Politics of Malaysia takes place in the framework of a federal representative democratic constitutional monarchy, in which the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is head of state and the Prime Minister of Malaysia is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the federal government and the 13 state governments. Legislative power is vested in the federal parliament and the 13 state assemblies. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature, though the executive maintains a certain level of influence in the appointment of judges to the courts.
The Constitution of Malaysia is codified and the system of government is based on the Westminster system. The hierarchy of authority in Malaysia, in accordance to the Federal Constitution, stipulates the three branches (administrative components) of the Malaysian government as consisting of the Executive, Judiciary and Legislative branch. Whereas, the Parliament consists of the Dewan Negara (Upper House/Senate) and Dewan Rakyat (Lower House/House of Representatives).Jeong Chun Hai @Ibrahim, & Nor Fadzlina Nawi. (2012). Principles of Public Administration: Malaysian Perspectives. Kuala Lumpur: Pearson Publishers.
Malaysia has had a multi-party system since the first direct election of the Federal Legislative Council of Malaya in 1955 on a first-past-the-post basis. The ruling party was the Alliance Party () coalition and from 1973 onwards, its successor, the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. Together with its predecessor the Alliance Party, BN had governed for 63 years since 1955 and was one of the world's longest serving governments until it lost power to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition in the 2018 Malaysian general election. Following the 2020–22 Malaysian political crisis, the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government served from 1 March 2020 to 17 August 2021 when BN withdrew support and left the coalition.
As a result of the 2022 Malaysian general election, a hung parliament was elected. Anwar Ibrahim of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition was appointed as the new Prime Minister to lead the grand coalition government known as the Unity Government, consisting of other political coalitions of BN, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and several other political parties and independents. Perikatan Nasional (PN), as the sole coalition not in the Unity Government, serves as the Opposition.
Overview Although Malaysian politics has been relatively stable since 1974 and after the turbulent decade of the 1960s which saw the 13 May incident, critics allege that "the government, ruling party, and administration are intertwined with few countervailing forces.""Conclusion". In John Funston (Ed.), Government and Politics in Southeast Asia, p. 413. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. . However, since the 2008 general election, the media's coverage on the country's politics has noticeably increased as BN began gradually losing power and support.
The Economist Democracy Index rated Malaysia as a flawed democracy in 2016. Nevertheless, Malaysia was a runner up to The Economist "Country of the Year" in 2018 due to the peaceful transfer of power following the 2018 general election which saw the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition lose power after 63 years. The country is considered by the V-Dem Institute to have the second highest electoral and liberal democracy scores in Southeast Asia after Timor-Leste.
History Early developments Early organised political movements in Malaysia were organised along regional and ethnic groups and were not political parties in the modern sense. They generally were loose alliances of interest groups and individuals primarily concerned with social welfare, social progress and religious reform among the Muslim Malay communities similar to interest groups and civil society organisations of today.
Religious reformers Religious reformers played a large role in developing and disseminating ideas with magazines and periodicals like al-Imam published in Singapore by Tahir Jalaluddin between 1906 and 1908, and al-Munir published in Penang by Abdullah Ahmad between 1911 and 1916. These in turn were primarily influenced by the Egyptian Islamic reform magazine, al-Manar published in Cairo by Rashid Rida from 1898 to 1936. While these publications were primarily concerned with the Islamic religion, it also touched extensively on the social, political and economic conditions of the Malays.
One of the first such movements was the New Hope Society () that was established in Johor Bahru in 1916. On 14 September 1923, a movement was established in Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt by students from British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies known as the Al-Jam'iyah Al-Khairiyah lit-tholabah Al-Azhariyah Al-Jawiyah (renamed in 1937 to the Indonesia Malaya Convention or Perhimpunan Indonesia Malaya; PERPINDOM). Composed primarily of students influenced by the Young Turks movement and later the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement encouraged intentional political and religious discourse through periodicals like Osman Abdullah's Seruan Al-Azhar (Al-Azhar Clarion) and Pilehan Timur (Oriental Choice).
Teachers' unions The Sultan Idris Training College for Malay teachers in Tanjung Malim was fertile ground for the exchange of ideas. The establishment of the Selangor Malay Teachers Association () in 1921 by Muhammad Yusof paved the way for similar organisations to be set up in the other Federated Malay States and a magazine known as Majalah Guru (Teacher's Magazine) was published in 1923. This magazine allowed for the discussion of larger socio-economic issues as well political issues, establishing itself as one of the influences in the development of Malay nationalism.
Self-help societies Various self-help societies like the Maharani Company in Muar, Johor and the Serikat Pembaikan Hidup () organised by Mohamad Eunos Abdullah of the Singapore Malay Union () established co-operatives and communes to help improve the socio-economic conditions of the Malay peasants and smallholders. They too utilised newspapers and periodicals like the Maharani Company published Perjumpaan Melayu (Malay Convergence) to disseminate ideas and encourage discourse on issues pertaining to the social, political and economic conditions of the Malay people.
Early political organisations
Malay Union
The Malay Union (; KM) was established in 1926W. Roff 'Origins of Malay Nationalism' p. 190 by Mohamad Eunos Abdullah, Tengku Kadir Ali and Ambo Sooloh with the aim of increasing the role of Malays in public life, upholding Malay interests with the colonial authorities, and promote higher and technical education for Malays. Eunos himself was a Justice of Peace, a member of the Muslim Advisory Board set up by the colonial administration during World War I and a member of the Singapore Municipal Council. In his capacity as the chairman of the KM, he became the first Malay member of the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements. One of the first issues championed by the KM was the appeal for land to be set aside for a Malay settlement. The appeal was granted and a sum of $ 700,000 was set aside for the KM to purchase and develop the land. This settlement has evolved and is now part of the Eunos neighbourhood in Singapore.
The KM also became the catalyst for the establishment of similar organisations in the other states of the British Malaya such as the Penang Malay Association (founded in 1927) and the Perak Malay Association (founded in 1937). People associated with the KM included the first President of Singapore, Yusof Ishak. The KM survived World War II and entered into a political coalition with the United Malays National Organisation and the Malayan Chinese Association to form the Singapore Alliance Party. It however eventually faded away with the electoral defeats of the Alliance in the 1955 legislative elections in Singapore.
Communist Party of Malaya
The first political party to be organised with a pan-Malayan outlook was the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) established in 1930. The CPM was originally set up as a branch of the Comintern supervised by the Far Eastern Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party in 1926, then known as the South Seas Communist Party. The fraternal Communist Party of Indonesia (established in 1924) was forced underground and in exile due to their abortive revolt in 1926, which resulted in the CPM becoming exclusively dominated by people of Chinese descent . Efforts to establish a broader based representation were made especially in the 1935 representative conferences between the CPM and the General Labour Union as well as the establishment of contact with Communist cells in Siam and the Dutch East Indies in 1936. Nonetheless, the CPM remained an organisation that was predominantly Chinese in composition until the Japanese occupation of Malaya which saw a larger participation of people from other ethnicities.
Young Malay Union
The Young Malay Union (; KMM) was established in Kuala Lumpur in 1938 under the leadership of Ibrahim Yaacob. While registered as a social organisation working to improve Malay youths in sports, education, agriculture, health and other recreational pursuits, the primary aim of the KMM was to struggle for the political independence of all the Malayan states from Britain and oppose British imperialism.
While gaining significant support from the larger Malay community, the KMM failed to gain support from the Malay aristocrats and bureaucracy and on the eve of the Japanese invasion of Malaya, more than 100 KMM members were arrested by the authorities for collaboration.
All were released after the fall of Singapore in February 1942. On 14 January 1942, a KMM delegation led by vice-president, Mustapha Hussain, met with the Japanese authorities to negotiate for the independence of Malaya. The Japanese authorities instead disbanded KMM and established the Pembela Tanah Ayer (also known as the Malai Giyu Gun or by its Malay acronym PETA) militia in its stead.
Most who joined PETA were also part of the underground KMM Youth League who continued to struggle for an independent Malaya and some cooperated with the CPM sponsored Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army and other anti-Japanese guerilla units like Force 136 and Wataniah.
With the surrender of Japan in August 1945, former KMM cadres formed the nucleus of the emerging political movements like the Malay Nationalist Party, Angkatan Pemuda Insaf, and Angkatan Wanita Sedar.
Political conditions Malaysia's predominant political party, United Malays National Organization (UMNO), held power in the coalition known as the Barisan Nasional (formerly the Alliance Party) with other parties since Malaya's independence in 1957 until 2018. In 1974, the Alliance Party coalition, which comprised only three ethnic-based parties, was succeeded by the broader political coalition, Barisan Nasional. UMNO remained the dominant component of the coalition, alongside MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association) and MIC (Malaysian Indian Congress), and other component parties.
Since the 2018 general election, several political parties and coalitions compete in national and state-level elections in Malaysia. Major national political forces include Pakatan Harapan (PH), Barisan Nasional (BN), and Perikatan Nasional (PN). Major regional political forces also play a key role in national politics such as Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) which are based in the Borneo states of Sarawak and Sabah respectively.
Unlike some countries close to Malaysia, such as Thailand or Indonesia, the armed forces are not prominent in politics.