirit of federalism was also law is inconsistent with a federal law, infused into the Federation of Malaya while Article 76 allows the federal Agreement 1948, when the Malayan government to make laws pertaining to states came together. At that critical state matters if it promotes the foundational juncture, it was agreed “a uniformity of laws or if it is requested to strong central government” would be do so by states. Article 76A permits established. But it was also agreed that parliament to delegate its powers to the “the individuality of each of the Malay states. Further, states have absolutely no States and of the Settlements should be power to prevent a constitutional 3 amendment as this is the exclusive nature of such “cooperation” has largely 1 Federal domain of federal parliament . Article 81 been determined by the centre. Even so, of the Federal Constitution states that the given overlapping domains, there has executive authority of every state is to be been a substantial degree of contestation - state relations amidst political and pandemic plight Malaysia state relations amidst in political and exercised to ensure compliance with over the policy responsibilities of federal federal law, and should impede or and state levels. This is not uncommon in prejudice the exercise of the federal federal systems, but particularly notable government. The federal government can given the centralised character of federal- also utilize emergency provisions to state relations in Malaysia. Some suspend state rights under Article 150. examples are found in the realm of The 13 states of Malaysia each form their utilities. In opposition-controlled own state governments by way of elected Selangor, the federal government representatives. Through the respective intervened in the state government’s legislative assemblies, they pass buyback of water concession companies legislation and formulate public policy at in 2008 after water services were the state level, in the domains over which transferred from the state to the they have jurisdiction. The Federal concurrent list in the Federal Constitution’s Ninth Schedule places local Constitution. When it comes to land government under the jurisdiction of the management, states have the authority to state governments. However, in the spirit approve land development projects and of ‘cooperative federalism’ with its strong opposition-controlled Kelantan has in the role for the centre, there exists the past blocked federal projects. Similarly, National Council on Local Government the federal government privatised waste (NCLG), formed under Article 95(A) of the management nationally from 2007 Federal Constitution. Chaired by the onwards, but three states opposed the Prime Minister, it meets annually and is move, preferring to carry it out through comprised of the state Menteris Besar their own service providers. and Chief Ministers as well as federal government representatives. Crucially, the NCLG is permitted to formulate national policy on local government that states must comply with. As the Chair has a casting vote, the Prime Minister may assert a strong role in local government matters. While some have described the system as “cooperative federalism”, with consensual sharing or delegation of power from one tier to another (Shad Saleem 2019), the 1 In 1963 when Malaya was enlarged to Malaysia, was not required to obtain Kelantan’s consent to the Kelantan objected to the merger. In Government of admission of new states to the Federation, under the Kelantan v Government of the Federation of Malaya amendment procedure of Article 159 (Shad Saleem (1963), the court held that the federal government 2019). 4 Federal Political crisis and downward - state relations amidst political and pandemic plight Malaysia state relations amidst in political and resource distribution hen PN took control of the impending recession with more than a federal government after a week third of the working age population W of labyrinthine plots and outside the labour force and an counterplots in February 2020, its unemployment rate that has spiked to partners included Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) which left from PH, 5%—a 30-year high. Given the highly the United Malays National Organisation centralised nature of resource (UMNO) and the Malaysian Islamic Party distribution in Malaysia, states affiliated (PAS). UMNO was at the core of the ruling with the federal government would coalition that dominated Malaysian invariably stand to gain by being granted politics from 1957 to 2018, with PAS a access to greatly demanded resources. longstanding bulwark of the opposition. The first effect on resource distribution In the midst of the political turbulence, from the national powershift was the several state governments also changed allocation of local political positions to their affiliation. PN gained the lion’s share party elites. The new PN state of states with eight in total: Kelantan and governments removed all PH local Terengganu (the two East Coast states led councillor appointees, as well as village by PAS), Perlis and Pahang (already community council members, and UMNO states prior to this), and the four replaced them with their own. While PN wins of Johor, Malacca, Perak and Kedah. consolidated power by awarding its allies This left PH with only three states in with lucrative board chairmanships and hand, down from seven: Selangor, Penang directorships within government-linked and Negeri Sembilan. The parties that companies (GLCs) at the national level, formed the Sabah (Warisan) and Sarawak this also took place within the states it (GPS) state governments maintained newly controlled. Because the Menteri their previous political affiliations, with Besar/Chief Minister is the Chair of most the former supporting PH and the latter major state-level GLCs by default, the new PN. PN-aligned state chief executives The machinations at the state level are automatically assumed these positions. important as they have a direct impact on For example, the new Johor Menteri how political, fiscal and administrative Besar took over chairmanship of the resources and positions are distributed state’s premiere GLC Johor Corporation. downwards from the centre to the The same took place in Kedah and periphery.
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