Malaysian conservatives are flexing their muscles in what analysts call a high-stakes fight for control of the powerful ruling party that is endangering reform and delicate race relations.

Since elections last May that stung the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the government has moved rightward, mothballing a reform drive launched by Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Meanwhile, religious tensions in the multi-cultural, Muslim-majority country are soaring, mainly in a dispute between Muslims and Christians over use of the word “Allah”.

On Monday, two Molotov cocktails were thrown at a Catholic church, raising fears of further strife.

… “This is significant as it could mean that (Najib’s) vision of a unified, cohesive and inclusive plural society that was much touted in the 2013 elections is as good as thrown onto the back burner,” Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies