Page 209 - Towards_a_New_Malaysia_The_2018_Election_and_Its_6146371_(z-lib.org)

194 Hew Wai Weng

loaded concepts, this chapter uses them mainly to compare PAS and PH’s
social and political engagements, given that Muslims from both sides of the
divide might share certain conservative moral viewpoints.
To illustrate the competition between these visions of political Islam, this
chapter focuses on the election campaign in the state seat of Sungai Ramal
(also known as Bangi, as the constituency was called until 2018). Sungai
Ramal, a seat with more than 80 per cent Malay voters, is not representative
of other seats in the Klang Valley, but it serves as an apt indicator to examine
voting patterns among urban Malay-Muslims, especially those who see Islam
as one of their key voting considerations. is chapter draws upon extensive
eldwork during the election campaign in Bangi and, to a lesser extent, nearby
Shah Alam, including talking to various actors (election candidates, party
members, campaign activists, NGO leaders, and ordinary voters), following
election campaigns, attending ceramah (talks), as well as observing discussions
on social-media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook. It builds upon
my ongoing research on the cultural politics of urban middle-class Muslims
in Malaysia and Indonesia, in which Bangi is one of the key research sites. In
this chapter, I rst outline the key actors articulating visions of political Islam
during GE14, including political parties, Muslim organisations, and popular
preachers. Second, I describe electoral dynamics and election campaigns in
Bangi, exploring how PAS and Amanah, together with the aforementioned
actors, competed against each other to win over urban Malay support. Lastly,
drawing on the election results, I analyse the ongoing transformation of
political Islam and how such changes contributed to PH’s winning the election.
I brie y point out some post-election developments to show how competition
for Muslim votes will continue to shape and be shaped by Malaysian politics.

Articulating Political Islam

At present, there are ve main Malay-majority parties in Malaysia: UMNO,
PAS, Amanah, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR, People’s Justice Party, a Malay-
majority multiethnic party) and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu,
Malaysian United Indigenous Party, a splinter party from UMNO). In
GE14, these ve parties competed against each other under three main
coalitions—the UMNO-dominated Barisan Nasional (BN, National Front),
PAS-dominated Gagasan Sejahtera (GS, Ideas of Prosperity), and PH, which
includes PKR, Amanah, Bersatu, and the Democratic Action Party (DAP, a
Chinese-majority multiethnic party). Both PAS and Amanah openly claim
the label, ‘Islamic party’, yet there are also elements of Islamism in PKR,

This content downloaded from 139.80.253.0 on Fri, 06 Nov 2020 04:22:33 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms