WHAT does Madani mean? It’s been almost two years since the concept was introduced and the average Malaysian still struggles to understand this term.
We at Iman Research had spent a year studying Malay youths’ aspirations and sense of nationhood. One of the questions we ask at the end of every session is how they envisioned Malaysia. What we often got in response was that the country lacked any meaningful direction and that they did not understand how the government’s Madani concept contributes to our national framework. However, the national concept that Malay youths strongly connected with was 1Malaysia.
Pop culture appeal
1Malaysia, introduced by former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2009, was intended to promote national unity. It was corny, accompanied by a catchy song and a government-led branding campaign. For many years throughout Najib’s two terms, one couldn’t go around without spotting the widely recognised logo on just about everything.
As a slogan, 1Malaysia was accused of being hollow. The 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad) financial scandal further damaged the brand. Even after leading Barisan Nasional to its historic loss at the 14th General Election (GE14) in 2018, however, Najib maintained political and pop culture relevancy through image rebranding, using the “Bossku” persona. He (or, to be more accurate, his social media team) played the role of a witty Internet troll but also a populist who connected with the people. He remained popular and was still deemed influential within and outside Umno.
In 2022, Najib’s guilty conviction in the SRC International criminal case was held up, and the former premier was finally sent to prison after evading sentencing for so long.
Slogans and a national vision
In Malaysia, it is common to have a political slogan to convey the prime minister’s visions and ideals. During Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s first premiership, it was Wawasan 2020. The message was clear and direct. Malaysians living through the 1990s and well into the 2000s experienced the material vision of Wawasan 2020 through infrastructural and industrial developments. The decades-long anticipation of where Malaysia would be in 2020 is a testament to the power of the slogan.
Although Najib’s 1Malaysia focused more on the ideals of unity, it also communicated socioeconomic vision through the various initiatives using the 1Malaysia brand, such as the 1Malaysia clinics and Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia. Similarly, infrastructural developments like the UTC (Urban Transformation Centre), national rail projects, and the CBD (commercial-business district) development gave the public the impression that the country was moving somewhere.
Though Najib’s legacy is marred by his alleged involvement in the 1MDB scandal, even his detractors often cite the many national projects undertaken during his administration.
Madani and its economic framework have yet to capture national confidence for the current administration. Much attention has been given to the erratic implementation of subsidy reforms and the vocal public backlash.
Many Malay youths we spoke to were unequivocal about their feelings about how opaque the government’s economic direction is. With the declining ringgit and multiple foreign direct investments announcements but no clear plan, these youth could not envision how things would improve.
They were also concerned about stagnant wages, the rising cost of living, and a shrinking job market. In what way is Madani good for them?
The importance of a national imagination
Political slogans, especially those crafted by governments, are often cheesy. They tend to be short and broad enough so that even the lowest common denominator of the public can interpret the slogan in many ways.
Cynics may scoff at slogans, mocking them even. But there was no denying that Wawasan 2020 captured the nation’s imagination. 1Malaysia, for all its imperfections, captured the country’s last era of fragile harmony before the ethno-religious polarisation that quickly followed after GE14.
It’s been a confusing time for the Malays from 2018 onwards. Once a Malay polity and powerhouse, Umno has lost its decades-long hegemony. A few years later, the political landscape would be thrown into disarray with the Sheraton Move, rapidly followed by the lost years of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Though the Perikatan Nasional government was an uneasy alliance between all major Malay-Muslim parties, it was clear that the country had been broken, and there was no putting its pieces back together.
In part, the fragmentation of Malay political power also led to the popularity of the movie Mat Kilau in 2022, produced by Studio Kembara, which is linked to right wing NGO Isma (Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia). The film spoke to the revival and reinterpretation of the Malay-Muslim identity. Mat Kilau made an astounding RM97mil at the box office and saw political parties host nationwide screenings for their Malay constituents. The film also revived Malay traditional culture, including traditional wear and silat.
Mat Kilau was successful because it spoke to the Malays who felt their place and futures were uncertain after Umno’s loss in GE14, alongside constant anxieties formented by right-wing groups since. Mat Kilau offered a vision and national imagination by looking back into a revised past. There was a vacuum, both ideological and sociopolitical, and the right wing movement took the opportunity to reframe how Malay-Muslimness should be envisioned en masse.
The governing administrations during that period were too busy with the Covid-19 pandemic to shape a national imagination. Not when Malaysia’s public health and survival were its key objectives.
Nostalgia for Najib
There is power in political slogans, but equally important are national roadmaps. In its decades of uninterrupted governance, the Barisan government and its successive prime ministers were able to plan for decades-long socioeconomic development. Policies, developments and initiatives implemented were designed to last.
Establishing a national imagination and long-term economic vision was achievable when you didn’t have to worry about losing the next elections to the Opposition.
As mentioned before, Najib’s premiership was marked by infrastructural developments across the country, and they literally transformed the horizons of Malaysians.
Another consideration for the lasting impression of Najib and 1Malaysia is also childhood nostalgia. While Malaysian adults may connect the term after GE13 with the 1MDB scandal and a tightening of democratic space, youths – particularly schoolgoers during that period – may remember the country and their political environments very differently.
Then, the Youth and Sports Ministry under Khairy Jamaluddin was among the administration’s more prolific ministries, focusing heavily on youth empowerment. TN50, or the National Transformation 2050, engaged with Malaysian youths nationwide to contribute to the national roadmap, giving them a sense of agency in charting the country’s future. Additionally, the then-Barisan’s cash transfer initiatives were also remembered kindly, as the cash aid helped with livelihoods. With these initiatives, it becomes understandable why Malay youths have a positive image of Najib and his premiership.
What then for Madani?
The current Pakatan-Barisan government has its priorities set on winning the next election. This is the reality for political coalitions in this era, when becoming a government depends on negotiating partnerships, compared with the era when one could assume a comfortable and dominant position. This makes necessary but unpopular long-term policies unattractive to implement.
However, these circumstances also push the government to prioritise five-year plans centred around material development instead of focusing on developing a set of Malaysian values and an overarching national imagination. The privilege of being able to sell a future is only available to those who are confident they can last beyond the next election.
Madani’s opaqueness among youths is not because they do not understand what it means. It is also because they think there is a lack of strong policies, developments, and clear roadmaps that illustrate what Madani is supposed to represent.
Madani, as it is right now, appears to be defined by economic policies with no clear implementation plans, a clampdown on freedom of expression, not delivering on the promise of institutional reform, and racial-religious polarisation.
Malay youths raised these four significant factors in the many focus group discussions and interviews across the peninsula. These sociopolitical realities are shaping Malay youths’ experiences through the Madani era.
What the government then needs, first and foremost, is what the previous Barisan governments had done as standard practice: construct and communicate a national roadmap. Whether economic or infrastructural, roadmaps help convey a national vision linearly. In this regard, the government has to think beyond its five-year limit.
However, comprehensive public communications are crucial to communicating Madani and what it means. In this regard, all Malay youths we spoke to expressed disappointment with the communication efforts from the Federal Government regarding policies and initiatives. Much of this concerns how the government thinks about its communications strategy and its many channels.
In short, constructing a national imagination has to be a combined strategy of very clear developmental policies and projects and their sequential implementation, alongside effective communication campaigns to give Malaysians – Malays youths especially – a vision of where the country is heading.
Importantly, presenting a more meaningful national imagination fills the ideological vacuum and makes more dangerous right wing ideologies less attractive.
Aziff Azuddin is a research associate specialising in politics and urban sociology with Dialogue Action and Iman Research, an independent Malaysian organisation studying society, religion and perception. The views expressed here are solely his own.
