text/Cheng Jing
edit/Qia Fei
local time at noon on November 19, local time, thunderstorms fell in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. 26-year-old architect Amyra drove to the voting site near her home and completed the first national parliamentary election in her life. She then entered the polling station, and after voting, her left index finger was painted with purple ink as a mark of "voted". She went straight home, waiting for the result excitedly.
On November 19, Yang Qingjin voted in Kuala Lumpur. Photography: Yang Qingjin
For Malaysia , this is the most important day in the past five years. On that day, from Johor Bahru at the southern end of the Malay Peninsula to Semporna in the eastern part of Borneo Island, it was raining almost all over the country, and floods even occurred in some areas. The water level in Banan and other places in Sarawak has reached the thigh of adults, and some villagers are forced to stand in the water and line up to vote. But the rainy season did not stop the Malaysians from voting enthusiasm, and the turnout rate on that day was reported to reach 73.89%.
In the early morning of November 20, the Malaysian Election Commission released the statistics on the 2022 national general election. The results show that no political party or alliance of parties has won a simple majority in Congress. For the first time in history, the "suspended Congress" appeared, and how each camp will negotiate next is very critical.
Malaysian Parliament has a total of 222 parliamentary seats, and as long as you win more than half of the 112 seats, you can rule alone. However, a candidate unfortunately passed away during this election, and another polling station was unable to open the voting due to poor weather, resulting in the postponement of the voting of two congressional seats. Therefore, a total of 220 seats were held, and the threshold for a simple majority seat was lowered to 111 seats.
Among the three major political party alliances, the Hope Alliance (Pakatan Harapan, referred to as PH ) won 82 seats, the National League (Parikatan Nasional, referred to as the National League) won 73 seats, and the ruling alliance National Front (Barisan Nasional, referred to as BN ) won 30 seats. In addition, the Sarawak Party Alliance (GPS, referred to as Sarawak League) and the Sabah People's Front (GRS, referred to as Sarawak National Front) in East Malaysia won 22 and 6 seats respectively.
November 19, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, election staff are confirming voters' identity information.
This election is related to whether it can end the "rollercoaster" chaos in Malaysia's political arena: Since the 2018 general election, three prime ministers have come to power and witnessed the collapse of two governments, while two major, opposing coalitions - Barisan Nasional and PH have experienced divisions. Internal strife has exhausted voters, with voter turnout in both local elections held last year below average.
It can be said that more than 21 million Malaysians are investing in expectations for the future to cope with the depreciating ringgit, the rising cost of living, the wage growth that is far behind the national economic development and the increasing pressure of living. Especially after the implementation of the new election law, the task of changing the country fell on millions of young people for the first time. This time, they gave their own answers with votes.
"BN defeat, PH lost a small loss, and PN won a big victory"
When the results of the election have not been officially announced, all parties were "unwaited" to announce their victory.
In the early morning of November 20, the National League, which won nearly one-third of its seats with an unexpected rise, began to celebrate. Chairman Muhyiddin Yassin claimed that it had begun to discuss joint governance with two political parties in East Malaysia.
In the early morning of November 20, President Muhyiddin of the National League delivered a speech during the National League campaign, making it clear that he would not cooperate with PH.
But it was not the Pakatan Harapan who won the most seats. PH and chairman of the People's Justice Party, Anwar Ibrahim, criticized his opponents, saying, "They cannot do this and should follow the formal process of reporting to the king." He immediately stated that PH had received support from at least 112 members in the parliament and had written proof.
According to Malaysian law, the PH, which received the most votes, is expected to negotiate with the minority party first, but if the negotiations fail, the Malaysian king has the right to invite the party leaders who he believes can form a majority to form a new government.Since both the Pakatan Harapan and the BN expressed their unwillingness to form a cabinet with PH, all eyes are now focused on the two parties in East Malaysia and the king.
This is not the situation expected by the ruling alliance. Under normal circumstances, Malaysia will hold its 15th parliamentary election in 2023. On October 10, the current Prime Minister Ismail Shabiri announced the dissolution of the parliament and announced the early election. Ge Hongliang, a researcher at the ASEAN Research Center of Guangxi University for Nationalities and director of the Malaysian Research Institute, told " Phoenix Weekly " that UMNO , led by Sabiri, and even the BN believe that there will be a higher chance of winning the election by the end of this year. But it turned out that they were wrongly judged.
Some observers used "BN defeat, PH lost a small loss, and PH won a big victory" to describe this general election - BN is a veteran political party that has been in power in Malaysia for more than 60 years, PH is the "star of hope" for his historic victory in 2018, and PH is the alliance formed after the "Sheraton Incident" in 2020.
Previously, many people said that , the influence of the National Alliance cannot last long: they are mainly composed of indigenous Unity Party , which has withdrawn from PH, and the Islamic Party. Since the former has led to the collapse of PH, its core figures have been bearing the reputation of "betrayal organization", so the ruling alliance may become bubbled.
However, the poll results released by the poll company YouGov before the election showed that the leader of the National League Muhyiddin was the most popular among political leaders, and the National League's support rate was second only to PH, reaching 20%. The surprise created by the National League is more than this: its Islamic Party won 43 seats, more than double the previous election, setting a historical record, and becoming the single party with the most seats.
analysts believe that the "prominence" of the National League today can be attributed to the following factors: Malaysia's economic situation is poor and the unemployment rate of young people is high, including many Malay people and indigenous peoples. The newly implemented automatic voter registration system has brought more than 5 million votes from young people, and these people choose to support the National League. At the same time, the Islamization of Malay society is becoming more and more obvious, but Malays does not object to this trend.
In May 2018, the day before the 14th general election, supporters of the Malaysian Islamic Party waved flags on the side of the road.
Ge Hongliang believes that after the BN took power in Malaysia for more than 60 years, PH and Pakatan Harapan have won more votes, which is in line with the characteristics of the country's highly fragmented and highly competitive power during the political transformation.
He further stated that for PH, Malaysian society has given opportunities, "From mid-2018 to early 2020, the reforms promised by PH did not achieve obvious results, and the subsequent chaos made the people feel dissatisfied. These factors affected PH's performance in this election."
No matter who will form the alliance in the end, the challenge is still serious. Malaysian investment analyst Kumar wrote in the Star that in addition to coping with rising living costs and inflationary pressures, it is necessary to adjust the low wage growth that lags far behind the national economic growth, attract investment, create more jobs, provide more affordable housing for the people, and more importantly, a stable government with a simple majority to advance much-needed reforms.
Malay politics returns to the "Warring States Period"
This election is regarded as "the most crowded and fierce battle". Including the above three alliances, there are 6 ruling alliances and 39 political parties participating in this general election. In addition to more than 200 seats of parliament, 117 state legislators from three states including Pili , Pahang and Perlis, with as many as 945 candidates.
At 10:45 pm on November 15, voters waited for Anwar in a light purple shirt and a red baseball cap with the words "Ph" written on his head. As the leader of PH, he walked through dense crowds of people surrounded by bodyguards and gave a speech on stage.
Selangor is surrounded by the capital Kuala Lumpur and the administrative capital Putrajaya . It is Malaysia's most economically developed state and has the largest population, so it is one of the areas where the factions compete most fiercely in the general election.
November 15, Hope League held a campaign rally in Selangor, and Anwar spoke to voters.
live video shows that when Anwar entered the venue, supporters shouted "Reform! Reform!" and their voices resounded throughout the sky. In heavy rain, many supporters stood with umbrellas where the gathering tents were out of cover. That night, Anwar went to the two constituencies of Anbang and Gomba to promote momentum. According to local independent media Malaysia Today, nearly 5,000 voters participated in each event, most of whom stayed on site until midnight. That night, more than 20,000 people watched the Facebook live broadcast on Anwar. The warm atmosphere of the
rally gave PH supporters the hope of "acquitting the previous shame" - the two incumbent members of Anbang and Gombak constituencies, Zuleda and Azmin were originally from the People's Justice Party, and Azmin was one of the founders of the party. But the two's successive "rebellion" led to the collapse of PH, putting Malaysia in a subsequent ruling crisis.
Now the two have changed their flags and changed their flags. Zulaida represents the National Party and Azmin represents the Indigenous Unity Party, both of whom run for election as supporters of the National League.
Asset Management Consultant Yang Qingjin, a Kuala Lumpur-based asset management consultant, told Phoenix Weekly that the election "is split, like the Warring States Period in Chinese history." Although the election results are unpredictable, he is still optimistic that this is part of the democratization process, "a result of the younger generation's attempt to change after a multi-ethnic and cultural country was monopolized by a single-ethnic party for many years."
Noon on November 19, voters waited for a vote outside a voting site in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Photography: Amyra
Yang Qingjin is a Malaysian Chinese, just over 60 years old. Malaysia's population is about 32.78 million, of which Malays and indigenous peoples account for 69.8%, Chinese people account for 22.4%, Indian people account for 6.8%, and other ethnic groups are about 1%.
Since the 1940s, political parties representing the three major ethnic groups— Malay national unity (UMNO), the Malaysian Chinese Association and the Malaysian Congress Congress—promoted the independence of the United Malaysian United and the founding of Malaysia. The "alliance" composed of three parties expanded into the National Front in 1973. For more than 40 years, the BN has maintained an absolute advantage, with less than half of its seats in the 1969 and 2013 general elections. By 2003, the BN had more than a dozen member parties, and in the 2004 general election, they even won 198 of the 219 parliamentary seats at that time.
Yang Qingjin used "the world's general trend, long-term division will lead to unity, long-term unity will lead to division" to describe Malaysia's political arena. After 2004, the political situation controlled by UMNO and BN began to change. In the 2008 general election, the opposition coalition won five states in one fell swoop, which was called the "political tsunami" by the outside world.
26-year-old Huang Yige still remembers this "tsunami". Huang Yige is from Penang and now works for , an non-governmental organization in Kuala Lumpur. He recalled to Phoenix Weekly that he was still in elementary school at that time. During the election, he remembered that the streets were still full of the flags of the ruling alliance BN. "But one day, the school teacher suddenly asked us, is anyone who voted for the Opposition? He did not directly say the name of the Opposition, but made a gesture of rockets soaring into the sky (the logo of PH and its predecessor, the People's Alliance). As a result, many classmates said, my parents voted."
November 19, a restaurant in Penang, Malaysia had a PH logo on the ice drink. The owner was a PH supporter.
Five years later, the opposition coalition's momentum has only increased and won support from more than half of the votes nationwide. But with the advantage of constituency division, the BN still retained a simple majority in parliament and continued to rule until the Pakatan Harapan won in 2018.
In the election that year, the PKR, composed of the People's Justice Party, the Democratic Action Party, the Indigenous Unity Party and the National Integrity Party, won 122 seats in the 222 seats in the Parliament, ending the BN's dominance for nearly 61 years since Malaysia's independence.
But voters who voted for PH did not expect that this victory was the beginning of a new chaos. According to the agreement reached before the election, former Prime Minister Mahathir served as prime minister for the second time as 93 years old. He will pardon former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar, who is in prison as soon as possible, and hand over the latter power within two years.
Mahathir served as Malaysian Prime Minister for 22 years. He was expelled from UMNO for criticizing the government in 1969. In 2016, he withdrew from UMNO due to the corruption case of former Prime Minister Najib , founded the Indigenous Solidarity Party and joined the PH. However, after taking office, Mahathir delayed the deadline for handing over the baton many times. Within the People's Justice Party, the differences demanding his abdication turned into fierce factional struggles.
In February 2020, the "Sheraton Incident" broke out: During a meeting at the Sheraton Hotel in Selangor, Anwar's faction broke with the Azmin faction who supported Mahathir, who led 10 PKP members to leave and join his party. Mahathir resigned from the two positions of Chairman of the Indigenous Solidarity Party and Prime Minister of Malaysia, and the Indigenous Solidarity Party also withdrew from the PH. With the support of opposition parties such as the BN and the Islamic Party, Muhyiddin, who succeeded as chairman of the Indigenous Solidarity Party, formed the National Alliance government and became the new prime minister.
Directoral student Deng Shixuan from the Institute of East Asia, Taiwan University of Political Science, pointed out that since the BN, the Indigenous Unity Party and the Islamic Party all uphold Malay nationalism and advocate a political model where Malays occupy an absolute dominance, the combination of the three parties is therefore called "Malay Party Great Unity." But in fact, there is a clear competitive relationship between these three parties.
The ruling alliance lasted less than a year and a half, and then it ended in August 2021, and Muhyiddin resigned as prime minister. After discussion with the BN and the Pakatan Harapan, the former regained the parliamentary majority, and former deputy prime minister of the Muhyiddin government, Ismail Shabiri, became prime minister.
If the political situation is stable, Malaysia will hold the next general election in 2023. However, UMNO, the core political party of BN, has long dominated the political arena, but more than half a century later became a vassal in the coalition government, which naturally cannot accept it.
According to Deng Shixuan, the BN won two-thirds of its seats in the Johor elections in March this year. In addition, Malaysia's economy has performed well recently, and UMNO members have their own ulterior motives and have their own agendas to advance. Therefore, they want to choose to dissolve the parliament and hold a general election when the Northeast monsoon is blowing and flood hazards are hanging on the list. Unfortunately, they made a mistake in the end.
On January 3, 2022, a flood occurred in Malacca, Malaysia. November to January each year is the rainy season, and floods often occur.
Major political parties have attracted young people
Malaysian Chinese Li Peiwen (pseudonym), who currently lives in Singapore, still remembers the unprecedented enthusiasm for voting in the 2018 general election.
"At that time, the PH gave us the feeling that it was to shake the BN and UMNO, let everyone gather together to change and save the country." Li Peiwen told Phoenix Weekly that the Chinese friends around him bought a trans-Ocean air ticket to return to China to vote. "They also said to me, 'If it is convenient, come back and vote, your vote is very important'."
However, PH, in the name of "reform", was like a gust of wind, blowing and blowing away. In the following years, Malaysia implemented an eight-month state of emergency for the new crown epidemic. The political arena changed the prime minister like a lantern, the struggle within the alliance of various political parties intensified, and the insults and attacks among politicians were flying like snowflakes.
Four years later, everything seems to be a repeat of 2018, but it is different. According to Li Peiwen's observation, the popularity of her discussion on the election was obviously less than last time. "If politics was a soap opera, I would not be in the mood to see what the protagonist did or said every day, nor would I take the time to vote."
She admitted that she did not vote in 2018 because she had long been extremely disappointed with Malaysian politicians. "Whether it is Anwar, Najib or Muhiding, whoever becomes prime minister is 'changing the soup and not changing the medicine'. The later 'Sheraton incident' made the changes that the public is looking forward to have turned into a bubble overnight."
There are still many people who feel cold about politics like Li Peiwen. Architect Amira told Phoenix Weekly that since voters need to vote at their residence registration place, many friends in other places are unwilling to come back. "They are worried that personal information will be stolen and people with hearts will make fake votes. They feel that the traffic jam will return to their hometown to vote for a few hours, but in the end it doesn't count. What's the point?"
The incident mentioned by Amira has occurred frequently in recent years.According to Malaysia Today, after the election period began on November 5, many voters received calls or text messages from government and opposition parties on communication software, including the recipient's ID number and the location of nearby polling stations, which made voters worried that their identity information would be leaked.
Voting fraud is also common: in the Johor elections in March this year, a local Chinese woman found that her identity was impersonated while voting and could not vote; MP Azmin also mentioned that after his father died in 1999, his identity was stolen in 2004, and his mother's address was also registered with the Chinese name, and Azmin is a Malay.
Some political parties have also become popular for bribery. Sabah "Shihua Daily" reported that a MP accused the local ruling party of distributing money to residents before the election, but the opposition party was unable to stop it because the poor villagers did not think it was a bribe. "If we block it, the people do not understand why they cannot get money, and we will lose votes."
Fortunately, Amira is not affected by these negative news. She believes that young people have their own ideas. "Now there are political parties who give money at rallies, such as RM200 per person (about 313 yuan). Many young people who are short of money will go and get it, but it does not mean that they will vote for this party."
Amira is 26 years old this year. She was still studying in the UK during the last election and returned to Malaysia only in 2020. This year's Johor election is her first vote since she was an adult. "For the first time (for the press) I had ink on my fingers, and after I threw it, I showed it to others everywhere." Looking back on this experience, Amira was still excited. Not only her, but sisters far away in Australia and the United Kingdom also mailed ballots at that time.
Amira's constituency only has two candidates from PH and BN. As a Malay, Amira hopes that the future ruling alliance will be more diversified, "and the PH slogan is to tolerate different ethnic groups, not only representing Malays or Muslims." But the candidate of the BN was an acquaintance of her family. According to her father, he was a powerful and motivated official. She admitted that she hesitated until the last moment between choosing a party or selecting a person.
In January 2022, Malaysia reduced the voting age from 21 to 18 years old, and launched an automatic voter registration system. After the new system came into effect, about 5.8 million citizens over the age of 18 automatically became voters, and the number of voters nationwide surged from about 15.8 million to about 21.1 million.
22 general election is Malaysia's first parliamentary election after reducing the voting age threshold from 21 to 18 years old.
Huang Yige, who works in a non-governmental organization, was recently invited to various universities to teach "election general courses" for young voters. He told Phoenix Weekly that Malaysia's civic education was relatively lacking, and this year, the voting age threshold has been lowered, so more young people need to "make up lessons".
Cai Zhenshen, a visiting researcher at the Singapore Southeast Asian Institute (ISEAS), explained to Phoenix Weekly that the increase in young voters has affected many seats, making some seats that were originally locked swaying, and the political views of the younger generation and parents are different. "They do not like corruption and are more open-minded about racial issues, which will affect the final voting choice."
He further pointed out, "As young people become more politically influential, politicians will also be close to the demands of young people. We have seen many political party declarations and budgets to exempt college students from tuition fees, provide free computers and even affordable housing."
One of Amira's work is a low-rent housing project in cooperation with the Johor state government. According to her observation, some low-rent housing designs are unreasonable and incompletely maintained. "Hundreds of families are crowded in a building, but there is no park or a place for children to play nearby. In general, Malaysia still lacks cheap housing."
She admitted that some young people around always complain about society, but voting can change many things. "If you don't vote, don't complain. Even if you don't think it doesn't matter, at least consider it for those low-income and vulnerable groups and vote.”
In addition, some candidate staff revealed that according to the survey, local Malay and Indian voters mostly use Twitter to share and understand information, while Chinese voters use WeChat and Xiaohongshu more. TikTok has become a widely used platform across ethnic groups, especially young people. Because of this, unlike in the past, you can see many strip videos suitable for the spread of TikTok and Xiaohongshu in this year's election. These contents strive to be streamlined and interesting, and directly hit the topics that grassroots people are most concerned about.
November 19, President of the National League Muhyiddin and his wife completed the vote. Source: AFP_Malaysian Ministry of Information
Life is not easy. Young people work two jobs
In addition to explaining election knowledge to students, in recent times, Huang Yige has basically stayed in Raub County, Pahang, preparing for the election speech for the Democratic Action Party , a subsidiary of PH.
The "Mao San King Crisis" occurred in Raub County, and local fruit farmers who grow durian had land contract disputes with the state government and consortium. In the election in Raub County, how to break the collusion between the government and consortium, resolve land disputes, and safeguard farmers' livelihoods is a key issue, and candidates from all parties have held fierce debates on this.
put their vision nationwide, and economic issues are also the top priority. Malaysian Minister of Finance Tengku Zafrul Aziz recently announced that despite the setback of the country's economy during the epidemic, it has achieved growth for four consecutive quarters since the end of last year. In the first nine months of this year, the average year-on-year growth of GDP (GDP) is more than 9.3% year-on-year, the highest among ASEAN countries. "Malaysia is expected to move from a middle- and high-income economy to a high-income economy within five years. "
Fitch Solutions noted that Malaysia's real GDP growth rate in the third quarter was 14.2%, up from 8.9% in the second quarter, driven by strong private consumption and investment, massive exports and the favorable cardinal effect .
But according to an October report by the IMF , domestic price pressure in many emerging markets and developing economies increased significantly due to the sharp appreciation of the US dollar. Malaysia's Ministry of Finance Data shows that in early September this year, the country's currency, ringgit, , continued to weaken, the lowest level since the Asian financial crisis in 1998, resulting in rapid rise in local prices and increased cost of living.
At the same time, Malaysia's national monthly salary in 2021 was only RM2,250 (about 3,518 yuan), which means that half of Malaysians' income is lower than this figure. In the same year, the proportion of employees' salaries in Malaysia to GDP (CE) to GDP) is at the end of the Asian country, at only 34.8%.
Johor State Assemblyman and former Deputy Minister of Defense Liu Zhendong believes that Malaysia's current socio-economic structure is roughly pyramid-shaped, that is, most people have too low incomes, insufficient middle class, and the top rich people account for a minority.
Ye Yurou (pseudonym), from Kuala Lumpur, told Phoenix Weekly that since she graduated from undergraduate in 2017, she felt that life was becoming increasingly difficult. Ye Yurou is an architectural designer with a monthly salary of RM3,000 (about 4,690 yuan), which is considered to be above average among her peers. But now, a piece of Indian pasta (Roti) has risen from RM1 to RM23. She does not need to rent a house, but considering the rental price in Kuala Lumpur - the rent for a single room is at least 800 per month -RM1,000, you can imagine the pressure of young people coming here to work hard.
Huang Yige also said that his peers basically have part-time jobs, so that they can "live a more dignified life." He, who graduated from the Engineering Department of the University of Malaya, admitted that the job opportunities for young people this year are very limited, and some classmates cannot find a job after graduation, so they have to drive online car-hailing to make a living.
Amira lives in Johor Bahru. Although the pressure of life is not as high as that of major cities such as Kuala Lumpur, the lack of local infrastructure has increased the inconvenience of life. She said that there is no railway between Malaysian states so far, and it is inconvenient to travel across states; in addition, the road conditions are not good, and accidents often occur. Although the people have long called for the construction of interstate railways, the government always responds with "promotion" and has never made any substantial progress.
So, some of her colleagues had to get up at 5 a.m. every day - due to congestion in the road, it took 2 hours to drive from the suburbs to the city. Because the bus routes are not perfect enough, colleagues who don’t have a car need to pay extra for taxi during the rainy season. "Many people work hard and only live. People generally do two jobs. Some drive online car-hailing after get off work, some open online stores, and some sell baking, and I will earn extra money by creating some digital paintings." Amira sighed.
In addition, the deep-rooted corruption in Malaysia is also the topic that respondents complain the most. Huang Yige previously worked in the engineering department of a large enterprise. He admitted that the deeply rooted corruption culture in the local area is unacceptable. "No matter how perfect your plan is, the government can not approve it for various reasons and need to bribe it with money. The company's financial reports will also explicitly list the so-called 'government management fees'. This has led some companies to invest in other neighboring countries and put eggs in different baskets."
Amid the chaos, changes are also happening: whether it is the "prominent" National Alliance or the Pakatan Harapan, which leads with a slight advantage, they will write "resolute anti-corruption" into the election program. After the current Prime Minister Najib was involved in a corruption scandal, his BN was hit hard in 2018 and now his strength has been greatly weakened.
Although 97-year-old Mahathir joined the election again, the "Motherland Action Front" led by him competed for 12 seats in Kedah 14 parliamentary seats, but none of them won, and he lost the election deposit because he failed to meet the vote standards. Other candidates in the league, including his son Mukriz, were wiped out. Some analysts believe that the defeat of Mahathir and the party he led symbolizes the end of an era in Malaysia.
November 19, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir completed the vote. He participated in the election on behalf of the Motherland Action Front, but failed. Source: AFP_Ma Information Department
Amira believes that everything depends on individual actions. Although the low-rent housing project she participated in was slow, she could feel that she was doing things in real life, "I hope that our generation can have a bright future."
