The Political Aco3mxddati0n of Primqpjdial Parties
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THE POLITICAL ACO3MXDDATI0N OF PRIMQPJDIAL PARTIES DMK (India) and PAS (Malaysia) , by Y. Mansoor Marican M.Soc.Sci. (S'pore), 1971 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FL^iDlMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of. Political Science) We accept this thesis as conforniing to the required standard THE IJNT^RSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA November. 1976 ® Y. Mansoor Marican, 1976. In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of POLITICAL SCIENCE The University of British Columbia 2075 Wesbrook Place Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5 ABSTRACT This study is rooted in a theoretical interest in the development of parties that appeal mainly to primordial ties. The claims of social relationships based on tribe, race, language or religion have the capacity to rival the civil order of the state for the loyalty of its citizens, thus threatening to undermine its political authority. This phenomenon is endemic to most Asian and African states. Most previous research has argued that political competition in such contexts encourages the formation of primordially based parties whose activities threaten the integrity of these states. This study of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) of India and the Parti Islam (PAS) of Malaysia examines an alternative pattern of primordial party development. The DMK and the PAS both sought to define nationality in terms of primordial ties. The DMK's objective was to create an independent Dravidian state by redrawing India's boundaries. The PAS wanted the • restoration of Malay sovereignty which involved the elevation of the Malay "community" to the position of a Malay "nation-state". In both India and Malaysia, competitive politics in a federal structure provided arenas in which diverse political forces such as the DMK and the PAS could mobilize primordial identities and make bids for power. The involvement of the DMK and the PAS in the contest for electoral support set in motion a process that led them initially to abandon their goals and then to align with the national ruling parties. Their primordial urges gave way to pragmatic accommo• dation in the quest for power. This study describes, compares and explains the accommodative outcome in each context. ii TABLE OF (X1NTENTS Page Abstract i Abbreviations . i ii Actoqwledgements . iv Chapter 1 WHAT IS THE THESIS ABOUT? 1 2 POIiTTICISATION OF PRIMORDIAL IDENTITIES 13 Dravidian Nationalism and the DMK Malay Nationalism and the PAS 3 CHALLENGES TO THE INDIAN AND MALAYAN NATION-STATES 45 DMK: Dravidanadu PAS: Tanah Melayu 4 MOBILIZATION OF POLITICAL SUPPORT . 74 DMK: The Politics of Identity-Building PAS: The Politics of Outbidding 5 EIECTORAL IQMDLVEMENT AND POLITICAL AOXiyiMODATION 109 DMK: From Secession to Autonomy PAS: Dilution of Unietfeic Emphasis 6 THE POLITICS OF EXPEDIENCY 175 DMK: The Path to Power, the Governing Function, and the Nexus with Indira Gandhi PAS: Coalition Politics 7 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 223 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY .................. ...235 ABBREVIATIONS AICC All India Congress Committee BN Barisan Nasional CPI Communist Party of India DAP Democratic Action Party DK Dravidar Kazhagam INC Indian National Congress JP Justice Party KMM Kesatuan Melayu Muda MCA Malaysian Chinese Association MCP Malayan Communist Party MIC Malaysian Indian Congress PAP People's Action Party PN Parti Negara PPP People's Progressive Party TNC Tamil Nadu Congress TNP Tamil Nationalist Party UMNO United Malays National Organization iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT S My foremost debt is to my thesis Committee: R.S. Milne (Chairman), D.J. Elkins and J.R. Wood. Colleagues and friends at Penang also gave constructive advice. I would like to mention in particular Kit Machado, R.S. Suntharalingam, Paul Wiebe, Howard Beers, David Gibbons, M.C. Kumbhat and Katherine Aminuddin. Institutionally, I am indebted to the University of British Columbia, which provided me with an assistantship and fellowships, and to the Ford Foundation's Foreign Area Fellowship Training Program, which supported the field research. This study could not have been completed without the cooperation of politicians, party officials, civil servants, journalists and librarians in India and Malaysia. To all of them, my sincere thanks. Without the ungrudging forbearance of families, married students would probably never complete their studies. I cannot adequately acknow• ledge my debt to my wife. To my son, I can only say that this study is what I was doing while I was away. Finally, my deepest gratitude to my father who sacrificed a great deal to give me this good an education. CHAPTER 1 What is the Thesis About? This study seeks to explain the political ac<xmmodation of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) of India and the Parti Islam (PAS)' of Malaysia, which can be divided into two stages: first, their ac• ceptance of the legitimacy of their nation-states which they initially opposed; and second, the subsequent alignment with central governments they had previously accused of allegedly neglecting Tamil and Malay interests respectively. This study has its roots in a theoretical interest in the de• velopment of parties that appeal mainly to what Clifford Geertz has 2 collectively labelled "primordial ties"; these include identifica• tions based on tribe, race, region, language or religion which rival the civil order of the state for ultimate political authority and loy• alty. This phenomenon is "literally pandemic" to most Asian and 3 African states. 1. The original name of the party was Persatuan Islam Se-Malaya or PAS, which is its Malay-Arabic acronym. In 1973, its name was changed to Parti Islam but it is still referred to as PAS by party members and others. 2. Clifford Geertz, "The Integrative Revolution: Primordial Sentiments and Civil Politics in the New States", in Geertz, ed., Old Societies and New States (New York, 1963), pp. 105-157. 3. Ibid., p. 106. Also, see Charles W. Anderson, et al., Issues of Political Development (New Jersey, 1967); James S. Coleman and Carl G. Rosberg, Jr., eds., Political Parties and National In• tegration in Tropical Africa (Berkeley, 1964); Karl W. Deutsch and William Foltz, eds., Nation-Building (New York, 1963); and Rupert Emerson, From Empire to Nation (Cambridge, Mass., 1960). 2 Priitiordial groups differ from groups based on economic or class interests. The latter are rarely "considered as possible self- 4 standing, maximal social units, as candidates for nationhood." Conflicts between social classes 'occur only within a more or less fully accepted ternunal carituinity whose integrity they do not, as a . rule, put into question.""* Since prjjmordial groups may in fact be considered as "candidates for nationhood", prjoTiordial conflict, unlike class conflict, may bring into question the very definition of the nation-state. Such conflict situations arise when priitiordial groups see the solution to their problems either in secession or in a redefi• nition of the qualifications for citizenship so as to include or ex- 7 elude certain segments of the population. In /Asian and /African states, such demands have often been articulated by priLmordially based political parties. Most 4. Geertz, op. cit., p. 111. 5. Ibid. 6. See Robert Melson and Howard Wolpe, "Modernization and the Poli• tics of Ccranunalism: A Theoretical Perspective," American Poli• tical Science Review, vol. 64 (December 1970), pp. 1112-30, especially p. 1129. 7. Ivo D. Duchacek, Cortparative Federalism (New York, 1970), esp. ch. 3. 8. It should be noted, however, that not all primordially based parties articulate such demands. Some are part of ruling governments and therefore have a vested interest in upholding the present definition of the nation-state; and others function as opposition parties but aim only to advance the interests of their respective groups witjhin the context of the present nation-state (for example, the present Muslim League in India). 3 governments in these states have repressed such parties in part because they are perceived as threats to "the very foundations of the nation- state, the limits of the political community." Further, these govern• ments have frequently disallowed competitive party politics conducted largely along primordial lines on the ground that they endanger national unity. Most references to the effects of a system of party competition in primordially divided societies assert that it inevitably leads to the emergence of primordially based parties which will increasingly adopt more extreme and unccnpramising postures in order to make their bids for popular support successful.^ Little systematic research has been done on alternative patterns of priLmordial party development - for example, the conditions under which competitive politics may have a moderating effect on these parties."*""'" This neglect has cccurred in 9. R. William Liddle, Ethnicity, Party, and National Integration (New Haven, 1970), p. 213. 10. See Rupert Emerson, "Parties and National Integration in Africa," in Joseph LaPalotibara and Myron Weiner, eds., Political Parties and Political