What Will Become of Reformasi? Ethnicity and Changing Political Norms in Malaysia

Abstract

Malaysia's economic difficulties and political unrest have stimulated political parties and non-governmental organizations to re-assess efforts in shaping and responding to popular demands and attitudes. The governing Barisan Nasional coalition faces a stiff challenge from the Barisan Alternatif, composed principally of Parti Islam Se-Malaysia, the Democratic Action Party and Parti Keadilan Nasional, which have set aside their differences to unite in the call for Reformasi. Beyond the elections, however, the larger questions at stake concern the nature of multi-ethnic co-operation in Malaysia, including whether political norms have shifted to allow national-level interests to supercede ethnic-group allegiances, and whether Malaysians of various classes and races prioritize abstract ideals of good governance or more concrete economic and other aims. Introduction The evolution and persistence of the Reformasi movement in Malaysia has spurred the ever-prolific cottage industry of political punditry to new records for productivity and ingenuity. The issues churned through the mill have evolved over the past year from Anwar Ibrahim's guilt or innocence to whether the combined opposition forces could get themselves organized, with an array of side issues stealing the spotlight along the way. Now all eyes are focused on the elections, the test of whether the opposition Barisan Alternatif (BA) can hold together and whether the long-dominant Barisan Nasional (BN) can hold its own in the face of perhaps its strongest challenge to date. However, the electoral outcome, interesting as it may be, is only a symptom of a larger process of political change. The elections will offer an indicator of what is important to Malaysians today and what the primary lines of cleavage are among voters -- in other words, whether Reformasi has caused (or at least reflected) real changes in Malays ian political culture or whether the current political goings-on are just a passing frenzy. This article attempts to assess the shift in Malaysian political culture, putting the Reformasi movement in historical perspective to evaluate how voters today differ from voters in the past, particularly in terms of the depth and spread of broadly nationalist sentiment, and evaluating the relative contributions of political parties and civil society actors to this apparent shift. The article begins with a summary of events in the Reformasi movement, contextualizing this discussion with a brief analysis of how the current endeavour differs from previous challenges to the BN. It then focuses on the broader picture: the contest between encompassing multiracial aspirations and particularistic ethnic interests, including the tension between the ideals of justice, transparency, accountability, and morality in governance and economistic calculations of individual returns. Next, a theoretical framework is proposed for understanding changing norms of political interaction, taking into account transnational influence s and such factors as the proliferation of alternative media, permitting some conjecture about likely electoral outcomes and future developments within both civil society and the broader political order. Clearly, any conclusions offered here can be little more than hypotheses, as political culture is inherently untidy and unquantifiable and the Reformasi movement has not yet run its course. These hypotheses may be helpful, however, in propelling the debate beyond the elections and on to the larger issues of the process of protest and the likelihood of political change in Malaysia. It is important to note at the outset that, in fact, the definition and goals of Reformasi have never been monolithic or clearly-defined; the movement actually links a wide array of protesters with divergent aims and concerns under a commodious, if amorphous, umbrella. This article will accept the term as popularly understood: the Reformasi movement is the broad-based popular movement for social, political and economic change. …