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Malaysia's
political landscape shifts
Reuters
9
Mar
08
http://news.smh.com.au/malaysias-political-landscape...
Malaysians
awoke on Sunday to the biggest sea-change in politics in almost
40 years, with opposition Islamists and reformists winning
control of five states and giving the government a humiliating
wake-up call.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's
multi-racial National Front coalition won just a simple majority
in parliament, and his future as leader is in doubt after he
watched a record majority collapse to the weakest level
ever.
His predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, urged him to
quit.
"He should accept responsibility," said
Mahathir who now says he made a mistake in picking Abdullah as
his successor and that the current deputy premier, Najib Razak,
should have taken over.
The streets were unusually quiet
on Sunday, with many older Malaysians fearful of trouble.
The
last time the coalition suffered a heavy setback, in 1969, race
riots erupted.
Barisan has effectively ruled since
independence from Britain in 1957.
"I am shocked. It
feels Malaysia is a whole new country. It feels like it has been
reborn," Daniel Sia, a 27-year-old civil engineer, said as
he did some shopping in the capital.
Lai Yee Fei, 28, who
works at a coffee bar beneath Kuala Lumpur's soaring twin towers,
said she was glad that Malaysia now had a strong opposition to
press the government.
"It's good to give some
pressure for Barisan Nasional," she said.
"If
the opposition parties can stand up for us, on behalf of us, I
think it's good."
Abdullah, who only four years ago
led the coalition to a record election victory on a wave of hope
for change, faced a bleak political future today, his aides
stunned but not willing to concede that he must step
down.
"Frankly, this is not really the time because a
lot of component parties (of Barisan) have been decimated,"
one close aide said, declining to be identified.
"We
have lost a few people and I think it's time to
consolidate."
Abdullah's humbling performance
nationally - the coalition ended up with 62 per cent of federal
seats, down from 90 per cent previously - was compounded by the
fact that his own home state, the industrial heartland of Penang,
fell to the opposition.
The leftist Chinese-backed
Democratic Action Party (DAP) won Penang, the hub for Malaysia's
electronics industry, which accounts for about half of
exports.
The opposition Islamist party PAS scored shock
victories in the northern heartland states of Kedah and Perak and
easily retained power in its stronghold in northeastern Kelantan
state.
DAP and PAS also joined the People's Justice Party,
or Parti Keadilan, to take control of the industrial state of
Selangor and almost all the seats in capital Kuala
Lumpur.
Political experts and economists wondered aloud
whether the Barisan government could now pursue its agenda,
including plans for $US325 billion ($A351.5 billion) in
development zones across the country.
Without a two-thirds
parliamentary majority, Barisan can no longer change the
constitution or make some key appointments and could struggle to
alter electoral boundaries, powers that the opposition have long
maintained were abused by Barisan.
"This is probably
not good news for the equity market or the ringgit," said
Tim Condon, Singapore-based head of Asia research for investment
bank ING.
The pro-government media, Abdullah's
cheer-leader during the campaign, changed tack today, urging
Barisan to ensure better job and education opportunities in this
multi-racial nation.
Malaysia is largely a mix of ethnic
Malays, which make up about 55 percent of the population, and
ethnic Chinese and Indians, who account for about a third.
A
protest vote from Chinese and Indians, upset over what they saw
as racial inequality in terms of business, job and education
opportunities, had been expected.
The Indians were
merciless, voting out the leader of the coalition's Indian
component party and handing a seat to an Indian activist
currently in detention.
But Malays, who are all Muslims
and traditionally support Barisan in good times and bad,
completed a perfect storm for the government, handing the
opposition Islamists a record vote in what was perceived as a
protest against rising prices.
"Tomorrow we will
start building a brighter future," said opposition icon
Anwar Ibrahim, de facto leader of Parti Keadilan, which emerged
as the biggest opposition party in federal parliament with 31
seats.
"This is a new dawn for Malaysia."
Anwar,
a Malay and former deputy premier, is widely seen as the only
politician who could unify the ideologically divided opposition
into a coherent and credible political force, though many
political experts see this an almost possible task.
Anwar
was banned from standing in the elections because of a criminal
record - he spent six years in jail until 2004 on what he called
trumped-up charges - but is expected to take over his old seat
from his wife, who has held it since his 1998 jailing.
Results
from the elections commission late today showed the National
Front with 137 seats in the 222-seat parliament versus 82 for the
opposition, with three seats still being tallied.
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