Liberal democracy is established as the normative model of political organization for all societies in public consciousness at the turn of the twentieth century. The ideas of human rights and social justice provide the norm to evaluate the performance of the governments, today. The empirical evidence across the globe shows a clear trend towards democratization, secularization and rationalization of governmental procedures and political cultures. The forces of modernization and globalization provide a thrust to these trends. The Southeast Asia, in general, and Malaysia, in particular, are no exception. Malaysian political system exhibits a greater concern for order and stability than liberty and rights. It has pursued equity restructuring with a degree of success. This work outlines the linkages between fundamental rights, social justice, civil society, political economy, party system, communal peace, authoritarian leadership styles and democratic procedures to be causal and complementary in the process of political development in Malaysia.