The Party

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) or Socialist Party of Malaysia is a left political party in Malaysia. Although the party was registered by it’s founding members on 30th April 1998, the government only approved the registration in August 2008 after a 10 year battle taking the government to task.

The party symbol is a white clenched left fist symbolizing unity of the people rising up to struggle for a fair, equitable and democratic society. The red signifies the struggle, while the white signifies the sincerity in our struggles and work.

The party has got branches and representative members throughout has an extensive grassroot movements among plantation workers, urban poor, students, farmers, Orang Asli communities, workers etc.

Ideology

The party embraces socialism that strives for an economic system that ensures fair distribution of wealth in a democratic and equal society, free of exploitation.

The party is convinced and committed to the class struggle and will continue to propagate class politics, going against the normal nouns of communal and religious politics practiced in Malaysia. The party will work hard towards empowering the masses and liberating them from the clutches of capitalism.

While PSM is committed to Marxist analysis, the party will have an open policy as far as left tendencies are concerned and we are against sectarianism. PSM has not joined nor aligned to any international socialist or left organizations. While we learn and are inspired by the various attempts of socialist governments in power and their policies, PSM believes that socialism in Malaysia has to be of local context and be built from a bottom up approach by Malaysians. PSM continues to open its doors for criticism and differing views among the left. At the end of the day, we want people to be treated with human dignity and enjoy the fruit of their labour.

Why we need a Socialist Party in Malaysia

Malaysia’s economic system which is entrenched in the capitalist model of development has failed to uplift the lives of the majority. It has only enriched a few through exploitation, land grabs, cronyism, corruption and destruction of the environment.

Unfortunately, there is no political party in power or in opposition that understands and accepts that capitalism is the problem and it cannot be reformed but we need to replace it with a new economic and political system that puts people not profits first.

We need a party that questions capitalism and builds an alternative economic, political model through participatory democracy and people’s power. A welfare government with a top down approach will not address the key core issues of exploitation that continue to perpetuate poverty.

We need a socialist party that address the problems of society as a class problem not a racial one. For far too long in Malaysia, racism has indoctrinated our mainstream political discourse, hiding from our view the reality that it’s a class issue between the haves and have not’s.

PSM was built from struggles of the common working people and we need to bring back class politics to fight for our basic needs, such as fair wages, housing, healthcare, affordable education, resisting sexism, homophobia and xenophobia.