Five Things to Watch Out For in 2019 on Malaysia’s Political Front

Adrian Tan

TODAY

09 January 2019

2018 was a year of dramatic change for Malaysia. At the General Elections in May 2018 (GE14), Barisan Nasional (BN) was defeated by Pakatan Harapan (PH) after 61 years in power. Malaysia saw the return of Mahathir Mohamad as Prime Minister.

His one-time nemesis Anwar Ibrahim was released from prison, received a royal pardon and is now back in Parliament. Najib Razak was slapped with multiple charges linked to the 1MDB scandal while investigations into allegations against other United Malays National Organisation (Umno) leaders are ongoing.

However, as Malaysia begins 2019, it is increasingly clear that for PH, moving the country forward and keeping it together while carrying out promised reforms may be more challenging than removing BN from power. Here are five issues we should monitor in 2019.

…Adrian Tan is Deputy Head of Policy Studies and Coordinator of the Malaysia Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.

Categories:

IDSS / Online

Last updated on 10/01/2019