Protest and Possibilities explores the pursuit of political reform in Malaysia, an illiberal
democracy, and contrasts coalition-building and reform processes there with those of
electoral authoritarian Indonesia. The study considers the roles of civil society agents
(CSAs) in promoting alternative (especially noncommunal) political norms and helping to
find common ground among opposition political actors, and compares recent reformist
initiatives with past political trajectories. The nature of illiberal democracy encourages a …

Academic works on the role of the opposition in Malaysian politics are few and far between.
Even if there is a limited number of works, they mostly prefer to focus either on the role of the
opposition political parties or the non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In fact there are
hardly any systematic studies on Malaysian politics that seek to discuss opposition politics in
terms of cooperation and coalition building among the disparate opposition forces such as
the NGOs, informal groups, and opposition political parties. In this respect, the recent …