This paper aims to make a comparative analysis of Malaysia's nation-building process and critically look at these programs; namely the Rukun Negara, Bangsa Malaysia and 1Malaysia by looking at three main angles; ideology, race and ethnicity as the nation-building components. Initial survey has found out that tolerant government compromise to integrate the multiracial Malaysian has contributed to the problems. Even though the recent trends show there is a tendency of Malaysian to be 'colour blind' due to some kind of democratization and freedom of information access, still however, it did not show any sign that racial politics will disappear for good. Its unique compositions that based on multiracial, multi-religious, multicultural and multilingual as well as geographically divided has been identified by many scholars as an obstacle to the construction of Bangsa Malaysia. Several efforts from Rukun Negara (national ideology), Bangsa Malaysia and the latest, 1Malaysia have been and are being made by the government in realizing the prospect but no avail. The question now, how the Malaysian-style of racial accommodation will survive, is the nation-building program have been sufficient enough to dispose racial sentiments among the multiracial Malaysian, and if it is not, what should be happening.
The significant roles of the virtual space is undeniable in today's society. Despite its intangible nature, its impact is being seen in most of the domains in human's life in the real world. Even in the political sphere, a myriad of events and phenomena which happen could be the effects of what transpire in the virtualspace. It is found that in spite of various actions taken by the authority to curtail its influence, the anarchic elements and ultimate freedom enjoyed in the virtual world still prevail. This leads to anxiety in the ruling party which political survival has always depended on its success in controlling the practices in the government's administration. Such control is deemed necessary to prevent and demolish any forms of subversion. Ironically, this concept of control is now regarded as an outdated framework. Due to such control too, most plans for further changes or reformations will be difficult without some forms of assistance from the virtual space. As a consequence, the government of the day whose power is already established also feels compelled to extend its influence to the virtual world so that the virtual community can be persuaded to lend their support to the existing government. Recently, numerous political events which clamour for more democratic changes are taking place locally as well as internationally. Such uprisings indirectly raise some questions regarding Barisan Nasional as a ruling party which survival has been ascertained by the "controlling machine". Hence, this article attempts to review the ruling party's usage and harrassment of the virtual space at the federal level in its endeavour to maintain its hegemony as the only ruling party in the coming 13th General Election. This study utilised content analysis and observation towards any statements, actions or policies promoted by any political actor related to the ruling party in the usage and harrassment of the virtual space in Malaysia.
The ethical aspect of election is inherently an uncommon topic to be brought up for discussion in Malaysia, and more so when it involves the ruling party. Essentially, the ethics of election is in itself an exceptionally rare subject since ethics and politics are not commonly discussed. The ethical dimension of politics is often camouflaged as the seemingly more important and desirable sub-topics of transparency and accountability in the discussion of good governance. This leads to an obvious slant towards administration (even though administration and politics are invariably inextricable). In Malaysia, good governance in politics is classified under the universal values that are in line with the claim for democratization. It has become an issue after 1997 following a few major global and national events specifically the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the sacking of the then Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and the 1999 General Election. All these happenings awakened a quest for a more meaningful and more specific democratization focusing on the issue of ethics and election, pressing for a fairer and more transparent election. The increasingly forceful claim for such democratization crescendoed to the 2008 election results that crumbled the hegemony of the ruling party, Barisan Nasional. Consequentially, to regain the confidence of the public, the ruling party has spearheaded a few transformation programs, among them the concepts of ‘1Malaysia, People First Performance Now’, and the Government Transformation Program (GTP). However, the target group of these concepts seems to be those in civil service rather than the leader of the country. Therefore, the ethical conduct of the ruling party observed during the series of by-elections held after the 2008 Political Tsunami best reflects and assesses the extent of dedication and adherence of the ruling party to the aspiration of 1Malaysia and transformation
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