PH and BN's coalition government is a victory for secularism and pragmatic politics

This article is machine translated:

    On November 24, the Malaysian head of state formally appointed Anhua, the leader of the Pakatan Harapan alliance, as the tenth prime minister of Malaysia.  This also means that after the general election in Malaysia, the "cooperation" on the formation of a new government has come to an end. The "old rivals" of the Pakatan Harapan and the Barisan Nasional have temporarily put aside their previous suspicions and united with East Malaysian political parties to jointly govern with more than half of the parliamentary seats.

    Such a result is somewhat surprising.  The author predicted a year ago that the 2022 Malaysian general election would still be the victory of the "Umno-Islamic Alliance", that is, a coalition of Malay nationalists and Islamic sectarians.  Until the end of this general election, the author has always believed that the National Alliance and the Barisan Nasional, both ideologically inclined to conservative, will form a coalition government, and the Pakatan Harapan will be left aside and continue to be the opposition party.

   However, on the 24th, the Pakatan Harapan announced an alliance with the Barisan Nasional to govern, which can be described as stunning both at home and abroad.  This makes people see the dawn of hope amid the disappointment and even despair of the political situation and ethnic relations in Malaysia in recent years. It also reflects the changeable political competition and cooperation and the complicated psychology of officials and people.

    Looking back at the history of Malaysia, the division and combination of various political forces and the separation of grievances and resentments between different political figures are quite admirable.  For example, the grievances between Mahathir and Anwar have lasted for decades and are still unresolved.  However, the opposition camp dominated by the Justice Party and the Action Party has experienced a longer confrontation and conflict with the long-term ruling forces dominated by Umno.

   The Islamic Party, which represents Islamic sectarianism and has a certain tendency towards fundamentalism, has not only been in power with Umno, but also with opposition forces such as the Justice Party, and has participated in the "triangular battle" as a third force many times.

This article is machine translated：

    In the 2018 general election, Mahathir, who left Umno, led the Bersatu Party and successfully divided the Malay votes, becoming an important boost for the Pakatan Harapan to win the election.  However, during the two years of the Pakatan Harapan government, Bersatu and the PKR have been at odds, and even more hostile to the DAP.  In the end, the mainstream of Bersatu left, the United Nations Front and PAS overthrew the Pakatan Harapan government and established the "National Alliance" government, and the Malaysian government returned to the hands of the conservatives.  This government is nicknamed the "backdoor government". It seems that a group of politicians have played with the system and popular sentiment, but in fact it is backed by the strong support of a large number of Malay nationalists and Islamists at the grassroots level.

    But after two years of coalition in power, the PN has split again.  In 2018, Bersatu and Umno, which united against the DAP and Chinese forces, have become rivals again due to differences in interests and values.  The Islamic Party chose to stand on the side of Bersatu to form a new coalition to participate in this year's general election.  This has strengthened the religious overtones of the PN, making it the preferred target of support for the most conservative Malay-Muslims.

   Although UMNO is also a Malay party and emphasizes the Malay nationalist stance of "Malays first", it has long been in power, has a long history of cooperation with the MCA and the MIC, and will govern and guarantee  Self-real interests (rather than ideology) are the top priority, and its nationalism is weaker than Bersatu, which broke away from Pakatan Harapan.

   More importantly, UMNO is a political party that emphasizes secularism. Although it also respects Islam as the state religion, its political platform and ruling policies are relatively secular.  During the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional administration, it has been vigilant against Islamic extremism and has suppressed the Islamic Party that insists that religion takes precedence over ethnicity.  On the one hand, because the majority of Malays are Muslims, Umno, as a Malay political party, naturally needs to please the Muslims of its own ethnic group;  The Islamic Party challenges its ruling status, and as a long-term ruling party, it also needs to unite non-Muslim groups, so it is relatively moderate and moderate on religious issues.

    On the contrary, Bersatu, which broke away from Pakatan Harapan, is more willing to cooperate with Islamic parties than Umno because it is a relatively new party and has always advertised its admiration for "Malays first". It does not care about national unity and secularism.  .  Bersatu's hostility to foreign and pagan political forces such as the DAP and Huayin is also more intense than UMNO, which makes its Malay nationalism and Islamic conservatism stronger, and cooperation with PAS is almost a matter of course.

    In the 2022 general election, not only Pakatan Harapan, Bersatu and PAS as the main body, but also the slogans and propositions of reforming politics, fighting corruption, and rebuilding the country.  However, unlike Pakatan Harapan who hopes to build Malaysia into a progressive, multi-identity, and secular harmonious country, the National Alliance is trying to make Malaysia a Malay-Muslim-dominated country with a strong religious color and populism.  conservative country.

    It is this stance that caused the National League to set off a "Malay tsunami", and also inspired conservative Muslims to vote actively, winning 73 parliamentary seats in one fell swoop, more than one-third more than the seats before the election.  Among them, the Islamic Party won 45 seats, more than double that of the previous term, reflecting the rise of religious conservative forces.

    Although Bersatu is not as successful as PAS, its votes and seats are comparable to those of Umno, an old Malay political party, indicating that Bersatu has replaced Umno and become a Malay nationalist force  The sign of the largest representative political party.  This party was originally an instrumental party created by Mahathir to serve his struggle for power and profit. After a few years of growth, it has become the destination and banner of the new generation of Malay nationalism and conservative forces.  This is not only due to the efforts of Muhyiddin and other core figures in Bersatu, but also due to the needs of Malay national conservative forces.

    Many Malay nationalists, especially the younger generation, not only hate the corruption and incompetence of UMNO, but also have a strong sense of national superiority and hope to maintain the privileges of the Malays.  

   If the Perikatan Nasional is in power, its insistence on "Malays first" and "Islam as the foundation of the country" must be stronger than that of the Umno-dominated Barisan Nasional.  Because what they rely on to win this election is precisely the people who hold this position.  The League of Nations has made great gains by pleasing conservative populists and ethnic and religious forces. It is also replicating the success of parties and figures with similar positions in the United States, India, Hungary and other countries in recent years. It is a link in the resurgence of conservative populism around the world.  They overthrow the traditional establishment regime, seize power and do whatever they want by satisfying the demands of the main ethnic groups and mainstream religious groups, and at the expense of the interests of other ethnic groups and believers.

   Such a regime is more harmful than Umno, a corrupt and inefficient political force that is relatively pragmatic and resists extremism.  Those old Umno politicians do have a lot of selfishness and conservative thinking, but they also understand the importance of economic development, national stability, and ethnic harmony.  Although Umno will also play ethnic and religious signs to attract voters, it is not as extreme as Bersatu, which symbolizes the "young faction" of Malay nationalism, and PAS, which has a strong religious color. Its selfishness and stability make it pragmatic  tend to be stronger.

    It is also the pragmatism of Umno that has become the reason why it crossed ethnic and religious barriers, and even gave up its anti-progressive stance, and chose to form a government with Pakatan Harapan instead of Perikatan Nasional.  This may be a kind of speculation for Umno and the entire Barisan Nasional itself; but it is indeed good news for the Pakatan Harapan and Malaysia.

    For the Pakatan Harapan, no matter how hard it works, it will hardly be able to win more than half of the seats alone (even with the support of East Malaysian political parties) due to the proportion of ethnic groups and their positions.  Therefore, if you want to govern, you must unite with other forces.  Compared with the aggressive Perikatan Nasional, Umno's Barisan Nasional is obviously a more suitable target.  Even if some bad traditions of Umno need to be accommodated, Umno is willing to cooperate for a win-win situation if it gets benefits.  The strong identity politics and ideological color of the National Alliance is destined to have fierce conflicts with the Pakatan Harapan, especially the Action Party, and there is almost no possibility of a coalition ruling.

    As far as Malaysia is concerned, if the PN is in power, it may indeed be a good news for the 43% of voters who voted for them, because the PN will definitely do its best to meet the wishes of these ethnic populists and religious conservatives.  But for the secular and progressive Malays in Malaysia, as well as almost all Chinese and Indian people, it will be more unfortunate than the past UMNO rule.  The alliance between the Pakatan Harapan and Umno has benefited both the Malays and the Chinese and Indian communities, balanced the progressive and conservative forces, and avoided the extremization of Malaysian politics and the intensification of ethnic conflicts. It is a great blessing.

    The Pakatan Harapan (and its predecessor forces) and the Barisan Nasional, the "old enemy", after decades of struggle, are now in coalition for a variety of reasons. Although the motives are not completely sincere and pure, the objective influence is beneficial.  The country benefits the people.  After half a lifetime of ups and downs, Anhua finally pays homage to the prime minister, which is also gratifying.  However, I am not optimistic about whether such a coalition government can last for four years until the next general election, and whether there will be another political sudden change similar to the "Sheraton incident".

    If only from the perspective of identity and value orientation, BN and PN are obviously closer, while there is a big "color difference" with Pakatan Harapan.  Even if a coalition government is now formed, no matter how the two parties get along with each other, regardless of UMNO and PKR, UMNO and DAP, MCA and DAP, there are deep grievances and conflicts of interests in reality.  Whether the conflicts can be alleviated and the interests can be reconciled in the next four years is still unknown.

   I hope that the parties and politicians of the Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional, and even the majority of people in Malaysia, can cherish the reality of Malaysia's relative diversity and harmony, secular tolerance, and people's livelihood, to protect rather than destroy the country and society, resist extremist forces, and be rational  Pragmatic, gradual innovation, so that Malaysia can be stable and prosperous in the next few years and even longer.