COMMENT | Democracy relies and thrives on competing ideas to keep it honest. But how does that work in a country which has learnt that disunity leads to chaos, or worse?

Malaysia, like other democracies, faces the challenges laid out by US President Joe Biden in his quest for democratic renewal: defence against authoritarianism, the fight against corruption, and advancing respect for human rights. But democracy, via its checks and balances based on competing ideas and interests, is of its essence, divisive.

The fundamental challenge to democratisation in Malaysia is making political divisions work in a culture steeped in the idea that disunity will lead to disaster, often with good reason.

Malaysia has long been indoctrinated by the idea that division will weaken it against foreign power threats or internal enemies. The multi-ethnic make-up of the population only compounds this focus on unity above all.

Six decades after independence, the country only had its first government change in 2018.

A fear of communal violence resulting from political divisions is not just the result of political manipulation. For many Malaysians, it is a lived reality, and the pathway to a stable system is anything but straightforward.

In 1969, an ethnic riot erupted after an electoral setback for the multi-ethnic coalition government, dominated by Umno. This event sowed the seeds of fear that political division leads to violence. The New Economic Policy (NEP) was created to close the economic gap between ethnic groups.

The NEP introduced extensive pro-Malay measures, which locked in the ethnic majority Malay-Muslims’ support for the Umno-led...