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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2015
On July 9, the streets of Kuala Lumpur played host to animated engagements between demonstrators and the police. Bersih 2.0, which started out as a simple and hesitant attempt to revive public interest in electoral reforms, became a huge demonstration that captured the imagination of many young Malaysians.
It seized their imagination more strongly than anyone expected, leaving little doubt that Malaysia is in transition.
But what needs studying is what it is transiting away from, and what it is transiting to. The two are, of course, strongly related but what is this widespread eagerness for change a part of, which now pervades the country?
The situation is complicated no doubt but we do not need to go very far back in time to find an answer.
Let us remind ourselves that the long-lived Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling coalition enjoyed its best electoral results as late as in 2004, under Mr Abdullah Badawi. As many as 91 per cent of voters supported him and the honeymoon period that the public gave him as Prime Minister was a long and gracious one. It was only in 2007 that signs appeared to say that a lot was not well under Mr Abdullah.
So what was it that happened? And why is it that the BN has not been able to turn things around since then? It still has a lot of power; why can't it correct itself?
Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's recent comment that the problem is not with the BN model as such but with the lack of good leadership, was but the latest and rather desperate attempt to limit the credibility crisis that the ruling coalition suffers from.
After the General Election of March 8, 2008, the country went through an uncertain though exciting period. This was to be expected after the shock results that saw five states coming under the rule of opposition parties and the long-lived BN losing its power to amend the Constitution at will.
The opposition parties immediately had their share of problems - ranging from a serious lack of experience in governing, to sabotage by civil servants unable to distinguish party from government, and the economic and political measures by the federal government to punish and undermine them.
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