• Write for Us
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Contact
Thursday, June 1, 2023
British Herald
Advertisement
  • Home
  • World
    • UK
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Oceania
    • USA
    • Middle East
    • Latin America
  • Politics
  • Business
    • ECONOMY
    • Financial Markets
    • Companies
  • Sport
  • Fintech
  • Videos
  • Coffee Table Book
  • BH Magazine
  • More
    • Health
    • Entertainment
    • Science & Technology
    • Climate & Environment
    • Sustainability
    • Food and Travel
    • Fashion
    • Culture and Lifestyle
    • Articles
    • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
British Herald
  • Home
  • World
    • UK
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Oceania
    • USA
    • Middle East
    • Latin America
  • Politics
  • Business
    • ECONOMY
    • Financial Markets
    • Companies
  • Sport
  • Fintech
  • Videos
  • Coffee Table Book
  • BH Magazine
  • More
    • Health
    • Entertainment
    • Science & Technology
    • Climate & Environment
    • Sustainability
    • Food and Travel
    • Fashion
    • Culture and Lifestyle
    • Articles
    • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
British Herald
Home World Asia

In ‘new Malaysia’, race continues to cast a long shadow

Editorial Bureau by Editorial Bureau
December 4, 2018
0
In ‘new Malaysia’, race continues to cast a long shadow

FILE PHOTO: People pass posters of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and politician Anwar Ibrahim, who was granted a royal pardon, at a rally in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia May 16, 2018. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin/File Photo

74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Just months after a stunning election victory, Malaysia’s prime minister has had to step in to mollify the country’s majority Malay Muslims in recent weeks, underlining a weighty challenge confronting his multi-ethnic, reformist coalition: race.

You might also like

China launches new crew for the space station, with a goal to send astronauts on moon before 2030

Pakistan’s Imran Khan gets protection from arrest in multiple terrorism cases after a legal fight

Pakistan releases an Imran Khan associate while authorities seek to prosecute thousands of his supporters

When riots erupted at a Hindu temple outside the capital, Kuala Lumpur, last week, 93-year-old Mahathir Mohamad spared no effort to scotch speculation that tensions with Malays were to blame.

Just a few days earlier, his government reversed its pledge to ratify a U.N. convention against racial discrimination following a backlash from groups who argued that it would dilute privileges Malays have enjoyed for decades.

The two incidents illustrate the predicament confronting Mahathir as euphoria over the May election fades: curbing racial divisions, carrying out reform and reassuring Malays that affirmative-action policies favouring them in business, education and housing are not about to disappear.

And Mahathir’s unlikely alliance – known as Pakatan Harapan, or Pact of Hope – has to do that without upsetting the delicate balance of its constituent parties.

“The problem with Pakatan Harapan as a multiracial coalition is that it is not seen as championing the Malays,” said a deputy minister, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

He said opposition parties are successfully fanning a perception that Malays, about 60 percent of the country’s 32 million people, are being abandoned in what some have called ‘New Malaysia’.

Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese are estimated at 23 percent while mostly Hindu ethnic Indians comprise about 7 percent, government data shows.

Mahathir ousted the long-ruling coalition led by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which has pushed positive discrimination for Malays to avoid a repeat of bloody Chinese-Malay riots in 1969. Mahathir was prime minister for two decades at the head of UMNO, before he fell out with his successors.

In the May election, Mahathir’s coalition won overwhelming support from ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, but it secured the votes of only 30 percent of Malay voters, according to estimates by independent polling firm Merdeka Center.

About 40 percent of Malays backed the beleaguered government of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, an UMNO grandee who is now facing multiple graft charges, and the rest voted for Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), a conservative Islamic party.

A Merdeka poll in August showed that concerns over ethnic issues and religious rights had grown since the election, with about 21 percent citing those issues as a concern compared with 12 percent in April.

WHICH CROWD TO PLEASE?

For many Malays, the ouster of Najib over the multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal that had swirled for years around the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) sovereign wealth fund was fair enough.

But some have been dismayed by moves made by the government of Mahathir – himself once a champion of the Malay ‘bumiputera’, or ‘sons of the soil’ policy – such as the appointment of non-Malays as minister of finance and attorney general.

A lawmaker in the ruling coalition said the initial plan to ratify the U.N. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination fed a narrative pushed by UMNO and PAS that the government is out of touch with the Malay community, especially the working class.

“The Malays are more focussed on socio-economic issues, and if you don’t focus on their poverty and hardships, obviously they’ll get worked up,” said the lawmaker, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Mujahid Yusof Rawa, minister in charge of religious affairs, conceded that the coalition is struggling to convince Malays that its policies will benefit them and protect Islamic values.

“We have had some success in reaching out to them, but if we fail to build on that, it will affect support from Malay voters,” he said.

Mahathir, who was prime minister from 1981 to 2003 and is now the oldest elected leader in the world, remains a sharp political operator: many expect he will take steps to shore up Malay support for his government.

It was Mahathir who snuffed out controversy over the U.N. treaty by dropping it, and amid the Hindu temple unrest he promised action to keep the peace, acknowledging that “such incidents … can lead to bigger problems involving racial harmony.”

His administration has also refused to deport an Indian Islamic preacher, Zakir Naik, who is popular among conservative Malay Muslims but is being investigated by Indian authorities for alleged hate speech. Naik began a five-day speaking tour in a northern state last week.

But steps that pander to Malays could create rifts within Mahathir’s alliance, which includes the Chinese-led Democratic Action Party and the pro-reform party of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim. There is an understanding that Mahathir will eventually hand power to Anwar, but the two men have fallen out before.

“As things currently stand, the Malay opposition are saying the government is being dominated by the Democratic Action Party and weak on Malay interests and that it is delivering far less than promised,” said Ibrahim Suffian, director of pollster Merdeka. “The danger is that if they try to please one crowd, they push away the other.”

(Reporting by Joseph Sipalan; Editing by A. Ananthalakshmi, John Chalmers and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Share30Tweet19
Editorial Bureau

Editorial Bureau

Recommended For You

China launches new crew for the space station, with a goal to send astronauts on moon before 2030

May 30, 2023
China launches new crew for the space station

On Tuesday, China launched a new three-person crew for its orbiting space station, with the goal of landing astronauts on the moon by the end of the decade....

Read more

Pakistan’s Imran Khan gets protection from arrest in multiple terrorism cases after a legal fight

May 23, 2023
Imran Khan free from arrest for several cases

On Tuesday, Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, actively continued his legal fight before a court in Islamabad, the nation's capital, which granted him protection from...

Read more

Pakistan releases an Imran Khan associate while authorities seek to prosecute thousands of his supporters

May 22, 2023
Imran Khan supporters

A Pakistan court allowed the freedom of an associate of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday. Despite authorities' efforts to charge thousands of Imran Khan supporters involved...

Read more

G20 officials arrive in disputed Kashmir as India largely disregards the region’s heightened security

May 22, 2023
G20 summit Kashmir

Delegates from the G20 nations arrived in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday to participate in a tourism meeting condemned by China and Pakistan. While authorities substantially reduced the visibility...

Read more

Imran Khan condemns May 9 attacks in Pakistan and says violence was not part of his politics

May 20, 2023
Imran Khan condemns may 9 violence

Imran Khan, former prime minister and chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), stated on Friday that violence was not a part of his politics. Says that he had...

Read more
No Result
View All Result
May's figures of inflation in Europe will support those policymakers advocating for the ECB to end its tightening cycle

Inflation in Europe drops to lowest level since Russia invaded Ukraine

June 1, 2023
UK government faces deadline to hand Boris Johnson’s messages to coronavirus inquiry

UK government faces deadline to hand Boris Johnson’s messages to coronavirus inquiry

June 1, 2023
Sweden NATO membership

NATO presses Turkey to drop objections to Sweden’s membership as summit looms

June 1, 2023

Tags

australia boris johnson brexit britain British Herald CHINA Coronavirus coronavirus cases coronavirus outbreak COVID-19 COVID-19 Vaccine daily roundup Donald Trump Dubai expo 2020 england European Union facebook France germany Hong Kong india iran israel italy japan joe biden lockdown London News new zealand north korea Rishi Sunak russia south korea spain T20 World Cup taiwan thailand trending Trump turkey UK Ukraine usa worldnews
British Herald

Top News in World: Read Latest News on Sports, Business, Entertainment, Blogs and Opinions from leading columnists.

CATEGORIES

  • Africa
  • Articles
  • Asia
  • Brand Feature
  • Business
  • Climate & Environment
  • Companies
  • Crypto
  • Culture and Lifestyle
  • Daily Roundup
  • Economics
  • ECONOMY
  • Entertainment
  • Europe
  • Fashion
  • Finance
  • Financial Markets
  • Fintech
  • Health
  • IN UK 01
  • IN UK 02
  • Investing
  • Latin America
  • Market
  • Middle East
  • Oceania
  • Opinion
  • Pharma/BioTech
  • Politics
  • Reviews
  • Science & Technology
  • Sport
  • Sustainability
  • Tech
  • Technology
  • Travel
  • UK
  • Uncategorized
  • USA
  • Videos
  • World

BROWSE BY TAGS

australia boris johnson brexit britain British Herald CHINA Coronavirus coronavirus cases coronavirus outbreak COVID-19 COVID-19 Vaccine daily roundup Donald Trump Dubai expo 2020 england European Union facebook France germany Hong Kong india iran israel italy japan joe biden lockdown London News new zealand north korea Rishi Sunak russia south korea spain T20 World Cup taiwan thailand trending Trump turkey UK Ukraine usa worldnews

Herald Media Network Limited (UK). 2023. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World
    • UK
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Oceania
    • USA
    • Middle East
    • Latin America
  • Politics
  • Business
    • ECONOMY
    • Financial Markets
    • Companies
  • Sport
  • Fintech
  • Videos
  • Coffee Table Book
  • BH Magazine
  • More
    • Health
    • Entertainment
    • Science & Technology
    • Climate & Environment
    • Sustainability
    • Food and Travel
    • Fashion
    • Culture and Lifestyle
    • Articles
    • Opinion

Herald Media Network Limited (UK). 2023. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?