Dynamics of Policy-Making in Malaysia: The Formulation of the New Economic Policy and the National Development Policy

Policy formulation in Malaysia, like in many Third World countries, is essentially a centrally directed exercise. While the formulation process is somewhat open to public opinion and interest group influence, it is nonetheless a relatively autonomous administrative act. The comment by a longtime observer of Malaysian politics on the policy-making process is indicative: "Increasingly, the processes of public policy-making and evaluation have been centralized and cloaked in secrecy." Such an attribute is prevalent in the formulation of most policies in Malaysia. It suggests that most policy inputs and outputs are systematically determined by the government bureaucracy before proposals are made available to the public for debate and discussion. While the general bearings of policy outcome are relatively predictable, the political process of input and interest articulation is not. The relationship between public policy input and social variables such as ethnic and class interests are important in the Malaysian context. Both factors have exerted pressures on the building process of political agenda inside as well as outside the government. On the whole, ethnicity and class as the determining motifs of major policy issues have made the Malaysian political process both volatile and impetuous. This is especially the case in the late 1980s and early 1990s when the Malaysian polity seems to be more fragmented than before.