Review by Paige Johnson Tan
Journal of Asian Studies, February 2004
Vidhu Verma, Malaysia: State and Civil Society in Transition. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002. 253 pp. $55.00 (cloth).
Many recent books on Malaysian politics have chosen Mahathir as their primary focus. These include Ho Khai Leong and James Chin’s Mahathir’s Administration: Performance and Crisis in Governance (Singapore: Times, 2001) and John Hilley’s Malaysia: Mahathirism, Hegemony, and the New Opposition (London: Zed, 2001). The focus on Mahathir is natural. Bombastic, visionary, controversial, prime minister for over twenty years, and the dominant actor in Malaysia’s political drama, Mahathir has certainly left his mark. His name also sells books.
Verma’s Malaysia: State and Civil Society in Transition takes a different tack. Of course, Mahathir makes numerous appearances, but Verma attempts to back away from the current attention on Mahathir in order to observe wider trends in state and society which are influencing contemporary politics and which she sees as key to understanding future political developments. Verma sets as her task to “identify and explore the major themes in Malaysian politics, with an emphasis on the development of civil society” (p. ix). These themes are “(1) secular nationalism, (2) citizenship, (3) Islam, (4) democracy and authoritarianism, and (5) human rights” (p. 10).
The most interesting feature of Verma’s book is the spotlight it sheds on the flux in Malaysia’s politics. She shows how the state is changing, how Islamic organizations are changing, and how civil society, too, is changing. The author devotes considerable attention to changes in the concept of Malay identity. Within the Malay community, she asserts, there is a struggle between the “bangsa-minded” (those who are more nationalist-inclined) and the “shari’a-minded” (those who are more Islamic-inclined)(p. 45). Facing the outside, Malay identity is also changing. According to the author, the opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) is playing a role in many of these changes, pushing Malay identity toward a religious (Muslim v. non-Muslim) as opposed to ethnic (Malay v. non-Malay) conceptualization of identity (p. 108).
Verma’s focus on civil society is intriguing. As many have observed, the Malaysian state is so strong that little autonomous space is left for civil society. The author acknowledges that civil society is “weak” (p. 4); however, that weakness is not a permanent, static condition, she would argue. In fact, Verma observes that civil society is undergoing a period of profound change. Understanding civil society is important to understand prospects for democratization in Malaysia. But, Verma makes a strong case that the growth of certain types of associations “does not mean a fundamental move toward democracy” (p. 6).
One of the key changes Verma observes is the opening that Malaysia’s specific pattern of nation-building, identity politics, economic growth, and globalization, along with international developments, has allowed for the growth in Islamic organizations and political parties, such as PAS. Growth in these specifically illiberal organizations, to which the government has been forced to respond by increasing Islamization of the state, co-opting Islamic figures, and Islamizing its own discourse about Malay and Malaysian politics, threatens liberal democratization, while at the same time perhaps paradoxically giving rise to a more competitive inter-party politics, especially since the 1999 elections. Verma is particularly concerned about PAS’ ideology, which exists in some tension with the more liberal provisions of Malaysia’s constitution. She is also concerned about the power that the growth in civil society has given to “traditionalist ideologues in PAS . . .. No authoritarian ruler could ever penetrate the personal spiritual lives of its subject in this manner. Moreover, common appeal to Islam might drown voices, interpretations, and political strategies within civil society.” This can disguise “new forms of domination,” according to the author (p. 198).
Verma’s observations of current trends lead her to predictions about future politics. For example, she offers that the “political discourse that has focused on Malay economic and political rights will be replaced by a pre-occupation with Islam and religious laws. Therefore Malays will rely less upon UMNO to protect them in a multiethnic community and will themselves turn toward the religious politics of PAS. In this way UMNO’s traditional power will be undermined” (p. 209). Later, she observes that “UMNO is in decline” (p. 210). This is in keeping with Verma’s view that the 1999 elections, in which PAS made dramatic gains at UMNO’s expense, represented a watershed.
However, Verma fails to apply the strength of her dynamic argument throughout the rest of the book to changes that will also be generated within UMNO as a result of contemporary developments, including Mahathir’s proposed stepping down. UMNO has faced electoral challenges before, as it did particularly in 1969 and 1990. Through the manipulation of issues, institutions, and personalities, the party has continued to dominate politics. While UMNO may face greater challenge from PAS in elections expected in 2004 and beyond, it is perhaps too soon to say that the floor has inevitably been conceded to PAS.
Verma’s book will prove extremely useful to scholars working on issues of democratization, civil society, and Islamic politics seeking a window into understanding the Malaysian case. Southeast Asian politics and Malaysia politics specialists will also find Verma’s argument thought-provoking. General readers would certainly be overwhelmed by both the theoretical bases of the work as well as the historical, political, and constitutional detail mobilized in the argument. As resources on Southeast Asian women’s issues are generally sparse, I would point out that Verma offers an excellent treatment of women’s rights and Islam in Malaysia in Chapter 6.