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New Year treat for Malaysia's Chinese
voters
By Anil Netto
PENANG,
Malaysia - Chinese-Malaysians have never had it so good
as far as public celebrations of the Lunar New Year are
concerned in this Muslim-majority nation. Never before
have the festival and Chinese culture in general been so
openly highlighted in the mainstream media and in
official government functions as they are these days.
Thousands flocked to this month's epic Dances of
the Dynasties performances in Genting, near Kuala
Lumpur, for instance. The dances were performed by 60
dancers from the renowned Shanghai Song and Dance
Ensemble, which has staged similar events in some 30
other countries.
Newspapers are filled with
other events heralding the Lunar New Year, while two new
television channels, which have just started
broadcasting, are adding to an ever-increasing fare of
Chinese-language dramas, films and entertainment
specials.
But then this is no ordinary year.
This year has been conveniently billed "Malaysia-China
Friendship Year": it marks 30 years of China-Malaysia
diplomatic relations, which began in 1974. It is also
the 600th anniversary of the great Admiral Zheng He's
(Cheng Ho) expedition to the historic town of Melaka,
once the foremost port in this region.
More to
the point, this is also an election year. The general
election must be held by November, but speculation is
mounting that it will be held weeks after the Lunar New
Year festival to capitalize on the Chinese "feel-good"
factor. With the Malay-Muslim votes still divided
between the government and the opposition, the battle
for the non-Muslim - especially the Chinese - votes has
begun in earnest.
The government is expected to
hold a snap general election ahead of party elections of
the United Malays National Organization (UMNO)scheduled
for the middle of the year. The UMNO elections have
already been postponed once in anticipation of the
general election and it is unlikely to be postponed
again. Thus most people now expect a March date.
It is not difficult to spot the government's
attempt to induce a "feel-good" factor. History has
shown how the government used warmer diplomatic
relations with China and education and cultural
liberalization to telling effect in the 1974 and 1995
general elections, respectively.
In 1969, in the
aftermath of a heated general election, communal riots
between ethnic Malays and Chinese soured these ties in
the country, forcing Malaysia's first prime minister,
Tunku Abdul Rahman, to step down and setting off deep
splits in the ruling Alliance coalition.
With
political liberties curtailed in the aftermath of the
riots, Malaysia's second prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak
Hussein, went against conventional wisdom and initiated
diplomatic relations with China in 1974, recognizing the
People's Republic of China as the legal government of
China. His discussions with China's top leaders,
including Mao Zedong, captured the imagination of
Chinese-Malaysians. Mao reportedly told Razak that
overseas Chinese should owe loyalty to their country of
adoption. Razak triumphantly returned to Malaysia, held
a snap general election and led his expanded ruling
coalition - now renamed the Barisan Nasional - to a
thumping victory.
In the early 1990s, in the
aftermath of racially charged controversies and a
crackdown on dissent in 1987, then prime minister
Mahathir Mohamad liberalized higher education in the
early 1990s, making it easier for the Chinese and Indian
minorities to obtain tertiary education. He also eased
cultural restrictions, pleasing the ethnic Chinese in
particular even as the economy posted heady growth
rates. The result: the ruling coalition scored one of
its biggest victories ever in the general election in
1995.
But the regional financial crisis in 1997
threw a wrench into the works and the economy suffered,
never to regain the growth figures of the early 1990s.
The acrimonious sacking of deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim
and the eruption of reformasi deeply split Malay
voters - a split that has not completely healed even
today. In the general election of 1999, the anger of
Anwar's sacking and the suppression of human rights
contributed to the opposition making sharp inroads,
especially in the Malay heartland.
With the
economy still lethargic, the government appears to be
banking on cultural liberalization to win votes this
time around using festivals such as Christmas and the
Lunar New Year to reach out to minority groups in a
country where Muslims make up about 60 percent of the
population.
In December, Prime Minister Abdullah
Badawi sent Christmas cards to pastors and Christian
leaders throughout the country - a gesture that was
warmly received by many Christians. Boosted by the
positive feedback, Abdullah and his wife have since sent
out 3,000 Lunar New Year signed greeting cards to
Chinese-Malaysian political parties, community leaders,
associations, assembly halls, chambers of commerce and
educational groups.
The English translation of
the card reads: "Spring will always be around if there
is harmony among people; the world will be peaceful if
there is political stability in the country."
"Political stability" is a euphemism for
retaining the status quo - buzzwords that the ruling
coalition frequently uses to draw votes to itself during
an election campaign.
On January 11, former
premier Mahathir told a 5,000-strong largely Chinese
crowd attending a Lunar New Year dinner at the newly
formed Kuala Lumpur Chinese Assembly Hall: "I believe
this year is an election year and I plead to Chinese
voters to give their full support to the Barisan
Nasional in the election."
Abdul Razak's son,
Najib Tun Razak, whom Abdullah appointed as his deputy
in accordance with Mahathir's wishes, knows how warmer
relations with China can boost Chinese-Malaysian support
for the ruling coalition. The son of Malaysia's second
premier, who first initiated diplomatic relations with
Beijing in 1974, Najib said he would "personally push
for deeper and expanded ties with China".
The
underlying message to the non-Muslim minorities behind
this celebration of diversity and cultural openness
appears to be: this is what you might lose if you vote
for the opposition, especially the Islamic party, which
aims to set up a conservative Islamic state.
Abdullah, meanwhile, has also projected himself
as a crusader against corruption and bureaucratic
inefficiency.
But cultural liberalization and
the rhetoric have not been matched by political
liberalization or substantive action towards meaningful
reforms.
When a group of supporters of jailed
ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim tried to embark on a
cross-country road show over the weekend, police blocked
the convoy of 25 cars and ordered them to take down
flags and posters. However, activists said the police
action would not stop them organizing another convoy in
the capital Kuala Lumpur to highlight Anwar's plight.
There have been few signs of democratization in
the main institutions of government: parliament, the
judiciary, the heavily controlled mainstream media, the
docile Anti-Corruption Agency and the
government-appointed Human Rights Commission of Malaysia
(Suhakam). Public rallies by the opposition are still
banned and oppressive laws remain in the statute books.
Despite the lack of substance to match the
rhetoric, the ruling coalition's overtures and cultural
easing up to the Chinese-Malaysian community - along
with its overwhelming control of the media and state
apparatus - are likely to place it an advantage over the
opposition.
The ruling coalition appears to be
using its tried and tested electoral formula of cultural
liberalization and warmer relations with China once
again to retain sizable Chinese-Malaysian support for
the ruling coalition. With uncertainties remaining as to
how Malays would vote this time around, that support
from the Chinese is likely to prove invaluable again.
(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All
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