Political reforms to bring about greater democratic participation are often a response to a political crisis. In Britain, for example, a series of civil wars resulted in the Bill of Rights that set down the respective rights of the people and the monarch.

In countries moving from colonial status to democratic self-government, the historical development of the political system is often crucial because what comes before the transition to democracy shapes what comes afterwards.

In attempting to understand how Malaysia's electoral system has developed it is important to place it within the broad historical and socio-cultural setting.

1955 marked a milestone in the political history of then Malaya because national-level elections were held for the first time. It is therefore a good starting point to understand the electoral process within the historical context.

It is important to note that, although national-level elections were held for the first time that year, political parties had existed long before 1955. Political parties had been formed before World War II, mainly as protest movements against British colonial rule. Although these early parties tended to attract members from a single ethnic group, they were ideology-based and often socialist in commitment.

In contrast, several ethnic-based political parties were established after the war to ostensibly protect and champion the interests of a particular 'community'. Umno, for example, was formed largely as a response against proposed constitutional changes that was seen to be against Malay interests rather than to protest against colonial rule.

For a while both types of political parties co-existed. However the politicisation of ethnicity, combined with coercive action by the British authorities against left-wing forces, resulted in the eclipse of ideology-based parties and the emergence of an ethnic-based party system, an essential feature of our political system today.

BN dominance

A second feature of our political system is the dominance of the multi-party coalition, the Alliance Party, later renamed Barisan Nasional (BN).

The basis of this dominance can be traced to the pre-independence period. Despite the different and even conflicting political views held by the various parties, the introduction of municipal council elections by the British in the early 1950s provided incentives for inter-ethnic co-operation. This was because the electorate in urban areas were ethnically mixed.

In order that candidates from each ethnic-based party could obtain the votes of at least some voters from the other ethnic groups, it was necessary for the ethnic-based parties to form an electoral pact. They agreed not to compete with each other and persuaded their co-ethnic supporters to vote for their allies. This practice of 'vote-pooling' across ethnic lines proved to work and what was initially only an electoral pact became institutionalised with the formation of the Alliance coalition party.

The success of the Alliance party in the local government elections encouraged the leaders to believe that they had found the winning formula to take over political power from the British. They therefore spearheaded a nationwide nationalist movement demanding the end of colonial rule.

Participating in and winning the national-level elections in 1955, to what was then still only a partially elected assembly, was seen to be necessary for two reasons. It symbolised that the country was moving from colonial to self-governing status. And it conferred legitimacy and authority to a new political elite as they negotiated the terms for the transfer of power.

Those elections were not conducted on the basis of universal suffrage, with the electoral largely Malay in composition. However, despite the fewer incentives for co-operation among the ethnic elite, the leaders continued this practice of 'inter-ethnic alliance'.

The success of the Alliance candidates in the 1955 elections sealed the party's place as the country's premier party. Over time it expanded its base of support by co-opting several opposition parties not only to ensure continued victory in the polls but also in order to convince the British that power would be transferred to a government representing all the major ethnic groups and not just the Malays.

Over the years, Malaysia's democratic system has been shaped by the BN's dominance. Penang-based scholar Khoo Boo Teikmakes the point that BN "is not only the historical product of the political system but the most successful competitor in the electoral process. The converse is also true: the BN has been able to use its uninterrupted rule at all levels (with significant but rare exceptions among state and local governments) since 1957 to shape the political system and the electoral process according to the ruling coalition's ideas and requirements (although not without contestation)".

Voting rights

A third feature of the political system that evolved was that although clearly some political participation was allowed - seen especially in the holding of regular elections - the scope and depth of political participation was severely limited. An explanation for this can be traced again to the 1955 elections.

One of the markers of citizenship in a democracy is voting rights. It is important to note that in the 1955 elections a large proportion of the Chinese and Indian adult population was denied voting rights because their status as citizens were not yet settled. After the withdrawal of the constitutional proposals to give equal political rights to all those born in the country irrespective of race, the British decided to leave this matter to the local leaders. But while the Alliance leaders reached an agreement on a number of issues, the citizenship issue was left in abeyance until after the elections.

The exclusion of a large proportion of the Chinese and Indian adult population from voting in the 1955 elections had important consequences in setting the limits for political participation. Although the franchise was extended to the majority of Chinese and Indian adults in later years, the fact that most Malays were franchised first and most Chinese and Indians were franchised later meant that the bases of the political system was established at a time when Umno played a dominant role in the political process.

Once Umno's dominant position in the ruling coalition was established, it used its control over the state to ensure that this dominance continued even after voting rights were extended to the majority of Chinese and Indian adults. This was done through a form of gerrymandering based on the ethnic composition of the population.

Through the creation of a large number of small-sized constituencies in the rural areas where the majority of Malays lived, and a smaller number of larger-sized constituencies in the urban areas where the majority of Chinese lived, it was possible to establish more Malay-majority constituencies than the proportion of Malays in the electorate. Thus Umno (as the leading Malay party) political dominance was continued through a political system that imposes severe limits on the depth and scope of political participation.

MPs' duty

What impact have these structural biases developed during the colonial period and built upon by the political elite had on the concept of representative democracy?

Traditional representative democratic theory rests on two tenets. First, the duty of members of Parliament of any party is to represent independently their whole constituencies and to further the general public interest rather than the interest of the member's party. Second, the government ought to be answerable to the whole community as represented in Parliament. Let us examine how these two tenets operate in Malaysia.

In practice the party system in many countries, including Malaysia, has developed to such an extent that MPs, both backbenchers in the ruling coalition and the opposition, are expected to follow their leaders in supporting the policies of their party and strict intra-party discipline ensures hat they do not say anything which may be construed as being contrary to their party views.

In Britain the concentration of responsibility for policy-making on the parliamentary front bench has been criticised for its non-participatory consequences. The Labour government in Britain has been under pressure to allow its backbenchers to vote according to their conscience on the issue of Britain's support for the US attack on Iraq.

In Malaysia, strict party discipline is maintained to ensure that backbenchers toe the party line. In addition, the fact that the ruling coalition has won all the elections except one (in 1969) with a two-thirds majority has meant that the opposition in Parliament is weak and their views often ignored.

As a consequence Parliament has become ineffective as reflected in the quality of parliamentary debates. As popular participation becomes minimised both within and outside Parliament, the tendency has been for an oligarchic, elitist, and authoritarian style of government to evolve.

Tomorrow: The Malaysian voter - a profile (Part 3)
Yesterday: Why elections matter? (Part 1)


This five-part series on election was co-authored by Ikmas deputy director NORANI OTHMAN, Ikmas senior associate fellow MAVIS PUTHUCHEARY, Merdeka Centre's IBRAHIM SUFFIAN and freelance journalist SHARAAD KUTTAN.

Institut Kajian Malaysia dan Antarabangsa (Ikmas) at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, is a social science research institute. Together with the generous assistance of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Ikmas has been conducting a study of the Malaysian electoral system over the past two years.