The Fourteenth General Election of Malaysia: A Social Movement Analysis of Chinese Voting Decisions

CHIN Yee Mun(陈亿文) ； EDWIN MICHAEL a／l N. Muniandy ； ENG May Chuen(黃美琴)

《Malaysian Journal of Chinese Studies》 7卷2期 (2018/12) Pp. 1-16

https://doi.org/10.6993/MJCS.201812_7(2).0001

摘要

Of all Malaysia's general elections, the Fourteenth General Election (GE) held on 9 May 2018 was of momentous consequence. For the first time in Malaysia's history, the incumbent ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) lost its grip over Malaysia and was replaced by Pakatan Harapan (PH). As the second largest group of voters, the Chinese played an instrumental role in causing BN's defeat. There seemed to be a collective decision among Chinese voters to depose BN by denying its claim to victory in all Chinese majority seats. A massive 95 per cent of Chinese voters swung en masse in support of PH. This study will examine the collective decision of the Chinese electorate in the voting via social movement theories. Micro-level rational choice theory and macro-structural social strain theory are employed to dissect the Chinese voting behaviour. It becomes clear that a potent cocktail of macro-and micro-factors has been in play to help turn the tide against BN.

關鍵字

Chinese Malaysian ； Malaysia's General Election ； social strain theory ； rational choice theory ； collective action