Replacing race-based policies will get Anwar nowhere

At his first news conference as prime minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim gave assurances that he would safeguard the special privileges of the Malay majority and the position of Islam as stipulated in the national constitution.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad, upon being confirmed as prime minister following elections in May 2018, similarly committed to protect Malay and Muslim interests.

Despite their sharp differences, the two Malay political icons followed a matching script because ethnically mixed parties outweighed Malay parties in the coalitions each assembled, making them vulnerable to accusations that they did not sufficiently represent the country’s ethnic majority.

Anwar’s PKR and its close partner, DAP, account for the bulk of the parliamentary seats held by Pakatan Harapan (PH), which anchors the new ruling coalition.

The coalition, forged through a week of coaxing and deal-making following the inconclusive Nov 19 general election, marries PH with foes-turned-friends including East Malaysian regional parties and most momentously, its traditional archrival, Umno.

Swaying Umno to PH’s side gave Anwar the numbers and Malay presence to secure the endorsement of the King to form a government. However, while elevated by the King’s seal to become Malaysia’s 10th prime minister, Anwar is mindful of the need to shore up Malay support.

While being the overwhelming favourite of non-Malays for 15 years, PH has always struggled to win Malay hearts and minds. This past election was no different. Preliminary estimates suggest that only 11% of Malay voters backed PH.

Moreover, the tide has turned against Umno as protector of the Malays; the party garnered only one-third of Malay votes and won only 26 seats, down from 54 in 2018.

The majority of the Malays this time endorsed the alliance between Bersatu and PAS. The two parties won a combined 76 seats, up from 31 last time, sweeping the Malay heartlands of peninsular Malaysia.

Bersatu, Umno and PAS have discombobulated Malaysia’s politics over the past five years. Anwar will be challenged to keep Umno on board and hold PAS and Bersatu at bay.

The victorious 2018 alliance of Mahathir and Anwar collapsed in February 2020 due to defections from PKR to Bersatu and Bersatu’s withdrawal from the ruling coalition. The “Malay unit” troika of Umno, Bersatu and PAS that then took power was equally unstable, leading to another change of government in August 2021.

Anwar will want his unity government to fare better. His Cabinet balances his broad new coalition, giving due prominence to Umno and East Malaysian parties.

However, the Bersatu-PAS alliance is now cemented and embittered after being outmanoeuvred by PH for control of the government despite its landslide victory in Malay areas. The two parties overtly champion Malay causes and will assuredly assert that Anwar’s government does not.

His administration’s popularity will ultimately ride on policy. Its current focus on peoples’ well-being, efficient public spending and East Malaysian concerns is timely and necessary. However, he must show resolve, not reticence, on the ethnic preferential policies that are dear to the Malay community.

PH’s short-lived tenure in government in 2018-2020 was upended by political treachery but also undone by policy incoherence.

PH routinely disavows race-based policies, offering instead the notion of need-based policies. This commitment to need-based assistance has constructively focused attention on low-income households, but its prescription for replacing race-based programmes is fundamentally flawed.

The alliance should instead acknowledge the reality that basic welfare provisions for all Malaysians, especially the poor, and targeted assistance to expand the participation and achievement of designated groups, whether based on ethnicity or gender, are two enduring and distinct policy domains.

They are not interchangeable; Malaysia extensively acts in both dimensions. Indeed, in recent years, the country has been expanding social protection for all, with special interventions in higher education and enterprise development for the minority Indian and indigenous Orang Asli communities as well as for women.

In addition, the alliance should clarify its critique and solution to the problems of the status quo.

Anwar’s administration needs to shed the habit of stigmatising pro-Malay policies. Undoubtedly, certain programmes are prone to patronage and corruption, especially when large government contracts and wealth redistribution are involved, but these worst cases must not be conflated with the entire system.

In fact, the system provides vast opportunities to all layers of the community through technical colleges, university admissions, microfinance, loans for small and midsize enterprises (SMEs), public procurement carve-outs, property discounts and more.

The challenge for the PH-led government is not to eliminate such policies, as often stated or implied, but to make group-targeted empowerment more equitable and effective. Rhetoric about replacing race-based with need-based policies in vague and emotive terms heightens a combustible mix of minority groups’ expectations of reform and Malay anxiety that their special opportunities will be taken away.

Finally, the alliance should adopt a systematic perspective. Moving forward requires recognising the enduring roles and specific contexts of both universal welfare provisions such as early and primary schooling, health care and basic income; and group-targeted empowerment, which focuses on higher education, professional and managerial positions, SMEs and ownership.

Malaysia must find ways to make group-targeted empowerment more equitable and effective, for instance by giving preference to the disadvantaged of both majority and minority groups in higher education admissions and enhancing SME development for Malays, Indians, Orang Asli and women.

With concerted effort, perspectives and expectations on all sides can perhaps be more informed and measured. If Anwar dithers and maintains PH’s ambivalence on ethnic policies, the ruling coalition will continually, feebly grope for traction with the Malay majority. The very need to provide solace that he will safeguard Malay interests puts his administration on the defensive.

Anwar must show what he can do by taking action, not just talk. He must present a new narrative and move it forward. - FMT

Hwok-Aun Lee, writing for Nikkei, is a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore and co-coordinator of its Malaysia studies programme.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.