Wong Chin Huat

 

Coming from a background of economics and psychology and later receiving formal training in political science at University of Essex, I see politics as being driven primarily by incentives and structured by institutions. Agents may not be rational, but they do often behave as if they are so. My PhD thesis, now in its last stage, is on the impact of electoral system on political parties in West Malaysia from 1982 to 2004. Beyond electoral system, I am studying electoral corruption and misconduct. I have observed campaigning and polling in the 2004 general elections and three by-elections in 2007. As part of my thesis, I have also studied 17 manifestos by Malaysian parties in the 22 years since 1982 to identify the shift of the parties’ programmatic appeals. I have also strong interest in the operation of media and civil society groups. For this election, my research focuses on election reporting and political advertisement. I shall be collecting 19 titles of newspapers in four languages for a coding project, sponsored by Monash’s Faculty of Arts, to gather information and to build a database about electoral strategies and political communication in Malaysia. I am also helping Transparency International Malaysia in their monitoring of political advertisement expenses in newspapers and television. In future, I plan to study patronage and ‘pork barrel’ politics and their implications in ethnic politics.

In the belief that academics must engage the world, I participate in activism related to both electoral reform and media freedom. The cause that I hold dearest is the reintroduction of local elections.

Academic Publications

Non-peer-reviewed Publications