Dr Lee Hwok-Aun is Senior Fellow of the Regional Economic Studies Programme, and Co-coordinator of the Malaysia Studies Programme at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. He was previously Senior Lecturer in development studies at the University of Malaya. He authored Affirmative Action in Malaysia and South Africa: Preference for Parity (Routledge, 2021), co-edited The Defeat of Barisan Nasional: Missed Signs or Late Surge? (ISEAS, 2019) and has written various ISEAS Perspective and Trends articles on Malaysia’s affirmative action, inequality, education and labour. He led an unprecedented field experiment on hiring discrimination, published as “Discrimination of high degrees: Race and graduate hiring in Malaysia” (Journal of the Asia-Pacific Economy, 2016).
CONTRIBUTORS
Lee Hwok-Aun
Articles by Lee Hwok-Aun (33)
Anwar’s Sidestepping Ethnic Policies: Not a Way to Gain Ground
Lee Hwok-Aun
The Unity government concedes that the status quo of ethnic quotas in Malaysia cannot be changed. They are easily tarred by PN as meek and ambivalent toward Malay interests, and simultaneously disappoint non-Malays who nonetheless vote for them because PN is viewed as a worse alternative.
A Material Election: Will Malaysians Vote with Their Wallets?
Lee Hwok-Aun
Electoral campaigns in the run-up to Malaysia’s six state elections on 12 August are spinning economic success stories to tug heartstrings, but the electorate will surely reference their lived experience as they cast ballots.
Will UMNO’s Mutant Electoral Map Bite Pakatan Harapan?
Lee Hwok-Aun
In the run-up to the Selangor state elections, Pakatan Harapan has to rally UMNO votes to its side. It must also overcome vulnerabilities caused by the latter’s 2018 gerrymandering of the state’s electoral map.
Malaysia’s 2023 State Elections: So Much Fuss For So Little Work
Lee Hwok-Aun
Amid the political spectacle, Malaysia should critically consider the meagre roles and resources of state governments. The irony is that states, in following their own election cycles, end up augmenting federal dominance and disempowering themselves.
2023 Budget Speech: Act One of Anwar Ibrahim’s Reform of Malaysia?
Lee Hwok-Aun
Anwar Ibrahim’s 24 February speech unveiled a budget largely replicating the October version presented by his predecessor. Given that Malaysia’s reforms extend beyond public funding priorities and allocations to institutional reforms and new narratives of nationhood, the budget speech may be just the opening act.