Local elections as a way to decrease ethnic salience? - A preliminary examination
By Ong Kian Ming
Many have touted the results of the recent 2008 general election as pointing towards the 'end of ethnic' in Malaysian politics. While the results for PKR, arguably the first genuinely multi-ethnic party in Malaysia, were certainly impressive, it is the opinion of this author that it is still too early to sound the death knell for ethnic politics. The negotiations to form the Pakatan state governments in Perak and Selangor were early indications that ethnicity was still the most important axis of competition and identification in Malaysian politics as are the recent talks between UMNO and PAS. There is no obvious issue dimension which cross cuts the ethnic dimension nor has there emerged different identities which can effectively compete against the saliency of ethnicity. Instead of hoping that the salience of ethnicity as the main axis of political competition will decrease at the national level, the author proposes that it might be at the local level which competing forms of identity may emerge. For this to happen, there needs to be local elections held under a more''permissive' electoral system, which allows for the emergence of these competing identities.
Game Changing Elections?
The recent March 2008 general elections were historic in Malaysian politics in many ways. This was the first time since 1969 that the BN failed to obtain a 2/3rds majority in the parliament and the first time ever that a parliament had been convened with BN not having 2/3rds of parliamentarians on its side.1 In addition, it is also the first time in Malaysian political history that the BN will be in the opposition in 5 states - Kelantan, Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor. Furthermore, for the time time in Malaysian politics, the biggest party in the opposition is a genuinely multi-racial party, PKR, with its 20 Malay MPs, 7 Chinese MPs and 4 Indian MPs.
PKR's electoral success was made even more significant by the fact that it decimated BN's stranglehold in the ethnically 'mixed' constituencies, an area which the opposition had failed to even make an effective dent in past elections. PKR's ability to build an electoral 'alliance' comprising of disaffected Malays, Chinese and Indians, regardless of the ethnicity of the PKR candidate, was certainly important in portraying the 'post ethnic' nature of these historic elections.
Also important, but perhaps less publicized, was the historic wins by PAS in 5 ethnically 'mixed' constituencies in Selangor and Wilayah Perseketuan KL, on the back of significant non-Malay support. Chinese and Indian voters, to whom voting for PAS was anathema in previous elections, had no qualms about voting for PAS this time round.
Not so fast
It remains to be seen if this kind of electoral voting patterns can hold up in future elections. But dreams of a 'post ethnic' political scene were rudely dashed almost immediately after the election results were announced. The announcement of a post election coalition between PKR, DAP and PAS - named Pakatan Raykat (Pakatan, hereafter) - was not sufficient to patch over the cracks that would appear in the formation of the state governments in Perak and Selangor.
As a reminder that many of our institutions are still ethnically structured, the public found out that the constitution of the state of Perak stated that only a Malay could hold the position Menteri Besar in the state. Thus, despite having the largest number of state seats among the Pakatan parties, the DAP could form the state government with a non-Malay MB. In Selangor, it was the ethnic composition of the state exco and the possibility of a non-Chinese Deputy MB that were the subjects of contention which delayed the formation of the state government. It was reported that the Sultan of Selangor was not open to the idea of having a non-Malay Deputy MB and did not want an exco that had more non-Malays compared to Malays.2
The recent talks between PAS and UMNO on the issue of Malay and Muslim unity also revealed the fragile nature of the Pakatan coalition and how ethnic solidarity has not lost its political salience.
Cross cutting cleavages
Ethnicity will likely remain the most important issue dimension in Malaysian politics for the foreseeable future. The history of Malaysian politics is one whereby political mobilization most easily occurs along ethnic lines. Many of our institution are ethnically structured be it in the forms of quotas at different levels of the government or in educational institutions and these have knock on ethnic effects on the non-government sectors. Malaysia's political parties, with the exception of PKR, are de facto ethnic parties with a majority of members and leaders comprising of one ethnic group.
For the issue dimension of ethnicity to lose some of its salience, it has to be replaced by one (or more) competing issue dimension that cross cuts the ethnic issue dimension. What exactly does this mean in practical and political terms? An issue dimension which cross-cuts the ethnic dimension is one which has political traction among members of the different ethnic groups. For example, in a society that is divided into Protestant and Catholic communities, the issue of class or labor rights, which has traction among both the working class in Protestant as well as Catholic communities can 'cross-cut' the religious dimension of political competition.
European politics is littered with examples of how class can provide an effective cross cutting dimension to religion in the realm of political contestation. Indeed, in some cases, class would even replace religion as the main dimension of political competition.
We tend to think of modern day Netherlands as free from ethnic and religious conflict (before the recent emergence of Islamic migrants as a political salient issue). But as recent as a century ago, the conflict between Protestants and Catholics was politically salient and significant. Arendt Lijphart (1968) used the Dutch case as a launch pad for his theory of consociationalism as a way to ameliorate ethnic divisions in a society by having the ethnic elites come together in political cooperation rather than political contestation. Other scholars, such as Lustick (1997) have noted that it was the cross cutting issue of class that may be ameliorated religious conflict to the point where political cooperation was possible among the different 'pillars' in the Netherlands.
Arguably, the labor movement in Malaysia that emerged in the late 1950s did present an alternative dimension of political competition to the ethnic one, a dimension that was based on a commitment to socialism rather than to ethnic identity. The Socialist Front (SF), formed in 1957, was the first multi-ethnic opposition coalition to the then Alliance. But even then, the components of the SF were ethnically demarcated. The Labor Party, arguably the largest and most active party within the SF, was seen as a Chinese party while the Party Rakyat and the National Convention Party (NCP) were seen as Malay parties. Milne and Ratnam (1967) wrote that 'ideology may be crucial to the SF's support and internal unity, but is not a sufficient counterweight for the electorate's preoccupation with communal issues and for the different communal viewpoints of the party's own leaders'. The decision by the Labor Party to boycott the 1969 general elections spelt the death knell for the labor movement as a politically salient dimension of political mobilization.3
The challenge of finding an alternative to ethnic competition in the Malaysian context is made worse by the fact that the religious cleavage accentuates the ethnic cleavage. The ethnic and religious identities of the Malay community are constitutionally defined and this accentuates the Malay-Muslim versus Non-Malay-Non-Muslim dimension of political competition. To be sure, there are not many examples of countries where the religious dimension has cross cut the ethnic dimension of political competition. In some cases, like in Malaysia, these dimensions reinforce each other and in others, the religious dimension is not salient enough to cross cut the ethnic dimension.
There are examples, however, of how a religious dimension of political competition is made less salient by intra-religious differences in ethnic identity. India is the most notable example. The Hindu-Muslims dimension of political conflict is ameliorated somewhat by the multiple caste, linguistic, tribe and regional differences which exist within both communities. Kanchan Chandra (2005) argues, 'counter intuitively' (her words, not mine) that ethnic parties can actually be positive for the democratic stability of the country. She makes this assertion on the grounds that in an ethnically divided society, ethnic parties can compete on multiple ethnic identities instead of one just one dimension of ethnic competition. But because the ethnic identity of the majority community in Malaysia is more or less fixed, such a possibility of multiple and fluid dimensions of ethnic competition does not and cannot arise.
Opposition alliances such as Gagasan Rakyat and APU in 1990 and Barisan Alternatif in 1999 tried to mobilize cross ethnic support using a platform of speaking out against the pervasiveness of corruption and abuse of power that is rife within the BN but ultimately failed to attract enough voters from across the ethnic groups in both elections. It is hard to make the case that anti-corruption can be a sustainable platform and as an alternative to the ethnic dimension of political competition especially if Malaysia transitions to the path of democracy with the Pakatan parties forming the next government at the federal level.
Anwar Ibrahim has tried to hold the Pakatan coalition together by using a mixture of economic populism, the recycled abuse of power and corruption rhetoric and a promise, which is short on substance and detail, to replace the NEP with a more equitable policy. It is hard to say if this mixture of political rhetoric forms a coherent and sustainable package moving forward but it is probably correct to say that Anwar is trying to decrease the salience of ethnic politics as was practiced in Malaysian politics rather than to replace it with another dimension of political competition.4
The emergence of multiple identities at the local level?
Given the zero-sum nature of political rhetoric and the long standing institutionalization of ethnic political competition at the national level, it might be asking too much for a different dimension of political contestation to make an appearance at the national level. Perhaps a more fruitful arena for this to occur is at the local level through municipality and local district elections.
Local elections have not been held in Malaysia since 1961. Municipal and district councilors are appointed by the political parties which control the state assembly and are apportioned roughly in proportion to the ethnic composition of the municipality or district in question. This practice has continued in the 5 Pakatan led states although the number of councilors who are not from political parties have increased.
Why would one surmise that political contestation at the local level would be based on non ethnic issue dimensions or at least the assumption that ethnic issues would be less salient?
Firstly, the centralization of power at the federal level dictates that policy arguments at the national level be it education polices, investment policies, economic policies would be framed in ethnic terms. This is not the case at the local level. The issues of importance tend to be, as one can easily guess, local issues such as land titles, rubbish collection, road maintenance, availability of parking and so on and so forth. There is little reason to think of why or how such mundane issues can be easily 'ethnicized'. Competition between candidates and parties would presumably be based more on one's ability to be able to solve these problems rather than to represent ethnic interests in the parliament or the state assembly.
In addition, it is much more likely that new parties or independent candidates can gain representation at the local level based on mobilization of new dimensions of political competition. It is much more conceivable that a party that wants to represent environmental interests or the interest of senior citizens or of the handicapped or of women to emerge at the local level compared to at the state and federal level. These would most probably be issue dimensions which cut across all ethnic groups rather than be focused on the demands of one ethnic group.5
This is not to say that the political parties which currently exist would suddenly be sidelined if local elections are held. It would be natural to assume that given their mobilization capacity, their institutional strength and their party recognition, that the same parties which dominate at the federal and state levels will also take the lion share of seats at the local level. But it is also likely that, as mentioned before, the basis of political competition would shift away from the ethnic dimension. Hence, even if no new political parties or independent candidates emerge, local elections would have fulfilled its purpose of decreasing the salience of ethnic identity.6
Still, the probability of new political parties or independent candidates who campaign on new issue dimensions and can gain political representation is higher at the local level compared to the state and federal levels especially if the introduction of local elections is accompanied by a more 'permissive' electoral system.
Opportunity for electoral innovation
Previous local elections were held under the first past the post system in single member districts or wards, the same electoral system that is currently being used to elect representatives at the state and parliamentary levels. There is no reason to think that the same electoral system needs to be used if local elections are to be introduced. A compelling argument can be made for the introduction of a proportional representation (PR) system of local elections.7 There is less of a need to constituency type representation given that the issues faced by voters in a given municipality or district council are similar across the area. In addition, a more proportional system would correct some of the problems associated with the current electoral system at the state and federal levels such as malapportionment and gerrymandering. (See Lim, 2003 and Ong and Welsh, 2005)
A PR type electoral system will naturally have a lower threshold for new political parties or independent candidates to gain representation compared to an FPTP electoral system. It might even be the electoral system which is the most acceptable to the BN and Pakatan given that FPTP accentuates vote swings which would leave one side with very little representation and the other side with a disproportionate percentage of seats.
While it is probable that a party representing environment interests could gain representation in a municipality like Petaling Jaya or Subang Jaya, it is also probable that a more ethnically 'exclusive' party could emerge gain representation as well. For example, a party representing Christian interests might presumably gain representation in urban municipalities with a relatively high percentage of Christians such as Petaling Jaya or Subang or a party which aims to 'outbid' PAS and UMNO from a religious / ethnic perspective might emerge in Kelantan or Terengganu. It is not possible to exclude this possibility from arising in a political system which assures access to democratic representation to all political voices.
It is not possible to do a cross national study of how well new parties or non-ethnically based parties in ethnically divided societies perform in local elections vis-a-vis national elections or under PR versus FPTP. But the experience of the Alliance party in Northern Ireland serves as a useful illustration. The Alliance party is an avowedly non-sectarian party, in stark contrast to the other ethnically based parties in Northern Ireland. It regularly polls between 3% to 7% of the popular vote in elections in Northern Ireland. The permissive STV electoral system explains why the Alliance Party regularly wins representation to the Northern Irish assembly as well as the district councils. At the same time, it regularly fails to win any seats in the British parliamentary elections which are conducted using the FPTP electoral system.
This is not to say that a PR type system needs to be introduced at the state and federal levels as a way of encouraging multiple identities to emerge. There is something to be said in how FPTP has managed to encourage the formation of two coalitions of 'commitment' (Horowitz, 1985) which compete in the ethnic 'middle' (more or less), something which might not be guaranteed if a PR system was introduced.
By introducing local elections, conducted under a PR electoral system, there could emerge political competition that is based on issue dimensions other than ethnicity thereby decreasing the salience of ethnicity as an issue dimension. This may be the result of the campaign strategy of existing political parties or of new parties which emerge to compete on the basis of these new issue dimensions.
There is no guarantee that the emergence of new issue dimensions at the local level will translate to political competition at the national level. But it at least presents the possibility that political competition along another issue dimension other than ethnicity can realistically occur.
1As far as possible, I try to use the terms ethnic / ethnicity in this article. I could just have easily used the term race to replace ethnicity. While some scholars keep these definitions separate, they are not distinctive enough in Malaysia, at least from a politically relevant standpoint, to highlight this difference.
2An emergency was declared after the May 13th, 1969 incidents which followed the election results in 1969. Parliamentary rule was re-established in 1971 and the Alliance was expanded to Barisan Nasional to include parties formerly in the opposition including PAS, GERAKAN and the PPP.
3To be fair to the Pakatan governments in both states, these problems were not necessarily due to their own ethnic 'quotas'. The Pakatan governments in Perak and Selangor did install the first non-Malay speaker of the respective state assemblies, a position which not constitutionally reserved for a Malay in both states.
4 Parti Rakyat (later Parti Rakyat Malaysia or PRM) managed to struggle on as a marginal political player but later merged with Keadilan to form Parti Keadilan Rakyat or PKR.
5This is not to say that his effort to decrease the salience of ethnic political competition is not a good thing.
6After all, it doesn't make sense to campaign only on Chinese or Indian or Malay interests in recycling or protecting the environment, just to name one example.
7Among the other purposes of holding local elections such as making local representatives more accountable to their electorate.
8I will avoid the discussion of the exact nature of this PR electoral system. It could be a closed party list system using the municipality or district council as the electoral area or it could be a STV system using open lists, just to name two possible systems. The key here is to have a lower threshold of gaining political representation compared to the FPTP electoral system.
Bibliography:
Chandra, K. (2005). "Ethnic Parties and Democratic Stability." Perspectives on Politics 3(02): 235-252.
Hai, L. H. (2003). "The Delineation of Peninsular Electoral Constituencies: Amplifying Malay and UMNO Power." New Politics in Malaysia. ISEAS, Singapore.
Horowitz, D. L. (1985). Ethnic Groups in Conflict, University of California Press.
Lijphart, A. (1968). The Politics of Accommodation: Pluralism and Democracy in the Netherlands, University of California Press.
Lustick, I. S. (1997). "Lijphart, Lakatos, and Consociationalism." World Politics 50(1): 88-117.
Ong, K. M. and B. Welsh (2005). "Electoral Delimitation: A Case Study of Kedah." Elections and Democracy in Malaysia, Bangi: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia: 316-345.
Ratnam, K. J. and R. S. Milne (1967). The Malayan Parliamentary Election of 1964, University of Malaya Press.
Ong Kian Ming is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at Duke University. His thesis investigates how authoritarian regimes manage to stay in power despite (or because of?) holding regular elections and how they might fall out of power. He used to be a management consultant but decided that political research was more interesting.