Abstract

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s systematic strategy of autocratization
backfired. This paper is based on a model of three pillars of authoritarian
regimes. It traces the different strategies and measures employed to weaken
the opposition and shows that major survival strategies were prone to
frequent shifts. At the beginning of his tenure, Najib depicted himself as a
reformer, and refined some forms of repression. The regime scrapped central
coercive tools such as the Internal Security Act, but later replaced them with
kindred, yet ineffective measures. Co-optation was more centralized and
“money politics” expanded. The widespread and unprecedented usage of
patronage resulted in corruption, which fundamentally destabilized the
regime. Legitimation was modified since 2013 to a more Malay-centric and
Islamist discourse. Because of this shift, legitimation eroded among ethnic
and religious minorities. The prime minister’s legitimacy shrank due to
corruption scandals. This paper helps gauge the lacking complementarity
of the pillars and the failures of an authoritarian regime in crisis, which is
important also with a view to political developments in Malaysia since 2018.