RSIS Book Launch Seminar of “Malaysia’s 14th General Election and UMNO’s Fall: Intra-Elite Feuding and the Pursuit of Power”, Edited by Professor Edmund Terence Gomez, Professor of Political Economy, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya; and Assistant Professor Mohamed Nawab Osman, Assistant Professor, Malaysia Programme, IDSS, RSIS

Seminar Abstract

The 2018 Malaysian General Election will stand as a defining event in Malaysian history, when the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition unexpectedly lost power in the country they had ruled for over half a century. This volume brings together scholars who assess one fundamental factor that brought about this game-changing event in Malaysian politics: intra-elite feuding in the leading Malay-based political parties. It analyses individual state politics and national trends that have been shaped by the government and the opposition.

Contrary to earlier expectations that the change in government would usher in a new Malaysia where race and religion will matter less, the new political configuration has seen an intensification of identity politics. The two largest and most important Malay based parties, UMNO and PAS, have now formed an alliance in the name of Malay and Muslim unity. This seminar will examine several themes including the intra-Malay political elite fissure, the trajectory of race and religion in Malaysian politics, and the future of Malaysian politics.

About the Editors

Edmund Terence Gomez is a Professor of Political Economy at the Faculty of Economics & Administration, University of Malaya. He has also held academic appointments at the University of Leeds, Murdoch University, Australian National University, and the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. He served as the Research Coordinator at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development in Geneva and was a Visiting Professor at Kobe University, the University of Michigan, and the University of California. He specialises in government-market relations and the linkages between politics, policies and business development.

Mohamed Nawab Mohamed Osman is an Assistant Professor with the Malaysia Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He also coordinates RSIS’ Seminar Series on Muslim Societies in Asia. His research interests include the domestic and international politics of Southeast and South Asian countries, transnational Islamic political movements, and Islamophobia studies.