Malaysian Chinese politics in the 21st century: Fear, service and Marginalisation

Chinese politics in Malaysia has been on the decline since independence and the Chinese community has now been totally marginalized. In particular, the two main Chinese‐based parties in the ruling coalition under the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) — the Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) and the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) — are essentially powerless on all the key policy areas affecting the Chinese community. Under such circumstances, the Chinese‐based parties changed their political strategies to “service” and “fear” politics. “Service” refers to solving their constituents’ day‐to‐day problems while “fear” refers to reminding the Chinese that the alternative of an Islamic government under Parti Islam Se Malaysia (PAS) is worse. It concludes that given the post‐1969 political structure, the present outcome is unavoidable and the immediate future of Chinese politics in Malaysia is bleak.