Malaysian Political Development in the Era of Najib Razak

This article utilises Huntington’s concept of political development to access the political development in Malaysia during the era of Najib Razak. Three main indices were used to measure political development, namely institutionalisation, mobilisation, and economic growth. The data for this article were obtained from primary sources through interviews with authoritative informants, as well as secondary sources from books, journals, official government reports and news portals. Findings revealed that in terms of political institutionalisation, Najib Razak failed in forming strong and efficient government institutions in the executive, legislative and judicial branches. This failure suggests that Malaysia's political institutionalisation has been corrupted. In addition, it was discovered that the political mobilisation during this era was passive. This is because Najib controlled the freedom of the media and speech, as well as restricted the civil rights of the people. In terms of economic growth, no significant changes were observed over the previous government in terms of GDP, per capita income, and poverty reduction of the people due to abuse of power, 1MDB scandal, malpractice, and secretive governance. The political decay later led to the defeat of Barisan Nasional for the first time in Malaysia's political history since its independence in 1957. Keywords: political development; Najib Razak; Barisan Nasional; Malaysia; 14th GE Abstract Artikel ini menggunakan konsep pembangunan politik Huntington untuk menilai pembangunan politik Malaysia era pemerintahan Najib Razak. Tiga indeks utama digunakan untuk mengukur pembangunan politik tersebut iaitu institusionalisasi, mobilisasi dan pertumbuhan ekonomi. Data artikel ini diperoleh dari sumber primer melalui temu bual dengan informan autoritatif, dan sumber sekunder dari buku, jurnal, laporan rasmi kerajaan dan portal berita. Hasil analisis mendapati dari segi institusionalisasi politik, Najib Razak tidak berjaya membentuk institusi kerajaan yang kuat dan cekap dalam cabang eksekutif, legislatif dan kehakiman. Kegagalan ini menunjukkan institusionalisasi politik Malaysia korup. Mengenai mobilisasi politik, hasil analisis mendapati ia bersifat pasif. Ini kerana Najib mengawal kebebasan media, kebebasan bersuara dan menyekat hak sivil rakyat. Dari segi pertumbuhan ekonomi, pemerintahan Najib Razak tidak menunjukkan perubahan yang lebih baik daripada kerajaan sebelumnya dari segi KDNK, pendapatan per kapita, dan penurunan kadar kemiskinan rakya disebabkan oleh salah guna kuasa, skandal 1MDB, penyelewengan, dan tadbir urus yang tidak transparen. Kereputan politik inilah yang kemudiannya membawa kepada kekalahan Barisan Nasional buat kali pertamanya dalam sejarah politik Malaysia sejak ia mencapai kemerdekaan pada tahun 1957. Kata kunci: pembangunan politi; Najib Razak; Barisan Nasional; Malaysia; PRU ke-14