ABSTRACT
The Malaysian coalition government, the Alliance (1955–1974) and the Barisan Nasional (BN) (1974–2018), consisted of several ethnic parties. This chapter examines the impact of the BN’s communal political structure, which is based on ethnic politics, on socio-cultural policies (including language and education policies). The general view is that a communal political structure results in ambiguous and fluctuating socio-cultural policies. This concept is appraised by considering how the government balanced the demands of the component parties within the BN and how the government responded to the demands of ethnic-based opposition parties such as the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (Malay party) and the Democratic Action Party (Chinese party). The sustainability of ethnic politics is also tested by examining the 2008 and 2013 elections and the subsequent political manoeuvring of several political parties. This consideration reveals that the Malaysian political paradigm has yet to qualitatively shift away from ethnic politics, and the nature of language and education policies will continue to fluctuate and remain ambiguous for the time being.
