This book provides an overview of the current state of Malaysia , looking at political and economic developments and at governance, and discussing the impact of ethnicity, patronage and the reform movement. It discusses issues such as Islamisation and identity transformation within Malaysian society as well as policies like privatisation and provides an examination of business enterprise, exploring how control of “corporate Malaysia” is interlinked with political developments. This study's primary focus in on an analysis of why the reform movement failed to secure substantial support in the late 1990s even though many Malaysians then appeared ready to hold the government accountable for its poor record of a democratic and transparent form of governance. This volume also assesses the likelihood of change as a result of the retirement of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Edmund Terence Gomez is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics & Administration, University of Malaya. He has also held appointments at University of Leeds (UK), Murdoch University (Australia) and Kobe University (Japan). He has authored and edited a number of books including Malaysia's Political Economy: Politics, Patronage and Profits (Cambridge University Press, 1997), Chinese Business in Malaysia: Accumulation, Ascendance, Accommodation (Curzon, 1999), Political Business in East Asia (Routledge, 2002) and Chinese Enterprise, Transnationalism and Identity (RoutledgeCurzon, 2004).