Suchergebnisse

Compared to Sarawak state elections, in the 2022 general election (GE15) the incumbent Sarawak Parties Alliance (Gabungan Parti Sarawak, GPS) and Sarawak-based opposition parties' campaigns demonstrated a tendency toward a moderate rather than radical autonomy discourse. In GE15, these
candidates attempted to reconcile their regionalism with nationalism to stay relevant in the national political landscape. Meanwhile, opposition parties performed better in certain Chinese- and Dayak-majority seats, exposing the limits of the Sarawak autonomy discourse. To explain these patterns,
this article locates Sarawak against the backdrop of a centralized Malaysian federal government to clarify the salience of both structural and cultural factors in shaping autonomy claims. It shows the importance of inclusive and democratic institutions, like a general election, in integrating
peripheral communities and checking radical regionalism. Further, preceding the general election, the readiness of the federal government to delegate power to the state government effectively secured the state ruling elite's commitment to remain in the national government. However, institutional
decentralization is insufficient to calm autonomy claims, as cultural pluralism increasingly underpins Sarawak regionalism. Sarawak's autonomy discourse will not fade away and could radicalize again if the central government holds to exclusive ethnoreligious nationalism.

Compared to Sarawak state elections, in the 2022 general election (GE15) the incumbent Sarawak Parties Alliance (Gabungan Parti Sarawak, GPS) and Sarawak-based opposition parties' campaigns demonstrated a tendency toward a moderate rather than radical autonomy discourse. In GE15, these candidates attempted to reconcile their regionalism with nationalism to stay relevant in the national political landscape. Meanwhile, opposition parties performed better in certain Chinese- and Dayak-majority seats, exposing the limits of the Sarawak autonomy discourse. To explain these patterns, this article locates Sarawak against the backdrop of a centralized Malaysian federal government to clarify the salience of both structural and cultural factors in shaping autonomy claims. It shows the importance of inclusive and democratic institutions, like a general election, in integrating peripheral communities and checking radical regionalism. Further, preceding the general election, the readiness of the federal government to delegate power to the state government effectively secured the state ruling elite's commitment to remain in the national government. However, institutional decentralization is insufficient to calm autonomy claims, as cultural pluralism increasingly underpins Sarawak regionalism. Sarawak's autonomy discourse will not fade away and could radicalize again if the central government holds to exclusive ethnoreligious nationalism. (Pac Aff/GIGA)

Scholarship on Christianity in Malaysia has been dominated by denominational church history, as well as the study of urban, middle-class and English-speaking church congregations in the post-Independence period. In focusing on the vernacular Chinese Protestant church in Malaysia, and one of its most prominent para-church organisations, called The Bridge, this paper draws attention to the variegated histories of Christian conversion and dissemination in Malaysia, and the various modes and meanings of Christian identity as incorporated into different local communities and cultures. The history of the Chinese Protestant church suggested in the first part of the paper takes as its point of departure the distinction between mission and migrant churches, the latter being the origin of the vernacular Chinese churches in Malaysia. The second part of the paper traces the emergence of a Chinese para-church lay organisation called The Bridge, and the Chinese Christian intellectuals behind it, in their mission to engage the larger Chinese and national public through literary publications and other media outreach activities. In so doing, these Chinese Christian intellectuals also drew on the resources of an East Asian and overseas Chinese Christian network, while searching for their destiny as Chinese Christians in the national context of Malaysia. By pointing to the importance of regional, Chinese-language Christian networks, and the complexity of vernacular Christian subjectivity, the paper hopes to fill a gap in the existing literature on Christianity in Malaysia, as well as make a contribution to on-going debates on issues of localisation, globalisation and authenticity in global Christianity.

In the Federation of Malaysia, the state government has a dominant role in the management and administration of local authorities as well as in allocating resources. This paper takes a bottom-up perspective to look at the dependence of the Sibu Municipal Council on the Sarawak state government and strongman. It begins by showing how the existing legal and political frameworks enable the formation of a strongman government and then addresses the state government's control over resources for local development. Then, it zooms into the local politics of Sibu, showcasing the patron–client relations between the state strongman and local business groups in Sarawak. However, it argues that the power of strongman politicians is not unchecked but constrained by the political framework. The later part of this paper features the political-economic networks of the state strongman in Johor to show that the strongman phenomenon is not particular to Sarawak.

CHAPTER 1 The 2016 Sarawak State Election: Old Stories and New Punch Lines: Meredith L. Weiss & Arnold Puyok, S. 1 . - CHAPTER 2 Tupong: If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It!: Mohd. Shazani bin Masri, S. 21. - CHAPTER 3 Stakan: Much Ado About Postal Votes?: Noor'ain Aini, S. 43. - CHAPTER 4 Repok and Meradong: Challenges in Courting Rural Votes: Ngu Ik Tien, 67 . - CHAPTER 5 Bo' Kelalan: Sustaining the Crack in the BN's Rural Dominance: Arnold Puyok, S. 97

This study analyses the voting patterns among the Sarawakian Chinese and their pro-opposition inclination in the 2021 Sarawak State Election (SSE21). It begins by recounting how the national opposition alliances, former Pakatan Harapan (PH) alliances—Barisan Alternatif (BA) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR)—gained popularity among the Chinese voters in Sarawak since the 2006 state elections. The voting trends reveal changes in Chinese voting patterns, from a voting bloc to fragmented votes, and their openness to local opposition parties in the recent state elections. In order to examine the plurality voting pattern and the extent of fragmentation, this research studies two Chinese-majority urban constituencies, Batu Lintang and Bukit Assek in Sarawak. It contends that the Chinese political leanings, including their tendency to embrace regionalism, are profoundly shaped by local and national political developments. In the past two decades, ethnopatronage politics and prevalent corruption practices partly explain the Chinese's quest for regime change. The Sarawak government's emphasis on regional identity and multiculturalism in its official narrative nurtures a sense of belonging, which also impacts Chinese identity politics. This article argues that the decision to support minor parties advocating for separatism can be read as strategic voting of the regional minority who feel deprived of their equal rights. It also contends that political fragmentation among the Chinese might persist if PH fails to consolidate its previous support. Otherwise, it spells the decline of Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) and Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK). The sustainability of local opposition parties depends on the internal reform of parties. The parties should reduce the influences of personal politics as it tends to breed party-hopping, which places parties' future or institutional development at risk of uncertainty.