Early Elections in Malaysia Could Undercut Opposition
By Daniel Hollingsworth
January 24, 2008 | Printer Friendly

Reuters reports that general elections in Malaysia, not constitutionally required until 2009, will likely be held by the end of March of this year so the current government can “capitalize on a raft of state construction projects launched in the past 18 months.” While Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has predicted that his party will far short of the record victory in 2004, in which the coalition led by his United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party won 199 of 219 Parliamentary seats, the coalition is expected to maintain control of the government. UMNO has ruled Malaysia since the country’s independence in 1957.

However, a series of protests in recent months has challenged the popularity of the UMNO-led government. The International Herald Tribune writes that Malaysian police forcefully dispersed a January 5 rally, which was protesting the Internal Security Act, “a colonial-era law allowing indefinite detention without trial” that human rights groups say “is abused to silence dissidents.” The report adds, “The ISA was most recently used to detain five ethnic Indian leaders who organized a massive rally on Nov. 25 to demand equal right for their minority community in the Muslim-majority country.” The BBC also reports that the government has been accused of barring Indians from obtaining visas for work in Malaysia, a charge the government denies. “A Ministry of Home Affairs spokesman told the BBC that Malaysia would, though, be requiring further ‘detail’ from Indian applicants in future. He added that each person would be treated on a ‘case by case’ basis.”

Opposition leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim claims that the call for early elections is aimed at preventing him from running. Voice of America writes that “Anwar, a former UMNO stalwart, was seen as the coming leader until he and then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad split in the late 1990s.” After this split, he was convicted and jailed on corruption charges that “international human rights groups called… politically motivated and condemned his detention.” Under the terms of his conviction, he is not permitted to run for office until April 8 of this year. Voice of America also reports that “His party, Keadilan, says electoral fraud has already begun, such as the registering of ‘phantom voters’ in small constituencies well ahead of the polls.” The party only won one seat in the 2004 election, but he believes that due to the current public dissatisfaction and ethnic tension in the country, “the result would be impressive that it would even shake not only the two-thirds majority (of the coalition in Parliament), but also the strength of the ruling UMNO-led coalition.”

References:

Reuters: Malaysia PM says unlikely to match 2004 poll win

International Herald Tribune: Malaysian riot police break up rally to protest detention without trial law

BBC News: Malaysia visa policy ‘tightened’

Voice of America: Malaysian Opposition Leader Warns of Fraud as Election Looms