Malaysia: The New Mood

Abstract

The one distinctive feature of Prime Minister Tun Razak's style of government since he took over the reins of government in 1970 has been to minimize politicking and focus the people's attention on national development. Created after the trauma of the 1969 racial riots the blueprint New Economic Policy has since been invoked ad nauseam as the answer to the country's ills and political stability. Just before the 1974 General Elections was formed the conglomerate National Front which (except for two opposition parties of some significance) was a gathering of all possible dissenting political parties around the pivotal major party, the United Malays' National Organization (UMNO). It was born out of the same conviction that by deemphasizing politicking and submerging the divisive tendencies among the country's multiracial populace, an important impediment to the nation's progress would be removed, and the government could devote more effort to the country's programmes. The political event in Peninsular Malaysia in the past year which can be said to have excited considerable national interest was the UMNO General Assembly on 21 June, 1975, not because of any important policy decisions to be thrashed out, but more because of the second triennal elections to the party's powerful Supreme Council. Attention was focused on the elections to the influential vice presidency posts as well as to the Council seats as their outcome, it was widely held, would reflect the future party power configuration as well as offer a glimpse of the possible course that the ruling party might adopt. In a keenly contested election for the vice-presidency seats, the three successful candidates ? Abdul Ghaffar Baba, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; Tunku Razaleigh, Chairman of Petronas, the state oil enterprise; and Dr. Mahathir, Minister of Education?were all known to have the strong backing of the Prime Minister. With Tun Razak and his chosen firmly in control of both the ruling party and country, Malaysian politics was envisaged to lapse into a quiescent albeit dull state. This was however temporarily broken by the Sabah political crisis which burst into the open in July and for a while threatened to become a protracted political contest to further strain Kuala Lumpur-Sabah relations. On the front a new note has been sounded by the government. There have been repeated calls by the political leadership for a new order governing the relations between the host country and foreign investors as well as economic nationalism in guiding the exploitation of the country's natural resources in such a way that people and our country will obtain the greatest benefits. This has been accompanied by increased government intervention in the sector. The government that had once prided itself on the open nature of its economy and the minimum use of institutional and legislative controls in