This book brings together for the first time studies on all aspects of the Malaysian economy. These range from the geological origins and mineral resources, flora, fauna, peoples and cultures, political development, economy and society, environment and ecotourism in Malaysia and encapsulates the integration of the country into the wider international economy. The book also attempts to make Malaysia's current economic and political development more explicable by considering it in the light of these natural and human resource endowments and by exploring how they have changed over time.

Malaysia's 2018 election (GE14) brought down a ruling party in power since independence in 1957. This book tells the full story of this historic election, combining a sharp analysis of the voting data with consideration of the key issues, campaign strategies, and mobilization efforts that played out during the election period in April and May 2018. This analysis is then used to bring fresh perspectives to bear on the core debates about Malaysian political ideas, identities and behaviours, debates that continue to shape the country's destiny. However optimistic many Malaysians may be for the possibility of a more representative, accountable, participatory, and equitable polity, the authors do not see GE14 as a clear harbinger of full-on liberalization in Malaysia. While the political aftermath of the election continues to play out, the authors provide a clarion call for deeper, more critical, more comparative research on Malaysia's politics. They complicate well-known angles on and elevate too-little-studied dimensions of Malaysian politics, and suggest agendas for empirically interesting, theoretically relevant further research. They also point to the broader insights Malaysia's experience provides for the study of elections and political change in one-party dominant states around the world.

In this original and perceptive study Donna J. Amoroso argues that the Malay elites' preeminent position after the Second World War had much to do with how British colonialism reshaped old idioms and rituals _ helping to (re)invent a tradition. In doing so she illuminates the ways that traditionalism reordered the Malay political world, the nature of the state and the political economy of leadership. In the postwar era, traditionalism began to play a new role: it became a weapon which the Malay aristocracy employed to resist British plans for a Malayan Union and to neutralise the challenge coming groups representing a more radical, democratic perspective and even hijacking their themes. Leading this conservative struggle was Dato Onn bin Jaafar, who not only successfully helped shape Malay opposition to the Malayan Union but was also instrumental in the creation of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) that eventually came to personify an ïacceptable Malay nationalismÍ. Traditionalism and the Ascendancy of the Malay Ruling Class in Colonial Malaya is an important contribution to the history of colonial Malaya and, more generally, to the history of ideas in late colonial societies.

"Ho Ying Chan provides an expert analysis of Malaysia–Indonesia relations. He demystifies the concept of a 'special relationship', rescuing it from woolly, sentimental rhetoric that often emanates from political figures and popular commentators. His well-informed study shows how a state’s will to survive in the amoral world of international relations drives its conduct even in circumstances of common identities and common strategic interests with other states. He evaluates comparative evidence to shed light on how a special relationship leads to the emergence of a pluralistic security community. This is a conclusion of insight and value, not only to the field of Southeast Asian Studies, but also to the wider community of International Relations scholars." — Professor Clinton Fernandes, University of New South Wales, Australia "Empirically rich and theoretically interesting, this book offers an illuminating account of how material and ideational dynamics shape the evolution of Malaysia–Indonesia relations. Focusing on what is arguably the most vital bilateral relationship in Southeast Asia, it addresses the circumstances, conditions and constraints that determine the double-edged effects of the culturally bound 'special relationship'. Ho Ying Chan argues that while their shared serumpun identities and strategic interests do give rise to a considerable closeness between Malaysia and Indonesia, the politics of power (im)balance have prevented the transformation of the special relationship into a 'pluralistic security community', as their egoistic understanding averts the formation of collective self. The book generates useful insights on the interplay of cross-border cultural affinity and political necessity, inviting readers to ponder the politics of identity and survivability at the international level. It is a welcome addition to the growing literature of Southeast Asian international relations." — Dr Kuik Cheng-Chwee, National University of Malaysia (UKM) "Ho Ying Chan’s important study brings home the international and theoretical significance of the interaction between Malaysia and Indonesia, the two major states of Muslim Southeast Asia — products of the territorial division between the British and Dutch colonial empires. This welcome and revealing review of the Malaysia–Indonesia story deepens our understanding of the concept of a 'special relationship' — explaining both the cooperative and competitive dynamics that can be present, and the way such relationships are influenced by state identities and power imbalances." — Anthony Milner, University of Malaya; University of Melbourne

This book uses the concepts of rent and rent-seeking to study Malaysian political economy.

The A to Z of Malaysia encapsulates the development of Malaysia from prehistory to the early years of the 21st century. It covers not only Malaysia's history but also its politics, economy, multiethnic society, multiculturalism, scientific and technological developments, and the state of its environment. A host of contemporary issues and challenges are featured, including ethnic polarization, economic equity, and polygamy; concepts like Ketuanan Melayu (Malay Dominance), "Malaysian Malaysia," "Malay," and Islam Hadhari (Civilizational Islam); and terms like "Ali Baba" business, kiasi, bejalai, and "Twenty Points." Over 500 cross-referenced dictionary entries are contained in this reference, covering everything from ethno-historical entries to those on culinary favorites and personalities. A chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and a bibliography complement the dictionary entries, enhancing the authoritative and up-to-date information provided.

To understand how independence was gained for a politically complex country such as Malaysia, and how its structure took form requires familiarity with the key players involved. More importantly, only by locating these actors within the changing socio-political context in which they specifically lived does their influence both before and after the birth of the country become clear. Having written potent biographies about Malaysian and Singapore leaders such as Ismail Abdul Rahman, the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia who died in 1973, Goh Keng Swee, the economic architect and one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Singapore, and Lim Kit Siang, the unwavering opposition leader of Malaysia, Ooi Kee Beng now tells the story of Lee Hau-Shik, based on the latter’s extensive private papers housed at ISEAS Library, Singapore. Born in Hong Kong to a highly prominent family at a time when the Qing Dynasty was falling, Hau-Shik received degrees in Law and Economics in Cambridge and became a successful tin miner in British Malaya and an influential member of Kuala Lumpur’s colonial society. After the Second World War, his influence in elite circles in China, Britain and Malaya allowed him to play a key role in the gaining of independence for Malaysia. He was one of the founders of the Malayan Chinese Association, and served as the country’s first Minister of Finance. "Ooi Kee Beng’s new book on H.S. Lee provides a remarkable picture of an “unlikely politician” who made major contributions to the formation of the early Malayan state. It adds another dimension of study to the formidable task of nation building in a multi-communal society and is an excellent follow-up to his widely praised study of Tun Ismail as the 'reluctant politician'." -- Wang Gungwu, National University of Singapore "Set against the global turbulence that marks the birth of modern Malaysia, Ooi Kee Beng has given us a compelling account of Sir Henry Lee Hau Shik’s personal life and political career, his role in the move to independence and the indelible imprint he left on the country’s history. In highlighting and contextualizing H.S. Lee’s own papers, As Empires Fell should be read by all those interested in how Malaysia came to be." -- Barbara Watson Andaya, University of Hawai‘i

Bringing together a group of both international and Malaysian scholars, this book offers an up-to-date and broad analysis of the contemporary state of Malaysian politics and society. Transcending disciplinary boundaries, it offers a look at Malaysian politics not only through the lens of political science but also anthropology, cultural studies, international relations, political economy and legal studies touching on both overlooked topics in Malaysian political life as well as the emerging trends which will shape Malaysia's future. Covering silat martial arts, Malaysia's constitutional identity, emergency legislation, the South China Sea dilemma, ISIS discourse, zakat payment, the fallout from the 1MDB scandal and Malaysia's green movement, Illusions of Democracy charts the complex and multi-faceted nature of political life in a semi-authoritarian state, breaking down the illusions which keep it functioning, to uncover the mechanisms which really underlie the paradoxical longevity of Malaysia's political, economic and social system.

Bringing together the results of over twenty-five years of research on the indigenous peoples of Malaysia, this fascinating book illustrates the experiences of modernity in indigenous communities through a detailed case study of the Rual Menraq of Malaysia.