INSTITUTIONS OF STATE AND NATIONAL SECURITY
Some observers have described Malaysia as ‘an administrative state', meaning that the core of government activity and the implementation of policy has been, and is, essentially the role of the public bureaucracy (the civil service and various government and quasi-government agencies), the police and the armed forces.
Legacies of British colonial rule, these organs have since undergone a process of institutional development. This has been an imperative of the government of the day since Independence, and has allowed the institutions to render continuous service to the nation. Even during the Emergency (1948–60) (see ‘The Emergency' and ‘The Emergency resolved'), public services were not interrupted, as the nature of government was basically an administrative operation.
At the apex of these institutions is the Malaysian Administrative and Diplomatic Service (Perkhidmatan Tadbir dan Diplomatik, PTD), whose members form the higher echelons of the public policy-making elite and staff the top posts of the various ministries and agencies. Successor to the Malayan Civil Service (MCS), the PTD carries on a long tradition of service and professionalism and continues to manage and lead the other public and technical services.
Together with the police and the armed forces, the public services have provided for a high degree of stability in government operations—in executive, regulative, penetrative, distributive and coercive functions. The Royal Malaysia Police has evolved into a federal agency charged with normal policing (criminal investigation and preservation of law and order), intelligence, and paramilitary and constabulary functions. The Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) have developed into a credible, external defence force comprising army, navy and air force components, and continue to modernize to meet the demands of a changing security environment. More specifically, the MAF is being transformed into a conventional platform from what had essentially been a counter-insurgency force.
The provision of such services by the highly institutionalized organs of government has meant that government authority is a hallmark of Malaysian political development, that Malaysia is a ‘closely administered' state, and that it continues to be a country poised to achieve the goals of a developed nation.
This section includes a discussion of the challenge of national security (which is more domestic in nature rather than comprising threats of external aggression), the system of local government, and the administration of the Federal Territories.
Provision of government services—spearheaded by the civil service, and undergirded by robust ‘coercive' institutions in the police and armed forces—has meant Malaysia has ‘strong' institutions which in turn are important contributors to government performance and political stability. Together, these institutions comprise the administrative machinery of the Malaysian ‘state': the effective functioning of this machinery constitutes a significant factor in the state's politics, economy and society.
