In this webinar, Dr Amrita Malhi (Australian National University/Flinders University) and Dr Azmil Tayeb (Universiti Sains Malaysia) shared their views on the so-called ‘Green Wave’, namely the increase in electoral support for the opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional and its lead party, the Malaysian Islamic party, Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).
MALAYSIA STUDIES PROGRAMME WEBINAR
Friday, 10 November 2023 – Comprised of PAS, the UMNO off-shoot Bersatu, and the multi-ethnic Gerakan, Perikatan Nasional has been going from strength to strength. The Malaysia Studies Programme organised a webinar to unpack what observers have dubbed the ‘Green’ or Islamist wave, with Dr Amrita Malhi and Dr Azmil Tayeb as the guest speakers. Dr Amrita Malhi is a senior development policy adviser and Honorary Senior Lecturer at The Australian National University and Flinders University while Dr Azmil Tayeb is an Associate Professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia and a Visiting Research Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.
Dr Amrita Malhi presented an analysis of the ‘Green Wave’ narrative by drawing attention to both the limits to this electoral movement and the reality that it tends to structure how the government responds. She pointed out that the Pakatan Harapan government has turned to administrative and authoritarian measures to crack down on PAS on the basis of associating the party and its voters with violent extremism. Examples include using the Internal Sedition Act on Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi and the PAS publication Harakah. Rather than “extremists”, however, Dr Malhi suggested that PAS can, in fact, be understood as an increasingly “mainstream” organization, given that a majority of Malay voters have supported the party in recent elections, and it has been winning in the cultural sphere through articulating compelling narratives, not via violent means. Moves to politically marginalise PAS are not new. For example, when former Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad did so in the 1990s, he was simultaneously able to articulate a compelling alternative narrative and stimulate economic growth. Dr Malhi pointed out that the Pakatan Harapan government has not yet succeeded in offering such alternatives to voters. As a result, she argued that this “extremist” label lays the groundwork for increased mistrust in national institutions. To deal with the rise of PAS more effectively, she pointed to the need for creating alternative and convincing discourses for Malaysia’s long-term development.
Dr Azmil Tayeb complemented this presentation with an internal analysis of recent developments in PAS, in particular the relatively recent tactic of diversifying the profiles of its candidates for state-level leadership. In the past, religious scholars (Ulama) have traditionally been at the heart of PAS’s leadership. Dr Azmil pointed to two types of non-Ulama leaders that have risen to the fore in recent years: the professional Samsuri-led state government in Terengganu and the populist Sanusi-led state government in Kedah. Nonetheless, numbers show that Ulama still play an outsize role in the stewardship of Kelantan and Terengganu, where they make up nearly half of the state cabinet lineup. In Kedah, Dr Azmil pointed out that there are economically pragmatic reasons for fielding non-ulama candidates. Professionals and technocrats, due to their background and experience, are better suited to deal with investors and businesses in the much stronger and vibrant economic area especially bordering Penang. Overall, Dr Azmil argued that while there is a discernible shift towards more non-Ulama leaders, these leaders are no less rigid ideologically than their ulama equivalents as they need to go through the same political doctrine training organized by the party. Even as PAS promotes non-Ulama leaders for important “worldly” positions, it is ultimately unwilling to shed the Ulama image of the party.
The webinar proceeded to a Q&A session. Both speakers fielded questions including: commenting on other drivers for the movement of voters away from UMNO and Pakatan Harapan to PAS; the role of social support systems in Malay-majority constituencies and their role in shaping voter preferences; lessons from the 2015 split within PAS that led to the establishment of Parti Amanah Negara; PAS’s “weaponization” of colonial history; and the role that the traditional rulers play as leaders in the religious sphere. Malaysia Studies Programme Coordinator Dr Francis Hutchinson moderated this webinar, which was attended by 70 people.