Malaysia's 2004 General Elections: spectacular victory, continuing tensions

The new Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, after approximately five months in office, led the ruling coalitionBarisan Nasional (National Front [BN]) into the country�s eleventh general elections in March 2004. The BN won spectacularly. The electoral success has been attributed as mu...

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Main Author: Mohamad, Marzuki
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of the Philippines 2004
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/47587/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/47587/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/47587/2/47587.pdf
id iium-47587
recordtype eprints
spelling iium-475872016-03-14T03:41:02Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/47587/ Malaysia's 2004 General Elections: spectacular victory, continuing tensions Mohamad, Marzuki JA Political science (General) The new Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, after approximately five months in office, led the ruling coalitionBarisan Nasional (National Front [BN]) into the country�s eleventh general elections in March 2004. The BN won spectacularly. The electoral success has been attributed as much to Abdullah�s reform initiatives, which included war against graft in public and private sectors, efforts to improve public delivery system and continued commitment to growth-oriented economic policies, as to his own clean image. Further, his pronouncement of Islam Hadhari (Civilizational Islam), a progressive Islam suited to the modern times, counterbalanced the espousal of a theocratic Islamic state agenda by the opposition, Parti Islam SeMalaysia (Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party [PAS]). This struck a chord with the majority Malay/Muslim voters and led to the impressive electoral performance of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) in Malay-majority constituencies, which seemed to spell an end to the Malay cultural revolt against the dominant Malay party caused by the sacking, arrest and imprisonment of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. The spectacular victory, however, belied continuing tensions in Malaysian politics where the fault lines are being drawn less along narrow ethnic struggle, than between contending discourses of democracy, religious identity and economic development. The election results seem to reinforce politics beyond ethnicity which has been unfolding since the 1990s. University of the Philippines 2004 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/47587/2/47587.pdf Mohamad, Marzuki (2004) Malaysia's 2004 General Elections: spectacular victory, continuing tensions. Kasarinlan: Philippine Journal of Third World Studies, 19 (2). pp. 25-53. ISSN 2012-080X http://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/kasarinlan/article/view/472
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution International Islamic University Malaysia
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
language English
topic JA Political science (General)
spellingShingle JA Political science (General)
Mohamad, Marzuki
Malaysia's 2004 General Elections: spectacular victory, continuing tensions
description The new Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, after approximately five months in office, led the ruling coalitionBarisan Nasional (National Front [BN]) into the country�s eleventh general elections in March 2004. The BN won spectacularly. The electoral success has been attributed as much to Abdullah�s reform initiatives, which included war against graft in public and private sectors, efforts to improve public delivery system and continued commitment to growth-oriented economic policies, as to his own clean image. Further, his pronouncement of Islam Hadhari (Civilizational Islam), a progressive Islam suited to the modern times, counterbalanced the espousal of a theocratic Islamic state agenda by the opposition, Parti Islam SeMalaysia (Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party [PAS]). This struck a chord with the majority Malay/Muslim voters and led to the impressive electoral performance of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) in Malay-majority constituencies, which seemed to spell an end to the Malay cultural revolt against the dominant Malay party caused by the sacking, arrest and imprisonment of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. The spectacular victory, however, belied continuing tensions in Malaysian politics where the fault lines are being drawn less along narrow ethnic struggle, than between contending discourses of democracy, religious identity and economic development. The election results seem to reinforce politics beyond ethnicity which has been unfolding since the 1990s.
format Article
author Mohamad, Marzuki
author_facet Mohamad, Marzuki
author_sort Mohamad, Marzuki
title Malaysia's 2004 General Elections: spectacular victory, continuing tensions
title_short Malaysia's 2004 General Elections: spectacular victory, continuing tensions
title_full Malaysia's 2004 General Elections: spectacular victory, continuing tensions
title_fullStr Malaysia's 2004 General Elections: spectacular victory, continuing tensions
title_full_unstemmed Malaysia's 2004 General Elections: spectacular victory, continuing tensions
title_sort malaysia's 2004 general elections: spectacular victory, continuing tensions
publisher University of the Philippines
publishDate 2004
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/47587/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/47587/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/47587/2/47587.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T21:07:42Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T21:07:42Z
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