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Anwar Ibrahim’s ‘Postnormal Times MADANI Exhibition’ Aims to Change Malaysia’s Conversation

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ASEAN Beat | Politics | Southeast Asia

Anwar Ibrahim’s ‘Postnormal Times MADANI Exhibition’ Aims to Change Malaysia’s Conversation

The Kuala Lumpur exhibition challenges the exclusionary narratives advanced by the Malay right-wing. But are the country’s two political camps talking past each other?

Anwar Ibrahim’s ‘Postnormal Times MADANI Exhibition’ Aims to Change Malaysia’s Conversation

A woman views an exhibit at the Postnormal Times MADANI Exhibition, which opened at the Berjaya Times Square Mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in May 2024.

Credit: Facebook/Berjaya Times Square Kuala Lumpur

Since making big electoral gains in 2022, Malaysia’s Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) has invested heavily in history and historiography to produce new, exclusionary narratives that undermine the authority of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s multi-ethnic coalition. These narratives assert that Malaysia’s majority Malay community and its Islamic faith are under threat, while the nation’s minorities, particularly Chinese and Indian Malaysians, are unentitled to the political rights inherent in citizenship.

In contrast, Anwar’s government has shied away from issuing principled rebuttals to PAS’s claims. In two recent state by-elections in Kelantan and Penang, it challenged PAS only tactically, where it did so at all.

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