Malaysians woke up on Sunday, March 9, to a new political era in the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian country after the opposition dealt a humiliating defeat to the ruling coalition in the general elections.
“It feels Malaysia is a whole new country,” Daniel Sia, a 27-year-old civil engineer, told Reuters.
“It feels like it has been reborn.”
Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s ruling National Front suffered its worst ever poll result on Saturday, March 8, losing its two-thirds majority in the federal parliament for the first time since 1969.
With only three of the 222 seats undeclared, the NF won 137, the People’s Justice Party of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim 31, the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party 28 and the Islamic Party PAS 23 seats.
The opposition won unprecedented control of five of Malaysia’s 13 states including Abdullah’s own home state.
“It’s good to give some pressure for National Front,” said Lai Yee Fei, 28, who works at a coffee bar beneath Kuala Lumpur’s soaring twin towers.
“If the opposition parties can stand up for us, on behalf of us, I think it’s good.”
Abdullah won 91 percent of parliamentary seats in the 2004 elections, but analysts said he was being punished this time for high inflation, rising crime and mounting ethnic tensions.
He has also faced flak for failing to act on election promises to eradicate corruption.
“I am not shocked because NF failed to resolve many issues such as the prices of goods and fuel, and the issues affecting the Indian community,” said teacher Firdaus Abdullah, 25.
The National Front coalition has governed Malaysia in various forms since its 1957 independence.
High Hopes
Many people are pinning high hopes on the poll results to usher in a better future for the country.
“The cabinet needed a reshuffle, people wanted to see new faces and that is why you see so many ministers have lost,” said Manjit Kaur, 50, real estate agent.
“With the opposition coming into parliament with so many seats, we can expect better decisions.
“Things will get better now.”
Without a two-thirds parliamentary majority, the NF can no longer change the constitution at will.
It could struggle to alter electoral boundaries, powers that the opposition have long maintained were abused by the ruling coalition.
“It is not good to have one-sided parliament,” said Mohamad Isa Jaafar, 44, a building contractor.
“The ruling NF had become all too powerful and arrogant.”
Premier Abdullah is already facing mounting calls to quit after the humiliating election setback.
Former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who chose Abdullah as successor in 2003 after two decades leading the United National Malays Organization (UMNO), which dominates the NF coalition.
“My view is he has destroyed UMNO, destroyed the NF and he has been responsible for this,” Mahathir told reporters.
“I think he should accept responsibility for this. He should accept 100 percent responsibility,” he said.
Mahathir has previously said he never intended for Abdullah to serve more than one term, and that he should have opted instead for influential deputy prime minister Najib Razak.
Under UMNO tradition, Najib is heir apparent to Abdullah and expected to become the next prime minister.
“I am sorry but I apparently made the wrong choice.”
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PAS New Look Won Malaysian Hearts
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The new image and revamped inclusive policies on minorities helped the Islamist party (PAS) make big gains in the general elections, winning more seats and states.
“The new PAS agenda was more appealing,” Shahruddin Badaruddin, a political analyst, told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Sunday, March 9.
“As a result, there was a coming together of forces in the various states as the Malay swing against the government coincided with big swings in the Chinese and Indian communities, something which has never happened before.”
PAS won 23 seats in the 222-strong national assembly, up from just seven in the outgoing legislature.
In the 12 state elections, the party secured three of five provincial assemblies wrested from the ruling National Front coalition.
In the northern state of Kelantan state, which PAS has ruled for the past 18 years, the party increased its majority edge winning 38 of the 45 seats.
PAS now commands a two-thirds majority instead of the slim two-seat margin won in the 2004 elections.
The snap elections saw opposition parties PAS, Keadilan and the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party dealing a humiliating defeat to the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.
The NF coalition lost its two-thirds majority in the federal parliament for the first time since 1969.
Inclusive
Analysts say it was PAS’s revamped policies before the elections which won over new supporters.
“There was a big shift in PAS’s attitude by dropping any mention of plans to set up an Islamic state,” said Shahruddin.
The PAS government in Kelantan has lifted a 15-year ban on the popular games of snooker and billiards and allowed cinemas to operate — although with the lights on to prevent any unseemly behavior.
A walk down the dusty streets of the state capital Kota Bharu sees mosques located next to Buddhist temples, and veiled Muslim girls chatting with their short-skirted non-Muslim friends.
Non-Muslims are openly sell roasted pork, which is forbidden under Islam, in the state.
It also fielded more youth and women candidates in Sunday’s polls, including Kumutha Rahman, a Hindu.
“This signaled their need for support from non-Muslim voters who did not disappoint them, and backed what is an essentially Islamic government,” Tricia Yeoh, from the Center for Public Policy Studies think tank, told AFP.
Shahruddin agreed that PAS’s greater acceptance of ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities was a major victory factor.
“PAS will now have to tread a much more moderate line in ensuring that they can form a coalition with the DAP,” he added.
“If they can do this, there will for the first time be a viable opposition coalition facing off the government in parliament.”
PAS officials are signaling a desire for a unified opposition front.
The party’s vice-president Husam Musa hoped opposition parties would put aside their differences and form a powerful coalition in the state assemblies they won.
“We must now try and unify and bring the races together and to pursue a more mainstream agenda.”