Let's Party

The class based differentiation occurring across the Malaysian political spectrum
By Naragan N

Before proceeding with the discussion, we all have to agree on a few fundamentals. Take the major peninsula based political parties in the country – UMNO, MCA, MIC, Gerakan, PPP, PAS, PKR, DAP – look at the various indicators– the membership profile, the substantial constituencies they represent, the overt and the not so overt policies they promote and their leadership profiles.

I have summarised them in general conclusions in the table below.. I do not think I am too far away from the truth, though there may be some disagreement about a few of my conclusions. But anyway,I use this as a starting point for my discussion.



Studying this structure of the political parties it looks like a class differentiation is occurring across the spectrum of the political parties. The Upper classes within the 3 major races being represented by the UMNO, MCA,MIC, Gerakan combine while the PKR and DAP represent the middle and lower classes among the Malays and the Chinese.

PAS however seems to represent Muslims across the classes and appears not to be class based yet. PPP is too small to matter in this regard.

In my opinion, the class differentiation occurred with the Chinese first. DAP and MCA circa 1950s . Then it started to happen with the Malays – beginning with Anwar’s incarceration 1998. In 2007 the class differentiation among the Indians abruptly showed itself up. The process has not been linear or orchestrated – differentiation within each ethnic group being driven by its own particular dynamics. But it will not be wrong to say that the process has been steadily gathering momentum.

The process of this differentiation is however yet to play itself out completely. This is in my opinion, anyway only the first phase of that class differentiation, as the class differentiation is only occurring within the confines of the ethnic groups. The next phase has to be one where class is no more identified with race, identification with class takes precedence – but that is some ways off. Only then we can say there can be a class based two party system.

There are at least two more acts in this phase before the differentiation in this phase will be complete.

The first act is with the Muslim party of PAS. PAS has religion as its basic platform. Inasmuch as religion plays a major role for the Muslims in the party, economics necessarily is exerting an increasing influence on the party. The separation of those who seek to control the resources exclusively and those who seek a more inclusive system seems to have begun and will have to play itself out sooner or later. Even though religion is the glue for PAS, the tensions between that glue and the forces being unleashed by economics seem to be gathering storm. What is happening now within PAS may be just that. PR and UMNO beware.

The second act is with the minority group of the Indians. 70 - 80 % of the Indians in the country are of the working class. The recent increase in the political parties purporting to represent the Indian working class is an indication of the desire to pick up this significant vote bank. But who truly represents the interests of the Indian working class? If one surveys what has been going on – the answer has to be, no one clearly. MIC has been totally abandoned by this group as a result of the differentiation.

PKR, DAP are trying to step in, but the dissatisfaction with what they are able to do for the Indian working class (always qualified by the “we cannot just do for a small group”, argument) indicates a gap between what the Indian working class seeks and what these parties are able to deliver. This suggests also that a clear and true working class orientated representation is required for the Indians to complete this class based differentiation across the Malaysian political scenario. MIC and PR beware.

These historical trends are driven by developments worldwide. It is also significantly accelerated by technological developments, especially in communication. One can argue with the specifics of my argument, but one cannot dismiss that there is something going on that is causing a differentiation to occur or even that a differentiation is occurring. UMNO with all its maneuvers can slow this process down a little, but it certainly cannot stop the realignments that are occurring in the progress of history in our country.