Based on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the term democracy refers

very generally to a method of group decision making characterized by a kind of equality

among the participants at an essential stage of the collective decision making. For
former prime minister Dry Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia is a democracy plain and
simple because we hold regular elections. For him, all those criticisms from within and
abroad are irrelevant because there is no need to imitate western-style democracy. On
1 October 2011 (The Star), A Rashid Rahman, the former Election Commission
chairman, also insisted that Malaysia is a democracy because our leaders are elected
and our elections free and fair. Compared to the rest of Southeast Asia, Malaysias
politics is more institutionalized than in the neighboring countries. We have
operated under a single Constitution for more than 50 years. Democracy cannot
be restricted to participation in elections once every four to five years or to a group of
professional politicians acquiring power. Rather, it should be about the conscientisation
and empowerment of the rakyat, - Francis Loh.
The quest for democracy among Muslims today is one of the most prominent and
transformative features of our time. Indonesia is the worlds largest Muslim-majority
nation; its successful transition is the single most significant development in the recent
history if democracy. Malaysias experience of diversity and pluralism is slightly the
opposites of Indonesias. For a third world country Malaysia fared quite well in
managing both its ethnic and religious pluralism. Malaysia has perhaps most liberal
policy vis-avis ethnic culture. Chinese and Indian Malaysians have the freedom to use
their traditional ethnic names, build schools with their own language as the medium of
instruction, and promote their ethnic cultures. Interestingly, Islam is invoked more often
as providing justification for liberal policy on cultural pluralism. Islam has been the most
influential political force in Malaysia since the indigenous Malays launched their
organized opposition to British colonial rule before the Second World War. Islam is
clearly the most important force shaping and sustaining Malaysian democracy; it deeply
influences each of the other enabling factors of democracy and integrates them into a
coherent political system. An influential position for Islam was assured by UMNOs
commitment to the religion. As the dominant partner in the ruling coalition, UMNO is
committed to protecting Malay in rests, including the right to practice Islam.

The majority of Malay-Muslims agreed to work together with non-Muslim ethnic

Chinese and ethnic Indians for self-rule. The Alliance Party was established in 195 1 to
contest the countrys first democratic elections towards choosing a representative
government to lead the country to self-rule. with the consent of the non-Muslim
communities, the constitution for independent Malaysia would make Islam the sole
official religion while guaranteeing freedom of worship for all other religions. The
constitutional provision giving the state a role in Islamic matters led to the development
of political Islam in the country. Ever since representative democracy was introduced in
Malaysia, religious criticism of it has not been heard. The so-called Islamic resurgence
that began in the 1970s did not result in a discernable rejection of democracy as unIslamic. At a time when the Malays were anxious about democracy within the context of
the new inter-ethnic political partnership, the monarchy provided a symbol for the Malay
nationhood and served as a guardian of Malay interests. The monarchy is the head of
Muslims and its role is to ensure the smooth functioning of the nations political
democracy. UMNO dominated the Malaysian political scene for more than half a
century. Its democratic culture helped sustain Malaysias democracy. In fact, UMNO was
always far more democratic than the nation. The positive response of UMNOs Islamic
opposition to democracy was no less important. Leaders of PAS like Burhanuddin ElHelmy, a Malay intellectual and political philosopher who believed in Islams
compatibility with democracy long before the world was excited about the issue,
contributed to the success of Malaysian democracy.

The strength of Islamic believes in Malaysian had been proven by the citizens
recently due to the latest global Islamic phenomenon which involve Muslims from all
over the world. Innocence of Muslims, which has very rightly caused uproar all around
the world and also involvement of Malaysias political group, is an anti-Islamic video
written and produced by Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. It was initially titled Desert Warrior
when it was filmed in 2011. The script was about the tribal battles prompted by the
arrival of a comet on earth. Though the story had no religious references, anti-Islamic
content was added post-production through overdubbing, reportedly, without the

knowledge of the actors, who have now taken the producer to the court. The reaction all
around the world was swift and the YouTube links were immediately blocked in Saudi
Arabia and India on the request of the governments by the US-based company in San
Bruno, California.

The same request was sent by our malaysians that had been volunteered and
led by UMNO and PAS youth wings. On Friday, they were protests in Malaysia involving
those from both side of politics supported by the Nations Christians, Hindus and
Budddhist. It was reprted that both UMNO and PAS youth had earlier planned to come
as one in a massive protest outside the US embassy after Friday prayer. Around 5000
PAS members descended on the US Emabassy in KL to protest the video and to voice
their anger at the publication. while just five kilometres away in KL near the Jamek
mosque in Kampung Baru, UMNO Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin led a protest of
around 2000 members. The Malaysian protest were thankfully peaceful but that has not
been the case elsewhere around the world.

However, the

phenomenon

that

had

happened

before,

regarding

the

dissatisfaction of the citizens, the youth especially, towards the current government will
never be taken for granted by the nation. Bersih 2.0, a coalition of 62 NGOs, finds
Malaysias practice of electoral democracy wanting. So they submitted their Eight
demands for electoral reform. And when the Malaysian government refused to listen to
them, they called for a Walk for Democracy on 9 July 2011. By far the one common
thread uniting them to hold the rally was anger against the present government. Anger
against inflation and the consequent decline in living standards, anger against
multimillion ringgit corruption, anger against declining education standards, anger
against electoral manipulation and finally anger against a government that just did not
seem to be listening to the people had led them to make a big demonstration. The way
the Malaysian government dealt with this call by resorting to arrests of supporters,
banning the wearing of yellow T-shirts, declaring Bersih 2.0 and their proposed Walk

illegal, banning some 98 Malaysians from entering Kuala Lumpur on that eventful day,
and then arresting Bersih leaders and other Malaysians who took part in the Walk
highlights that Malaysias democracy is flawed.

The overwhelmed demonstration had seriously affected the security level of

Malaysia. Former journalist and author of March 8: Time for Real Change, Kee Thuan
Chye, agreed that the government is very worried about a massive turnout and
warned that it would do all it can to prevent such a scenario. Roadblocks are already in
force. He expect a lot of arrests and bag searches on that day. It will literally be
hazardous to wear yellow. Professor Shamsul Amri Baharuddin of Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia, meanwhile, pointed out that demonstrations were no longer a
new phenomenon in Malaysia. The question was the difference between rallies on
international and domestic issues. When 3,000 people showed up for the anti-Israel
rally there was no talk of a threat to national security because everyone was on one
side. With domestic issues there are always extremists on both ends with each side
determined to promote its political agenda. Professor James Chin of Monash University
has no doubts about this. He noted that the government blamed Hindraf and the first
Bersih rally for causing its stumble in 2008 and is now fearful that Bersih 2.0 will be a
repeat of history. Chin agreed that the crackdown on Bersih has generated a wider
momentum on the ground but said that it would not necessarily translate into a bigger
crowd on that day. he said that he real impact of Bersih will be seen at the ballot boxes.
The people who are angry with the governments reaction to Bersih will talk about it at
the coffeeshops and vote against BN in the next general election. This kind of
demonstration will bring lots of implication towards the government and also had led
Malaysia citizen to feel insecure.

REFLECTION
Doing a research on democracy in Malaysia is really a hard task to me. Finding a
relevant article under the theme of Democracy in Malaysia is a kind of complicated
because this kind of issue usually involve and related to sensitivity of Malaysia citizen
that consists of various races. Wrong words could cause disaster in our country as
recently we had faced extraordinary phenomenon in Malaysia that was caused by
dissatisfaction of certain group of person.
However, I had never assumed this task as a burden in my daily life because it is
my responsibility to complete the entire task given by the lecturers. Besides, doing this
assignment had given me lots of knowledge about our country in a deep manner. This
assignment also had caused me to explore more details about current issue that
recently happened in Malaysia. I am a kind of person that is not alert towards my
environment. By having this task, I finally had realized that I supposedly take knowledge
about everything that is happening around me. This task had helped me to become a
more concern citizen towards my Malaysia.
I had also learned a lesson during completing this assignment. I had broken
ones heart because I did something that she does not like regarding this assignment. I
felt really guilty for that and it is sometimes had effect my focus on doing my task. I want
to seek her apologize but I am afraid that she will not accept my apology because yes, it
cannot be forgiven. I felt really guilty but I do not know what I should do to win her heart
back. Because of that, I tried my really best to complete this assignment so that she will
forgive me on my wrong to her. I really hope that she will accept my works.

ISSSUES AND IMPLICATION OF

DEMOCRACY IN MALAYSIA

nurul juseha binti johari

930421-08-6406
malacca
love to be in privacy, designing,
photographing, photo editing

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2011/07/08/bersih-isgovts-secret-fear/
2. http://aliran.com/8527.html
3. https://www.thechoice.my/featured-articles/58908-malaysia-unites-forinnocence-of-muslims-protest

4. http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/coming-of-age-malaysiandemocracy-matures/
5. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/democracy/
6. http://islamicamagazine.com/?p=300
7. http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F
%2Fwww.freemalaysiatoday.com%2Fcategory%2Fopinion
%2F2012%2F05%2F16%2Freforming-malaysia-the-big-issues-inge13%2F&h=kAQHr5myS
8. Uiversal Values and Muslim Democracy, Anwar Ibrahim (Journal of Democracy
Volume 17, Number 3 July 2006)