Forms of Government 20

Dapatocracy: A form of government wherein politicians are out for what they can get (dapat) for themselves. It is notable that the parties in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, including the Democratic Action Party (DAP), have unconditionally backed their Prime Ministerial candidate, Anwar Ibrahim, in forming his Unity Government post GE15. When the cabinet line-up was announced, DAP only got 4 out of 28 positions. This is a sacrifice from the perspective of a party which won the largest quotient of Anwar’s 148 seat majority. They won a whopping 40 seats and, as such, can be said to be making a noble sacrifice. Indeed, it can be said that the DAP is not part of the Malaysian DAPatocracy. But what will become of this traditionally Chinese dominated multiethnic party, given the likely reactions of its base to the equally likely machinations of PH’s new fellows (UMNO, GPS, GRS) remains to be seen.

See –
https://koboiproject.com/2020/06/28/harapan-2/
https://koboiproject.com/2020/06/29/harapan-4/

https://www.msn.com/en-my/news/national/loke-dap-support-for-anwar-as-pm-unconditional-never-asked-for-cabinet-positions/ar-AA14RyIS

Politik Perkauman (1947 – 2020)

After a cartoon in Kenchana, 1 November 1947 re-presented in an essay by Lee Kam Hing in Asia-The Winning of Independence, McMillam, 1981

1947 – Kenchana
1970 – The Malay Dilemma
2020 – Mahathir interview, Asia Times, June 26

According to Muhammed Abdul Khalid and Li Yang, an analysis of pre-tax national income in Malaysia over the period 2002 to 2014 shows that “the Bumiputera in the top income groups (the top 1 per cent and the 10 per cent) benefited the most from economic growth. In sharp contrast, the income of the Chinese in the top income groups deteriorated. In a way, the strong growth in high-income Bumiputera occurred at the cost of a decrease in Chinese and the slow growth of Indians in the top income groups.”

Source Image: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-1-349-16634-3_6

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2019/09/11/income-inequality-among-different-ethnic-groups-the-case-of-malaysia/

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2020/06/27/dr-wee-unfair-to-label-chinese-as-a-039wealthy-lot039