Ekonomi Politik Kabinet: Satu Peralihan Kelas di Kalangan Elit Kuasa dan Hala Himpunan Lebihan di Malaysia Kini

Abstract

Theoretically this essay posits the notion of power elite within the matrix of the on-going class formation in Malaysian capitalism. While one does not dispute the existence of such power elite with its own internal institutional structures, one must also recognise its true historical role as political managers or vanguards of the surplus accumulation process. Being vanguards of the 'national surplus' they themselves are embourgeoisied and become a leading force in the shaping of Malaysian state-capitalism with its ensuing shifts in the relation-of production towards a bourgeoisie-labour kind of relation, albeit a state-bourgeoisie and state-labour mould. A major test of these managers' political acumen in the coming decades is not only with their arts and will to maintain the legitimacy of public authority and the administrative efficiency of the State, but more so with their vision and innovation in harnessing the national surplus to accelerate class transformation and accomodate the emergence of a truely industrialised Malaysia within the shifts and contradictions of a global economy.