7 - UMNO and BN in the 2004 Election: The Political Culture of Complex Identities

Summary

Introduction

This chapter focuses on the pattern of the relationship between United Malays’ National Organisation (UMNO) and its partners in the Barisan Nasional (National Front, or BN) and the factors regulating their relationship especially in the context of the 2004 general election. The pattern of the relationship and the fundamental factors affecting them provide insights into the dynamics of power relations between the political parties. These patterns and factors affect the general perception of actors within the complex grouping, and the manner by which each component group and its internal constitution would perceive its own role and identity, and, in turn, how they would react towards each other and towards the outside world. With each component upholding its fundamental objective of existence, which is perpetuating the group identity, their interactions will inevitably generate tension, rivalry, and a certain degree of conflict. In the long run, a political culture sustaining the group cohesion will emerge. To maintain and perpetuate the complex grouping, each component would always have to make adjustments between the idealism of its subjective demands and the reality of group cohesion. The interplay of such adjustments is reflected in the complex web of inter-group and interpersonal identity maintenance and cohesive relationships among members. In the long run, the relationships would allow the sedimentation of the pattern within which the identities are maintained and interactions carried out. The case of the Malaysian elections, specifically the recent 2004 general election, provides us with an insight into the perpetuation of the culture of complex identities.

The March 2004 Malaysian general election is a historic event viewed in the light of the leadership of the new Malaysian prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Not only is the prime minister new to his post, but to call an early election and emerge victorious can be considered a personal triumph.