The March 2008 elections in
Malaysia was termed a "political tsunami," a phrase which became
widely used in the aftermath of the ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front)
swinging from its strongest parliamentary mandate in history to its worst
electoral performance ever.
The nearly 12 per cent swing in
popular vote to opposition parties, which has since coalesced into the Pakatan
Rakyat (People's Pact), resulted in Barisan losing its customary two-thirds
"supermajority" in Parliament.
From having 198 lawmakers in
the 222-seat federal legislative, Barisan only returned 140 MPs and ceded five
state governments in the multi-ethnic federation to Pakatan.
Then known as the Alliance, the
United Malays National Organisation-led (Umno) coalition has previously failed
to take two-thirds of the federal legislative only once, a result that preceded
the racial riots of May 13, 1969.
Malays and Chinese, the two
largest communities in the country, had clashed after the majority of the
latter had voted for the opposition, resulting in deaths which have been
reported to be anywhere from the official 196 to thousands.
No such trouble followed the
2008 polls, as Malays, who make up about 60 per cent of the 27 million
population, were nearly evenly divided between the two coalitions.
While Chinese dissented against
perceived government bias towards Malays in 1969, 2008 saw collective anger
towards Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's administration.
Abdullah, who has led Barisan
to its best and worst electoral performances, took over from Tun Dr Mahathir
Mohamad, Malaysia's longest-serving prime minister, in 2003 with the promise of
reforms and an all-out battle against endemic corruption.
But the strength of his 2004
mandate was followed by several controversies, including soaring cost of living
underlined by record prices for subsidised fuel, with petrol prices doubling
during his tenure to RM2.70 per litre in mid-2008.
His fight against corruption
was also perceived to be lip service as best highlighted by the failure to
bring any charges after the infamous "Lingam video" surfaced in
September 2007, in which senior lawyer V. K. Lingam appears to be making deals
to fix judicial appointments.
The dismantling of several
Mahathir-era legacies only resulted in the former prime minister Tun Dr
Mahathir Mohamad, still highly influential in Umno after 22 years in power,
making scathing attacks against his successor from 2006 onwards.
Events that earned Dr
Mahathir's ire included the cancelling of a new bridge-link to Singapore which
he said would allow ships to bypass the island republic and benefit local
ports, as well as the new management installed at Proton, the national carmaker
he launched in 1983 and is still advisor of.
When Abdullah's administration
did move towards reforms, it proved to contribute to his undoing.
Former Deputy Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was released from jail in 2004 after the Federal Court
overturned his sodomy conviction, allowing the de facto Parti Keadilan Rakyat
(People's Justice Party) leader to lead the opposition pact to stunning gains
in 2008.
Dr Mahathir had managed to keep
his government together in the 1999 elections by wooing Chinese voters a year
after controversially sacking his deputy Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, an Islamist
who was popular among Malays.
Anwar seemed to be forgotten
when Abdullah took over in 2003, many believing that being rid of Dr Mahathir
was enough "Reformasi" for the time being. But Abdullah's reputation
for weak leadership and flip-flopping on important decisions alienated the
three main ethnic groups, with close to 70 per cent of Indians voting against
him.
Jerome Martin is a
political analyst and humourist. Some might say both are the same. But he finds
that humour can in fact be used to reveal the truth.
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