Editorial Board

Don’t Waste Malaysia’s Moment

Now’s the chance to rebuild the country’s institutions.

May 10, 2018 at 10:00 PM UTC

By The Editorial Board

The Editorial Board publishes the views of the editors across a range of national and global affairs.

Voting for change.
Photographer: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images

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This article is part of the May 21, 2018 issue of businessweek.

Quite unexpectedly, Malaysians just voted out their ruling party for the first time since independence in 1957. They voted for change, and that’s what their new leaders need to deliver.

You might think so stunning an electoral upset would make a bold new departure inevitable. Not so. Malaysia’s fractious opposition won only after joining forces with 92-year-old former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad — a stalwart of the long-ruling United Malays National Organization and hardly a change agent.