KUALA LUMPUR: In what is probably the biggest upset in Malaysian electoral history, the Islamic opposition party and its sole ally, the National Justice Party of jailed former deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim
, have lost nearly everything they had won in the 1999 election.
At the time, they benefited from massive backlash against former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was perceived to have had Anwar arrested in 1998 because he posed a challenge to him.
But in the March 21 polls, voters routed the state governments led by the Islamic party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) in the Muslim majority strongholds of Kelantan and Terengganu. The PAS managed to win only six of the 86 parliamentary constituencies it contested. The PAS held 27 seats when parliament was dissolved on March 5.
Top PAS leaders who had claimed to speak for Malay Muslims, who make up 60 per cent of Malaysia's 25 million people, fell like tenpins. Many reeled in shock and tears at the scale of the defeat.
The National Justice Party lost nearly all the 48 seats it contested. However, its president, Dr Wan Azizah Ismail, Anwar Ibrahim's wife, won her Permatang Pauh seat by 590 votes on a recount.
When the full results and recounts are over, experts expect the ruling National Front government, led by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), to win 200 of 219 seats in the expanded parliament. It received 4.3 million or 64 per cent of votes cast on Sunday and at least 12 out of 13 states. The voter turnout on average was 63 per cent.
The PAS received one million votes or 15.8 per cent while the Chinese-based opposition Democratic Action Party made a dramatic comeback, winning 12 parliamentary seats and 630,000 votes. Political pundits are arguing the causes for such a big rout. What happened and why?
"The verdict is a resounding endorsement of Abdullah moderate and progressive Islam," social scientist Chandra Muzaffar told IPS in an interview. "Malaysians - Muslims and non Muslims - alike have made a clear and unambiguous decision rejecting PAS- style radicalism."
"This defeat is the worst ever suffered by the PAS. I wonder whether they will ever politically recover," Chandra said. "The challenge now is managing the victory, how Abdullah treats the huge mandate from the people."
Chandra urged Abdullah to press ahead with his anti-corruption and transparency drive and his advocacy of moderate and progressive Islam. The PAS won Kelantan state in 1990 on the back of support from a breakaway faction from the ruling UMNO party.
The PAS had campaigned on what it called an 'Islamic state' platform. The policy drove non-Muslims to the ruling National Front and it was assumed, wrongly, that Muslims were in favour of greater Islamization and would return the PAS in the other Muslim-majority states of Kedah and Perlis.
Analysts said the losses PAS suffered on Sunday showed that its 1999 gain was entirely because of protest votes against the Mahathir government over its treatment of Anwar Ibrahim.
"When that sentiment faded, the voters returned to the government fold especially with Dr Mahathir gone and replaced by a kindly, mild- mannered Islamic scholar who only wants to do good," an academic who declined to be named told IPS.
"The retirement of Dr Mahathir and the pleasant personality of Abdullah took the spite out of the Malay anger," he said. It is the first vote since the start of the 'war on terrorism' following the Sept 11 attacks in the United States.
The verdict rejecting fundamentalism is expected to have an impact in the Muslim world, where Malaysia has status as one of the few modern and successful Muslim nations.
Abdullah took over from Mahathir in October and immediately wooed Malays by distancing himself from the veteran, cancelling some wasteful megaprojects and pledging to clean up the civil service, restructure the police force and put an end to official corruption.
His focus on agriculture, rural development and public health were popular. In the wake of the vote, some fear that the massive loss would radicalize the PAS. -Dawn/The Inter Press News Service.
