Bitter poll aftermath dents Malaysian PM
MALAYSIAN Prime Minister Najib Razak may have won this month’s disputed election but he faces a fight for legitimacy that could slow reforms, embolden a strong opposition protest movement and spark a leadership battle. Already the signs are not good. At a busy intersection across from one of Kuala Lumpur’s fanciest shopping malls, a huge poster of Najib and his deputy has been defaced, a rare display of public disrespect in the Southeast Asian nation. One of the comments scrawled on the poster poked fun at the unconvincing share of the votes won by Najib’s long-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition: “47 percent PM.”
“If you don’t like it, you can leave,” mocked another, alluding to a comment by Najib’s new home minister that those unhappy with the May 5 poll result — and the electoral system that produced it — should pack up and emigrate. The tense political atmosphere threatens to prolong policy uncertainty that investors hoped the polls would put to rest, as Najib braces for a possible leadership challenge and the opposition mounts a noisy campaign to contest the result.
By securing 60 percent of parliamentary seats with less than 50 percent of the popular vote, the BN’s victory has served to expose starkly the unfairness of a gerrymandered electoral system that is also prone to cheating and bias. That has galvanized the opposition, led by former deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, into holding a series of big rallies as it refuses to accept the result and prepares legal action to challenge the outcome in nearly 30 close-run seats. Disgruntled Malaysians have submitted more than 220,000 signatures to the White House online petition page, exceeding the number required for a response from President Barack Obama.
In response, divisions have appeared in the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the main party in the ruling coalition — in power since independence from Britain in 1957. Hardliners have urged a crackdown on dissent and blamed minority ethnic Chinese voters for deserting the ruling coalition. That has raised racial tensions in a country whose ethnic Malay majority dominates politics and enjoys special privileges to offset what its leaders see as its disadvantaged position compared to relatively wealthy ethnic Chinese.