Topic > The Politics of Malaysia's Islamic Revival: Challenges in Mahathir's Era , leading them to become more conservative and religious. In response to the resurgence, an Islamist political party, the PAN Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), which had joined forces with the ruling United Malay National Organization (UMNO), takes an increasingly strident Islamist stance under the leadership of Yusof Rawa. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Aiming to appeal to religious voters, Mahathir established Islamic institutions such as the International Islamic University Malaysia that promote Islamic education under government supervision. He also convinced Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (ABIM) to join UMNO. In some cases, Mahathir's government has adopted repression against extreme exponents of Islamism. In a police firefight in 1985, a popular Islamic leader, Ibrahim Libya, was killed. Al-Arqam, a religious sect, was banned and its leader arrested under the Internal Security Law. All this contributed to Mahathir's victory at the polls in 1986, defeating PAS with 83 out of 84 contested seats. 1987 – 1990 In 1987, Mahathir was challenged for the UMNO presidency, and effectively prime ministership, by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. As a result, Razaleigh was demoted from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. A former close ally of Mahathir, Musa supports Razaleigh and together they run for UMNO presidency and vice-presidency on a joint ticket against Mahathir and Ghafar Baba. The tickets were known as Team B and Team A respectively. Mahathir's Team A was supported by the press and most of the party heavyweights, while Team B was supported by some significant figures such as Abdullah Badawi. In the elections held on 24 April 1987, Team A prevailed with Mahathir re-elected by a slight margin receiving 761 votes and Razaleigh receiving 718 votes. Mahathir responded by eliminating seven Team B supporters from his ministry, while Team B refused to accept defeat and began litigation. In an unexpected decision in February 1988, the High Court declared that UMNO was an illegal organization because some of its branches had not been legally registered. . Both factions are competing to register a new political party under the name UMNO. Mahathir's team successfully registered the name "UMNO Baru", while Team B's application for "UMNO Malaysia" was rejected. With the support of former prime ministers Abdul Rahman and Hussein Onn, Team B instead registered the party as "Semangat 46". Having at least temporarily survived the political crisis, Mahathir moved against the judiciary, fearing a successful appeal from the B team against the decision. to register UMNO Baru. He directed an amendment to the Constitution through parliament to remove the general power of the High Courts to conduct judicial review. With the result that the High Courts only engage in judicial review where specific Acts of Parliament give them the power to do so. In response to this, the Lord President of the Supreme Court, Salleh Abas, sent a letter of protest to the Agong. Mahathir then suspended Salleh for "gross misconduct and conduct", apparently because the letter constituted a breach of protocol. A tribunal set up by Mahathir found Salleh guilty and recommended that the Agong dismiss Salleh. Mahathir also suspendedfive other judges of the court who supported Salleh. The newly established court rejected Team B's appeal, allowing Mahathir's faction to continue using the UMNO name. At the same time as the political and judicial crisis, Mahathir launched a crackdown on opposition dissidents using the Internal Security Law. The designation of non-Mandarin-speaking administrators in Chinese schools sparked an outcry among Malaysian Chinese to the point that UMNO's coalition partners, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Gerakan, joined the Democratic Action Party ( DAP) to protest the designation. Mahathir launched a crackdown as part of the police operation codenamed "Operation Lalang" where 119 people were arrested and detained without charge under the Internal Security Law. Although most of the detainees were influential opposition activists, including DAP leader Lim Kit Siang and nine of his fellow members of parliament, Mahathir insisted that the detentions were necessary to prevent a repeat of the 1969 race riots In early 1989, Mahathir suffered a heart attack, but recovered and led Barisan Nasional (BN) to victory in the 1990 elections. On the other hand, Semangat 46 failed to make any progress outside his home state. Razaleigh, Kelantan. 1990 – 1998 The expiration of the New Malaysian Economic Policy (NEP) in 1990 gave Mahathir the opportunity to outline his economic vision for Malaysia. In 1991 he announced Vision 2020 according to which Malaysia would aim to become a fully developed country within 30 years. The goal of this vision is to achieve average economic growth of approximately 7% of annual gross domestic product. One of the features of Vision 2020 would be to gradually break down ethnic barriers. Vision 2020 was accompanied by the NEP's replacement, the National Development Policy (NDP), under which some government programs designed to exclusively benefit bumiputeras were opened up to other ethnicities. The NDP completed one of its major goals, reducing poverty with fewer than nine people. 10% of Malaysians lived in poverty and income inequality had narrowed. Mahathir's government has cut corporate taxes and liberalized financial regulations to attract foreign investment. Malaysia's economy grew by more than 9% annually until 1997, encouraging other developing countries to try to imitate Mahathir's policies. Much of the credit for Malaysia's economic development in the 1990s went to Malaysia's finance minister, Anwar Ibrahim. In the 1995 elections, the government rode the economic wave and won the elections with a larger majority. 1998 – 2003 By the mid-1990s, Mahathir's power was threatened by the leadership ambition of his deputy, Anwar. Anwar began to distance himself from Mahathir, openly promoting his superior religious credentials and appearing to suggest promoting the easing of restrictions on civil liberties that had become a hallmark of Mahathir's premiership. Their positions slowly diverged, with Mahathir abandoning the rigid monetary and fiscal policies urged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Anwar was increasingly sidelined as Mahathir took the reins of Malaysia's economic policy in the following months. On 2 September, Anwar was sacked as deputy prime minister and finance minister and was immediately expelled from UMNO due to allegations of sexual misconduct circulating at its headquarters. assembly. On September 20, he was arrested and placed in detention under the Security Law.
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