The Oppositional Dilemma: Opposition Party Strategy and Democratic Reform in Malaysia

• In Event: 96. Divisive Politics of Southeast Asia

Abstract

In stable semi-authoritarian regimes like Malaysia, opposition parties consistently participate in flawed electoral and governing processes. Yet participating in these regimes creates dilemmas for opposition parties if they pursue broader political reform or change along with individual electoral and policy objectives. How and when do opposition parties pursue national regime change or democratizing reforms? What explains changes in party strategy over time? These strategic choices are not entirely explainable by incentives to reform electoral institutions or the strength or weakness of the ruling party. Instead, I argue that party commitment to broader political changes are a result of party characteristics and interactions with other opposition actors and the ruling power. In Malaysia, opposition parties – distinguished by disparate organizational, ideological, and ethnoreligious bases – face different tensions and tradeoffs interacting with core constituencies, other opposition actors, and the ruling power in pursuing political reform. This theory helps account for why opposition parties alternate between cooperation and confrontation with the regime or other opposition parties. I test the theory in Malaysia by tracing the divergent behavior of the main opposition parties PAS, DAP, and PKR during key political moments in the country’s history. I use evidence from elite interviews, archival documents, survey data, and election results. This work contributes to research on Malaysia’s opposition parties, as well as to literatures on democratization and opposition parties under authoritarianism.

Author

• Sebastian Dettman, Cornell University