MALAYSIA
By Clive Kessler
East Asia Forum-Apr 29
Malaysia’s fourteenth general elections (GE14) have finally been called. For almost a decade Prime Minister Najib Razak has ruled on recurrent hints of a snap, surprise election; this is the second time he has let the Parliament run close to its full five-year course. On 7 April, Najib dissolved the Parliament, leaving it to the Election Commission to proclaim 28 April as the nomination deadline for candidates and 9 May as the day of the vote. Rather than holding the election as usual at the weekend, when city-dwelling voters may easily return to the villages where many are registered to vote, GE14 will be held on a Wednesday — yet another obstacle to the opposition’s hopes of prevailing because of a high voter turnout.
While outwardly Malaysia’s elections appear democratic, Malaysian governments no longer draw their authority from the democratic wellsprings of legitimacy that free elections provide. These days, their mandates are tied to preserving Malay political power and assuring the religious supremacy of Islam. Elections are held not to generate legitimacy but simply to produce and name a winner — and to ensure that that winner is always Najib’s United Malays National Organization (UMNO).
READ MORE AT: http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2018/04/29/malaysias-electoral-fantasy-belies-worrying-reality/
First published in: East Asia Forum
