Contemporary Challenges for the Malaysian Left

To understand the current situation in Malaysia we need a brief overview of the history and political and economic development of the country.

This is quite a comprehensive article, addressing the historical colonial-capitalist plantation economy, the independence movement, debates on race/ethnicity, language, culture, religion and nation-building, industrial policy and resource-based industrialization, ongoing imperialism under a global capitalist economy, and as such the particularities of a state situated in the busiest waterway in the world.

The article is written by the current chairperson of PSM, Jeyakumar Devaraj.

The Parti Sosialis Malaysia (Socialist Party of Malaysia or PSM) is currently the most visible and active left party in Malaysia. However, because of our origins as student activist groups working among plantation workers (largely Indian), currently about 60% of PSM members are Indian. The PSM began working with non-Indian ethnic groups in the late 1990s and our Chinese and Malay membership is increasing gradually. We need many more cadres of all ethnic groups.

For the Left to win here, we have to build a multi-racial party that will finally rewrite the siloed approach of party organization that has plagued the Malaysian Left since the beginning while retaining the working class base of the party.

The Bangkok Bubble

see site for images

Since the American War on Vietnam, Bangkok has been a key hub for international journalists and academics in Southeast Asia. It offers modern infrastructure, easy travel, and a high quality of life, allowing them to chopper into the periphery and return home for drinks. These advantages foster a professional environment removed from the region it purports to cover. Western expatriates operate engulfed within a certain elite social and informational milieu, often resulting in confused, racially essentialist coverage aligning with the interests of the moneyed Bangkok elite.

This was clear during the past six months since the outbreak of the border war with Cambodia last year. This triggered a judicial coup against left-populist PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the installation of Ultra-Right leader Anutin Charnvirakul, the dissolution of parliament, and elections scheduled for February 8th. Foreign correspondents have seemed bemused, writing contradictory pieces. Analysis like BBC’s Jonathan Head’s, citing how much “we just don’t know,” boils mass class-struggle in a country of over 70 million down to petty elite factional rivalries (as is the case with the conflict with Cambodia) and often parrots the Thai elite line. In this instance, the English language coverage was generally anti-Shinawatra, anti-Cambodian and broadly pro-Thai state.

If ignorance is one component, another is racial essentialism. The BBC even published a guide to following racial generalisations in the region. Such analysis is chauvinistic, imperialist, and fundamentally racist. Chief BBC Correspondent Jonathan Head, based in Bangkok for 20 years, exemplifies this; of course he “just doesn’t know” what’s going on, he can’t even speak the language. Meanwhile, any Thai person somewhat versed in socio-political history knows how much we indeed do know, such as the history of the Thai military on the Cambodian border in the past 40 years and the patronage networks that developed as a result.

Unlike cleaner Singapore or more tightly regulated Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok has an aesthetic grit; a few slums, open sex work, and street vendors on crowded pavements. Said vendors often speak basic English, while the elites the foreigners rely on are fluent. This allows the foreign correspondent or researcher the thrill of an edgy, orientalised posting without learning the language or developing a non-Bangkok-centric critique. This network becomes a closed informational loop, dependent on interpreters and fixers from the same consensus, unable to seek dissenting viewpoints outside this circuit.

Financial Times - How Thailand became the ‘sick man’ of Asia

Economists said Thailand would also have to drop protectionist policies, ease restrictions on foreign investment and improve infrastructure to take advantage of potential growth areas such as data centres, high-value manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

Lol. Just continue doing the same things you have been doing surely that’ll improve the situation.

What Thailand needs is thorough agrarian reform to break down the last remaining feudal relations in the countryside, investments in infrastructure and education throughout the entirety of the country and not just the capital (the Bangkok Metropolitan Area is 50% of GDP with just 25% of the population), active state industrial policy that mandates technological innovation, disciplining if not destruction of the feudal-military rent-seeking state, nationalisation and control of financial capital, and actual import substitution to build up national industry. Foreign investments should be made on a case-by-case basis, based on actual outcomes in employment, productive and technological capacity advancement.

But of course the only classes capable of achieving this is not the one represented in government. No amount of half-arsed reforms that does not touch upon the class contradictions will guarantee the security of the Thai state - all it’s border regions neighbouring Malaysia, Cambodia and Myanmar are bleeding while the large northern and northeastern countryside continuously faces perpetual underdevelopment.

I think understanding this tweet thread is essential in understanding racial dynamics across the Straits and foreign policy wrt to China.

China’s minority policy actually looks closer to Singapore’s model than people in the West like to admit.

In both systems:

1. minority groups have explicit protections baked into state policy,

2. quotas exist (education, housing, representation) that disproportionately benefit minorities,

3. and the state actively monitors citizens for extremism or chauvinism, not just separatism.

What’s often missed is who Singapore identified early on as its biggest long-term risk: Chinese chauvinism from the majority population. That insight is underrated.

Singapore understood that in a multiethnic society where one group is numerically and economically dominant, the main destabilising force isn’t minorities asserting identity, it’s actually the majority turning dominance into entitlement. So the system was designed to restrain the majority as much as protect minorities.

...

The uncomfortable takeaway is this: states that actually govern multiethnic societies seriously tend to fear the majority’s excesses more than minority identity… because historically, that’s what breaks countries.

One thing I try to do with my posts is explain the political and economic dynamics in SEA through the experience of the peoples and movements in the region. Obviously cultural translation can never be fully accurate, and so by very nature I tend to over emphasize certain aspects (that are also my own biases) so that foreign readers can better understand the context and practice of the Political Economy in SEA. But to refer to history, the Straits of Melaka have always historically been the cosmopolitan crossroads of various civilizations throughout millenia. This makes it a bit easier in one regard, as obviously through colonialism, we have been exposed to 'Western civilisation', but also complicates the picture as pre-existing forms of production and civilisation were remolded and reconfigured in the slow march toward global Capitalism.

Anwar’s statement

I have followed developments in Venezuela with grave concern. The leader of Venezuela and his wife were seized in a United States military operation of unusual scope and nature. Such actions constitute a clear violation of international law and amount to an unlawful use of force against a sovereign state.

President Maduro and his wife must be released without any undue delay. Whatever may be the reasons, the forcible removal of a sitting head of government through external action sets a dangerous precedent. It erodes fundamental restraints on the use of power between states and weakens the legal framework that underpins international order.

It is for the people of Venezuela to determine their own political future. As history has shown, abrupt changes in leadership brought about through external force will bring more harm than good, what more in a country already grappling with prolonged economic hardship and deep social strain.

Malaysia regards respect for international law and sovereignty as paramount to peaceful relations between states. Constructive engagement, dialogue and de-escalation remain the most credible path towards an outcome that protects civilians and allows Venezuelans to pursue their legitimate aspirations without further harm.

This response is expected for anyone bothered to read the country’s history in the last 50 years instead of repeating old retellings of anti-communist things that happened 70 years ago.

Westerners mad that global south countries do not recognize unilateral sanctions nor care about liberal antics. Personally, I applaud the industrious and entrepreneurial spirit of all the people involved in the transhipment of Venezeulan and Iranian oil in Malaysian waters.

Rainbow Agrarian Populism – On Phue Thai

The Phue Thai Party have always been a headache for the overly literate classes.For the governing elites of Thailand, they are a constant threat, a powerful force of both capital and mobilised dedicated supporters. For academics, they defy definition. Political scientists, time and again, fail to categorise them— being both a peasant-backed leftist populist movement and an alliance of big urban capitalists, they break too many rules. For economists, they cannot resolve the contradictions of a party that privatises some elements of state infrastructure while simultaneously investing massive sums of capital in building and owning other elements. They are somehow nationalist and judicially punitive yet wokeand socially progressive all at once. Phue Thai bring both green-cap-wearing communists and luxury-watch-wearing real estate moguls into the same coalition. By all the rules of 21st-century politics, they should not exist, they should not be possible, but somehow they have been capable of creating this oft-misunderstood paradigm shift. 

As the mood of the global south increasingly shifts towards a new paradigm, with the development of BRICS, the re-alignment of trade away from US-centric markets and new calls for economic sovereignty, states like Burkina Faso, Mexico and China are experimenting with new models that break from the political science textbooks. In many ways, Phue Thai’s vision was ahead of its time, with its golden years running between 2001-2006, yet the party is still alive today, affording us an insight into another potential future, another paradigm.

Below is a very short excerpt on the long-form article, highlighting the introduction and the conclusion of the article.

I got hospitalized recently but of course the news never stops. And oddly enough my part of the world is appearing in the news headlines.

Edit: forgot to add this quote from the Straits Times article I just found funny:

“This is an act of surrender, a transfer of wealth from poor Malaysia to the rich US. For centuries, we fought colonial powers for our sovereignty. Are we now giving it away without resistance?” he asked in Parliament, referring to the federation’s colonial history under the Portuguese, Dutch, British and Japanese.

Little do the politicians in this forsaken country know

There was this trending infographic on social media showcasing attempted color revolutions and general social instabilities of neighbouring countries surrounding China.

The notable countries that have not yet fallen into this being Mongolia, Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia.

I can’t comment much on the rest but let’s take a quick look at some statistics for Malaysia to see if the country has potential.

Unemployment rate: 3.0% (About a decade low)

Youth unemployment: 10.2%

2025 1H GDP Growth: 4.4%

Headline Inflation: Jul 2025, 1.2%, monthly YoY peak at 1.7% for 2025

And apparently >70% of the assets related to the infamous 1MDB corruption scandal has been recovered.

And of course: Nepal, US turmoil a reminder for Malaysia, says Anwar

Anwar reminded Malaysians that unity is the foundation of a nation’s peace which, in turn, drives economic development and the overall wellbeing of its citizens, Utusan Malaysia reported.

“Compared to many other countries, we are far better off,” he said.

“For example, in Nepal, there are riots everywhere … a minister was stripped, and his wife burned to death.

“Just two days ago, there was a shooting involving a leader at a university in the US.

“So let us pray that we can continue to preserve peace and unity,” he said when officiating an event in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, today.

… Don’t let development erode what truly matters,” he said.

“We may build malls and industries and record high profits, but if we ignore issues like income, housing, welfare and education, we destroy our values and morals in the process.”

Had to avoid commenting on Indonesia because of diplomacy it seems.

“Other countries are worse and so we should just be glad”. A .

A couple weeks back @xiaohongshu@hexbear.net asked me about the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and I was a bit too brief about the party and why any genuine scientifc socialist would not ever rally behind the party so I’m here to rectify it.

At first I would like to highlight a 2 part article that holistically addresses the party, in which I will also quote heavily from with further commentary below.

Kit Siang and DAP – a response to Lim Teck Ghee

DAP and a multiracial Malaysia – a response to Lim Teck Ghee

The main issue that the Malaysian Left grapples with today is that the “left” in this country are chauvinists. In other words, they themselves perpetuate racialism and deradicalized “socialism”. This has been persistent issue since the start of the 20th century. For reasons that have been extensively discussed by many here, communist and socialist politics (in form) never took root outside Chinese and Indians. This meant Malays, but also large parts of other ethnic groups, whether Orang Asal or even mixed Peranakans.

This then sets the stage for the DAP, the favourite scapegoat for some parts of the mainstream elite, who continuously accuses them of being Chinese communists. The problem is of course that the DAP itself has never strayed too far from the neoliberal mainstream even as the “key opposition” of “Malay supremacy”. (Quick note, it is often translated as “supremacy” but ‘Ketuanan’ also is commonly translated to “dominance” or “premiership”).

Kit Siang [the leader of DAP for most of it’s life] has been a dominant figure in the DAP for a number of reasons. One, it had the support of the urban Chinese voters in the urban Chinese belt stretching from Perak to Negeri Sembilan and with pockets of Chinese support in Melaka and Johor.

…He was able to articulate the Chinese electoral concerns in a forthright manner, in some cases openly courting a Chinese chauvinist line, both inside and outside the Dewan Rakyat [parliament] and as an editor of the Rocket from 1965-1969.

…The Malay chauvinism was countered by the blunt Chinese chauvinism of DAP. This was despite DAP’s lip service for a democratic and socialist Malaysia

No party in the current coalition are truly anti-racialism. Even for the “progressives”. That is the nature of bourgeois parliamentarianism.

…Teck Ghee falls into the same trap that Kit Siang has made for himself, a pretence of DAP’s multiracialism and then hidden undercurrent of unadulterated Chinese chauvinism. There is no point in making passing references to the late Karpal Singh to show that DAP has non-Chinese credentials.

… There were no Chinese legal firms that were courageous or competent to take the legal briefs from DAP. If they were, I am sure DAP would have turned to them. There was none forthcoming and hence that relationship was a relationship of convenience, between Karpal and (now his family’s legal business) and DAP.

The superstructure of the Chinese capitalist economy in Malaysia is an important consideration to know here. It involves clan associates, paternal relationships, conscious disengagement with other ethnic groups and in a lot of aspects, right-wing Chinese nationalism. This is because the 1949 Chinese revolution, or even a 1966 cultural revolution, never took place in this country.

Instead, Chinese capital became a useful “opposition” of Malaysian capitalism, in which race becomes the focal point instead of class struggle. This is why of the top 50 richest people in Malaysia, 48 are Chinese. This is where you get stories of Chinese landlords refusing rent to non-Chinese people.

The usual rant about discriminatory NEP and discrimination has outlived its political usefulness as an intellectual narrative. The questions now posed are what did DAP do when it was in power? Not just in Penang or some of the states where it shared power, but at the federal level when it was in power, albeit briefly.

This can be said even more now that the DAP forms a large part of the unity government in power. Just recently, a member of DAP argued for a two-tier minimum wage structure between migrant workers and citizens. I guess this is the bare truth of their slogan “Malaysian Malaysia”.

In the end, class struggle continuously remains the only avenue for anyone seeking for genuine anti-racism and social justice. “Multiculturalism”, in actuality, remains to be bourgeois social contract theory, lacking the scientific materialist outlook necessary for revolutionary and lasting social change.

The “Israel”-Singapore connection

I would have written a much longer post, but I was brought to attention by this nifty post (archived link) by the “Israeli” trade mission to Singapore which sums it all up quite well:

Singapore has a remarkable story to tell, and paradoxically this south east Asian city-state has quite a lot in common with [the Zionist Entity], a small nation with a history of struggle and resilience. The two small nations have populations comprised of immigrants [the Zionists admitted it themselves which is somewhat hilarious] with different cultures and customs, surrounded by large countries with their own political and ethnic tensions. Both of these small nations have managed against all odds to turn themselves in a single generation from poor, underdeveloped markets to global economic powerhouses with advanced infrastructures, skilled and highly educated workforces and ambitious entrepreneurs. Singapore has grown to become a global financial hub and an Economic giant in a single generation.

The thing to realize is, what the anglophone Chinese bourgeoisie in Singapore hate more than sinophone Chinese people, are the Muslims, but especially Malay-Muslims, who rejected their liberal secular capitalism. Their nation-building myths are quite similar, which justifies Singapore’s hefty military budget - larger than every other Southeast Asian country, both in per capita and absolute terms.

A true liberation of the peoples of Southeast Asia necessitates the fall of the financial capitalists, chiefly represented by the largest banks in Southeast Asia, all based in Singapore. That’s why a lot of hysteria historically propagated here are based on “Indonesian” and “Malaysian” terrorists and supporters who’d like to see the downfall of “Singapore”. Nowadays, the rhetoric is a bit more muted, but echoes of this Islamophobia show-up from time to time.

Christmas Eve, 1965, is the unofficial date of the start of the ‘love story’ between Israel and Singapore, an affair that was kept a deep, dark secret. The international press, like the Israeli media, tried to bring the tale to light. Occasionally, scraps of information leaked out; some were published, some were denied, many were disregarded. The fear that the ties would be terminated if they became public knowledge had its effect. Israel imposed a total blackout on the story and the secret was preserved.

But ultimately the mysterious history between Israel and Singapore came to light. In his book, “From Third World to First: The Singapore Story 1965-2000,” published in 2000, Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding father and its first prime minister, disclosed the secret that had been kept for almost 40 years: It was the Israel Defense Forces that established the Singaporean army. Lee wrote, “To disguise their presence, we called them `Mexicans.’ They looked swarthy enough.”

To link it to a current news article: S’pore increased its security posture amid rising tensions from Iran-Israel conflict: Shanmugam

People in this region, other regions, or extremist organisations might want to make a point against Israeli, American or other Western assets, he said, adding that there could be attacks from the far right on Muslim assets..

If Singapore is ever attacked, it will make international headlines, he said. There is a possibility of attacks on both sides, he said, either by the far right attacking Muslims, or representatives of Muslim countries including Iran, and attacks on Western assets – American, European or Israeli.

“So we have increased our security posture, working off different scenarios, but you know, you can never be absolutely sure,” he added.

Israel-Hamas conflict a 'reminder' for Singapore that it has national interests at stake: Vivian Balakrishnan

This quick ejaculation of “terrorism” when it comes to West Asian or Islamic related foreign policy remains a defining motto of the Singaporean government’s continual targeting of (Malay-)Muslim people, in a “we care about terrorism, but especially from the muslims” sense and also that of it would be “bad for business” since it would harm the hard-fought “social harmony”.

"This episode is also a reminder to all Singaporeans that we do have our national interests at stake ... We must reject terrorism in all its forms. No excuses, no ifs, no buts, no short-term political advantage. Reject terrorism. If attacked, all of us here must give the government of the day the ability to exercise the right of self-defence," said Dr Balakrishnan, supporting the motion.

"But even when it does so, we will expect the government of the day to uphold international law. And as Singaporeans, we will continue to extend humanitarian assistance and protection to all civilians. We should support the peaceful resolution of disputes. And we must nurture and protect our own precious cohesion and harmony."

The misused word “harmony” crops up again. Wonder if they’ll stop using this tired phrase. Clearly the harmony didn’t apply to those that didn’t fit into their vision of Western Modernity.

And a quick note about the current Foreign Minister:

I would say it is expected, and it is, but still embarrassing.

I find it funny how some Malaysian states banned the use of single-use plastics years ago and are planning to phase-out use nationally by 2030 but we continued to accept Western plastic waste.

Malaysia will stop accepting U.S. plastic waste, creating a dilemma for California

Malaysia will ban plastic waste imports from the U.S. starting Tuesday because of America’s failure to abide by the Basel Convention treaty on international waste transfers, in a move that could have significant consequences for California.

Malaysia emerged as a major destination for U.S. waste after China banned American waste imports in 2018. California shipped 864 shipping containers, or more than 10 million pounds of plastic waste, to Malaysia in 2024, according to the Basel Action Network, an advocacy group. That was second only to Georgia among U.S. states.

Malaysia to set stricter plastic import controls

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the country exported 35,316 tons of plastic scrap to Malaysia in 2024. United Nations Comtrade data shows that from 2021-2024, Malaysia received more plastic scrap imports from around the globe than any other non-OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development) country.

…

“Our people and environment in Malaysia have suffered greatly from the pollution caused by imported plastic and electronic waste,” says Wong Pui Yi, BAN researcher from Kuala Lumpur. “Other countries in Southeast Asia are likewise being harmed by foreign plastic waste daily. We sincerely hope that exporting countries will help us put a stop to waste dumping and trafficking.

“But for these new regulations to be successful, the government must enforce them transparently, swiftly prosecute those who violate the law and close any loopholes that may arise, including clamping down on corruption. We must remain vigilant and continue to spot-check the system with intelligence-led searches and seizures.”

I was going to write a proper response to another Western article on the SCS but they all are so lame and predictable.

China militarizing sand blah blah blah.

And then the common made up theory is that’s why these SEA nations are “hedging” and “balancing” between great powers.

It’s all so tiring. Westerners managed to end one war in the ducking 1600s and they think they know anything about international relations or statecraft. And I am especially raging at Amerikans whose country barely existed for 300 years thinking their decades old “expertise” can navigate millenia old cultures and history. Yes I really care about what a Guy in Baltimore thinks about the South China Sea issue.

::: spoiler A Response

The issue with a lot of those in the field international relations is that they can’t ever escape their Eurocentric pretensions and understandings. In the article they try to take an ideological “neutral” “understanding” of the South China Sea by evoking very tired concepts like “hedging” and mistakenly (or purposefully) project their own impressions and dynamics of Southeast Asian relations with China, and so they use the terms like “aggressive” and “great power”, when truthfully no one actually gives a fuck (except maybe VietNam) and no one in Southeast Asia ever uses those term, unless they have been groomed into Western institutions and education.

Literal Amerikan Geopolitical propaganda.

No one ducking lives there you dumb fucks. Are the fish victims of Chinese Imperialism? Perhaps their migration signifies hedging to US Navy boats. And actually I can hear one fish cry out, “save us from being victims of really good hotpot”.

Every accusation is projection and etc.