Malaysia coalition suffers upset

“It’s a people’s revolution. People are waking up and sending a clear message to the government that enough is enough,” PAS vice president Husam Musa told reporters as party workers held boisterous celebrations into the night.

The opposition gains are due to the unprecedented electoral alliance forged by the DAP, PAS and the People’s Justice Party of former Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. The alliance agreed to field only one candidate against the National Front to prevent multi-cornered contests, which in the past had divided opposition votes.

A reduced majority for the National Front would be seen as a personal rebuke for Abdullah, who has lost much of the goodwill he enjoyed when he replaced longtime leader Mahathir Mohamad in 2003. Abdullah led the Front to a landslide victory in 2004, taking 91 percent of the seats in Parliament.

A key issue in the elections was the disillusionment among ethnic Chinese and Indians, who have complained about religious discrimination as well as about a 37-year-old affirmative action program that gives the majority Muslim Malays preference in government jobs, business and education.

In addition, most Malaysians, regardless of race, are angry with Abdullah over rising prices, corruption and crime.

Malays make up 60 percent of Malaysia’s 27 million people, Chinese account for 25 percent and Indians 8 percent. Each community is represented by its party in the National Front in a unique power-sharing arrangement.

But the minorities say their parties have become subservient to Abdullah’s United Malays National Organization, which dominates the Front. UMNO also appears to have lost the support of some Malays, which was evident in Kelantan, a predominantly Malay state in the northeast.

First-time voter Michael Lim said he voted for an opposition party.

“They have not taken care of the people,” he said in Kuala Lumpur. “A lot of promises were made, but nothing (was) fulfilled.”

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