Malaysia's Ruling Coalition Is Poised for Landslide
International Herald Tribune
April 26, 1995
Michael Richardson 

Malaysia's governing coalition, led by Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, was poised early Wednesday for a landslide victory in general elections, after crushing the main opposition party in the key state of Penang.

With results of voting for 112 of the 192 seats in federal Parliament announced, the National Front coalition of 14 parties had won 97, leaving just 15 to be shared between two opposition parties.

Mr. Mahathir, 69, had earlier predicted that the coalition would get more than a two-thirds majority in Parliament, the margin it needs to amend the constitution and pass key laws.

The multiethnic coalition, which has ruled Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957, was also ahead in 10 of the 11 state assembly races.

Analysts said that strong economic growth played a key factor in the result because members of all the country's main ethnic groups - majority Malays and minority Chinese and Indians - had benefited.

The 9 million voters have seen their incomes soar after seven straight years of some of the fastest economic growth in the world.

As a result, they are less susceptible to the old appeal of racial politics that erupted in bloody race riots between Malays and Chinese after elections in 1969, analysts said.

In Penang, Malaysia's only Chinese- majority state, the National Front won all 33 state assembly seats and all but one of the 11 parliamentary seats.

The Democratic Action Party, the country's main opposition group that has traditionally appealed to the Chinese working class, had focused its efforts in the 10-day campaign on trying to win in Penang.

Its failure was a major setback for the party, which nearly captured Penang in the last general elections in 1990.

The party, with 20 seats in the outgoing federal Parliament, had appealed to voters to strengthen the opposition to guard against abuse of power and corruption by the National Front government.

"This is a new era of politics in Penang," said Koh Tsu Koon, the chief minister who has helped bring greater prosperity to the state by making conditions attractive for foreign investors and tourists.

The National Front was expected to lose only in the northern state of Kelantan, where the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party has a strong hold on power.

Election commission officials said early voter turnout was good.

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