Parliamentary Motions Under Malaysia’s Hybrid Regime

Parliamentary Motions Under Malaysia’s Hybrid Regime explores how the opposition parties use the motions to exhibit their challenges towards the ruling dominant party. Arguably, under Malaysia’s hybrid regime, the Parliament has become the main source of authoritarian attraction. The advent of globalization and modernization has facilitated the growth of democratization and thus has positioned Malaysia as one of the most competitive Parliament within the context of Southeast Asian politics. This study examines the activities of parliamentary motions within the context of a hybrid regime in Malaysia. By taking into account the perspective of semi-authoritarianism, it argues that parliamentary motions are heavily scrutinized at the expense of weak institutionalizations. The study suggests that different types of motions result in different types of authoritarian outcomes.

The Parliament under Malaysia’s hybrid regime is merely perceived as a competitive platform where opposition parties are frequently undermined by the ruling government. The result of the 2008 Malaysian general election illustrates a significant challenge to the foundation of the authoritarian regime of Barisan Nasional albeit at a minimal level, particularly after opposition parties succeeded in engineering a breakthrough in the post2008 Parliament. This qualitative study is built on extensive fieldwork accounts and library research on official documents in constructing the analysis.