Read more
Ngu explores how Malaysia's Barisan Nasional (BN) regime-once celebrated as a model of consociational democracy-achieved broad political domination through its structures and systems across the country, including in the Chinese-majority municipality of Sibu in Sarawak. However, the study reveals how the regime deviated from ideal consociational principles, ultimately alienating ethnic minorities and fueling the rise of subnational regionalism.
The book focuses primarily on the role of Chinese timber tycoons under the leadership of the Sarawak United Peoples' Party (SUPP). Their influence over local social and political domains enabled them to broadly dominate local society. Through these local institutions, they established deeply rooted patron-client networks, parts of which were integrated into the Sarawak Barisan Nasional (SBN) machinery. However, growing local opposition meant that even politically well-connected timber tycoons could never achieve full domination. The increasing limits of these political structures led to the convergence of local and national forces calling for regime change and the subsequent rise of Sarawak regionalism discourse, which continues to structure Malaysian politics following BN's fall from power in 2018. This provides valuable insights into how politics unfolds on the ground by decentering state-centric narratives to emphasize their entanglement with society and regime continuity in the present.
A valuable book for academics and scholars of Malaysian politics, consociational democracy, ethnonationalism, the ethnic Chinese political economy of Southeast Asia, and regionalism. It is also of interest to researchers and think tanks in political science, Southeast Asian studies, and comparative politics as well as those studying regime transitions, state-society relations, and informal political networks.
List of contents
Chapter 1. Introduction: Social Diversity, a 'Grand Coalition', and the Continued Significance of Consociationalism Chapter 2. The Global Timber Trade, Individual Agency, and the Rise of Sara-wak's Foochow Timber Tycoons Chapter 3. Transition and Factionalization: The Political Encroachment of Tim-ber Tycoons into the Sarawak United People's Party Chapter 4. Informal Politics: Money, Gangsterism, and Resistance Through Gos-sip and Rumor Chapter 5. Huatuan Politics: Leadership and Contestations in 'Traditional' Chi-nese Organizations Under Sarawak Barisan Nasional Rule Chapter 6. Sarawakian Christianity: Colonial Legacies and New Political Trends Under Sarawak Barisan Nasional Rule Chapter 7. The Limits of Sarawak Barisan Nasional's Identity Politics and De-velopmentalism: Case Studies of the 2011 State Election and 2013 Chapter 8. Regime Adaptation Strategies: Resurgent Regionalism as a Mode of Control
About the author
Ngu Ik Tien is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chinese Studies at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at University of Malaya, Malaysia.
