Semi-Democracy in Malaysia: Withstanding the Pressures for Regime Change

Abstract

I NCREASINGLY, political analysts appear to agree about the procedural and normative worth of democracy as a way of organizing political relations. Many have also become confident that where it has recently been established, democracy will persist, and that democratic regime change may occur in more countries. Accordingly, investigations have focused upon facilitative conditions, transitional processes, and features of democratic consolidation. Through case studies of change from often harsh authoritarianism in southern Europe and South America, it has been shown that a wide variety of leadership patterns, social structures, and developmental levels can intersect within short or long time frames to produce regime opening. The transformation of totalitarian rule in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe has unveiled additional contexts in which such change can take place, thereby strengthening the sense of democracy's inevitability.I Hence, it seems reasonable to argue that movement from a category of semi-, quasi-, or democracies toward greater regime openness is desirable and readily attainable. In this article, I draw upon Malaysia's political record, first to specify semi-democracy more closely than is usually done in discussions of regime change. Second, I assess some recent political calculations and socioeconomic trends that implied further, perhaps even rapid, democratization. I conclude by presenting some evidence which suggests that Malaysia's semidemocracy is stable in its present, limited form, and that, in contrast to many