Malaysia in 2005

Malaysia in 2005

Area: 329,847 sq km (127,355 sq mi)
Population (2005 est.): 26,130,000
Capital: Kuala Lumpur; some government offices have moved to Putrajaya (the new planned capital)
Chief of state: Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Paramount Ruler) Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin ibni al-Marhum Tuanku Syed Putra Jamalullail Head of government: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

When Malaysia’s minister of science and technology announced in August 2005 his government’s plan to put an astronaut on the Moon by 2020, the declaration generated little surprise, consistent as it was with the country’s record of technological advancement. Despite this latest sign of progress, however, Malaysia continued to struggle in 2005 with corruption, a troubled human rights record, and conflicts between Islamic law and individual rights. Although the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami that struck in late December 2004 had caused relatively light damage in Malaysia, in June the government reported receiving complaints that the recovery in some areas had been hampered by the misappropriation of relief funds by aid distributors. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s effort to root out government corruption yielded only one notable case during the year; Isa Samad, a cabinet minister and high-ranking officer in the ruling United Malays National Organization, was suspended from the party on charges of vote buying and asked to resign his cabinet post. In May a royal commission investigating corruption and human rights abuses in the Malaysian police force published its recommendations for reform, which included the establishment of an independent panel to review complaints of police misconduct. Earlier in the year, human rights groups had called for restrictions on state Islamic departments after Kuala Lumpur’s Islamic department arrested some 100 Muslim patrons of a popular nightclub for immoral conduct. Activists charged that such actions violated constitutional guarantees of individual privacy. Responding to the furor over “state-sponsored snooping,” the Badawi administration ordered Islamic departments to seek permission from the police before arresting anyone for immoral behaviour. In August further protests greeted the government’s order that police begin checking mobile telephones for pornography, which was illegal in Malaysia.

After announcing the opening of free-trade talks with Australia in April, Malaysia sealed a free-trade pact with Japan in May. In October the government began trying to persuade oil companies to produce fuel made from a combination of petroleum and palm oil, of which Malaysia was the world’s leading producer. With rising fuel prices exerting pressure on the economies of major trading partners, Malaysia’s export-driven economy was projected to grow 4.9% in 2005, down significantly from the previous year’s 7% growth rate. Early in the year the Badawi administration clashed with business leaders after the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants created a critical labour shortage. Undocumented immigrants, most of them from Indonesia, previously had made up one-tenth of Malaysia’s workforce. In May the government invited the workers back and even set up centres in Indonesia to help expedite applications for work visas.

Relations with neighbouring Thailand remained tense owing to the ongoing Muslim insurgency in southern Thailand. In late December 2004 the Thai government claimed to have obtained evidence that some insurgents had received training in the northern Malaysian state of Kelantan. When 131 Thai Muslims fled into Malaysia in early September to escape the fighting, the government refused to repatriate them immediately, despite the Thai prime minister’s assertion that some of the refugees were Islamic separatists.

Janet Moredock