HISTORY OF MALAYSIA

MALAYSIA'S 10th GENERAL ELECTION
NOVEMBER 29, 1999
193 Parliamentary Seats
394 State Seats

	Barisan Nasional United Front BN	Barisan Alternatif Alternative Front BA
Parliament	148	45
State	281	113

 

STATE	PARLIAMENT			STATE
	BN	BA	OPP	BN	BA	OPP
FT Kuala Lumpur	6	4	-	-	-	-
FT Labuan	1	-	-	-	-	-
FT Putrajaya	-	-	-	-	-	-
Johor	20	-	-	40	-	-
Kedah	7	8	-	24	12	-
Kelantan	1	13	-	2	41	-
Malacca	4	1-	-	21	4	-
Negeri Sembilan	7	-	-	32	-	-
Pahang	11	-	-	30	8	-
Penang	6	5	-	30	3	-
Perak	20	3	-	44	8	-
Perlis	3	-	-	12	3	-
Sabah	17	-	3	-	-	-
Sarawak	28	-	-	-	-	-
Selangor	17	-	-	42	6	-
Terengganu	-	8	-	4	28	-
TOTAL	148	42	3	281	113	-

 

Political Parties		Parliament	State
BA Parliament - 42 seats State - 113 seats
	DAP	10	11
	KEADILAN	5	4
	PAS	27	98
BN Parliament - 148 seats State - 281 seats
	Direct	1	-
	GER	6	21
	LDP	1	-
	MCA	29	69
	MIC	7	15
	PBB	10	-
	PBDS	6	-
	SAPP	2	-
	SNAP	4	-
	SUPP	8	-
	UMNO	71	176
	UPKO	3	-
OPP Parliament - 3 seats State - 0 seats
	PBS	3	-

Malaysian Prime Minister YAB Datuk Seri Doktor Mahathir bin Mohamad heads towards the new millennium with a secure grip on power after winning a record fifth mandate in elections. But Islamic fundamentalists have cut into his coalition's Malay base, cleaving a new political divide in Malaysia and posing long-term problems for the nation's ruling alliance. Malaysia's election on Monday was a mixed verdict for both Mahathir's Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and the opposition.

Asia's veteran leader took the two-thirds majority that his coalition had set as its goal. That gives it the leeway to pursue the pro-business policies that over years have drawn foreign direct investment as well as allegations of cronyism. No major changes were expected soon in Malaysia's economic policy mix, including capital controls, the fixed exchange rate, bank mergers and stimulative monetary and fiscal policies. With 148 of 193 seats (77%) in the federal parliament, Mahathir could shift course if he wanted, and some analysts expected the government to roll back capital controls over time.

UMNO'S FEARS COME TRUE

The real impact on Mahathir comes at the domestic political level because of the sizeable shift away from his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) towards the Islamic fundamentalist Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS). UMNO, which has historically been the defender of Malay nationalism and the nation's dominant party, saw its seats fall to 74 from 94 in the outgoing parliament.

PAS increased its representation in in the 193-member parliament to 27 seats from eight while retaining the Kelantan state assembly and wresting oil- and gas-rich Terengganu state from the BN for the first time in 38 years. PAS also carved into UMNO in Kedah, Perlis and Pahang states.

The Chinese-based Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Gerakan parties, as well as parties in Sarawak state on Borneo island now take on added importance within Mahathir's coalition. That has both racial and geographical implications insofar as the BN's base is now solidly in the south of Peninsular Malaysia and on Borneo, and ethnic Chinese parties have gained ground relative to UMNO.

A Western diplomat said: "Mahathir has to re-establish his credentials with the Malays. UMNO could become more Islamic. But how does it do that without alienating its Chinese and Sarawakan base?"

MIXED VERDICT FOR OPPOSITION TOO

The snap election was also bittersweet for the opposition.

Parti Keadilan Nasional, led by the wife of jailed former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, took its first seats in parliament, including one for Wan Azizah, who emerges as the most recognised opposition figure in parliament. But Keadilan's candidates most closely tied to Anwar's ``reformasi'' (reform) movement all lost in the capital region, and the party owed its victories largely to PAS's coat tails in the north.

The Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP) increased its seat total to 10 from seven. But it lost its veteran leader, Lim Kit Siang, who had been opposition chief for three decades, as well as Karpal Singh, a high-profile lawyer defending Anwar in his sodomy case. Lim had warned that the DAP's electoral pact with the Islamic PAS was fraught with risks for his party, and he was right.

PAS emerges as the big opposition victor. But it now dwarfs both Keadilan and the DAP, giving the opposition a decided Islamic stamp that Mahathir will be sure to exploit with his characteristic biting rhetoric.

NO CHALLENGER YET TO MAHATHIR

Despite UMNO's retreat, Mahathir does not appear vulnerable right now to a challenge from within his party, which is set to hold triennial leadership elections in mid-2000. Two potential successors stumbled badly in the polls. Former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah won his seat in Kelantan but otherwise saw PAS all but wipe out UMNO in the state. Education Minister Najib Razak won his seat by a hair's breadth -- 241 votes. Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi emerged unscathed.