CHALLENGING DOMINANT PARTIES’ ISSUE OWNERSHIP A STUDY OF THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES THE BJP AND THE PAS MUHAMAD YUSRI BIN MOHAMED SUPIYAN (B. Social Sciences (Hons.)), NUS A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2013 i ii DECLARATION I hereby declare that the thesis is my original work and it has been written by me in its entirety. I have duly acknowledged all the sources of information which have been used in the thesis. This thesis has also not been submitted for any degree in any university previously. _________________ Muhamad Yusri Bin Mohamed Supiyan 13 November 2013 iii iv Acknowledgements Researching and writing for this thesis has been a very enriching yet challenging experience. It would all not have been possible without the support, help and encouragement from the wonderful and important people around me that I hold in utmost and dearest regard. First and foremost, I would like to thank my family members. My mother Yupak has been and will always be the most devoted, loving, and understanding mother any son could ever wish for. My father Supiyan has been a wonderful role model for me through all these years. I am greatly indebted to my sister Sakinah in many ways, no least for taking on my share of the household chores when I have been very busy. She has been a very kind and understanding sister to me. This thesis is dedicated to all of three of you. I would like to convey my most sincere and deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr. Subhasish Ray. He has been nothing but a superb and wonderful mentor to me. Over the period of a year or so he has guided me through the whole research and thesis writing process with great kindness and patience. His words of advice and encouragement have helped me a lot and I truly believe I have learnt a great deal by being under his tutelage. Many thanks also to the following professors who have also helped and advised me in one way or another – Dr. Kim Soo-Yeon, Dr. Janice Bially Mattern, Dr. Hussin Mutalib, and Dr. Han Hee-Jin. I would also like to convey my appreciation and gratitude to the few good and close friends that have been there for and with me throughout this whole journey, with special mention to Walid Jumblatt for proofreading this thesis. I would also like to convey my most profound gratitude to the Lord Almighty Allah s.w.t.. Without His Compassion, Grace and Mercy, I would not have been able to complete this thesis. v vi Table of Contents Title Page i Declaration Page iii Acknowledgements v Abstract ix List of Abbreviations xi List of Tables xiii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Literature Review and Theoretical Framework 17 Chapter 3: The BJP in the 1998 Indian General Elections 43 Chapter 4: The PAS in the 2008 Malaysian General Elections 79 Chapter 5: Conclusion 117 Bibliography 125 vii viii Abstract In recent decades religion has undergone a renaissance in the arena of politics, and the rise of religious political parties is a clear manifestation of the increased religionisation of politics. Religious parties have also come to prominence in polities where dominant political parties are experiencing a decline. However, their levels of success at the ballot box have varied greatly in spite of such favourable conditions. Whilst some religious parties have gone on to win elections and form the government, others have floundered at the polls. This thesis argues that whether the religious party is able to come to governmental power in functioning democracies depends on its ability to wrest away issue ownership over ‘national-temporal’ issues of the day from the dominant party in decline. Relying on an extensive analysis of newspaper reports during the periods of electoral campaigning, this thesis finds that in 1998 the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to wrest away the ownership over the issue of economic reforms from the Congress Party of India and consequently win the elections, whereas in 2008 the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) largely failed to wrest away the ownership over the issue of the economy from the United Malays National Organisation-led coalition government. The key element in wresting away issue ownership lies in the religious party’s ability to recast the discursive debate over an issue in a manner such that it favours the party itself while simultaneously disadvantaging the dominant party. Keywords: Religious parties, dominant parties, elections, electoral campaigns, issues, issue ownership, heresthetics ix x List of Abbreviations ACA AKP BJP BJS BN CII CSDS DAP DMK DPAR DPDR FICCI FIS GDP Hindraf IMF INC JD MCA MIC MII MNC NEP NGO NIP PAS PKR RM RSS UF UMNO VHP Anti-Corruption Agency Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party) Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People’s Party) Bharatiya Jana Sangh (Indian People’s Organisation) Barisan Nasional (National Front) Confederation of Indian Industry Centre for the Study of Developing Societies Democratic Action Party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Dravidian Progress Federation) Dominant Party Authoritarian Regime Dominant Party Democratic Regime Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Front Islamique du Salut (Islamic Salvation Front) Gross Domestic Product Hindu Rights Action Force International Monetary Fund Indian National Congress Janata Dal (People’s Party) Malayan Chinese Association, later on Malaysian Chinese Association Malayan Indian Congress, later on Malaysian Indian Congress Malaysian Institute of Integrity Multi-National Corporation New Economic Policy Non-Governmental Organisation National Integrity Plan Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party) Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People’s Justice Party) Ringgit Malaysia (Malaysian Ringgit) Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Organisation) United Front Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu (United Malays National Organisation) Vishva Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) xi xii List of Tables Table No. Name Page No. Table 1 Results of the 1998 Indian General Elections 51 Table 2 Breakdown of the Number of Seats Won by the BJP and the 51 Congress Party in 1991, 1996, and 1998 Table 3 Breakdown of the Number of Seats Won by the BJP and the 52 Congress Party at the State and Territory Level in 1998 Table 4 Breakdown of the Results of the 2008 Malaysian General 90 Elections by State Level Table 5 Breakdown of the Seats Won by the BN, the DAP, the PAS, and the PKR in 2004 and 2008 xiii 90 [...]... Dal (People’s Party) Malayan Chinese Association, later on Malaysian Chinese Association Malayan Indian Congress, later on Malaysian Indian Congress Malaysian Institute of Integrity Multi-National Corporation New Economic Policy Non-Governmental Organisation National Integrity Plan Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party) Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People’s Justice Party) Ringgit Malaysia...List of Abbreviations ACA AKP BJP BJS BN CII CSDS DAP DMK DPAR DPDR FICCI FIS GDP Hindraf IMF INC JD MCA MIC MII MNC NEP NGO NIP PAS PKR RM RSS UF UMNO VHP Anti-Corruption Agency Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party) Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People’s Party) Bharatiya Jana Sangh (Indian People’s Organisation) Barisan Nasional (National Front) Confederation of Indian Industry... Malaysia (Malaysian Ringgit) Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Organisation) United Front Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu (United Malays National Organisation) Vishva Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) xi xii List of Tables Table No Name Page No Table 1 Results of the 1998 Indian General Elections 51 Table 2 Breakdown of the Number of Seats Won by the BJP and the 51 Congress Party in... for the Study of Developing Societies Democratic Action Party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Dravidian Progress Federation) Dominant Party Authoritarian Regime Dominant Party Democratic Regime Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Front Islamique du Salut (Islamic Salvation Front) Gross Domestic Product Hindu Rights Action Force International Monetary Fund Indian National Congress Janata... the BJP and the 51 Congress Party in 1991, 1996, and 1998 Table 3 Breakdown of the Number of Seats Won by the BJP and the 52 Congress Party at the State and Territory Level in 1998 Table 4 Breakdown of the Results of the 2008 Malaysian General 90 Elections by State Level Table 5 Breakdown of the Seats Won by the BN, the DAP, the PAS, and the PKR in 2004 and 2008 xiii 90 ... Non-Governmental Organisation National Integrity Plan Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party) Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People’s Justice Party) Ringgit Malaysia (Malaysian Ringgit) Rashtriya Swayamsevak... Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Dravidian Progress Federation) Dominant Party Authoritarian Regime Dominant Party Democratic Regime Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Front Islamique... viii Abstract In recent decades religion has undergone a renaissance in the arena of politics, and the rise of religious political parties is a clear manifestation of the increased religionisation