According to the article I chose for this post, Malaysia’s right-wing Malay-Muslim political coalition of multiple parties, Perikatan Nasional (PN), has gained momentum in the country’s state elections in the 6/13 states holding elections this past summer. Their influence has solidified across Malay-majority states, however they did not gain majority control of any of these states. The article highlights the growing support for Malay-Muslim politics, particularly attributed to the Malaysian Islamist Party (PAS)’s predominant influence within the PN coalition. The article highlights how rising ethnic tensions, shown by PAS’s rising influence, between the majority Malays and ethnic Chinese in the country could destabilize the government and draws the comparison to the United States and Great Britain where tensions are also high.
The main focus of this article is that tensions between the different ethnic groups of Malaysia, mainly Malays, and Chinese as those are the two largest, are a serious issue for the nations political stability and the recent election results show that the problem is only growing. The article outlines many specific sources of ethnic tensions in the country including the first being that Ethnic Malays have ties to the land as they are originally from what we call Malaysia and the Chinese are viewed as outsiders leading to there being privileges for Malays in many aspects of life. There are also strong ties between Islam and being Malay and in Malaysia Islamic courts have authority over many aspects of peoples lives including marriage which is legally forbidden between Muslims and non-Muslims. The PAS which has gained ground in the recent elections also causes concern for many Malaysians including many of Malay decent as there are fears that the PAS’s religious agenda will restrict many aspects of everyday life for example possibly banning alcohol. A lot of tension is caused by common ethnic stereotypes one which the article discussed being that many believe that the Chinese dominate the national economy and are questioned for their national loyalty. We have discussed multiracial societies a lot in class and the potential tensions that come with that. Overall, the article provides insight into the ethnic and political dynamics of Malaysia, where issues related to ethnicity, religion, and governance continue to shape the political landscape.
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