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Malaysian Opposition Wins Crucial By-Election
by Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA (IslamOnline) - Lunas, in the state of Kedah, a relatively unknown town and stronghold of the National Front (NF) of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, has fallen into the hands of a jubilant opposition front on Wednesday.
The result surprised the government party, the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), that had banked on momentary disarray in the opposition camp, hoping to win the election’s upper hand. The voters of the constituency, however, tuned to another tone.
The ethnic Chinese vote was split, while ethnic Malays voted massively for the opposition candidate. The Indians, as expected, gave the bloc of their votes to the MIC.
Anwar Ibrahim’s National Justice Party (NJP) secured the state seat after Saifuddin Nasution Ismail won by a majority of 530 votes, denying the ruling NF coalition a two-thirds majority in Mahathir’s home state.
IslamOnline had indicated earlier that Chinese swing votes would be crucial to an opposition win in the constituency, which is almost equally divided among Malays, Chinese and Indians.
Malays forms 43% of the 27,000 strong electorate, while Chinese form 32% and Indians 25%. Saifuddin, a Malay Muslim, secured 10511 votes defeating S. Anthonysamy, an Indian who received 9981 votes.
A large crowd of opposition supporters was in jubilation carrying banners and shouting slogans. Many of them felt their party had won the seat at the closure of voting booths.
Many of the supporters said Works Minister Sammy Velloo, a close friend of Mahathir, should resign and remain in Lunas after his party’s defeat.
The Minister promised his colleagues and the Indians in Lunas that he would not return to Kuala Lumpur if his party loses the seat. He was, however, in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday to assist in a Cabinet meeting, reports say.
No NF representatives, including Anthonysamy, were in the hall when returning officer Osman Salleh announced the results 9pm on Wednesday.
The opposition victory is a major upset in Malaysian local politics with wide ranging implications. Pro-government newspapers admitted that the result in Lunas was crucial in many ways and detrimental to Mahathir’s government.
If the local by-election was a test of Mahathir’s popularity, then the failure by the NF to recapture a seat it won with a 4000 majority in 1999 probably indicates a downward popularity trend for the Prime Minister, an Internet magazine editorial wrote.
The Star Newspaper said the opposition’s aggressive campaign style mostly led by leaders each night, drawing large crowds and their “do-or-die” battle-cry clearly showed that it was not just about winning a state seat.
The paper said the opposition wanted to deny the NF a two-thirds majority in the state’s legislature, which the ruling coalition held until the murder of Joe Fernandez.
The opposition feels these results will weaken the NF grip on Kedah where the Party Islam Se Malaysia (PAS), a partner of the NJP in the Alternative Front (AF) opposition coalition, won 12 out of 36 seats during the famous 1999 elections.
The government is said to have spent a huge sum of money in donations, road repairs and other largess in Lunas in order to try and win the seat. Opposition parties in Malaysia said this was the proof that the ruling coalition was prepared to spend money and rebuild towns only in an attempt to win seats.
On the eve of polling, Kedah MCA chairman Chua Jui Meng said the polling would decide the fate of the people of Kedah. He said the people in Lunas had come to a very difficult crossroad, as their actions would affect the state's future.
The "PAS has managed to wrest 12 out of the 36 seats here in the last general election,'' he said here yesterday.
Chua, who is also the Health Minister, said PAS' confidence would be boosted if they managed to secure the Lunas seat.
He added that the people, especially the Chinese, should understand that they would be badly affected in terms of economy, culture, education and development if they voted for Keadilan.
"If they rule, they will turn Kedah into an Islamic state,'' he said.
"Even a statement blotted out in the last minute by the State Islamic Religious Affairs Department on Wednesday did not prevent the Malays from voting a Malay in Lunas," said an opposition leader to IslamOnline.
The Department said there was no fatwa preventing a Muslim from voting for a non-Muslim candidate.
Its president, Sheikh Yahya Jusoh, said Muslims could vote for any candidate in an election even if the latter was not a Muslim.
A letter had been distributed during the Lunas by-election campaign claiming it was haram [forbidden] for Muslims to vote for a Christian.
Yahya said the letter was a fake and slanderous as it had used the religious department's letterhead.
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