Pilihan Raya Kecil DUN Balakong 2018 di Malaysia: Praktik Politik Baru

Abstract

Pilihan Raya Umum ke-14 (PRU14) yang diadakan pada 9 Mei 2018 telah dinobatkan sebagai “ibu segala pilihan raya” di mana ia telah menyaksikan kejatuhan rejim autoritarian Barisan Nasional (BN) di peringkat nasional dan juga di beberapa peringkat negeri. Setelah berkuasa selama lebih dari separuh abad, parti dominan yang dikenali sebagai United Malays National Organization (UMNO) dilihat gagal untuk mempertahankan benteng politik mereka yang telah terbina sekian lama melalui proses demokrasi permuafakatan. Implikasi PRU14 jelas sekali menandakan bahawa majoriti rakyat dahagakan pembaharuan politik dan demi untuk merealisasikan agenda tersebut maka satu bentuk undi protes terhadap rejim BN telah dipamerkan. Kajian ini melihat fenomena dan gelagat politik baru melalui proses demokrasi yang dikenali sebagai pilihan raya kecil (PRK) yang berlaku pada pasca-Mei 2018 di Balakong, Selangor. Implikasi PRU14 itu bukan sahaja menunjukkan bahawa proses pendemokrasian itu tidak mustahil malah kajian ini berhujah bahawa terdapat beberapa fenomena politik baru yang berbangkit pada pasca-Mei 2018 itu melalui lensa PRK Balakong dan fenomena tersebut ditafsirkan melalui kerangka nasional. Walaupun terdapat beberapa kekangan politik yang dialami oleh kerajaan baru PH namun mereka masih berjaya mengekalkan status quo mereka. Abstract: The 14th General Election (GE14) which was held on May 9, 2018 had been perceived as the “mother of all elections” in which it had witnessed the downfall of authoritarian regime of Barisan Nasional (BN) at the national and state level. After being in a power for more than half a century, the dominant party of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) failed to preserve their electoral victory throughout the ideas of consociational democracy. The implications of the GE14 was a clear-cut indicator that the majority of the people favored a new political change and in order to achieve that particular objective, a vote of protest against the BN was exhibited. This study looks at the phenomenon of new political behaviour via a democratic means known as the by-election that took place in the post-authoritarian May 2018 in Balakong, Selangor. The implications of the GE14 suggested that the democratization is not impossible and this study argues that the Balakong by-election served as a platform for the emergence of new patterns of politics and that particular phenomenon was analyzed within a national framework. Even though the new government of Pakatan Harapan (PH) encountered some of political predicaments but the status quo was successfully retained.