Beginning in 2005 as a small electoral reform initiative, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, known as Bersih, became the most prominent social movement in Malaysia. Based on participant observation approach and first-hand interviews with key actors, this book examines how Bersih became a movement that aggregated the collective grievance of Malaysians and brought Malaysian sociopolitical activism to a new level. This book makes a major contribution to the scholarly work on social movement theories in the Southeast Asian context and to the growing literature on social movements and democratization.

This book analyses marginalisation and human rights in Southeast Asia and offers diverse approaches in understanding the nuances of marginalisation and human rights in the region. Throughout the region, a whole range of similarities and differences can be observed relating to the Southeast Asian experience of human rights violation, with each country maintaining particular aspects reflecting the variability of the use and abuse of political power. This book explores the distinct links between marginalisation and human rights for groups exposed to discrimination. It focuses on ethnic minorities, children, indigenous peoples, migrant workers, refugees, academics, and people with disabilities. This book highlights the disparities in attainment and opportunity of marginalised and minority groups in Southeast Asia to their rights. It examines how marginalisation is experienced, with case studies ranging from a regional approach to country context. Paying attention to how broader socio-economic and political structures affect different people's access to, or denial of, their fundamental human rights and freedoms, the book argues that tackling human rights abuses remains a major hurdle for the countries in Southeast Asia. Providing a broader conceptual framework on marginalisation and human rights in Southeast Asia and a new assessment of these issues, this book will be of interest to readers in the fields of Asian Law, Human Rights in Asia, and Southeast Asian Studies, in particular Southeast Asian Politics.

Beginning in 2005 as a small electoral reform committee, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections - or Bersih - soon became Malaysia's most prominent social movement, mobilising five mass demonstrations on the streets of Kuala Lumpur and other cities at home and abroad, and becoming a prominent voice not only for electoral form, but against corruption and authoritarianism. Based on participant observation and first-hand interviews with key actors, this is the first academic book that looks at how Bersih operated within an authoritarian system that turned into a movement that aggregated the collective grievance of Malaysians and enabled Malaysian socio-political activism to force the government to concede to elements of electoral reform. Engaging with social movement theory, the author locates Bersih at the centre of the movement for democracy in Malaysia, thus creating a platform for citizen participation and mobilisation that helped form the basis of a new democratic ethos. Along the way, she notes the way in which Bersih evolved out of earlier civil society activism and the Reformasi movement to place political protest and popular mobilisation as important forces in Malaysian politics. This book makes a major contribution to the scholarly work on social movement theories in the Southeast Asian context, and to the growing literature on social movements and democratisations.