Globalization, Democratization and Political Change in ...€¦ · Malaysian internal politics is...

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JournalofGovernance Volume4,Issue2,December2019(187-204)

(P-ISSN2528-276X)(E-ISSN2598-6465)http://dx.doi.org/10.31506/jog.v4i2.6870

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Globalization,DemocratizationandPoliticalChangeinMalaysia(NewMediaAnd2018Elections)

ArizkaWarganegara1,SyariefMakhya2andDendenKurniaDrajat3

1LecturerofGovernmentStudiesatUniversityofLampung,2CurrentlytheDeanofFacultyofSocialandPoliticalScience,3LecturerofGovernmentStudiesUniversityofLampung

[email protected],[email protected],[email protected]

Recieved:December132019;Revised:December232019;Accepted:December262019

Absatact: This is a study about the nexus relations among globalisation, democratisationprocessanditsimplicationuponthepoliticalchangeinMalaysia.Malaysianinternalpoliticsisverydynamicsandcontentiousaswellasrunningbasedontheethnicconsensus.TheresultrecentMalaysianelectionhaschangedtheMalaysianpoliticallandscape.The61yearsregimeofBarisanNasional(BN)hasbeendefeatedbytheoppositionthat ledby formerMalaysianPrimeMinister, Mahathir Mohammad. By applying qualitative library research. The resultshowsthattheglobalisationhasadirectimpactontheMalaysiandemocratisationprogress.Italso,therefore,influencesoncreatingapoliticalchangeinMalaysia.Thispaperarguesthatglobalisation and democratisation process became a trigger factor of new mediadevelopment. The non BN-linked government media such as Malaysiakini.com and theMalaysianInsiderplayasignificantroleindistributinginformationrelatedtothecorruptionscandalofBNelites,notablyacorruptionscandalofNajibRazak,aformerPrimeMinisterofMalaysia.Keywords:Malaysianpolitics,globalisation,democratisationandnewmediaIntroduction

There are many opinionsregarding globalization ordemocratization. In one side,globalization is often interpreted as acontinuation of the system of capitalistwhen democratization and liberalizationofthepoliticalsystemoftenseenasatoolthat is used to strengthen thedevelopment of global capitalism in theglobalsouthcountries.

In 1957, Malaysia gainedindependence from Britain. At that time,Malaysia had practised minimaldemocracy, but in 1969 Malaysiaswitched to an authoritarian regime and

in 1971Malaysia began to re-implementminimal democracy (Doorenspleet,2000). The change of regime from onemodel to another as experienced byMalaysia, it indicates a tendency thatdemocratization in the Asian countriesoccurs as a form of "coercion" ofcapitalism through the mechanism ofglobalizationas its tool.Thisargument issupported by (Duong, 2017), he hasexplained that the presence ofdemocratization progress in the Asiancontinent and others is more about thestrategytocreatehegemonyofcapitalism.

Malaysia isa country inSoutheastAsiathathasexperiencedcontentiousand

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dynamics of the political changes. The2018elections isaremarkablehistoryofMalaysia, theBNregimewhichhadruledthecountryformorethan61yearshadtohandoverthepowertotheoppositionorAlliance ofHope (PakatanHarapan). Anunusual political transition becauseMalaysia is a country characterized by asemi-democratic political system thatrequires political stability (Lijphart,1969)and(Lijphart,1977).

Furthermore, if we visit thiscountry we often see the slogan of“Malaysia Boleh” (Surely, Malaysia can!).A slogan that is indeed needed forcountries that seek for nationalism todevelop common goals for commondevelopment (common platform). In theMahathir era, development based onnationalismbecamethestyleofMalaysiandevelopment, this imagination ofnationalism was introduced by(Anderson, 2006) as an effort to gatherthe internal solidity of the newlyindependentnation.

The slogan “Malaysia Boleh” maybe heard very often to arouse thenationalism of this country, and itsimplications, for example, Proton carproducts can get a fairly significantmarket.Inthelate1990sandearly2000s,the successful economy condition mightbe a suitable sentence given toMalaysiaasacountrythatreceivedthecategoryofNew Industrial Economic Countries.Together with new Asian industrializedcountriessuchasSouthKorea,Malaysia'spositionon theeconomicworldbegantoattract world attention, this is similar toMahathir's ability to capitalize on hispopularityonthepoliticalworld.

Mahathir's intellectual capacityand leadership accompanied by the

quality of Government policies madeMalaysiaintheearly2000sbeseenasanexampleofaMalaynation-state thatwasabletocatchupandenteringthe levelofthe middle-income country category. Atthesametime, Indonesia isundergoingaprocess of recovery out of economicshocks which eroded the base of theIndonesianeconomy.

TheMalaysianPoliticalLeadershipunder Mahathir has indeed producedvarious speculations about thedemocratic model they have built. Semi-democracy with little authoritarianism,elections that are practising a GerryManderingstrategyandofcoursetheuseof bureaucracy to influence voters.Further, Gerry mandering is a politicalstrategy that is generally used by therulinggovernmenttosetupconstituencyin accordance with the interests of thepartyorcurrentregime.Theconstituencyin every elections can be changed basedon the interests of the regime and therulingelite.

All the notions from foreignobservers made Malaysian politicsconsiderednottocarryoutdemocracyasa whole. (Mauzy, 2013), for example,described Malaysia as a coerciveauthoritarian state in an authoritarianstate,atypicalcountryexercisingcoercivepolitical leadership in an authoritarianstate.

Coercive here means politicalcoercion or pressure on oppositiongroups,thisiscertainlydifferentfromtheIndonesian political situation in theSuharto era.Malaysia'smilitary traditionthat is not too dominative and themonarchical system makes this countryrelatively more flexible in managing thepoliticalsystemcomparedtoIndonesiain


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theSuhartoera.Malaysia2020isavisiondeclared by Mahathir and this is widelyspread by Mahathir through his booktitledAnewdealforAsia.

In the present context, the 2018Malaysian Election also gives a newnarrative when the BN Coalition whichhas been in power for a long time inMalaysia (for 61 years) has finally fallenandwasdefeatedbythePakatanHarapan(Welsh, 2019). Is this also part of theprocess of democratization through theGlobalization that has swept the worldespeciallyaftertheArabSpring?

There are several factors that arestrongly suspected to be the reason forthe defeat of the BN Coalition, includingunsatisfactoryeconomicperformanceandthe 1MDB corruption scandal involvingformer Malaysian Prime Minister NajibRazak.Inaddition,themassiveuseofnewmedia as part of the implications ofglobalizationalsohasasignificantroleininfluencingMalaysian voters in the 2018elections, although this has beenexplained academically prior to 2013Malaysianelections(Weiss,2012).

Based on the description above,theproblemthatwillbeexaminedinthisstudypaperishowtheimplicationsoftheglobalization, democratization and socialmediaonregimeschangeinMalaysiaasaresultofthe2018Elections.

Method

This study is a descriptivequalitative study, a study based onliteraturestudymethodLibraryResearch.In this context, (Bennet et al, 2005)explained that "The importance ofunderstanding thehistoryandcontextofa casemakes thedifficultiesof critiquingqualitative research differ from those of

assessing quantitative work. Readerscannot easily judge the validity of theexplanation of a case unless they have adegreeof independentknowledgeof thatcase”. This research will also utilize thetheoretical arguments above usingindependent knowledge to provide anexplanationoftheresearchobject.

There are 2 (two)methodologicalassumptions in this studywhich confirmthatregimechangeinMalaysiaisaresultof globalization and democratization ofpoliticsthatoccurredinSoutheastAsiainthe late 1990s. First, the implications ofglobalizationforpoliticaldemocratizationare assumed to have started since 1990since the collapse of the eastern blocmobilized by the Soviet Union(Huntington, 1993) and Second, thispaper essentially departs on theargument of PoliticalReform inMalaysiain 1998 due to the influence of politicalglobalization inAsia, in theperiod1990-2000 and this political reform holds apotential forthesamethingtohappeninMalaysia in the following period, in thisstudytheresearchersrefertothecollapseof the BN regime under the Najib RazakGovernment in 2018 as a repeat of thepoliticalreformplot20yearsago.

Inthissense,wehaveusedall thematerialsthatarerelevanttoanalysethecontext and study on the currentMalaysian politics. Thus, we have usedsomeof thepapersthatare linkedtotheclosest study and having similar topicswith this study. For instance, a researchby (Weiss, 2012,) on the new media onthe Malaysian Politics, it becomes themain literature that provides a tool ofmedia upon the power shifting inMalaysia. Further, an assessment by(Ishak,2009)onthemediawasalsoused



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to widen the context of the researchparticularly on how the media play animportant role in the process of politicalpower in current Malaysian politics.Therefore, library research is a propermethod that can be used to analyse themainaimsofthisresearch.

ResultsandDiscussionsGlobalization, Democratization andPoliticalChange:FrameworkAnalysis

Globalization is a phenomenonthat has developed long before KenichiOhmae or the founder of this ideologytheorized. But as a phenomenon,globalization began to "unfold" after thecold war ended with the momentum ofthe collapseofoneof the strongblocsoftheworld,theSovietUnion.Globalizationactually has many agendas not onlyperpetuating capitalism in the context offree trade but more than that,globalization is also a pendulum for thedevelopmentof liberaldemocracyandallkinds of consequences for global southcountries,especiallyinAsiaandAfrica.

According to (Embong, 2000),globalization is a concept that is closelyrelated to reducing the role of statesovereignty,aworldwithoutborders,thedevelopment and civilization oftechnological sophistication, includingtrade transactions based on free tradethinking. Another argument is explainedby Yoshihara Kunio on his lecture seriesat theUniversiti KebangsaanMalaysia in2001,hehasclaimedthatglobalizationisnot only carries a universal definitionamong the world's population, but alsothreatenstheprocessofforminganationstate.

Globalization has become animportant theme in the last fewdecades.

The development of science andtechnology fundamentallyalso influenceschange in society. For example, thedemocratizationthattookplaceinseveralAsian countries and the case of theArabSpring shows the impact of globalization'forced' some authoritarian countrieshavetransformedintoamoredemocraticcountry. Theoretically, the response toglobalization also gives different impactsfromonecountrytoanother.Aparticulareconomically weak country, there is atendency, those weak countries to be afollower of globalization as explained byDavid Held's, it is known as theHyperglobalizer, "Hyperglobalizer [...]considers globalization to befundamentally new epoch in humanhistory, in which old categories andconceptsnolongerapply"(Lynch,2000).

This hyperglobalizer countriesbecomeastrongfollowerofGlobalizationbecause these countries are unable toresist the impact and influence ofglobalization in the context of theirinternal policies. In this context,globalizationisdiametricallyencouragingactive participation in the format ofdeliberative democracy, the concept ofdialogicdemocracy(Lynch,2000)furtherexplains:

”When thinking aboutdemocracy in a global context, isofficial participation in thedeliberations, bargaining, andcutting deals on the inside lessrelevant than the noisy socialmovements on the outside? Thisquestion insistently pointsinternational theory tofundamentallycontesteddebatesindemocratic theory about elite



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GLOBALIZATION(BorderlessSociety)

Democratiza-tion

PoliticalChangeinMalaysia

SocialMedia

(NewMedia)

democracy and popularparticipation”.

Globalizationalsohasanimpacton

thespreadofmassivesocialmediaanditbecomes a trigger that accelerates theprocess of democratization in variousparts of the world. The ability of socialmediatodelivernewsquicklymakesthisnon-conventionalmediaplayamajorrolein the process of democratization invarious countries including in theMalaysiancontext.

The world response to a moredialogical democracy, as a result, the

influence of globalization which is thencentralized and influences the pattern ofworld democratic distribution. Forexample, the Arabs Spring phenomenonbegan with a mass protest demandingfreedom of civil rights. In this contextthere is ademandarising from thegrassroots toencourageanauthoritarianstateto become more democratic. Thedemocratization that occurred in ArabsSpring indirectly is a continuation of thewaveofdemocratization(Florensa,2011)whichisacontinuationofthethirdwaveof democratization projects andpopularizedby(Huntington,1993).

Figure1.TheNexusRelationofGlobalization,DemocratizationandSocialMedia

Figure 1 above explains howglobalizationinfluencestheoccurrenceofdemocratization vis a vis social mediawhich then has an impact on changes inMalaysianpoliticsafterthe2018Election.The above framework is developed by

authorsandisusedtoprovideananalysison the present circumstance of theMalaysian Politics. In this context, weargue that the portal Malaysiakini.comand Malaysian Insider act as agents ofpolitical change in Malaysia with the



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success of these twomedia changing thepolitical taste of voters. News about theNajib Razak 1MDB corruption scandal,thelifestyleofthepoliticalelite,therisingcostof livingandthecountry'seconomicproblems were conveyed to the publicwho had been giving limited access toinformation dominated by pro-government (Najib Razak) mainstreammedia.

There are many factors thatcaused the defeat of BN in the last 2018Election, aside from the 1MDB NajibRazakscandal,theincreaseinthepriceoflivingnecessities, economic instability orin other words the failure of the NajibRazak government to maintain thecountry's economy, all triggers are wellmediated through the medium of newmedia, this study illustrates that newmedia have a significant role in theprocess of Malaysian political change.There are a number of non-mainstreammedia that influenced road maps andMalaysian politics after the 2018elections, and some media that weredominant in embellishing Malaysianpolitics were Malaysiakini.com andMalaysiaInsider.

Economics-Political Situation inMalaysia:ADiscussion

Discussing the economic andpolitical aspects of Malaysia cannot beseparated from the role of a Mahathir.The basic concept of Malaysian PoliticalEconomy policy is summarized in theconceptofLookEastpolicy.Thereistwomajors program on how the Look EastPolicy is elaborated in the country'svision:

First,buildinghumanresourcesbybuilding international standard

universitiessuchasUniversitiMalayaandUniversitiIslamAntarbangsa.Inaddition,there are facilities for Bumiputera(Malaysian) students toobtain soft loans(without interest) from the MalaysianGovernment to continue their educationandscholarshipsforoutstandingstudentsto continue their study abroad. Second,promoting development in various fieldswithsymbolsoftheprogressofacountry,such as the Petronas tower, KualaLumpur InternationalAirport, one of thegrandest airports in Asia, Putra WorldTrade Center (PWTC) as one of theworld's trade centres, regionaldevelopment programmed "beautifully"liketheKualaLumpurCityCenter(KLCC).

The issues of socio-economicimprovement which in several decadesbecamethe"UniversalIssue"intheeraofglobalization, it became very impossiblein this country (such as issues of cheapeducation for the people, cheap primaryfoodandotherprimaryneeds)thefactisthat mathematically has been largelyfulfilled and theworldhas admitted thatthe during the period Mahathiradministration, he has succeeded toincreasethelevelofwelfareofitspeople.Indeed,LookEastPolicyisaphilosophicaldevelopment of Mahathir. In this case,(Furuoka,2007)explains:

“Equally important was

Mahathir’s desire to discard theformer colonial master, Britain,and the “Buy British Last”campaignwas a part of this drive.Atthesametime,search foranewrole model for Malaysia amongEast Asian countries began. Theintroduction of the “Look East”policy became the cornerstone of



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Malaysia-Japanrelations.Mahathirbelieved that Japan and SouthKorea, two East Asian countriesthat achieved an impressiveeconomic success afterWorldWarII,couldprovideagoodalternativedevelopment strategy and becomerolemodelsforMalaysia”.

Mahathir's famous policy of

western influence on his country,especially the influence of the formerBritishcolony,madeMahathirendeavourto find alternative approaches forMalaysian development and Mahathiradmiration for the rapid development ofJapan and South Korea,making that twocountries are practical examples ofMalaysian-styleMahathirdevelopment.

TheconceptofLookingtotheEastis a slogan of how Mahathir is veryimpressed with Japan's rapiddevelopment so that it can align itselfwith several developed countries inEurope and the United States. Themomentum of the Japanese who wereable to defeat Europe during the firstworld war became a big inspiration forMahathir in his slogan. In addition, themostimportantofhisideasonLookingtothe East is to promote the ethnicMalaysinthedomesticeconomicarenawhich,infact,arecontrolledbynon-nativepeople.

Malaysia's anti-western andcolonial development and economicpolicies have made this country try toattract investors from East AsiancountriessuchasJapanandSouthKorea.Referring to the concept of look eastpolicy, in the first period of Mahathir'sleadership, Malaysia's Foreign DirectInvestment or FDIwas focused on Japanand South Korea. And this then has

implications for the close relationshipbetweenthetwocountries.

This made Malaysia's relationswith Japan so close during the Mahathirera,“MahathirsoughtJapan’sassistanceinrealization of his industrializationprogramme and encouraged Japanesemultinationals to invest in Malaysia andform joint ventures with Malaysiancompanies” (Furuoka, 2007). However,thepatternoftraderelationsbetweenthetwocountries, Japaneseassistance to thedevelopment of Malaysia did not runoptimally due to the weakimplementation of the concept of lookeast policy, or in the academic term is“lack of governance” or weak ingovernanceaspect.

In several studies, it seems thatMahathir'seconomicgrowth isapriorityof his leadership vision, the slogan oflooking east is the "magic words"Mahathiralwaysbringsupinnationalandinternationalscaleforums.

Malaysia is a very exotic countrywhenviewedfromanethnicperspective.Malays,ChineseandIndiansarethemostdominant races in this country and themost extreme of Malaysia's stratificationis the termBumiputera (native) andnonBumiputera (Non- native) regulated instate law, that what is meant bybumiputera is Malay, people outsideMalay (China and India) that areMuslimor convert to Islam, and those who arenotBumiputeraareChinese, IndiansandothernationsthatarenotincludedintheMalayandIslamiccategories.

The fact of divisionbasedon raceis reflected in the context of politicalreality, political parties in Malaysia aregenerally divided into racialcategorizations such as UMNO (United



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Malay National Organization) is a partyfor most Malay people, MCA (MalaysianChinese Association) party of peopleMalaysianChinese,MIC(MalaysianIndianCommunity) Malaysian Indian parties,and various other small parties all ofwhich the members are part of theBarisanNasional (BN) political force, BNisapoliticalforcethathasruledformorethan61years,andBNauthorityendedinthe 2018 elections. In this context(Mauzy,2013)statesthat:

“Since the early 1980 and

the accession of DR. MahathirMuhammad as primeminister, thestate has become more repressiveaccomodation has beenmarginalized and ethnicrelationship have deterioratedalthough there have been noseriousethnicclashes.”

We can see the fact that

dominanceofUMNOwhorepresentedtheMalays in Malaysian political arena.Within a fewdecadesUMNObecame themajority party in Malaysia and wasformatted to represent the politicalinterestsoftheMalays.Ontheotherhand,the opposition in Malaysia consist ofvarious parties such as the PAS(Malaysian Islamic Party), Justice Partyand other small parties. Before the 2018general election both forces "fought" toseizeMalaysianvoters,primarilyMalays.

In the last fewdecadesbefore theresults of the 20018 Election, what theobserverswereconcernedaboutwasthecompetition between the two MalaysBasedPartiesUMNOandPAS inwinningtheheartsofMalayvoters.Various tacticcarried out by the two major parties to

win the hearts of the constituents innational elections, even in one of hisstudies Zainah Anwar described for thesakeofembracingMalayvotersasiftherewas a "piouswar" and fighting to be themost pious between theUMNO elite andPAS. This context also links that Islam isan important factor in politicalcontestation in Malaysia (Hamayotsu,2002).

There are at least two periods ofMalaysian politics. First, the politicalfoundation that occurred between 1957and 1978 and the period ofpolitical andeconomic development under Mahathir'sleadership between 1981-2003. As anindependent country after the SecondWorld War, the character and nationsbuildingbuiltbyMalaysianElitespresentan accommodative political style. Ethnicdiversity as a result of colonization, thisalsohasanimpactontheconfigurationofthe political elite, a special feature ofMalaysia which certainly displays apolitical pattern based on ethnicity orethno-based politics; moreover this issupportedbyavarietyofpoliticalpartiesthat accommodate diverse of Malaysianethnicities(Warganegara,2018).

Research conducted by (Nadzri,2019)providesanoverviewofMalaysia'spoliticaldevelopment since thecountry'sindependence, a political developmentmodel of "one-party dominant rule in1957 evolving to a two-plus-one partysystem by mid-2018". A very dynamicpolitical escalation, aside from being arelic of the British colony, relationsbetweenthethreemajorethnicgroupsofMalay, Chinese and Indian descent arealso an inseparable part of Malaysianpoliticaldevelopment.



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Asdevelopingcountries,religious-political issues are very popular inMalaysia, such as the 'political selling' ofthe application of Islamic law, thebehaviour of non-Islamic governmentofficials and othermatters of a religiousnatureandthesearecapitalizedbyIslam-based parties in Malaysia, though in thelast few decades Malay nationalism orMalay Nationalism has become thedominantissueinvariouspoliticalevents.

PAS claimed that UMNO was asecular and un-Islamic party due to theruling party was based on some ofMahathir'sthoughtwhichwasconsidereda secular party. This campaign wasindirectly successful, especially amongIslamicMalaysand thiswas indicatedbytheresultsofthe1999GeneralElections,KelantanandTrengganustateswhichwassuccessfully overpowered by PAS.However, UMNO responded to the PAScampaign and gave a widely circulatedstatement in the media that PAS was apartyof theopposition anddidnothavenationalism because it had divided theMalaynation.

Before the 2018 elections, thestrategy of capitalizing the issue ofIslamism by the opposition inMalaysianpolitical landscape was intensivelycarried out especially in the politicalcampaignsinMahathirgovernment,from1981 to 2003. However, the incumbentposition made Mahathir's bargainingpower unobstructed by sectarian issueslaunched by the opposition. Meanwhile,the development of the Malaysianeconomy underMahathir also convincedthepublicof theexistenceof theBarisanNasional(BN).

Previously, a dynamic politicaltransition process occurred when

Mahathir surprisingly withdrew frompolitics in 2003, at that time, AbdullahAhmad Badawi took over politicalleadership from 2003 to 2009. In thefollowing period Najib Razak was inpower from 2009 to 2018. Mahathirreturned to PrimeMinister in 2018 at afairlyoldageasapoliticalleaderafterthePakatan Harapan coalition won theelectionbyamajorityvotein2018.

Discussing Malaysian politicscannot be separated from two mainfactors. First, the political model andsysteminthiscountryisaBritishcoloniallegacy, political division thataccommodates the interests of diverseethnicities is oneway howMalaysian doday to daypolitics (Warganegara, 2018),in other contexts there is indeed atendency that ethnic sentiment began to(Mohamad,2008)explains

“Its play of the ‘Malay-

hegemony’ card is already losingcurrency among Malay-Muslimvoters.However,does this spell theendofrace-basedpolitics?Herewehavetodistinguishethnicconcernsfrom ethnic representation. Racialrights and religious rights willcontinue to be aired by politicallobbies and civil society althoughtherepresentationofsuchconcernsmaynotnecessarilybetakenupbytheethnicchampions”.

However, it is not easy to leave

behind religion-based and ethnicity-based politics in Malaysia, even thoughspace and time barriers provide a greatopportunity for politicians to capitalizeonthesetwoissuesfortheirpersonalandpolitical party interests. The political



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division based on ethnicity is also anaccommodationcarriedoutbytheBritishcolonial authorities to provideopportunitiesfortheentryofChineseandIndian ethnicities brought by the Britishcolonies as part of the tradecompensationoftheBritishEastIndiesinMalaysia.

The democratic consociationalmodel is considered the most relevantmodel to accommodate the diverseinterestsofMalaysianpoliticaleliteswhoare familiarwith the political framing ofethno-based political interests or ethnic-based political interests. In this context,(Warganegara,2018)alsoexplained:

“To some extent, the

interplay of ethnic politics andpolitical patronage in South EastAsia shares similaritieswith ethnicpolitics and patronage democracyin South Asian countries such asIndia. In India, another formerBritishcolony,apluralsocietywithvarious ethnic groups andlanguages was maintained byBritish colonial administrationsthrough a policy of ethnicsegregationnotatall dissimilar tothat implemented in Malaysia andSingapore”.

Second, the sustainability of

Malaysian politics is very dependent onthepresenceofcharismaticfiguresonthepolitical stage. In the last decades, forexample, the stage of Malaysiandemocracy has always been embellishedby political contests between twoimportant figures, Mahathir Mohammadand Anwar Ibrahim. Today's Malaysianpoliticsactuallygivingalternative figures

outside the two figuresasa resultof thecoalition between the two figures whohad longclashed in thePakatanHarapancoalition.

Today's Malaysian politicallandscape brings out the possibility of aprocessofrapidpoliticalregeneration.Atpresent, therearemanyyoung figures inMalaysia's political space, for example,Syed Saddiq's existence as Minister ofSportsorNurulIzzahAnwar,daughterofMalaysianpoliticalfigure,AnwarIbrahim.Malaysia has begun to rejuvenatepoliticiansbyprovidingopportunitiesforthe younger generation to fill importantpolitical posts in the country, the impactmay not be instant, but in general, thefuture of Malaysian politics will notappeartobeshortofmanyyoungcadresfor5or10yearsforward.

Globalization, Democratization andNew Media: Malaysian Kini Channels,the Malaysian Insider and the Pro-DemocracyMovement

Traditionally the media inMalaysiafocusesonthecreatingharmonyand having a conservative view onparticularissuesuchasthenexusrelationon politics, religion and ethnicity. Thepresence of the BN coalition has forcedthe Malaysian media sitting on the backseat.

Rather than opposed thegovernment agenda on behalf of thepeople interest, the Malaysian media inMalaysiatendstobeastrongsupporterofthe ruling government. However, theimpact of democratization andglobalisation on media development, ithasbeengivingahugeopportunitytothepresenceof thenewmedia that opposedthe Malaysian government such as



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Malaysiakini.com and The Malaysianinsider.

The presence of new media thatare not BN-linked media such asMalaysiakini.complaysaroleinprovidingbalancednewsonthepoliticalpositionoftheBNGovernmentwhichhassofarbeensupported by conventional major mediasuch as the Utusan Malaysia newspaperandBerita Harian. Thus, the presence ofnew media has an impact on theincreasingly large political choices ofMalaysians in the 2018 Election. Thevarious community choices in the last2018Electionreflect thatnonBN-Linkedmedia was giving insight and able topersuade Malaysian voters for changingtheirpoliticalpreferences.

(Weiss,2012)hasargued that thepresence of new media has played inthree substantial aspect of Malaysianpolitical landscape, those are “media forinformation, identity-building andmobilization”. Theoretically, thepopularity of the BN has actually beennotedinthe2013electionsbutitappearsthat the Government of the BN underPrime Minister Najib Razak did notrespond well to the potential losses andas a result seen in the 2018 electionresults,theBNsufferedmassivelossesatthelevelofnationalandlocalelections.Infact,theuseofsocialmediaaspartofnewmediaastoolofpoliticalsocializationhasbeen attempted by the BN GovernmentCoalition(AgustinoandMohamed2015),but it is considered not effective enoughto boost the popularity of the BNCoalition to raise the news stream ofothermedia that intensively informs theactivities of violations or political fraudactivitiesoftheeliteBNCoalition.

Onefactorfosteringtheprocessofrapid political change in Malaysia is therole of non-conventional media thatdirectly affects public space. TheMalaysiakini.com portal, for example,presents alternative and opposed newsthat fillspublic spaceand this effectivelyprovides a different news options for itscitizens. Regarding the role of theMalaysiakini.com portal, (Ishak, 2009)explains:

“Malaysiakini.com presents

daily news and views in fourlanguages namely English, Malay,Chinese and Tamil. Readers fromdifferent races and religions haveactively participated in the debateand discussion in the portals.Sensitive subjects and viewpointsdeemed taboo by the mainstreammediasuchasracialquotasystems,the monarchy, apostasy, shariahlaw, language, education andmigrantworkers havegeneratedanew understanding on theseissues”.

Withreadershipacrossethnic, the

Malaysiakini.com portal quickly entersthepublicsphereandindirectlyprovidespolitical education to the Malaysianpublic.Thenewsdeliveredby thisportalalso features news that is almostimpossible to become a central issue inthe publishing of Malaysian mainstreammedia. For example, discussions onsensitive issues such as suing themonarchic system, Islamic law and thequota system based on ethnicdistribution, this is widely spread anddiscussed by Malaysiakini.com (Ishak,2009).



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Furthermore, Malaysiakini.comalso became a news page with manyreadersinJuly2018andthisdefeatedthepagesMalaysianconventionalmediasuch

asTheStarwhereasinthemiddleofMay2009 this media page was only ranked4th and was less popular than UtusanMalaysiaandBeritaHarian(Ishak,2009).

Figure2.Malaysiakini.comPortal

Source:Malaysiakini(2019)

The indirectly public mind is'adorned'bytheargumentscirculatinginthepublic sphereand thishasan impacton the changing voter map in the 2018Malaysian Elections. Owned by StevenGan and Premesh Chandran,

Malaysiakini.comwasfirstappearanceonpublic in November 1999 (Ishak, 2009).Steven Gan is a Malaysian independentjournalist that is not linked to anyMalaysianpolitician.



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Beside Malaysiakini.com portal,another new media that became areference for Malaysian voters was TheMalaysia Insider portal, in 2016, localauthoritiesblocked thismediabecause itpresented news of Prime Minister NajibRazak's 1MDB corruption scandal thatharmed the country. LikeMalaysiakini.com, the Malaysian Insiderportal also presents news that opposedthe news content that presented by pro-governmentmedia.

Blocking made by the MalaysianGovernment at that timewas considereduseless because of the current situationwhen technology is more advanced, itwould be very difficult for nationalcensors to limit the space for internetusers and it happened in Malaysia,preciselywithblockingmadebytheNajibRazakGovernment,thismakeMalaysiansawareofthesituationthatishappeningintheircountry.Figure3belowisthenewsabout blocking conducted by the NajibRazakGovernmentonthenewsportalofTheMalaysianInsiderinmidof2016.

In another context, the blockingactually led to a rejection of the widercommunity, some Malaysians actuallysought the truth of the news whichindirectly had an impact on publicawareness of the political events thatwere taking place inMalaysia. And frompolitical calculation actually makes theBN Government increasingly lose itspopularityinsociety.

The Malaysian Insider wasestablished by Png Hong Kwan andSreedhar Subramanian (Ishak, 2009),both are senior journalist, and the latestname has “a close relations” with theformer Malaysian Prime Minister,AbdullahBadawi.Asaformofnewmedia,

the news patterns delivered by TheMalaysian Insider similar toMalaysiakini.com,presentingnewsthatisprohibited from being exposed bymajorBN-linkedmedia. Those twomedia havebeen attracting many subscribers acrossthe Malaysia, putting them as the“successfulindependentonlinenewssiteswith substantial numbers of Malaysiansubscribers”(Tamamet.al,2012).

In other hands, what these twomedia done is actually a symbol ofresistance to conventional media, whichispro-NajibRazak'sGovernment,andthisis theoretically a thing that cannot bedenied as an impact of the developmentofglobalizationanddemocratizationthatoccurred in several Asian countriesincludingMalaysia.

Theborderlessofinformationthatis cannot be separated by distance andtime, and easies access toward theinternetcausestheprocessofdistributingthe information, it subsequentlymakesademocratization process take placequickly. In this sense, it becomes verynatural if Malaysiakini.com and TheMalaysianInsiderbecomethemediathatplay a major role in changing thelandscapeofMalaysianpolitics,departingfrom the argumentation on the ability ofthemedia to influence thepublic sphere.This was confirmed by researchconducted by (Salman andHasim, 2011)theystatedthat:

“The government can no longerunder estimate the power andinfluence of the new media,especially the use of blogs asexperienced in the run-up to theMarch 2008 General Elections. Ithas indeed become a force to be



200

reckonedwith.Thisisanindicationof the power of the Internet as analternativemediaplatform.Weareexperiencingwhatonemaycallthenewandemergingdemocraticandpolitical landscape made possibleby the newmedia. The newmediaprovide an alternative channel

where the masses can air theirgrievances and concern withouthaving to go through cumbersomeprocedures orwithout interferenceor ‘gate-keeping’ from editorsresulting in the message notreachingtheaudience”.

Figure3.TheMalaysianInsiderPortalWhichIsBlockedByTheNajibRazakGovernmentBecauseItContinuallyReportsThe1MDBScandal

Source:Aliran(2016)

Indicationsofthepresenceofnewmedia influence on Malaysian politicshave begun to appear in mid-2008,

referring to research conducted bySalmanandHasim (2011). For example,theresultsof the2011studywerebased



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on the 2008 Election, arguing that theresults of the 2008 election proved thatthe government cannot underestimateabout the influence of new media onMalaysiandomesticpolitics,thisresearchparticularly highlights the role ofpersonal blogs in the same contextSalman and Hashim's research alsoexplainsthattheexistenceoftheinternetand new media alternative will fosterdemocracyandcanchangethelandscapeofMalaysia'spoliticalmap.

The 2008 election can be seen asthe beginning of Malaysia's politicalturmoil,(Nadzri,2019)explainingthatinthe 2008 election, the BN lost severalseats mainly in urban areas and at thesame time the BN also lost control ofsome areas on the west coast of theMalaysianPeninsularanddidnotable totake control of political power over thePenang and Selangor regions, two largeareas in Malaysian Peninsular, and thiscontinues until the next election. In the13th election in 2013, for example, BNlostmanyseatsandbegantobeindicatedexperiencing a political weakened in thenationalparliament(Weiss,2013).

Blocking conducted by theMalaysian Government against non BN-linked media is also ineffective insuppressing'bursts'of informationaboutthepoliticalattitudeoftheMalaysianeliteitself. Instead of the role of newmedia,another factorthatcannotbedeniedandiscapableofchangingMalaysia'spoliticalmapisvoterswhoconsiderthecountry'seconomy as the reason for votingparticular party. Theoretically, personalscandal and economic performance arealsoanotherreasonfortheoccurrenceofswing voters or the transition of thechoices of Malaysians and leaving the

Barisan Nasional Government. ResearchbyLee(2019,p.16) forexampleexplainsthat:

“The 14th general election

(GE-14) in Malaysia was awatershed event. The electionwitnessedthedefeatoftheBarisanNasionalcoalitionwhichhadruledthe country since its independencein 1957. A number of factors arelikely to have driven the outcomesin the GE-14. Overall, the robusteconomicgrowthwasnotapositivefactorinvotersupportforBNintheelection. Unemployment andinequality (measured by Ginicoefficient) are likely to havenegative effects on voter supportfor BN. Contrary to the findings ofmediareportsandsurveys,inflationwas not a significant determinant.It ispossible thatofficialconsumerpricesindices(CPI)didnotcapturecostoflivingissuesadequately”.

Lee's research (2019) illustrates

thatgoodeconomicgrowthdoesnothavea positive impact on voter sentiment inthe 2018 Elections, but in fact,unemployment and economic inequalityrise as measured by the Gini coefficient.These two factors are the economicperformancescontributestobringingtheMalaysian swing voters. Based on theresearch, Lee (2019) also explained thatthe inflationfactoralsodidnotaffect thechangingpatternsofchoiceofMalaysians,but Lee explained that it was likelybecause the consumer prices indices(CPI) failed to capture the increasing ofthecitizen’scostofliving.



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ConclusionTalking about Malaysian politics

cannot be separated from the big ideaabout ethnic politics but in other side ofthe political changes that occurred afterthe 2018 elections indicate there aresignificant changes about ethnicsentiment. Malaysian elections are nolongerdependentonethnicandreligioussentiments,governmentperformancehasbegun tobeconsideredbyvoters, ashastheoretical studies on incumbent byTrounstine, 2011, 2013. The latestMalaysian election results show thatethnic factors remain the main thing toconsider as there areno ethnic divisionsand political parties explain this, forexample,UMNOsupporterschangedtheirpolitical choices to the MalaysianIndigenousParty(PartaiPribumiBersatuMalaysia-BERSATU),anewpartymadebyMahathirwhobothreliedonMalayethnicsupport. The latest results of theMalaysian Election also changed thepoliticalmapoftheelite,theelitePakatanHarapanwhohadbeen inthepositionofoppositionnowisintheGovernment.

On the other side, the issue of1MDB corruption in the Najib Razakregimeand thecountry'sweakeconomicperformance made the main factors ofpoliticalchangeinMalaysia.Globalizationand the process of politicaldemocratization that took place invarious parts of the world also madeMalaysia as the affected country.Borderlesssocietymakestheinformationvis a vis a newmedia, itmade so-called“the elite scandal” that has beenpreviously controlled by themainstreammediacanberevealedtothepublicanditbecomes a public consideration in the2018 Election. Finally, BN regime which

ruled in Malaysia during 61 years mustgive national political leadership to thecoalitionoftheoppositionparty.

AboutAuthors

ArizkaWarganegaraisaLecturerof Government Studies at University ofLampung.He is interested inresearchinga research topics that focuses on thestudy of Political Geography, theintersection study between politics andgeography.

Syarief Makhya is currently theDean of Faculty of Social and PoliticalScience,Hisresearchinterestisincludingthepublicpolicyandgovernance.

Denden Kurnia Drajat is alecturer of Government StudiesUniversity of Lampung. Currently, he isappointed as a Vice Dean for FinanceAffairs.

Acknowledgements

We are thanking to University ofLampung that provided a DIPA FISIPgranttousforconductingthisresearchin2019.

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