From 1957 until 2018, Malaysia was governed by the Barisan Nasional (the National Front), a coalition government dominated by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO). The dominance of BN in Malaysian politics offers an interesting case in the question of what it really means to be a "democracy." Yes, the Malaysian government has always held elections, has always had opposition parties, and as we've recently seen, has had the ability to switch governing coalitions. So why did the BN govern the country so easily for 61 years?

As is always the case, there is no clear answer, but there are a number of factors. One is that the BN and its dominant party UMNO have always been very popular among Malay voters. UMNO exists to promote Malay nationalism, through culture, language (Malay), religion (Islam), and economics, and has been very successful in doing so. Malaysia is 55% Malay, and it's a good bet that most of them will vote for the party that is literally designed to benefit them exclusively.

Even so, BN never relied exclusively on the ballot box to stay in power. Its lengthy majority in parliament gave it power over district creation and redistricting for almost 60 years, which it used to its advantage, creating and 'capturing' over 100 new districts from 1957 until 2013. Because of this, BN won a 20% winning margin of parliamentary seats in the 2013 election, even as it lost 4% of the popular vote.

Beyond gerrymandering, BN has faced charges of corruption by appointing biased election overseers, or by intimidating wealthy Chinese into encouraging their employees not to vote—but, unlike the charges of gerrymandering, these allegations have not been confirmed.

Given all of this, it was pretty shocking that BN lost its majority status in government in 2018. A lot of things had to go wrong, and they did. Many conservative Malays, a traditional BN base, defected to Gagasan Sejahtera ("Ideas of Prosperity"), an Islamic party. BN also faced a massive corruption scandal regarding 1DMB, the state development fund, which drew global attention and criticism. And then there's the role of Mahathir Mohamad, who served as Prime Minister of Malaysia under UNMO from 1981 until 2003, essentially building the party into what it is today, and then defected to the opposition Pakatan Harapan ("Alliance of Hope"), and led them to victory in 2018. What a guy.

Sources:

• Principles of UMNO
• Gerrymandering evidence, also here
• Corruption allegations, also here
• Recent election results