Publication:
Managing the Malaysian economy after the watershed GE 2008
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Date
2018
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Abstract
On 8 March 2008 (GE 2008) Malaysians unexpectedly delivered a stunning blow to Malaysia's long-standing ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional (BN), at the twelfth general election. Although it won the election, BN lost its psychologically important two-thirds majority in parliament which allows it to change the Federal Constitution at will. The blow was all the more devastating as the Anwar Ibrahim-led informal coalition of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR/People's Iustice Party), Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Se-Islam Malaysia (PAS/Pan Islamic Party of Malaysia) managed to form state governments in almost all states in the developed western parts of Peninsular Malaysia with citizens of the two most industrialised states (Selangor and Penang), as well as Kedah and Perak, joining Kelantan (the poorest state on the peninsula) on the opposition side. BN was also wiped out almost entirely from the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur with the opposition winning ten of the eleven parliamentary seats. All of these suggest that urbanites had deserted BN in droves.
Keywords
General Election 2008 (GE 2008) , Malaysia , Economy , Politics
Citation
Lopez, Greg & Abdul Kareem, Mohamed Ariff. (2018). Managing the Malaysian economy after the watershed GE 2008. In Greg Lopez & Bridget Welsh. (Eds.), Regime resilience in Malaysia and Singapore (pp. 187-203). Selangor, Malaysia: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre.
Publisher
Strategic Information and Research Development Centre
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