Beneath Malaysia’s political battles are older struggles

The writer directs the Lowy Institute’s south-east Asia programme and is a former Financial Times correspondent

Leaders betraying their protégés, acolytes bringing down their bosses, a multibillion-dollar corruption case that reverberated from Kuala Lumpur to Hollywood and, not least, the never-ending sodomy allegations. Malaysian politics reads like a latter-day Shakespearean drama, from the unprecedented ousting of the United Malays National Organisation-led government in 2018 to the collapse last week of the reformist and multiracial government that replaced it.

To sum up for the non-initiated: retired nonagenarian strongman Mahathir Mohamad was elected as prime minister again in 2018 after campaigning to remove UMNO and its then leader Najib Razak, a former protégé, because of his role in the 1MDB scandal (for which he is currently on trial, denying any wrongdoing). Mr Mahathir promised eventually to hand power to Anwar Ibrahim, another former protégé who was jailed during the reigns of both Mr Mahathir and Mr Najib on politically motivated sodomy charges.

But Mr Mahathir seemed reluctant finally to let Mr Anwar grasp his long-cherished prize. The latter, meanwhile, was sparring with Azmin Ali, his own former acolyte. After Mr Azmin tried to form a backroom coalition with UMNO last week, the “alliance of hope” collapsed. Mr Mahathir made a forlorn attempt to form a unity government. But he was then ousted by Muhyiddin Yassin, another former right-hand man, who was sworn in as Malaysia’s eighth prime minister on Sunday at the head of a coalition dominated by UMNO.

It is head-spinning for Malaysians, let alone anyone from outside. But underlying the internecine squabbles is the struggle of a still-young nation to emerge from the burdens of its messy and painful colonial and post-colonial history. The British built racial divisions and antagonism into the fabric of Malaysia, with the majority Muslim Malays given social and political primacy while the minority ethnic Chinese dominated the economy. This original sin, on top of the surface-level clashes of politics and personality, remains the fundamental block to much-needed reforms, from curbing corruption to boosting economic equity.

Malaysia’s battle to be unshackled from its historical baggage and finish constructing the nation is mirrored elsewhere in south-east Asia — where, except in Thailand, independence was hard-won in the face of rapacious colonialism and the second world war. In Indonesia, the fundamental questions of Islam’s role in the state and the state’s role in the economy continue to loom large. In Myanmar, the key questions are who can be a citizen and who, apart from the military, can keep the country together.

In Malaysia, UMNO ruled from independence in 1957 until its unexpected toppling in 2018. It maintained its grip on power by exploiting racial fissures, delivering affirmative action for Malays and making rapid if uneven progress on economic development as crony capitalism boomed. UMNO was only ousted because of an unusual, and evidently unsustainable, coalition between Mr Mahathir and Mr Anwar’s multi-ethnic allies, who shared a loathing for the rampant graft on Mr Najib’s watch.

But even as he led the most diverse cabinet that Malaysia has ever seen, Mr Mahathir, a former UMNO stalwart, would not disavow his hardened racial views on the need to protect and prioritise the numerically dominant Malays. More importantly, his government faced a backlash from Malay voters, losing a string of by-elections, as UMNO and its Islamist partners in opposition, PAS, stoked racial and religious tensions.

Now UMNO has in effect overturned its 2018 election defeat by becoming the biggest bloc in the coalition led by Mr Muhyiddin, a Malay nationalist who broke from the party in 2016. This is a disturbing setback. Even while Mr Mahathir’s coalition bickered over the leadership transition, it pushed for more accountable government, scaled back wasteful infrastructure projects and scrapped some authoritarian laws. Now, within hours of the old guard returning, civil society activists protesting against the power grab have already found themselves under investigation from the police for possible sedition.

All is not yet lost. Allies of Mr Mahathir and Mr Anwar question whether Mr Muhyiddin truly has majority support in parliament. The last government fell because of backroom machinations, not a coup. Malaysian voters, who in 2018 turfed out a sitting government for the first time, will have their say again at the next election, which is due by 2023.But it is clear that the dream of a post-racial Malaysia — “Truly Asia”, as the tourism adverts used to say — remains a dream.

South-east Asia once again finds itself on the frontline of competition between great powers, with the US and China vying for dominance. Yet Malaysia and some of its most important neighbours are turning inwards as they replay past struggles. Given the scale of the problems they have been bequeathed, they are unlikely to resolve them any time soon. Still, at least the people of Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar have more say in their futures than perhaps at any time in their history. There is much to fight for in these unfinished nations.