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Socialist Party of Malaysia

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Socialist Party of Malaysia
Malay nameParti Sosialis Malaysia
ڤرتي سوسياليس مليسيا‎
Chinese name馬來西亞社會主義黨
马来西亚社会主义党
Mǎláixīyà Shèhuì Zhǔyì Dǎng
Tamil nameமலேசிய சோசியலிஸ்ட் கட்சி
Malēciya Cōciyalisṭ Kaṭci
AbbreviationPSM
ChairmanMichael Jeyakumar Devaraj
Founded30 April 1998
Legalised19 August 2008
Split fromParti Rakyat Malaysia
Headquarters140, Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad, Brickfields, 50470 Kuala Lumpur
NewspaperSosialis
Think Left
Socialist Perspectives (yearly)
Youth wingPemuda Sosialis (Socialist Youth)
IdeologySocialism
Democratic socialism
Left-wing populism
Progressivism
Political positionLeft-wing
National affiliationElectoral pact
Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (since 2023)
Colours  Maroon
SloganPilih Suara Marhaen
(Choose the Commoners' Voice)
Bersama Membina Kuasa Rakyat
(Together Building People's Power)
Dinamik, Berani, Berprinsip
(Dynamic, Courageous, Principled)
AnthemInternasionale
Dewan Negara:
0 / 70
Dewan Rakyat:
0 / 222
Dewan Undangan Negeri:
0 / 607
Party flag
Website
partisosialis.org
Socialist Party of Malaysia on Facebook

The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM, Malay: Parti Sosialis Malaysia; Chinese: 马来西亚社会主义党; Tamil: மலேசிய சோசியலிஸ்ட் கட்சி), is a socialist political party in Malaysia and an offshoot of Parti Rakyat Malaysia, which originally upheld the same ideology.

For ten years following its founding in 1998, the party was denied registration as a political party by the Federal Government of Malaysia, on the grounds that it was a threat to national security.[1]

However, the Home Ministry gave them the green light in June 2008, shortly after PSM enjoyed its electoral breakthrough when it won its first parliamentary and state seats in Sungai Siput and Kota Damansara respectively.[2]

History

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This article is part of a series on the
Politics of
Malaysia
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Ideologies and concepts

Race and politics

The end of PSRM (1990)

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The last socialist party to exist in Malaysia, Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia (PSRM), reverted to its original name to Parti Rakyat Malaysia in 1990 before merging with Parti Keadilan Rakyat in 2003.

Formation of PSM (1990–1998)

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In 1991, several grassroots based organisations working with the urban and rural poor in Malaysia formed an alliance. In 1994, they staged a massive Labour Day demonstration at the heart of Kuala Lumpur surprising many people. The last major demonstration called by the working class in the capital city was in the 1970s.

In 1995, these grassroots organisation who already had their strong support among the plantation workers, the urban poor, and industrial workers mooted the idea for a political party to represent the aspirations of the poor and the marginalised.

The election results in 1995 gave a sweeping win to the ruling Barisan Nasional and hastened this process.

After years of discussion and consolidations, it was finally agreed that a party with socialist ideology was needed to liberate the masses from their current conditions.

With this in mind, the groups took more than two and the half years to draft the party's constitution, which was ready by the end of 1997.

After further consultation with the masses, on 1 May 1998, the new party known as the Socialist Party of Malaysia officially submitted its application for registration.

Former PSRM central committee member and ex-ISA detainee Mohd Nasir Hashim was named pro-tem party chairman during this time.

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The Federal Government then rejected the application to register as a political party alleging that PSM was a threat to national security.

However, because the right to form a political party is guaranteed in the constitution, PSM took the government and the Home Minister to court for abusing their power. Although the Court of Appeal dismissed the national security argument on 16 August 2006, it upheld a separate reason to deny the registration of the PSM as a political party.

PSM then filed an appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision to the Federal Court of Malaysia. However, on 17 June 2008, the Home Ministry approved PSM's application as a political party just before Federal Court proceedings started, ending a 10-year tussle.[3][4]

1999 general election

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In 1999, the party decided to contest in the year's general election. Since PSM was not registered, it had to contest under some other party's logo. In 1999, the candidates contested under a Democratic Action Party ticket. The main intention was to popularise the party, while it lost the contest, Jeyakumar managed to reduce his opponent's majority by 10,000 votes.

2004 general election

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PSM candidates fielded for the 2004 general election.

After the 1999 election, PSM opened its service centre in Sungai Siput. The party claimed that DAP was not happy with this and demanded that Jeyakumar join DAP if he wished to stand again.

He declined and sought a meeting with Keadilan leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. As a result PSM was able to contest under the logo of Parti Keadilan Nasional (now known as Parti Keadilan Rakyat).[5]

2008 general election

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Three PSM members contested in the 2008 general election under the PKR banner while another ran as an independent. Two of these candidates won PSM's first ever seats.

Candidate Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj won PSM's first ever federal parliamentary seat by defeating then president of Malaysian Indian Congress and long-serving Minister of Works Samy Vellu in Sungai Siput.

At the same time, PSM president Mohd Nasir Hashim won the Kota Damansara seat in the Selangor state legislative assembly.

Although S Arutchelvan lost, PSM's election campaigning resulted in an increase in membership in Semenyih.

The remaining member who contested Jelapang as an independent was M. Sarasvathy.[6]

2013 general election

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The two PSM incumbents, Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj and Nasir Hashim, recontested their seats in the 2013 general election under Keadilan.

Jeyakumar retained the PSM's parliamentary seat of Sungai Siput, but PSM president Nasir lost the Kota Damansara state seat to a United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) candidate. This came after a PAS member joined the contest to split the opposition vote.[7]

S. Arutchelvan and M. Sarasvathy also recontested the same seats, this time under the PSM ticket, and lost heavily.[8]

2018 general election

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For the 2018 general election, PSM contested in five federal constituencies and 14 state constituencies. All PSM candidates for this general election competed under PSM name and logo, as opposed to the previous elections, meaning that its cooperation with parties like PKR and DAP came to an end .[9]

Unlike in previous elections, Nasir Hashim announced that he was not running in the 2018 election.

PSM did not succeed in winning any seats this election and lost the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat that it had held since 2008.[10]

Due in part to the decision to contest independently of the Pakatan Harapan coalition, PSM suffered a heavy defeat with all candidates, including Dr Jeyakumar, losing their deposits.[11]

2022 general election and 2023 state elections

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In the 2022 General elections, PSM took a back seat, with Dr Jeyakumar declining to run in Sungai Siput.[12]

On 15 July 2023, PSM and Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) announced a political alliance for the 2023 state elections as the "third choice" for voters "who are unhappy and bored with the politicians now and want to protest."[13]

In July 2024, the party held its 26th annual congress, at which Sivaranjani Manickam was elected secretary-general replacing A Sivarajan.[14]

Leadership

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  • Chairman
  • Deputy Chairman
    • S. Arutchelvan
  • Secretary-General
    • Sivaranjani Manickam
  • Deputy Secretary-General
    • K.S. Bawani
  • Treasurer
    • Soh Sook Hua
  • Assistant Treasurer
    • S. Madhavi
  • Central Executive Committee members
    • Arveent Kathirtchelvan
    • Chong Yee Shan
    • Choo Chon Kai
    • Gandipan Nantha Gopalan
    • Karthiges Rajamanickam
    • Nik Aziz Afiq
    • Parames Elumalai
    • A. Sivarajan
    • Suresh Kumar
  • PSM Youth Chief
    • Danny Villenguez

Over the years, the party's three main front organisations established more than a hundred sub-fronts, and it still believes in grassroots work done with the masses especially the plantation workers, the urban poor, industrial workers, peasants and also collaborates with the progressive student movement.

PSM was also at the forefront of the successful battle to establish a minimum wage in Malaysia.[15]

Seven-Point Manifesto

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PSM has a seven-point manifesto which lists the following policies:[16]

  1. Workers' rights will be safeguarded (e.g. minimum wage, automatic recognition of workers unions and 90-day maternal leave).
  2. The eradication of neo-liberal policies (e.g. halting privatisation of health care, education and other public necessities).
  3. Stopping the Free Trade Agreement with western imperial powers.
  4. Provide comfortable and humane housing for both rural and urban inhabitants.
  5. Stopping racial and religious politics to foster greater unity among the people.
  6. Eradication of corruption and abuse of power.
  7. Stopping the destruction of the environment.

General election results

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Election Total seats won Seats contested Total votes Voting Percentage Outcome of election Election leader
1999
0 / 193
 25 Steady; No representation in Parliament Mohd Nasir Hashim
2004
0 / 219
 33 Steady; No representation in Parliament Mohd Nasir Hashim
2008
1 / 222
 11 16,458 Increase1 seat; Opposition coalition
(PR) 		Mohd Nasir Hashim
2013
1 / 222
 9 21,593 Steady; Opposition coalition
(PR) 		Mohd Nasir Hashim
2018
0 / 222
 5 3,782 0.03% Decrease1 seat; No representation in Parliament Mohd Nasir Hashim
2022
0 / 222
 1 779 0.01% Steady; No representation in Parliament (allied with PRM) Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj

State election results

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State election State Legislative Assembly
Kelantan Penang Perak Pahang Selangor Johor Total won / Total contested
2/3 majority
2 / 3
2 / 3
2 / 3
2 / 3
2 / 3
2 / 3
2004
0 / 59
0 / 56
0 / 2
2008
0 / 59
1 / 56
1 / 3
2013
0 / 59
0 / 56
0 / 3
2018
0 / 45
0 / 40
0 / 59
0 / 42
0 / 56
0 / 12
2022
0 / 56
0 / 1

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "OUR STORY". Parti Sosialis Malaysia. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  2. ^ "Not so happy birthday for Samy". 22 June 2011. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  3. ^ "PSM allowed to register as political party" (fee required). Malaysiakini. 17 June 2007. Retrieved 18 June 2008.
  4. ^ "PSM allowed to register as political party". Official Socialist Party of Malaysia website. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
  5. ^ "OUR STORY". Parti Sosialis Malaysia. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  6. ^ Peter Boyle, Electoral break-through to test socialists, Green Left Weekly, 29 March 2008
  7. ^ "PSM chief's seat not settled as PAS steps in". Malaysiakini. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  8. ^ "PSM candidate in Semenyih concedes defeat | The Malaysian Insight". www.themalaysianinsight.com. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  9. ^ "PSM to contest seats using their own logos, not PKR's".
  10. ^ Arutchelvan, S. (23 July 2019). "PSM crosses 20-year hurdle". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  11. ^ Vengadesan, Martin (16 July 2019). "Red doctor at the helm of PSM - 'It's time to reach out'". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  12. ^ "'Giant killer' Dr Jeyakumar prepared to step aside in Sungai Siput". The Star. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  13. ^ Chan, Julia (15 July 2023). "Muda, PSM join forces for state polls to take a stand against racial politics". Malay Mail. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  14. ^ Vengadesan, Martin (28 July 2024). "Sivaranjani Manickam elected PSM sec-gen". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  15. ^ Vengadesan, Martin (23 March 2022). "PSM chair: Minimum wage raise laudable, still short of what's needed". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  16. ^ Seven Part Manifesto, Official Socialist Party of Malaysia website. Retrieved 21 August 2010
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