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Political Parties in Mainland Malaya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Gerald S. Maryanov
Gerald S. Maryanov
Affiliation:
University of Iowa.
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Extract

Whatever impact the formation of Malaysia had on the areas involved, the merger, in 1963, of mainland Malaya with Singapore, Sarawak, and Sabah (North Borneo) — and the separation of Singapore in 1965 — has been a complication in the life of the political analyst in the midst of efforts to formulate generalizations about the country's political life. Obviously adjustments are being made in the whole range of political affairs as the various components of the enlarged federation are in the course of integration into a single operating political system. Yet, differences remain, and there is still much to be learned by considering the component parts as separate entities. Distortions will result from such a procedure, but as long as the researcher and his audience are alerted to the distortions, and no claim of completeness made, the built-in error need not be too misleading.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian History , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , March 1967 , pp. 99 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1967

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References

1. The elections are conducted and reported by an independent Election Commission. For the results, see, Report on the Parliamentary and State Elections, 1959 (Kuala Lumpur: The Government Printer, 1960)Google Scholar; and, Report on the Parliamentary (Dewan Ra'ayat) and State Legislative Assembly General Elections, 1964, of the States of Malaya, (Kuala Lumpur: Penchetak Kerajaan, 1965)Google Scholar. For the one pre-independence election, see Smith, T. E., Report on the First Election of Members to the Legislative Council of the Federation of Malaya, (Kuala Lumpur: The Government Printer, 1955).Google Scholar

2. There is a growing body of literature on politics and the political parties of Malaya, but it is still far from comprehensive. Perhaps the best single source is Ratnam, K. J., Communalism and the Political Process in Malaya, (Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 1965)Google Scholar. Four valuable studies, unfortunately less generally available, are unpublished dissertations: Clark, Margaiet F., The Malayan Alliance and Its Accomodation of Communal Pressures 1952–1962, (MA Thesis University of Malaya, 1964)Google Scholar; Chee, Chan Heng, The Malayan Chinese Association (MA thesis, University of Singapore, 1965)Google Scholar. Haas, Roy H., The Malayan Chinese Association, 1958–1959: An Analysis of Differing Conceptions of the Malayan-Chinese Role in Independent Malaya (MA thesis, Northern Illinois University, 1967)Google Scholar; and, Moore, Daniel E., The United Malays National Organization and the 1959 Malayan Elections, (PhD Thesis, University of California, 1960)Google Scholar. Shorter but useful summaries are provided by Milne, R. S., “Politics and Government”, in, Gungwu, Wang, ed., Malaysia: A. Survey, (London Pall Mall Press, 1964)Google Scholar; also, Ratnam, K. J., “Political Parties and Pressure Groups,”Google Scholar in, ibid., and, Silcock, T. H., “Communal and Party Structure,” in, Silcock, T. H. and Fisk, F. K., eds., The Political Economy of Independent Malaya, (Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, 1963)Google Scholar. See too, Vasil, R. K., “The 1964 General Elections in Malaya,” International Studies, (New Delhi), Vol. VII No. 1 (07 1965), pp. 20–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. See, McGee, T. G., “The Malayan Elections of 1959: A Study in Electoral Geography,” The Journal of Tropical Geography, Vol. 16, (10 1962), pp. 70–99Google Scholar. This very useful study shows the distribution of party strength, demonstrating the regional nature of all the opposition parties.

4. Ibid., p. 97. For a polemical rationalization of one side of this kind of view, see, Alex Josey, Trade Unionism in Malaya, (Background to Malaya Series No. 4, 2nd Revised Edition. Singapore: Donald Moore, 1958), pp. 77 ff.

5. See, Milne, , Op. Cit., p. 331.Google Scholar

6. The political issues involved and the compromise solutions are discussed extensively in Ratnam, Communalism … The Constitution is discussed in legal terms in Groves, H. E., The Constitution of Malaysia, (Singapore: Malaysia Publications Ltd., 1964).Google Scholar

7. The internal security problem is one of the delicate issues of contemporary Malaysian politics. It is perhaps not surprising in a country which was plagued for twelve years by an armed communist uprising, to be followed three years later by a threatened crushing from a neighbor ten times its size, that some stringent security regulations be adopted; nor is it surprising that the Socialist Front, given the nature of its ideologies and the actions of some of its members, be the major sufferer from these regulations, and also be the major critic of the regulations. For a constitutional discussion of the regulations which leans more to democratic idealism than political realism, see Hickling, R. H., “The First Five Years of the Federation of Malaya Constitution,” Malaya Law Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, (1962) pp. 183–204Google Scholar. Also, Hickling, R. H., “Some Aspects of Fundamental Liberties Under the Constitution of the Federation of Malaya,” The Malayan Law Journal, Vol. XXIX, No. 7, (07 1963), pp. xliv–li.Google Scholar