MALAYSIA faces challenges more complicated than race and religion, a forum in Melbourne was told yesterday.

In a broad-ranging discussion, Professor James Chin, director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania, and Dr Vilashini Somiah, the head of research at Malaysian think tank Iman Research, briefed Australians on issues Malaysia faced at a forum titled Building the New Malaysia: From elation to frustration.

The forum was presented by Lowy Institute, a think tank in Sydney, and moderated by its director of Southeast Asia Project, Ben Bland.

One year after “the corruption-tainted government of Najib Razak was ousted in a stunning electoral upset, sentiment in Malaysia has turned from elation to frustration”, Lowy Institute observed.

“The motley coalition led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the 93-year-old former and now new prime minister, has been weighed down by infighting. 

“There are growing fears that he is backsliding on promises to roll back draconian laws and reinvigorate the sluggish economy.”

The panel provided insights from the political science analyses of Chin and the socio-anthropological perspectives of Somiah.

Australia’s high commissioner to Malaysia, Andrew Goledzinowski, who was on a home visit, shared his observations

Chin and Somiah agreed that the possibility of a one-term Pakatan Harapan government was real if its challenges were not addressed immediately (in laying the groundwork for the next election in four years).

They also acknowledged the enormity of the problems left by the previous administration. They wondered if the government’s approaches measured up to the expectations of the people.

The PH coalition was loose as its component parties had varied approaches to government, said Chin, who hails from Kuching, Sarawak.

There was the alleged corruption of 1Malaysia Development Bhd to prosecute, the recovery of the economy, the rebuilding of institutions.

“The thing is, what are the markers of change?” said Somiah, a Kota Kinabalu-born anthropologist from the Kuala Lumpur-based think tank that focuses on community engagement.

“Ok, there’s 1MDB, so what?” she said of expectations of the people.

“At the end of the day, my pocket is empty.”

Somiah was referring to the 1MDB scandal, which is being investigated in six countries.

In Malaysia, former prime minister Najib, his wife Rosmah Mansor and several former officials have been slapped with charges related to the scandal.

Responding to moderator Bland’s question if the PH administration was headed in the right direction, Somiah said as much as the government was addressing many of the concerns, there were “cultural issues” such as changes to do with the Sedition Act that needed to be attended to.

Chin singled out the attention to political Islam as among his concerns.

The audience made up largely of resident Australians had interests ranging from prospects of Malaysia warming to Australia under Malaysia Inc to whether Malaysia’s media was now “less reverential” towards the government.

Goledzinowski summed it up in his preamble of Australian interest in reinforcing democracy in Malaysia. 

He noted that Malaysia was the first newly developed democracy in the region because of its shared history with Australia.

The forum is being presented in Canberra today at 5.30pm at Auditorium, China in the World Building 188, on Fellows Lane, before it moves to Sydney tomorrow.

Click here for details on the Sydney forum and to register. – June 18, 2019.