M For Malaysia

On May 9 last year, Malaysian voters ousted their government for the first time in six decades after former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad came out of retirement to rally opposition against the corruption-tainted rule of Najib Razak. Three women captured all the drama of the historic campaign in a feature documentary

- Lily Ong

Division is a recurring theme in history, and so it has been for Malaysia. For the six decades since the country won independence, the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition maintained its grip on power through racial campaigning that favored the dominant party of the coalition, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).

In 2015, news broke that the personal bank accounts of the then Prime Minister, Najib Razak, had received suspicious deposits of 2.6 billion ringgit (more than US$620 million). A year later, the Wall Street Journal ran an exposé on the state-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund, exposing suspicious financial transactions and uncovering evidence of money laundering, fraud, and theft on a grand scale. A lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice alleged that at least US$3.5 billion had been stolen from 1MDB.

Najib denied any wrongdoing and rejected calls for his resignation. His administration allegedly arranged for the leaders of the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission and the Central Bank of Malaysia to “retire” after rumors broke that the two government agencies were building a case against 1MDB. Draconian laws were used to shut down Malaysian publications that investigated the 1MDB case, even as people took to the streets to voice their unhappiness.