Events

Jointly organized by the Malaysia Study Group of Asia Research Institute, and Department of Malay Studies, National University of Singapore, and S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

PROGRAMME

ABSTRACT

The 14^th General Election in Malaysia marked a historic development in the political landscape of Malaysia. For the first time since independence, Barisan Nasional, the incumbent coalition, lost control of Parliament to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition. The winning coalition was led by Dr Mohamed Mahathir, whose previous 22-year-old prime-ministership tenure was under the Barisan Nasional. Ironically the PH also represented a renewed alliance between Mahathir and his former nemesis Anwar Ibrahim. The 2018 election upset also came 20 years after Anwar’s first dismissal and imprisonment under the premiership of Mahathir.

This roundtable seeks to understand the main themes which impacted the election and subsequent post-election developments. There are two roundtable sessions which will be moderated by Associate Professor Maznah Mohamad. The first of the sessions will discuss the reasons for the unprecedented electoral outcome, delving into the questions of whether old politics associated with race, religion, regional and gender divides were crucial factors of the contestation. The second session will analyse the post-electoral developments and the implications of new governance and reforms under the PH coalition. Speakers will address the extent and impact of economic trends and dissatisfactions which emerged as primary determinants in this election, the role of Islam in catalysing or hampering democratic change, aspects of federalism and calls for regional autonomy and decentralization, the implications for foreign policy, as well as for the shifting ethnic, class and gender dynamics of Malaysia. The roundtable also aims to explore the potential impact of the Malaysian electoral outcome for new pathways of democratic change across the region.

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS

Aida Arosoaie is a Senior Analyst within the Malaysia Programme at RSIS, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Her research focuses on an interdisciplinary conceptualisation of religion, violence and gender in post-colonial countries. She has written various papers, book chapters and opinion pieces. Her research also featured in dailies such as Today Newspaper, Malay Mail and the New Mandala.

Johan Saravanamuttu is Adjunct Senior Fellow at RSIS, Nanyang Technological University. He has held previous positions as Professor of Political Science at Science University of Malaysia (USM) and Visiting Senior Research Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. He is the author of Malaysia’s Foreign Policy, the First 50 Years: Alignment, Neutralism, Islamism (2010) and Power Sharing in a Divided Nation: Mediated Communalism and New Politics over Six Decades of Elections in Malaysia (2016).

Mohamed Nawab Mohamed Osman is the coordinator of the Malaysia Program and the RSIS’ Seminar Series on Muslim Societies in Asia.. He is the author of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia: Identity, Ideology and Religo-Political Mobilisation (Oxfon: Routledge, 2018) and Islam and Peace-Building the Asia-Pacific (Singapore: World Scientific, 2017). His articles have been featured in prominent journals such as Asian Security, Contemporary Islam, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Islamophobia Studies, Sociology of Islam, Southeast Asia Research, South Asia, Terrorism and Political Violence, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Indonesia and the Malay World andContemporary Southeast Asia.

Mustafa Izzuddin is a Fellow on the Regional Strategic and Political Studies (RSPS) Programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, an Adjunct Lecturer on the University Scholars Programme of the National University of Singapore, and an Adjunct Professor in Writing and Social Sciences at Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah, an Arabic institution in India. Dr Mustafa received his MSc and PhD in International Relations from LSE. His forthcoming book is on a neoclassical realist interpretation of Malaysia-China relations.

Serina Abdul Rahman is a Visiting Fellow under the Malaysia Programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore. Her long immersion amongst Malaysia’s coastal communities has given her insight into the workings of rural Malay culture and behaviour, as well as an understanding of how and why the communities vote the way they do. Her views on Malaysia’s general election have been quoted in the media such as The Straits Times, Financial Times, Today Newspaper, CNBC and CAN.

Vilashini Somiah is currently a final year PhD candidate at the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at NUS. Her PhD thesis focuses on the issues of deportation and socio-political mobility and how this impacts the way irregular migrants in Sabah engage with the Sulu Sea. She is a filmmaker (Living Stateless, 2014) and a writer, having published articles on socio-political issues in Malaysia in The Affair, The Malay Mail Online, MalaysiaKini and New Mandala.

Maznah Binti Mohamad is with the Department of Malay Studies and the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, NUS. She is also co-convenor of the Malaysia Study Group Program at Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. Her books include Feminism and the Women’s Movement in Malaysia (co-authored, 2006) and Melayu: The Politics, Poetics and Paradoxes of Malayness (co-edited, 2011). Her latest publications are in the journals Inter-Asia Cultural Studies (2017) and Journal of Contemporary Asia (forthcoming, 2018).

REGISTRATION

Admission is free. We would greatly appreciate if you click on the “Register” button above to RSVP.