Embattled PM Najib calls election
Vote will test BN’s sixdecade hold on power
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called an election that will determine whether his ruling coalition can continue its six-decade run in power in the face of rising living costs and lingering corruption allegations.
The dissolution of parliament will take effect today. The Election Commission will announce the date of the election within 10 days of receiving official notice on the dissolution of the legislature, said Chairman Mohd Hashim Abdullah.
“If BN wins again, we promise we’ll do our best to undertake an even bigger transformation that’s inclusive and comprehensive for the people and the country,” Mr Najib said yesterday.
It will be Mr Najib’s second election since he became prime minister in 2009. His main opponent is Pakatan Harapan, a four-party alliance led by 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s longest serving premier who defected from Mr Najib’s party in 2016.
Mr Najib, 64, has fended off corruption allegations that surfaced in 2015 surrounding the state-owned investment fund 1MDB, and if anything has strengthened his position, it is ousting internal critics.
Mr Najib can point to increased economic optimism, with the central bank raising its 2018 growth forecast 6%. It appears the public isn’t focused on the 1MDB scandal. Only 6% of young Malaysian adults cited the scandal as a concern in a survey last year by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research.
The ruling coalition also enjoys key advantages including control of the mainstream media and favorable electoral districts, according to Francis Hutchinson, coordinator of the Malaysia Studies program at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. A law passed this week made it a crime to create and distribute false information, which the opposition sees as an attempt to curb free speech.
“At this stage it looks likely — although not categorically — that Barisan Nasional will carry the day,” Mr Hutchison said ahead of the announcement.
In 2013, Mr Najib’s coalition managed to retain power despite losing the popular
vote for the first time since 1969 — largely due to how the vote was distributed. A December survey by the Merdeka Centre found that changes in electoral boundaries means that the Barisan Nasional is likely to regain a two-thirds majority in parliament even though its share of the popular vote may shrink, the Malaysian Insight reported.
Race also continues to play a key role in Malaysian politics. As of last year, about 60% of 14.8 million registered voters were Malay, with 22.7% Chinese and the rest Indian and other ethnic groups. Mr Najib’s United Malays National Organisation (Umno) has long kept in place policies
that restrict certain government contracts and jobs to Malays and indigenous groups together known as Bumiputera, or “sons of the soil”.
While Mr Najib’s coalition has members of each major ethnic group, it predominately appeals to Malays — he blamed a “Chinese tsunami” for the weak 2013 result. Umno has since sought to consolidate the Malay Muslim vote, wooing the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, away from the opposition.
That has hurt Pakatan Harapan, whose biggest member is dominated by ethnic Chinese lawmakers. Mr Mahathir was chosen as the bloc’s interim prime
minister candidate in part to win over Malays until leader Anwar Ibrahim is released from prison.
“Mr Mahathir has plenty of supporters in Malaysia, and the opposition’s decision to run him as a figurehead is about neutralising fears based on race and religion,” Amrita Malhi, a visiting fellow at the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs in Canberra, said in an email.
Rising living costs is a key issue the opposition is focusing on to win the 112 seats needed to form a government (it won 89 seats in 2013). Inflation in 2017 accelerated to the fastest pace in nine years after Mr Najib introduced a goods-and-services
tax (GST) and curbed subsidies for goods like petroleum, cooking oil and sugar — a process underway since 2010.
Pakatan Harapan last month pledged to abolish the 6% GST within the first 100 days in power. It also vowed to prevent future prime ministers from serving more than two terms.
Mr Najib has sought to mitigate the impact of higher prices with generous cash handouts for workers, and increased subsidies and social assistance after two years of cuts. He also mandated longer maternity leave for private employees, funding for Chinese villages and investment schemes for low-income Indians.