「馬來西亞民主轉型」專號導言

Introduction to Malaysia Democratization

2018年5月馬來西亞國會大選達成60餘年來第一次民主選舉政權輪替。基於馬來西亞與我國民間往來密切，民主化深具潛力，特策劃「馬來西亞民主轉型專號，剖析馬來西大選變天的前因後果與民主化轉型的前景及影響。馬來西亞國內源遠流長的多元複雜族群人民共同生活在一個國度，長期執政的國民陣線是自獨立開始就建立的跨族群政黨聯盟，由馬來人為主體的巫統所主導，一向以避免族群衝突、加強國家安全為由，限縮人民自由權利，也因此國陣執政時期一直被視為威權政體的一種變型。幸賴馬國公民社會傳統不絕如縷，新世紀伊始，社會力結合新興媒體，撐起自由空間，引導政體轉型，終致首度政黨輪替。「希望聯盟」打敗長期執政卻分裂的國陣，贏得政權。然而多黨恩仇縱橫捭闔，老首相馬哈迪領導的新政府不過執政才22個月，就失去執政權，民主轉型再度面臨挑戰。對馬國的政治發展前景，本期不同作者有基於相異觀點的討論，分別從族群政治、公民運動、留台女性知識份子參與，以及東馬砂拉越邦的角度提出研究見解。總括而言，面臨內部族群、宗教及黨派林立的現狀挑戰，各政治勢力對憲政體制及政經發展向的詮釋充滿分歧，馬來西亞民主政治展望仍然不明，卻已是東協中最值得期待的國家。

On 9, May 2018, citizens in Malaysia completed the unexpected political transition, ended sixty-year reign of the Barisan Nasional coalition government. In the past 20 years, they have been striving for more freedom and political rights through social movements. A connected network cultivating cross-ethnic links among various civil society forces, with independent media, has led to the open arena of public opinion, the formation of a political tsunami, and the final completion of regime turnover. Facing the challenge of the status quo of internal ethnic groups, religions, and parties, competed political forces are full of differences in the interpretation of constitutionalism, that is why the transparency of the prospects for democratization remains low, and the Pakatan Harapan government lost power in 22 months. This issue is a contribution of articles from unique perspectives to draw attention unto the causes and the scenarios of the democratization in Malaysia.