Since the 12th General election in Malaysia, where the ruling coalition had its worst performance, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), led by none other than the Deputy Prime Minister (read here), Malaysia's fading dictator, Dr. Mahathir (read here and here) and Malaysia's latest Malay chauvinist par excellence, Ibrahim Ali (Read here), have resorted to tried and tested method of putting fear into the Malay community that the opposition, led by two formidable and respected Malay...

In the beginning

There are two key events that have changed the course of Malaysian history. The first was the attempted creation of the Malayan Union by the British colonialists. The second is the infamous May 13, 1969. Both are closely inter-twined as the first galvanised the different Malay communities in Peninsular Malaya (Malaya) to form the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) which spearheaded the fight against the Malayan Union and had the profound impact of predisposing Malaysia...

Malaysia is in trouble. The current political arrangement - the élite inter-ethnic bargaining - is fraying. The ruling coalition - Barisan Nasional (BN) - faces serious internal struggles both among and within the component parties. The majority of urban Malaysians had rejected them at the 2008 general election. Socially, the rise of religious and racial extremism driven by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) has reached unprecedented heights. Economically, Malaysia is being battered...

In academic circles, Malaysia is categorised as a dysfunctional democracy. In this context, the electoral process is used to legitimate the Barisan Nasional's (BN) authoritarian rule and not as a means to elect a representative government. Government strictures limit the ability of Malaysians to make an informed decision and opposition parties to compete on equal footing. Despite these limitations, electoral competitions throw surprises as reflected in the third, eighth, tenth and twelfth...

In the first and second part, we analysed Najib's signature policy - 1Malaysia, People First, Performance Now. Except for the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) which has contributed to some incremental change (listen here) - the concept as a whole, one year on has been a failure.

So what exactly has Najib been doing in his first year?

Simple - consolidating power, bolstering his image both domestically and internationally and attempting to eliminate Pakatan Rakyat - Anwar Ibrahim...

Najib, UMNO and the BN, rides on the fact that Malaysia is a low quality democracy. Najib understands that the majority of the Malaysian electorate are fearful of change, self-centred, indifferent or ignorant. Public opinion polls conducted by various research centres indicate time and again that Malaysians are most concerned about political stability especially in race relations; economic issues such as employment, business opportunities and cost of living; and social issues such as crime and...

Ibrahim Ali blames the Chinese for the 'problems' that the Malays are facing but conveniently forgets that the actual problem is 'crony capitalism'. The term 'crony capitalism' describes the close relationship between the state and big business. More specifically crony capitalists are '...private-sector entrepreneurs who benefit from close relationships' with leading civil servants and politicians, obtaining not only protection from foreign competition, but also concessions, licences, monopoly...

It was on 8 March 2008, at Malaysia's 12^th General Election (12GE), that a "political tsunami" hit the Barisan Nasional (BN). It was totally unexpected - even for the opposition.  Fifty one percent of the popular vote in Peninsular Malaysia went to the opposition along with the control of five state governments. History was also made when the opposition denied BN their customary 2/3 super majority for Parliamentary seats (read here).

How have the main protagonists -Barisan Nasional, Pakatan...