Mahathir Calls Early Election In Malaysia
International Herald Tribune
November 11, 1999
Michael Richardson 

Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia called early general elections Wednesday, saying that his governing coalition was "very confident" it would retain its two-thirds majority in Parliament.

But in announcing the polls, which are expected to take place by Dec. 4, the longest-serving elected leader in Asia made it clear that he expected the dismissal and imprisonment of his former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, to be a major issue in the campaign.

The four opposition parties that formed their own alternative coalition after Mr. Anwar was dismissed in September 1998 said they hoped to tap into widespread public concern about the behavior of the government.

Mr. Mahathir, who has been prime minister since 1981, surprised even some of his cabinet ministers by calling early elections because he had seemed increasingly inclined to wait until the first half of next year.

Malaysia last held national elections in 1995. Under the constitution, the current Parliament must be dissolved by April and elections held by June 2000.

Analysts and opposition leaders said that Mr. Mahathir, widely acknowledged to be a shrewd and tough tactician, had decided to move quickly to capitalize on a faster-than-expected economic recovery and avoid the inclusion of more than 650,000 new voters who would be entitled to cast ballots early in the year 2000. Many are believed to support the opposition.

"I don't care if I am popular or not," Mr. Mahathir, 73, said in announcing his decision to hold the elections in the next few weeks. "What is important to me is that this country gets a good government."

The economy, which broke out of recession in the second quarter, picked up steam in the three months to the end of September. The government said Tuesday that industrial production surged by more than 19 percent in September compared with the previous year.

Some independent economists expect total Malaysian output to grow by 7.5 percent in 1999, after the economy contracted by 5.8 percent in 1998.

Mr. Mahathir has indicated that this return to solid growth — achieved without having to turn to the International Monetary Fund for loans in exchange for reforms as Indonesia and Thailand did in 1997 — would be the basis of the government's appeal to voters.

In recent months, Mr. Mahathir, who heads the main Malay party in the country, has been wooing Chinese Malaysians, who form the largest voting bloc after the Malays and play a prominent role in the economy.

He has also been warning them they could upset ethnic stability if they vote for an opposition that includes what he has described as both Malay and Chinese extremists.

"The Chinese have clearly shown their willingness to share the bounty that Malaysia offers with the Malays and other races in the overall interest of the nation's stability," Mr. Mahathir said last week. "I hope this close cooperation and mutual understanding among the different races will continue."

Bloody race riots between Malays and Chinese after the opposition made sharp gains in the 1969 general elections are still remembered with horror by many Malaysians.

The 14-party National Front coalition that Mr. Mahathir heads and that spans the country's main Malay, Chinese and Indian ethnic groups, controls 166 seats in the 192-member lower house of Parliament, leaving 22 seats to the opposition and independents.

But analysts said that the abrupt dismissal of Mr. Anwar, a young and charismatic Muslim Malay politician, and his subsequent imprisonment on corruption and sodomy charges had opened deep divisions in Mr. Mahathir's United Malays National Organization, confronting the prime minister with his toughest challenge since some party elders broke with him in 1987, splitting the party.

Mr. Mahathir has said that Mr. Anwar, who is serving a six-year jail term, was corrupt and had engaged in homosexual acts, which are illegal in Malaysia. Mr. Anwar was therefore "morally unfit" to lead Malaysia, the prime minister said.

Mr. Anwar has denied the charges of sexual impropriety and corruption, saying he was a victim of a high-level political conspiracy by Mr. Mahathir and others in the government who wanted to prevent him exposing the extent of graft and abuse of power involving cabinet members.

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