말레이시아의 정치변동과 의회정치의 발전: 지속과 변화

Abstract

This study analyses the nexus between political change and development of parliamentary politics in Malaysia. The continued and stable parliamentary politics did not necessarily associated with political development in Malaysia for the last five decades. Except the 1969 general election, the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional(BN), has never been failed to obtain the two-third majority of parliamentary seats even though there has been regular general elections in every 4-5 years without any interruption. It is, however, worth noting that there has been dramatic political changes since the late 1990s. In particular, the 2008 general election showed the remarkable results, collapsing the two-third majority of BN's parliamentary seats. The opposition parties even took over the 5 state governments out of 12 in total. The more distinguished feature was the emergence of opposition coalition, called Pakatan Rakyak(PR), right after the 2008 general election. It was the first united coalition in Malaysia's modern political history among the severely divided opposition parties. Since its emergence, the PR has initiated various changes leading towards a more active parliamentary politics. In this regards, this study argues that parliamentary politics is no more regarded as a dependent variable in Malaysia's political process.