Democratic Action Party of Malaysia and the Politics of Opposition Coalition Building

Abstract

The system of consociational democracy that is said to be in practice in Malaysia has aided the perpetuation of the ruling regime. Opposition political parties in Malaysia face the tough challenge to collaborate together due to their differing political ideologies and bases of support. The Democratic Action Party of Malaysia (DAP) in 1999 formed a short lived political coalition with the other major opposition parties of the day. This attempt at forming a broad based coalition as an alternative to the ruling coalition is arguably a a??knee-jerka?? reaction to the political developments in Malaysia during the late 1990s. In the hope of capitalizing on the political impasse during this period, the DAP was willing to risk cooperating with Malaysiaa??s only Islamic party, the Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS). The DAPa??s strategic withdrawal from the alternative front demonstrates the persistence of communal politics in preventing the DAP from engaging in deep and meaningful cross oppositional collaboration.