Socialist Party of Malaysia

The last socialist party to exist in Malaysia, Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia (PSRM), reverted their name to Parti Rakyat Malaysia in 1990 before merging with Parti Keadilan Rakyat in 2003.

In 1991, several grassroots based organisations working with the urban and rural poor in Malaysia started to form an alliance. In 1994, they staged a massive Labor Day demonstration at the heart of Kuala Lumpur surprising many people. The last major demonstration called by the working class in the capital city was in the 1970s.

In 1995, these grassroots organisation who already had their strong support among the plantation workers, the urban poor, and industrial workers formed an alliance and the idea for a political party to represent the aspirations of the poor and the marginalised was mooted. The election results in 1995 hastened this process and after years of discussion and consolidations, it was finally agreed that a party with socialist ideology was imminent to liberate the masses from their current conditions.

With this in mind, the groups took more than two and the half years to draft the party's constitution, which was ready by the end of 1997. After further consultation with the masses, on 1 May 1998, the new party known as the Socialist Party of Malaysia was officially put for registration.

The Federal Government had refused to recognise PSM since the latter's formation. The government had rejected the party's application to register as a political party alleging that PSM was a threat to national security. However, because the right to form a political party is guaranteed in the constitution, the PSM took the government and the Home Minister to court for abusing their power. Although the Court of Appeal dismissed the national security argument on 16 August 2006, it upheld a separate reason to deny the registration of the PSM as a political party. PSM then filed an appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision to the Federal Court of Malaysia. However, on 17 June 2008, the Home Ministry approved PSM's application as a political party just before Federal Court proceedings started, ending a 10-year dispute.[1][2]

In 1999, the party decided to contest in the year's general election. Since PSM was not registered, it had to contest under some other party's logo. In 1999, the candidates contested under a Democratic Action Party's (DAP) ticket. The main intention was to popularise the party. The party lost in its seat but managed to reduce the opponent's majority by 10,000 votes.

PSM candidates fielded for the 2004 general election.

In the 2004 general election, PSM had to contest on the logo of another party, Parti Keadilan Nasional (now known as Parti Keadilan Rakyat).

Three PSM members contested in the 2008 general election under the Keadilan ticket and one as an independent. Two of these candidates won PSM's first ever political seats. Candidate Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj won PSM's first ever federal parliamentary seat by defeating then president of Malaysian Indian Congress and long-serving Minister of Works Samy Vellu in Sungai Siput. PSM's president Mohd Nasir Hashim won the Kota Damansara seat in the Selangor state legislative assembly. Although S. Arutchelvan lost, PSM's election campaigning resulted in an increase in membership in Semenyih. The remaining member who contested Jelapang as an independent was M. Sarasvathy.[3]

The two PSM incumbents, Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj and Nasir Hashim, recontested their seats in the 2013 general election under Keadilan. Jeyakumar retained the PSM's parliamentary seat of Sungai Siput but Nasir, the PSM's president, lost the Kota Damansara state seat to a United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) candidate. Another two PSM members, S. Arutchelvan and M. Sarasvathy, also recontested the same seats but this time under the PSM ticket.

For the 2018 general election, PSM competed in their largest turnout (~2% of available Parliamentary + State seats); this consisted of five federal constituencies and 14 state constituencies. All PSM candidates for this general election competed under PSM name and logo, as opposed to the previous elections.[4] Unlike in previous elections, the then chairman Nasir Hashim announced that he was not running in the 2018 election.

PSM did not succeed in winning any seats this election and lost the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat it held since 2008.

PSM has a seven-point manifesto which lists the following policies:[5]

1. Workers' rights will be safeguarded (e.g. minimum wage, automatic recognition of workers unions and 90-day maternal leave).
2. The eradication of neo-liberal policies (e.g. halting privatisation of health care, education and other public necessities).
3. Stopping the Free Trade Agreement with western imperial powers.
4. Provide comfortable and humane housing for both rural and urban inhabitants.
5. Stopping racial and religious politics to foster greater unity among the people.
6. Eradication of corruption and abuse of power.
7. Stopping the destruction of the environment.

On 1 April 2008, accompanied by Friends of Kota Damansara (FOKD) and Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), PSM's Nasir Hashim led the delegation in talks with Selangor's newly appointed State Exco for Environmental Affairs, Elizabeth Wong, to gazette the Kota Damansara forest.[6]

PSM MP Michael Jeyakumar spoke out in April 2008 against private hospitals, the Malaysia-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and patents.[7]

On 15 April 2008, 100 residents, led by PSM committee member and state representative Nasir Hashim, protested against the construction of a Carrefour hypermarket in Kota Damansara.[8]

In January 2008, Aliran Monthly published an analysis by PSM committee member Michael Jeyakumar of the Hindraf rally. Devaraj wrote that class-based mobilisation should be used instead of ethnic-based mobilisation to rally the oppressed.[9]

On 13 September 2019, Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) Youth chief Khalid Ismath was detained for allegedly insulting Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah via a post on Twitter. According to Amnesty International, which also issued a statement on the arrest, Khalid was detained under the Sedition Act 1948. Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department chief Datuk Huzir Mohamed said the arrest was in response to a report lodged against Khalid over a social media post relating to the Queen.[10]