Malaysia’s Tumultuous Political Development Since 2018 and Its Future Trajectory
Type
Round TableSchedule
Session 7Wed 14:00-15:30 REC A2.04
Convener
- Elvin Ong National University of Singapore
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Add to CalendarParticipants
- Azmil Tayeb Universiti Sains Malaysia
- Dan Slater University of Michigan
- Elvin Ong National University of Singapore
- Kai Ostwald University of British Columbia
- Kikue Hamayotsu Northern Illinois University
- Tricia Yeoh Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs
Abstract
In May 2018, the Pakatan Harapan opposition alliance defeated the dominant ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional that had ruled Malaysia for six decades. Since then, Malaysia has seen four different Prime Ministers helming precarious coalition governments in five years. This roundtable brings together scholars of Malaysian politics from diverse institutions, ranks, gender, and ethnicity to assess Malaysia’s turbulent political development since this first electoral turnover.
The scholars will address how Malaysian politics has remained the same or evolved in the years since 2018 through the lens of religion and identity (Hamayotsu), political parties (Ong), coalitions (Slater), ideology (Ostwald), political Islam (Tayeb), and civil society (Yeoh). They will also seek to sketch out potential divergent trajectories of political reform and development over the next few years under the current unity government helmed by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.