Regime Change in Malaysia: GE14 and the End of UMNO-BN’s 60-Year Rule

by Francis Loh (Editor), Anil Seto (Editor)

This book is a collection of 40-plus essays by 30-plus Malaysians about GE14 on 9 May 2018. It is a record of an unprecedented defeat of the UMNO-BN government, in power since 1957, and its replacement by Pakatan Harapan, a newly formed coalition. These essays discuss the major election issues, the principal actors, the campaign, the results and where we might be headed in the next decade. . Regardless of the specifics, GE14 has ushered in Regime Change. We are witnessing change that goes beyond the displacement of one government by another as occurs when a different party takes over in western liberal democracies. Regime Change is more than that in at least three aspects: first, there are changes in the make-up of the socio-economic alliance that is backing up the new government; second, we see changes in the major political institutions, as in the whittling down of the humongous Prime Minister’s Department and impending reform of some others like the MACC, the SPR and the civil service, and the replacement of self-serving, inefficient top personnel; and third, the adoption of new policies in public transport, education, labour and welfare concerns or disaster management – which are hopefully more pro-people and less wasteful of resources compared to previous policies.

The 30-plus authors involved in this book include some of Malaysia’s most respected scholar-activists who engage in writing popular essays apart from their usual academic writing. A second group are non-academicians who are nonetheless keen observers of political goings-on in Malaysia. Often attached to civil society organisations like Aliran, they have honed their skills and written important reports and reflections. We have more than our share of such people in Aliran. A third group are the youth aspiring to be tomorrow’s public intellectuals, whether they anchor themselves in academia or in some civil society organisation, in this case Aliran.

Paperback

Published September 1, 2018

Reviews

[Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first notice this book while browsing the library and the cartoonish cover caught my attention among the others
Honestly, when all the huge scandals and election in Malaysia was happening, I didn’t know much of what had happened at the time, all i knew were 1mdb, some corrupt guy got charged with corruption, and not much else, but now reading this book had given me a huge insight into what happened long before the elections, the key groups in Malaysia, the parties, and so on. The 40 plus articles are not only informative but also gives a bit of humour to the reading with its use of sarcasm and local phrases to describe the ridiculousness of things. It’s a good read for people interested in understanding GE14 before and during and also the future it holds.

[Abbas Zubir · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive books on pre, during and post 9 May 2018 GE 14 political storm. It was an essential book as matter of facts. The analysis was aptly written so that a layman like me could understand without having the need to murk through all the technical jargon and still end up without understanding a single iota.

The book taught me how fragile the 9 may victory actually is and how the path forward is still perilous. Yet at the same time, this books gave me hope.