Malaysia opposition sniffs power

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Feb 5, 2013

(Oman Daily Observer) – Speculation is rife that Pakatan could win enough in the polls to lure ruling coalition defectors and form a government.

After the 2008 elections, a more experienced and organised Malaysian opposition is eyeing the once-unthinkable: toppling one of the world’s longest-serving governments.

Malaysians vote soon with the formerly hapless opposition buoyed by a new track record of state-level government, signs of growing voter support, and what its leader Anwar Ibrahim calls a sense of history in the making.

“I am convinced, that we will win government,” Anwar said, evoking the winds of change that powered the “Arab Spring” elsewhere in the Muslim world. “Of course we call it a ‘Malaysian Spring’, but our method is elections (not uprisings).”

Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to call a fresh vote in weeks, pitting his Malay-dominated Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition against Anwar’s multi-ethnic opposition alliance Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Pact).

The 57-year-old ruling bloc enjoys deep pockets, mainstream media control, an electoral system the opposition says is rigged, and a record of decades of economic growth under its authoritarian template.

Few expect the opposition to win the 112 parliamentary seats needed to take power. The three-party alliance won 82 seats in the 2008 polls, up from 21, stunning the BN with its biggest-ever setback.

But speculation is rife that Pakatan could win enough in the polls — which must be held by late June — to lure ruling coalition defectors and form a government.

“Before this year, many were in denial about Pakatan’s potential. Today, we see society beginning to accept that the possibility (of a BN defeat) is real,” said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, who runs the independent Malaysian think tank IDEAS.

The country’s stock market has trembled recently over the uncertainty as opinion polls suggest the vote will be tight. One recent survey put Najib and Anwar neck-and-neck as prime ministerial candidates.