Malaysia

A tsunami of an election

It was as much Mahathir’s undermining of his protégé Abdullah Badawi as the latter’s own inept performance that has brought the ruling coalition into dire straits, comments Andrew Small

  However it was described, ‘a new Merdeka (independence)’ or a people’s victory, the Malaysian elections have set the country off on a new trajectory for the first time since independence from Britain in 1957.
   The ruling National Front lost its two-thirds majority for only the second time in its history, losing a string of states, mainly in the north, along the way.
   The opposition won control of five of the country’s 13 states and the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) is now in the highly unusual position of having fewer seats in parliament — 79 — than the opposition with 82.
   The opposition’s success has thrown into question a whole series of government policies while putting Kuala Lumpur on notice that the corrupt, old ways of doing business will no longer wash. The stock market responded quickly to the new dispensation by falling 10 per cent.
   Significantly, the last time that anything approaching this scale of a reverse for the ruling elite happened in 1969 when the response was a series of race riots which became so serious that the government declared a state of national emergency. Parliament remained suspended until 1971. Although there had been inter-racial tension for some time before the elections of 10 May 1969 the riots did not break out till three days later after provocative marches resulted in clashes between Malays and Chinese.
   At issue were Malay feelings that they were excluded from the economy since they were involved mainly in rural, agricultural activities while the Chinese and Indians resented what they saw as Malay cultural arrogance. The Malay-ultra faction which triumphed in the ruling UMNO brought about the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP) which grants extensive economic privileges to the Malays. The NEP has been in force ever since. It has been the cause of long-running unhappiness among the non-Malay elements of society and when the opposition made such inroads in the elections on 8 March their success was fuelled, at least in part, by frustrations over the NEP.
   It is a measure of how much Malaysian politics has matured in the interim that there was only the most acceptable of political manifestations on the streets of the capital after the voting. It will be up to Malaysia’s rulers to ensure that the lessons of the need to achieve greater equality of opportunity are learned. 
   One of the most striking victories was that of the leader of Chinese-backed Democratic Action Party (DAP), Lim Guan Eng, who heads the new government in the northern state of Penang, Malaysia’s only majority-Chinese state. Lim, the new chief minister, is a former political prisoner and is believed to be the first former prisoner to reach such high office. His father, Kit Siang, has been a stalwart of the party for many years. For him to see his son’s success was the crowning point of a 42-year political career which has been marked, as with those of many opposition politicians, by a frustrating inability to make much impact on central government policies. But a measure of just how much things have shifted, and how quickly, was the announcement by Guan Eng in his acceptance speech that he planned to discontinue the NEP in the state. Interestingly, one of the first bouquets of congratulation came from a local developer, Abad Naluri, who is responsible for the $7.8 billion Penang Global City Centre development. It seems someone is hoping that things are not going to change too much. Previously Guan Eng had had great difficulty in getting to see the developer. 
   Another former prisoner, Anwar Ibrahim, was also partly responsible for Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s discomfiture. Anwar was jailed on trumped-up charges under the former regime of Mahathir Mohamed when he got ideas about succeeding Mahathir. He was accused of homosexual activity in a show trial that echoed the worst examples seen under Soviet communism. Badawi called the election just weeks short of Anwar’s being able to return to active politics following his jail term. It was a cheap political trick and did nothing to save Badawi from the voters’ wrath since Anwar was seen as the de facto leader of the opposition Gerakan even if he could play no part on the stump. But then Badawi only got the post of prime minister because he was handpicked by Mahathir. Anwar said: ‘This is a defining moment, unprecedented in our nation’s history. Today a new chapter has opened’, echoing the line of The Star newspaper which defined the election result as a ‘political tsunami’.
   But it was as much Mahathir’s undermining of his protégé as Badawi’s inept performance that brought the ruling coalition into such dire straits. Badawi had barely been in office a few months before the former leader began branding him a disappointment. Later he would openly regret his choice of successor. But Mahathir might have been talking of his own era in power rather than that of his successor when he said, ‘The problem is we have become so arrogant. We suppress any opinion that we do not like and they begin to believe in their own reports, which are not actually consistent with what is happening in the country.’
   Given the media bias in favour of the ruling coalition and domination of the air waves it has been little surprise that it has taken so long for the opposition to make such a significant dent in UMNO’s arrogance. But the rapid expansion of new media outlets seems to have decisively tipped the balance. Online news reporting and blogs have been an important element of the political scene in Malaysia for many years now, pioneered by the late, great and courageous journalist M.G.G. Pillai. But this year his legacy bore an abundance of fruit which would have brought him great satisfaction at a life well spent. 
   The blogs have complained ever since Badawi took office that he was not carrying out his campaign pledges, not least to combat corruption which, if anything, grew worse under his watch because of the activities of those close to him.
   Belatedly in 2008 he now seems likely to try to meet some of those pledges — if he is given the time. His new cabinet, cut back to about half the size from its bloated manifestation in his first period in office, will retain only four familiar faces in the 32-person line-up. Two of those not returning are the long-serving minister of trade Rafidah Aziz and Samy Vellu, leader of the Malaysian Indian Congress, who lost his seat in parliament after 34 years. As one observer noted, these are the sort of changes that he should have made four years ago.
   But it is now an open question whether Badawi will manage to weather his next political challenge — the annual meeting of UMNO when his leadership of the movement will be called into question. The meeting is not due until August but some in the party are so eager to have their revenge for the debacle that they are suggesting that it be brought forward to May. No doubt Mahathir will be among those marshalling his forces to challenge Badawi. But there are two problems for those who would unseat him: his deputy, Najib Razak, was a favourite to step into his shoes but he has been damaged by the political hurricane; and the second is that his new round of appointments means that he has assembled a new corps of loyalists around him who owe their jobs to him rather than his predecessor.
                       
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