The past five years have held tremendous significance for the process of nation building in Malaysia. Civil society and voters - especially in urban areas - are making new and strong demands on the government, in fact on governance per se; the opposition parties that managed to pull off successful electoral upsets in 2008 have formed a viable coalition to challenge the long-term federal government itself has been trying to adopt a reformist image without alienating its numerous conservative supporters. Although the government's slogan of 1 Malaysia was meant to signify national unity, it lacked credibility because many of the systematic deficiencies of sustained one party - 1Party - rule still remained.
This collection of articles studies various aspects of change now pushed into the foreground for discussion.
