Politics

The politics of Malaysia are incorporated into a federal parliamentary monarch. Meaning that the Prime Minister of Malaysia is the head of government and a multi party system. The executive power is controlled by the government, the federal legislative power is controlled by both the government and the two chambers of Parliament and then there is the Senate and the House of Representatives. Since the country became an independent nation it has been dominated by the Barisan Nasional or the National Front which is led by the United Malays National Organization or UMNO.
The country has been rather politically stable; some have complained that they have too many intertwined parties with a counter effect. The United Malays National Organization has been in power with other parties since the country became independent in 1957. The Barisan National coalition is made up of 14 parties. Today they have 3 outstanding members the UMNO, the MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association) and the MIC (Malaysian Indian Congress. The ruling Prime Minister has always been from the United Malay National Organization.
There are two major parties of the executive branch the Yang di Pertuan Agong and the Prime Minister. Malaysia is a federal constitution elective monarchy. There are two rulers the King of Malaysia and the Prime Minister. The King is elected for a 5 year term and he is elected by nine Sultans of the Malay states, the other 4 states have an in name only Governors which do not vote in the selection of King. The King is also the leader of the Islam faith in Malaysia. The type of government here in Malaysia is similar to the government that was used when the British ruled.
More power is given to the executive branch than the other branches. Parliamentary elections are held every 5 years with the power going to the Prime Minister. The rules of elections say that the Prime Minister must be a member of the lower house of parliament which commands the most of parliament. The cabinet is chosen from members of both parliament houses.

The legislative branch of government is located in the Parliament building of Kuala Lumpur. The Parliament holds the Senate the House of Representatives. There are 70 members of the senate that hold 3 year terms in office, a maximum of 2 years terms in all. 26 members are elected by 13 state assemblies and the other 44 are elected by the King who makes his choices on advice of the Prime Minister. The legislative power is divided between federal and state legislatures. The country has 2 sources of law, the national constitution and the Syariah which is the Islamic law. Which only applies to the Muslim communities.
There are many members of the House of Representatives, they consist of the National Front or the Barisan National, the United Malays National Organization, the Malaysian Chinese Association, Malaysian Indian Congress, The Malaysian People’s Movement Party, the United Traditional Bumiputera Party, Sarawak United People’s Party, United Sabah Party, Sabah Progressive Party, Democratic Action Party, Liberal Democratic Party, Alternative Front, Islamic Party of Malaysia and the People’s Justice Party to just name a few.

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