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Call it political tsunami or avalanche, the March 8 general election was the defining moment in Malaysian history and the political landscape will never be the same again. THE CORRIDORS OF POWER By SUHAINI AZNAM, THE STAR
March 8 gave Malaysia’s 10.9 million registered voters the prospect of an alternative government and brought it a gargantuan step closer to a two-coalition system. First-time voters were inspired knowing each vote truly counted. For the government of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the challenge was to recapture the people’s trust. After its sterling performance in 2004, Barisan Nasional this time won only 63% of total seats (down from 91%) and 51.2% of popular votes (down from 63%). As with all avalanches, fissures had emerged in the previous year but those in power had missed the signs. A string of people’s demonstrations, culminating in the Hindraf rally on Nov 25, 2007 were more than cracks. And the new voter profile - younger, well-informed, IT literate with probing minds and no emotional ties to Merdeka - sealed the country’ political fate. While Umno itself survived relatively well, the once invincible Barisan Nasional was dumped at the ballot box, leaving a trail of broken politicians in its wake. Enter the alternative coalition, but Pakatan Rakyat’s promises of change “for the people” as it swung into power in five states - Kelantan, where PAS (now a Pakatan member) was the incumbent, and also Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor - dissipated, at least as perceived by many voters.  Smooth transition: Abdullah shaking hands with his deputy Najib after announcing that he would be leaving office in March to make way for Najib to take over. - AP Disillusioned, ordinary people began to grumble about too much politicking when what they wanted were tough measures to cope with spiralling consumer prices, retrenchment and lack of leadership. The election was held in the midst of a global economic meltdown, triggered by United States’ sub-prime crisis and made worse by world crude oil prices shooting up. In June, the Malaysian government too was forced to raise petrol prices to RM2.70 per litre. Almost immediately, prices of consumer goods, everyday foodstuff and even teh tarik at humble restaurants rose. Rejuvenation was the battle cry in all political parties but it was loudest in Umno. As party president, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi weathered the storm but not without suffering some public attacks on his management style. The harshest tirade came from former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Moha-mad, who just five years ago had handpicked Abdullah to succeed him. In May, Mahathir marched out of the party he had led for over two decades, promising to return only when Abdullah stepped down. Abdullah had initially offered a transition plan to step down in June 2010 and hand over the reins to his deputy, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. But the party felt it was too long a wait. The 191 Umno divisions looked for a hero and found a willing one in party vice-president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who voiced his views loudly and publicly. The transfer of power was brought forward to March next year, to coincide with the slightly delayed party assembly. With double his rivals’ nominations for the deputy presidency, the low-key Muhyiddin’s star is shining, not least because he had dared prod Abdullah into an early retirement. For Pakatan, its challenge was to switch from Opposition mode, where it was easy to criticise others, to the actual job of governing. The three PR components - the Parti Keadilan Rakyat, DAP and PAS - also discovered that large doses of compromise were needed to reach a palatable middle-ground. The Pakatan government in Selangor had to acquiesce to Chinese demands to continue a pig farm project inherited from Barisan’s days. In Kedah it was attacked for raising the bumiputra housing quota from 30% to 50%, and in Perak it had to reinstate a Perak Islamic Religious Affairs Department director appointed by the Sultan of Perak, with apologies for encroaching on the Ruler’s jurisdiction. Buffetted by political storms, the Barisan federal government, at least for a while, struggled to hold the centre. Royal houses, which had previously been content with keeping a dignified silence, came out to openly make a stand within the boundaries of the constitutional monarchic system. The appointments of the Mentris Besar in Terengganu and Perlis were the first manifestation of independent thinking. The Raja of Perlis, in accordance with the Perlis constitution, began by asking the state assemblymen to name whom among them they supported as Mentri Besar. Incumbent Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim had Abdullah’s support but the Perlis assemblymen preferred Datuk Dr Md Isa Sabu, who became Mentri Besar. In Terengganu, Abdullah had similarly promised the incumbent Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh the state’s top job. But in this case, the Sultan of Terengannu, who also happens to reign as Yang diPertuan Agong, had his own reasons for wanting Idris replaced and picked a relative unknown candidate Datuk Ahmad Said. In Perak, an impasse cropped up over the state constitution, which clearly spelt out that the Mentri Besar must be Malay. So although the DAP had the majority in the state assembly, it had to accept a Mentri Besar from PAS - Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin. Meanwhile, Penang discovered the difficulties of getting federal funding for various development projects, including the second bridge, Penang Outer Ring Road, monorail and tourism. The only state which stayed calmly on course was Kelantan, where PAS has gently ruled for two decades. The shift in the balance of power was most obvious in Parliament, where the Opposition filled 81 seats compared with Barisan’s 140 in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat. One seat went to an Independent. There the volume of debate shot up several decibels even if the quality slid downhill. A half-hour live telecast of the question-and-answer session each morning did not help, with MPs on both sides grandstanding for their constituents’ benefit. The year’s “man in the news” was without a doubt PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Within weeks of the watershed election, he was promising to form a new government and actively wooed Sabah and Sarawak MPs to defect to his cause. When he won the Permatang Pauh by-election in August and became Opposition Leader, expectations soared that he would make good his promise. Anwar chose Sept 16 as a target date for him to march to Putrajaya - the date was significant for Sabah and Sarawak who had long asked that Malaysia Day be observed as a national holiday. Sabah and Sarawak politicians were loud and candid in their grouses. Several MPs pointed to inequalities between basic infrastructure on the peninsula with that in interior Sabah and Sarawak. Kimanis MP Datuk Anifah Aman, who was one of two Sabah MPs to turn down Abdullah’s proffered post of deputy minister, likened being in Barisan to living in a bungalow but sleeping next to the toilet. “Only a few groups living in the bungalow seemed to enjoy the benefits,” he added, hinting that there was scant reason to stay. But the anticipated walkout en bloc of Sarawak and Sabah MPs did not take place. After some hasty backroom negotiations, the MPs fell into line and pledged allegiance to Abdullah. The ministerial posts east Malaysia wanted addressed their needs: Rural and Regional Development and the Works portfolios. But with the Cabinet line-up already announced, Abdullah belatedly handed out the few prized positions that remained vacant, specifically in Parliament. A Sabahan sits in the Speaker’s chair, assisted by two Deputy Speakers from east Malaysia. In addition, the Backbenchers’ Club chairman is a Sarawakian and his deputy from Sabah.  Changes in MCA: Newly-elected MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat (front row, centre) celebrating with his supporters after winning the party election in October. This was not enough to appease the disgruntled. But it was understood as a sincere gesture to make amends after having inadvertently neglected to reward the two states that between them had accounted for 54, or more than a third, of Barisan’s seats and in effect gave it its simple majority. Under the 2009 Budget, Sabah was allocated RM3bil and Sarawak RM3.3bil for infrastructure, including construction of new roads. They also received RM1bil for poverty eradication. Sabahans across party lines had complained of being overrun by illegal immigrants. An average of 50 illegal immigrants deported daily between January and September, had failed to make a dent. On Aug 7, the federal government launched another initiative to stem the tide. The open-ended Ops Bersepadu saw 217,367 Indonesians and 95,470 Filipinos and their families registered as legal workers. More than 16,000 illegals were deported as of early November. Anwar was quick to make his move. For several unnerving months, he criss-crossed the nation, courting Sabah and Sarawak in particular because of the seats they held in Parliament. Both also had a history of being more independent-minded than their “Semenanjung cousins”. Implied threats of Barisan MPs “crossing the floor” to the Opposition pushed the Backbenchers Club to take the drastic step of flying some 50 MPs on a hastily-arranged agricultural study tour to Taiwan. Five Opposition MPs followed post haste. The latter subsequently claimed to have met their Barisan counterparts there; the Barisan MPs hotly denied it. Eventually, the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) made good its threat and walked out of the Barisan but a breakaway group in turn quit SAPP claiming that party president Datuk Yong Teck Lee did not speak for the entire party. Their position is still in limbo. Meanwhile the two SAPP MPs have now become Independents. Things were not that smooth-sailing for Anwar either. He was charged with sodomy for the second time, but he in turn pounced on Prime Minister-elect Najib, accusing him of having had a relationship with murdered Mongolian beauty, Altantuya Shaariibuu. Najib denied ever having known the woman. Furthermore, there were voices objecting to the idea of forming a government outside an electoral framework - including from within the Opposition ranks itself. Changes were also taking place among Barisan component parties. At the October party assembly, outgoing MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting kept his promise of holding office for only two terms. He handed the reins over to his elected successor, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, who beat Datuk Chua Jui Meng. In his hard-hitting policy speech, Ka Ting alluded to Umno’s dominance in the Barisan. While Abdullah denied ever having bullied his Barisan colleagues, PPP president Datuk M. Kayveas diplomatically conceded that “Umno has been having a larger share of the cake”. The multi-racial Gerakan was almost wiped out in its stronghold of Penang. It had limped home with only two seats in Parliament and three state seats. Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon and his entire state executive council were thrown out of office and their nemesis, the DAP, headed in Penang by Lim Guan Eng, took over. The Gerakan, once itself an opposition party until the late Tun Abdul Razak lured it into the Barisan fold in 1974, then began some serious soul searching. Gerakan asked for a repeal of the Internal Security Act, abolishment of the New Economic Policy (NEP), promotion of meritocracy and the term ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy) be replaced with keistimewaan Melayu (special position of the Malays). Gerakan vice-president Datuk Dr S. Vijayaratnam’s accidental death on Nov 3 was a set-back for the party, being the sole non-Chinese among the party seniors who by all accounts, was totally Malaysian in his outlook. The Barisan party that suffered most at the hands of voters was undoubtedly the MIC. Having been criticised by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) during the pre-election build-up, not only was MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu kicked out of Sungai Siput, making it impossible for him to be reappointed to the Cabinet, but only three MIC MPs and seven assemblymen won. There could be a leadership struggle in MIC too - last month, one-time MIC vice-president Datuk M. Muthupalaniappan declared his intention to take on Samy Vellu, who has led the party since 1979, in March. Race and religious issues continued to dominate headlines. Bumiputra equity ownership remained a touchy subject. The public was told that bumiputras only held 18% of equity, much of it in the hands of Government Linked Companies, and not individual Malays. Umno Youth and other Malay groups jumped up in protest at the mere suggestion that the NEP be expanded to benefit citizens across races, based on merit and need. Meanwhile, the PKR claimed that it was the “Umnoputras” who were benefitting from the NEP and urged that it be dismantled. PAS was the most consistent in upholding Islam. Nevertheless, it too seemed to be having trouble in its ranks, with one group holding “Malay unity talks” with Umno, even as another emerged in support of Anwar. It was this younger set of leaders who wanted to open the party to Islamic values shared by brothers of other religions, hoping to appeal to a wider segment of Malaysians. In Barisan too, a debate emerged between those who wanted to move away from race-based politics and those who wanted to stick to familiar communal paths. Among the ideas that was intended to break racial barriers was a proposal for direct membership into Barisan. The idea attracted a great deal of attention, with the Gerakan and MCA for the suggestion, and Umno and some of the east Malaysian parties wary of it. Collectively, however, many agreed that it would be a step forward in the Malaysianisation of politics and political participation, with only the timing being the delicate factor. Keeping his promise to restore confidence in the country’s institutions, Abdullah won accolades when he tabled two bills as Parliament wound down for the year. Both the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Judicial Appointments Commission were aimed, among others, to attract investors to Malaysian shores. The sudden death of Kuala Terengganu MP Datuk Razali Ismail after an innocuous game of badminton on Nov 28, forced 2009’s first by-election. The run-up to polling day on Jan 17 will be Najib’s first test as Prime Minister-elect. Abdullah has promised to restore race and religious relations to an even keel before he calls it a day. It will not be easy. The year has seen communal differences rear its ugly head and his personal challenge is to see Malaysians prepared to come together before he relinquishes the helm.
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