Challenges and survival of UMNO after the Malaysia general election of 2008 : an analysis from the perspective of chinese

Abstract

The recently held twelfth general election of Malaysia provided a shocking result to both the politicians that participated in the election as well as many political analysts and observers of Malaysian politics. The ruling regime of National Front/Barisan Nasional (BN) incured the worst election result since the coalition government first took part in the 1959 general election. The BN strong government of two-third majority in parliament since independence has been denied. All the component parties of BN in West Malaysia has suffered a major setback in their election performance. In this debacle although MCA and MIC were to be blamed, but UMNO, as the hegemonic partner and leading voice in the coalition could not shoulder off their responsibility. More importantly UMNO has to lead BN to face the bitter political reality of the aftermath of this election. This scenario has emerged because Malaysian political landscape has changed drastically after the political tsunami of 2008 as the opposition force has provided a possible alternative choice for the electorates. The pertinent outcome of this political changes is manifestated in the formation of two-coalition politics in Malaysia. In response to this situation and to sustain the relevance•ot BN in Malaysian politics, hence the role of UMNO is of utmost important. Based on the election results in various state of West Malaysia, this paper aims to analyse the new political realities in Malaysia and challenges encountered by UMNO from the perspective of Malaysian Chinese. This approach is chosen in order to ascertain the perceptions of the Chinese on UMNO as some members of the MCA dan Gerakan as well as some Chinese populace have attributed their debacle in election was due to the hegemony of UMNO in coalition government.