By-Election Defeat in Home State Bodes Ill for Mahathir
International Herald Tribune
December 1, 2000
Thomas Fuller

The defeat of Malaysia's ruling coalition in a by-election has weakened the standing of Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad and comes amid signs that Asia's longest ruling leader is losing support within his party.

The by-election, which took place Wednesday in Lunas, a small constituency east of Penang Island, holds little significance in terms of national electoral numbers.

But the scale of the swing toward the opposition, the multiracial support that the opposition candidate won and the fact that it took place in Mr. Mahathir's home state give the governing coalition and the prime minister reason for concern. Local newspapers reported that prior to the election Wednesday, Mr. Mahathir's coalition had held the state seat for the past four decades without interruption.

The loss is significant considering the money and resources the government used to try to retain the seat, which was empty because of the murder of the incumbent by unknown assailants.

When campaigning formally began two weeks ago, Malaysia's public works minister, Samy Vellu, dispatched an army of government workers to repave nearly every major road in the constituency and promised residents dozens of other public works projects.

Nearly every top government minister in the country campaigned in Lunas, except for Mr. Mahathir who canceled an appearance there because, by one account, his aides were afraid he would face large, angry crowds.

Mr. Mahathir's party lost the seat Wednesday by 530 votes, a slim margin of just 2.5 percent. In the election last November the ruling coalition won in Lunas by a comfortable majority of 4,700 votes.

The ruling coalition's candidate, S. Anthonysamy, threatened to take legal action against what he said were overzealous opposition supporters who intimidated voters. But the prospect of a lawsuit seemed unlikely Thursday after Mr. Mahathir and other leaders of the coalition conceded defeat.

The election was won by Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, a member of the party formed by supporters of Anwar Ibrahim, the former finance minister who was dismissed by Mr. Mahathir two years ago and is currently serving 14 years in prison for corruption and sodomy.

Mr. Anwar was once the designated successor to Mr. Mahathir and is still popular around the country. Pictures of the black eye inflicted on Mr. Anwar by Malaysia's chief of police in September 1998 featured prominently in the opposition's campaign.

The loss at Lunas comes just two weeks after Mr. Mahathir was forced to retract a proposal that would have extended his term within his party by as long as two years. The proposal to scrap party elections scheduled for 2003 would have also extended the terms of other senior members of the party.

The proposal was unpopular with party representatives, who showed their displeasure by taking the unusual move of boycotting an earlier meeting.

"For the first time we saw open objection from the rank and file," said Rustam Sani, a former columnist for a newspaper linked to the ruling party who has since joined the opposition. "Never before have people openly rejected what the top leadership wants." Mr. Mahathir's position was weakened in the election last November when his party, the largest in the coalition, lost 20 percent of their seats to an Islamic party. Mr. Mahathir carried the election, but relied heavily on votes from Chinese and Indians, the two largest minorities in the country who together make up about 40 percent of the population.

On Wednesday, leaders of Mr. Mahathir's party acknowledged that many Chinese voters had abandoned them in Lunas.

"Just one year ago, the Chinese had come out strongly for the Barisan during the general election," said Ling Liong Sik, who leads the Chinese party in the coalition, or Barisan Nasional. "What has changed since then?" Mr. Ling did not provide an answer to that question. But opposition leaders say voters wanted to send a message to the government on a number of national issues, including the treatment of Mr. Anwar and a proposal to bring Chinese schools that operate independently more closely aligned with other government schools.

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