Semangat 46
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The Parti Melayu Semangat 46 or ''Spirit of 46 Malay Party (S46)'' was a
Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
n political party. The party was formed in 1988, and dissolved in 1996. It was formed by
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah Tengku Razaleigh bin Tengku Mohd Hamzah (Jawi alphabet, Jawi: تڠکو غزالي بن تڠکو محمد حمزة; born 13 April 1937) is a Malaysian people, Malaysian politician who served as the Dewan Rakyat, Member of Parliament (MP) for Gu ...
's "Team B" faction of the
United Malays National Organisation The United Malays National Organisation (Abbreviation, abbrev: UMNO; , PEKEMBAR) is a Conservatism, conservative, Nationalism, Malay nationalist political party in Malaysia. As the oldest national political party in the country (since its ince ...
(UMNO), as a challenge to prime minister
Mahathir Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad (; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author and doctor who was respectively the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and from 2018 to 2020. He was the ...
and UMNO.


Establishment

The idea of Semangat 46 first came about in 1985 or 1986 when Malaysia was experiencing an economic recession. In 1987, Razaleigh's "Team B" faction challenged Mahathir's "Team A" faction for control of UMNO. Mahathir won the party election with a slim 41 votes majority in the controversial 1987 UMNO leadership election,Yahaya(2003), p. 135 and removed all Team B members from the cabinet. Team B leaders claimed many party delegates were improperly elected, and filed suit to overturn the election. This led to UMNO being declared illegal on technical grounds in 1988. Mahathir immediately reconstituted UMNO, with only Team A members.Rodan (1996), p. 138 Razaleigh and Team B formed their own party. They tried to register as "UMNO 46" (alluding to the party's founding in 1946. This was an attempt to invoke the nostalgic spirit of the old UMNO. "UMNO 46" was rejected as a duplicate name, so Razaleigh chose the name "Semangat 46". On 3 June 1989, Semangat 46 was officially registered with the electoral college. The first party's general meeting was held on 12 October 1989, officiated by Malaysia's first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj. Among notable leaders that joined Semangat 46 were Marina Yusoff, Ilyani Ishak, Rais Yatim, Harun Idris, Suhaimi Kamaruddin, Ahmad Shabery Cheek, Othman Saat, Salleh Abas, Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar, and Ibrahim Ali.


General election

In 1990, Semangat 46 formed two coalitions with other opposition parties to contest the 1990 Malaysian general election. The '' Gagasan Rakyat'' (GR) coalition was with the multi-racial
Democratic Action Party The Democratic Action Party (DAP; ) is a social democracy, social democratic and Secularism, secular political party in Malaysia, sitting on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. As one of four component parties of ...
(DAP) and Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM). The '' Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah'' (APU) coalition was with the Muslim parties
Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party The Malaysian Islamic Party, also known as the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party ( Malay: ''Parti Islam Se-Malaysia''; abbrev: PAS), is an Islamist political party in Malaysia. Ideologically focused on Islamic fundamentalism and Malay dominanc ...
(PAS), Pan-Malaysian Islamic Front (BERJASA), Parti Hizbul Muslimin Malaysia (HAMIM) and the newly formed Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (KIMMA). Despite these alliances, Semangat 46 did poorly in the 1990 federal election, winning only 8 of 180 seats. However, the Angkatan alliance swept the state election in Razaleigh's home state,
Kelantan Kelantan (; Kelantan-Pattani Malay, Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate''; ) is a state in Malaysia. The capital, Kota Bharu, includes the royal seat of Kubang Kerian. The honorific, honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' ("The Blissful Abode"). ...
, winning all 39 seats. Semangat 46 won 15, PAS won 24. For the first time in UMNO history, the party failed to win any seats in a state level. Over the next few years, Semangat 46 lost support; many of its members defected to UMNO, including the party's youth chief Ibrahim Ali. After Ibrahim left S46, the youth chief was replaced by Zulkifli Othman, which was previously the S46 Youth Johor chairman. Others remained as members but withdrew from political activity. In February 1994, Semangat 46 decided to challenge UMNO on Malay communal issues. The party was renamed Parti Melayu Semangat 46, and thus renounced its multi-ethnic stance. In the mid-1990s, Semangat 46's relationship with DAP deteriorated, which eventually led to the breakup of the Gagasan Rakyat (GR) coalition, shortly before the 1995 Malaysian general election. At the same time, Semangat 46 had increasingly strained ties with PAS over power-sharing in Kelantan state, though they still managed to retain control of Kelantan and worked together in the 1995 election. By this time, the party's credibility was severely compromised by winning so few electoral victories and the loss of many key figures. The deputy president, Rais Yatim, lost his parliamentary seat in the 1995 election, though Tengku Razaleigh was re-elected. In the end, Semangat 46 won six parliamentary seats, with support coming mainly from Kelantan.


Dissolution

By May 1996, Semangat 46 was greatly reduced in size and influence. Razeleigh was finally worn out after spending millions of ringgit to upkeep the party. On 6 October 1997, an extraordinary general meeting were called and members voted for party dissolution. Razaleigh officially announced to the remaining 200,000 members that he would disband the party. Razaleigh rejoined UMNO with most of the party members. Some were denied re-admission to UMNO; they either left politics altogether or joined PAS.


General election results


State election results


See also

* 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis * Gagasan Rakyat * Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Malaysian political parties Defunct political parties in Malaysia Political parties established in 1988 Political parties disestablished in 1996 1988 establishments in Malaysia 1996 disestablishments in Malaysia