Spontaneous humour and Malaysia’s democratic breakthrough in 2018

The 2018 Malaysian general election was the first democratic change of government in the nation’s modern history. The victory of the Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope – PH) coalition surprised several observers within and outside the country, especially considering the intensified repression employed by the outgoing Barisan Nasional (National Front – BN) ruling coalition leading up to the polls, including media censorship, the silencing of political opponents, and the manipulation of Islamism and ethnic Malay nationalism. This article examines the role of spontaneous, conversational humour in constructing a viable political identity for the PH. It does this by considering humorous moments during press conferences and similar media events held by the PH coalition, led by its designated choice for prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad. This article aims to contribute to the scholarship on the role of humour in identity construction and political campaigning.

The Excommunication

This chapter begins with Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi and his Christian Democrats' clean victory at the Italian parliamentary elections held in April 1948. It mentions the electoral defeat that dramatically damaged Palmiro Togliatti as he promised certain victory in order to appease the “maximalists.” It also discusses the communist Red Flying Squads that took the Prefecture Building in Milan in 1947 and tried to keep communist Ettore Troilo as head of the Milan department of the Ministry of Interior. The chapter explores Italian Stalinist Palmiro Togliatti's fear of a division in the party as he might become isolated and lose his influence on the party members. It describes Togliatti as the Kremlin's commissioner in Italy transplanted from Ufa, who was still adhering to the national front policy that he helped concoct in Moscow's ideological laboratories.

The Double Conspiracy

This chapter looks at Nikita Khrushchev's project of peaceful destalinization, which failed in Budapest. It refers to Imre Nagy, an old Comintern cadre who became Hungarian prime minister for the second time and minister of agriculture in the provisional national front government of Béla Miklós by the end of the war. It also mentions the communists that formed a coalition government with the Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers, and Civic Party (FKgP) after they won 57 percent of the vote at the first postwar elections held in 1945. The chapter discusses the appointment of László Rajk as minister of interior by communists, which was in line with Joseph Stalin's national front recipe. It reviews Rajk's founding of the party-controlled secret police AVO (Magyar Államrendőrség Államvédelmi Osztálya) and his reputation as a brutal Stalinist.

The Long March

This chapter discusses the undertaking of Marshall Tito and his army of the “Long March” across Bosnia after being driven from Serbia. It cites Croatia and Slovenia as the places where the movement developed in an unwanted direction, which is considered a problem based on the prescribed national front-based organizations created by the autonomous communist parties of the two regions. It also mentions Ivan Ribar, a member of the Supreme Command and Politburo, and head of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia, who was tasked by Tito to rectify the wrong course. The chapter points out Tito's description of Slovenia and Croatia as non-liberated regions as they were not covered by his marching army. It discusses the “liberated territories” or uncontested territories that were created by guerrillas in the two western provinces of Yugoslavia, which were occupied by the inefficient Italian army.

Queen of Hearts

This chapter recounts Marshal Tito's release from prison in the ancient Frankopan Tower of the Croatian town of Ogulin in the spring of 1934, and how he was still an actor in the global revolution on the European continent. It describes how the Great Depression was in full swing and that fascism had triumphed in Europe after Tito's release. It also highlights how Tito, on the orders of the Comintern and the representative of its Executive Committee, organized and led the Zagreb demonstrations which were supposed to destabilize King Alexander Karađorđević's regime. The chapter examines Moscow's intention for Yugoslavia to collapse as it would create a national front-style coalition of left-wing, bourgeois, and anti-fascist movements within the nations constituting the composite kingdom. It refers to the Yugoslavian king's abolishment of the constitution and Parliament so as to assume power for himself, which proclaimed an ideology of integral Yugoslavianism.

A Rendezvous with Stalin

This chapter discusses Marshal Tito's departure from the Adriatic “eagle's nest” that was prepared in utmost secrecy, not even Tito's closest associates had been informed about it. It describes Tito's retreat as the prehistory of containment, the Cold War, and the Berlin Wall. It also mentions Robert Murphy and Frank Wiesner, US experts for Europe that accompanied Tito for political affairs and intelligence issues. The chapter reviews Vladimir Bakarić's long account that reveals the most important information about the events on Vis and the session of the ZAVNOH, the national front government of Croatia, where Andrija Hebrang ran the show. It provides a background on Hebrang and how he presided over the Eighth Conference of the Zagreb party organization, where he appeared together with the organizing secretary and head of the apparatus.

Attitudes of Press and Political Parties from the Accomplishing the Treaty of 1930

This present work adopts the analytic and descriptive methodology to recognize and analyze the major challenges faced by the Iraqi government. The study focuses on the press and national partiers’ cabipility of changing and unifying the opinions of the public in a way that serves the Iraqi interest, taking into account the fact that the press is the fourth authority after the three major authorities, (Executive, Legislation and Judicial). The researcher has concluded that the Iraqi press and parties initiated a national front with the Iraqi people against the government’s signature of the treaty of (1930). The national front illustrated that signing the treaty strengthens the authority of the British occupation upon the national properties, and its internal and external decisions within the political and economic fields. Additionally, an obvious difference related to what has been written in the Iraqi press has been noticed, where the press represents the mirror of the policy and direction of the political parties. However, at the end, their opinions have been formulated in accordance with the benefits of the country. The treaty has given the Iraqi government a namely dependence after years of the British mandate.The major conclusion of this paper shows the effect of 10 newspapers on the public opinions. These include the following: Al-Iraq Press, Al-Nahdha Iraqi Press, Sada Al-Watan Press, and Sada Al-Istaqlal Press. Each press wrote more than 8 articles, tackling the negative side of the treaty. Further, they helped in educating the Iraqi people about the risks, and the negative impact of the treaty in limiting the freedom of the Iraqi people.