Malaysia

Hishamuddin Rais was once put in jail by Mahathir Mohamad. He talks to our GE14 editor Kean Wong about why he was part of the fight to make Dr M prime minister again.

Barisan Nasional was in power for 60 years. How does an electoral authoritarian regime get defeated, and will similar regimes in the region follow?

GE14 Editor Kean Wong talks with public commentator Karim Raslan about what the election outcome means for Malaysia.

How scholars of Malaysian politics reflected on the campaign as results rolled in on 9 May.

Why Malaysia's voters delivered a momentous political upset in yesterday's election, as seen from the ground.

Taking a punt on what might happen in Malaysia's milestone 14th general election (GE14).

ANU experts assess the likelihood of the Pakatan Harapan coalition finally making inroads into the UMNO heartland.

As Malaysians head to the most contentious elections since Merdeka, its citizens abroad are valiantly overcoming great odds to get their votes counted.

The Pakatan Harapan state government in Malaysia's economic powerhouse looks safe enough, but will Selangor's federal seats swing the opposition's way?

Barisan Nasional's Chinese component parties face a do-or-die contest this GE14. Selling themselves as conduits for investment from China isn't working.

Fracturing of Malay/Muslim parties has made it difficult to unite the Malay/Muslim electorate through ethnoreligious appeals.

No Malaysian election campaign is complete without these highlights of food, flags and swag, as the GE14 season enters its final days.

Street theatre and the wayang of politics merge one warm night in an urban battle about corruption big and small.

How much change, beyond Najib's ousting, does a Mahathir-led coalition represent? Or does an emboldened, victorious Najib mean political rebirths are redundant?

Malaysia's GE14 marks the end of Malaysian Chinese politics after 60 years of dwindling and divisive outcomes, as its modern patron UMNO itself struggles to survive.

Both sides of the political divide are trying to woo a vastly underestimated, non-homogenous rural Malay public.

Social media is now central to any Malaysian election campaign. In 2018, the opposition is facing a far better organised incumbent than last time.

Political Islam at GE14 isn't just a race between parties as democratisation throws up alliances and fractures to define Muslim society.

A new generation's contest over Sarawak's lost autonomy may force its GE14 voters to reconsider how today's leaders are trapped by the past.

Electoral changes recently rammed through parliament can mean winning power at GE14 with just 16.5% of the popular vote. But would such elections confer the legitimacy to rule?

A commentary on the Sufi poem of the peculiar whale, by the 16th-century Malay poet Hamzah of Barus.

The era of Malaysia's dominant federal government may be over as its leading states push for greater autonomy.

Can former minister and prime minister Najb Razak's ‘good friend’ Shafie Apdal sweep out Sabah's incumbents at GE14, and end up delivering power to Mahathir's opposition?

Reform-minded Malaysians are fatigued after two missed opportunities since 2008, with today's centrifugal politics generating even more social tensions. Not even Dr Mahathir’s surprise (re)emergence can mend those fractures, as Malaysians dream of the First World but still struggle in the Third as inequality worsens.