Traveling the World

After several years of peace, Malaysia began the industrialization process in 1970. In these years, the rapid development in Malaysia has attracted the people from rural areas. It has also attracted migrants from other countries within Southeast Asia. These people have taken jobs and have filled up the cities, eventually creating slums which surround major cities, thus increasing urban poverty rates. Despite all this, Malaysia has become a safe and modern tourist destination in SE Asia.

In order to provide new opportunities for Malaysian graduates, the government established a number of stated-owned enterprises in oil and other heavy industries. These companies not only employ a lot of Malaysian, but also stimulate the economy and create new technology.

Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohammad was the prime minister from 1981 to 2003, when Malaysia had a “one party rules all” system. The general UMNO-dominated Barisan National had won almost all the seats, while the Democratic Action Party won seats in a small number in Chinese areas like Penang, and the Parti Islam Semalaysia won a small number in the rural areas of Kelantan and Terengganu. As the DAP and PAS’s charter was not complete, they were unable to form an opposition coalition.

This created protesting which was restricted by the Internal Security Act and served to strengthen Malaysia’s authoritarian political culture which peaked in 1997, when the Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was dismissed and arrested. Anwar’s arrest was seen as the beginning of democracy’s demise. Anwar’s wife Wan Aziza organized a new party in the attempt to unite the country and named it Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People’s Justice Party). They then merged with DAP and PAS for the 1999 election and named themselves Barisan Alternatif (Alternative Front). In the end, this served no purpose and the Islamic party took many seats from the UMNO.

For a long time, the system has created a huge gap in wealth and class, thus causing a confrontation between the different groups, and grievances have piled up deeply. In the 2008 election, voters were told they aren’t allowed to vote on the basis of race or religion in an attempt once again to unify the country. the outcome of the election was that BN lost two-thirds of the majority seats in the parliament and 5 states became under the control of the People’s Alliance. This reflects the Malaysian political outlook and the subtle change in the national ethnic identity.

After all that has happened to Malaysia, there are still several things they need to figure out, one of them being identity confusion. National implementation of the ‘Indigenous’ and ‘Non-Indigenous’ system keeps reminding us that we’re different, and this does nothing good for us. I hope in the future we can overcome our political and cultural differences and finally live in peace.