On Jan. 10, the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute held its 2024 Regional Outlook Forum, with the third panel speaking on new possibilities in Malaysia.

Speaking at the panel was Mujahid Yusof Rawa, a Malaysian Senator and Deputy President of Amanah, a centrist Islamic party which is a major coalition partner within the governing Pakatan Harapan Unity government.

Also speaking was Bersatu Youth Chief and MP for Machang in Kelantan, Wan Ahmad Wan Fayhsal, part of the Perikatan Nasional opposition coalition.

The context of the session was that Kuala Lumpur has been rife with rumours of the so-called "Dubai Move", an alleged, and apparently failed, attempt to unseat incumbent prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Serious business

With this in the background, Mujahid spoke about Malaysia's need for a stable government, and how the Unity government that involved Pakatan Harapan, Barisan Nasional, and the major East Malaysian parties, had come together to achieve those ends.

Mujahid said that if he had to say what was Anwar's strongest virtue at this time, it was his ability to "complete the mission" given to him by the Yang di Pertuan Agong to form the Unity government.

Mujahid laid out what he saw as the founding ideals of Malaysia, a country that was built on communal tolerance.

Tolerance was not ideal, because it represented a situation where "I don't like you, but I don't have any choice".

Malaysia's forefather's ultimate goal was for tolerance to give way to acceptance, but years after the fact that has failed to happen, and Mujahid saidthat he feared that the threat of communalism was still very present in Malaysia.

"Communalism (is) frequently defined as a political ideology that exploits... religious and cultural contrast for political gain."

Sidelining critical issues

Mujahid cast a critical tone for those who engaged in such behaviour, saying that there were some political parties who had taken to competing to seem more "Islamic" or "Malay", threatening to "sideline" critical issues.

He appeared to be referring to his fellow panellist at that moment, who has changed his stance before in order to conform with his allies.

Mujahid suggest four measures for Malaysia.

1. Debates regarding "Islam and Melayu", should use the constitution as a baseline, with parties concerns "Should be taken to the middle ground on a solution based approach"
2. Improving the livelihood and tackling high cost of living for the rakyat (the people), with Mujahid saying that people were supporting racist rhetoric as a way to express their anger for the government's failure to provide a decent livelihood.
3. He urged the Anwar government to consider laws that criminalised exploiting the Three R's, race, religion, and royalty; despite him not favouring such laws, but sometimes such laws were necessary.
4. Aggressively promoting Madani policies "to present progressive Islam and the compassionate Islam, rebutting the radical and divisive Islam".

Mujahid said that it was regrettable that the national debate would centre on "Islam and Melayu" for the foreseeable future, but he felt that Anwar and his government were the right people to shift the debate to the centre ground.

Communal setting

Wan Fayhsal rebutted this, saying that Malaysian politics was ingrained with a communal setting from its inception.

"No party could ever govern without the support from all races, but all parties within that coalition knows their respective duties and role to deliver the votes and also promises electorates."

He gave Anwar credit, or at least responsibility, for significantly changing Malaysian politics from a totally communal one to a more partisan system.

But in the Malay heartlands, identity politics remained very important, and the states of Kedah, Terengganu, and Kelantan all had voted for Malay identity parties by well over 50%, achieving clean sweeps in the 2022 general election.

Wan Fayhsal said that even Anwar knew the importance of maintaining support amongst the Malay community, .

"Even to this very day, the prime minister himself, if you were to notice, since he became, or being appointed as prime minister, has never left his posturing to pander and gain trust from the Malay electorate."

Wan Fayhsal said that Anwar's consistently aimed to be pictured wearing traditional Malay garb or holding Malay Islamic events at his official residence Sri Perdana was indicative of the Anwar's acknowledgement that he required the trust of the majority of Malay voters in order for the government to "move smoothly".

"Malay dominant hegemon"

Wan Fayhsal concluded with a call for stability and unity in Malaysia and its politics, laying out what he felt was the foundation of Malaysia's previous success.

Giving the example of Vision 2020, former Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad's development plan, Wan Fayhsal said that it was able to galvanise Malaysia towards a common objective.

That vision was "driven by a Malay dominant hegemon" in Barisan Nasional, Mahathir himself was a "staunch Malay nationalist".

But he said it was a vision "for all Malaysians" with a special and certain emphasis on racial equity.

Malaysia, he said, needed its leaders to make a concerted effort and effective polities to unite the people of Malaysia through a common and overarching national identity.

He suggested two ways this might be achieved, firstly through a form of national service, more akin to the military service practiced in Singapore than that being implemented by Anwar's Madani government.

Secondly, he advocated for the government to make a concerted effort to ensure that Bahasa Melayu was "really being practised and implemented at all levels of government and civil service".

He called Bahasa Melayu a uniting factor, saying that Malaysia currently lacked a common platform to engage and discuss issues.

For these things to happen, Malaysia needed to have "a strong political will, and a strong and stable political coalition".

In his opinion, such a coalition needed to be "driven and led by a Malay bumiputra based party", although he acknowledged that that opinion was not popular in "certain audiences".

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Top image via Mothership