They and electorates are aware that the opposition parties and their interests, just like their opponents in the ruling coalition, are defined and restrained by competing identities: PKR is Malay-Muslim dominant and led by the most charismatic and powerful Malaysian Muslim leader to date, Anwar Ibrahim DAP is non-Muslim based and dominated by ethnic Chinese and PAS is a puritanical Islamist party. ![]() They did so precisely because they need one another to maintain a multi-ethnic coalition front in order to beat BN. Moreover, they strategically framed their anti-regime cause in universal democratic terms so as to forge a critical coalition with civil society forces across communal boundaries. Instead, they have chosen to stay mute on fundamental issues that they do not wish to discuss or negotiate, that is, issues related to communal identities and religion. Opposition parties, while certainly sharing such unusually strong anti-regime sentiments emanating from civil society, were not able to translate these divisive ethnocentric sentiments and demands directly into political action. Consequently, post-NEP generations of minority populations feel increasingly alienated and discriminated against despite the fact that some communal grievances were mitigated by the inclusive multi-ethnic national vision and continuous growth under Mahathir (together with currently opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim) till the multiple crises following 1998. The results of such maneuvering are now obvious in a wide range of policy areas including law, education, welfare and economy. Furthermore, the same regime has granted an unprecedented amount of power, resources and authority to the Islamic state bureaucracies in order to cater to the religious interests and spiritual well being of a growingly pious Muslim-Malay community. ![]() Under this ethnocentric pro-Malay regime, state institutions and a bureaucratic infrastructure were constructed in a manner to buttress supremacy of the state, UMNO and the Muslim-Malay community, while undermining civil society, civil rights and the well being of minority communities. The question remains however: Is the PR platform sufficient to convince their multi-ethnic constituencies to oust BN from power to build a new democratic Malaysia? The absence of aforementioned initiatives under the current regime provided a common ground for opposition parties to come and fight together, leading to their impressive electoral ascendancy in 2008. Indeed, their platform, " Ubah Sekarang, Selamatkan Malaysia! (Change Now, Save Malaysia!)", published in the run-up to the 2008 elections emphasizes the following initiatives: expansion of democratic rights and institutions such as independent judiciary creation of a just and fair society that provides all people with equal opportunities regardless of ethnicity, religion and culture elimination of corruption and other unfair and discriminatory practices that hinder equal and fair distribution of public resources growth with equity and elimination of undemocratic apparatuses and practices, most notably the Internal Security Act (ISA). The establishment of some form of democratic rule is their next goal. The opposition pact was first and foremost formed and sustained to challenge and bring down the authoritarian rule of BN where the Malay-Muslim based United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) is dominant. Possible answers to these questions in part depend on the type of regime that the opposition coalition-comprised of the People's Justice Party (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP), and the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS)-wishes to establish.
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