Malaysia goes to polls today
TODAY’S ELECTION IS EXPECTED TO BE ONE OF THE CLOSEST EVER IN COUNTRY’S HISTORY
Hopes and fears for future as country of 32 million people will decide Najeeb’s political fate
From rural hamlets to the jungles of Borneo and bustling, modern Kuala Lumpur, Malaysians will vote today in one of the country’s closest ever polls.
The country of 32 million people is a melting pot, home to a Muslim Malay majority, ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, as well as a kaleidoscope of tribal groups. Journalists talked to three voters from across Malaysia’s multi-ethnic spectrum:
In the small town of Sekinchan, Noorfazilah Azis peels mangoes that she sells to passersby from a makeshift stall.
The widowed mother of two is from the Malay majority, which comprises about 60 per cent of the population, and has traditionally been a strong supporter of the long-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
Malays are supported by a decades-old system of affirmative action that gives them advantages such as priority for government jobs.
Nevertheless many, like 27-year-old Noorfazilah, still struggle to get by. Her main concern is the soaring cost of everyday goods, particularly of food.
“What is important is the cost of living,” she said from her stall, where she sells fruit and corn as cars rumble noisily past.
Noorfazilah won’t say who she plans to vote for at the election but is clear that the situation for those at the bottom of society has to improve.
Chinese business owner
Tan Kim Chong’s repair shop is home to mountains of electrical items, with televisions, amplifiers and speakers piling up around the tiny space.
Like many ethnic Chinese in Malaysia, the 62-year-old runs his own business in Sekinchan. Largely locked out of working for the government or in staterun companies where Malays get preferential treatment, they turn to starting their own firms.
Tan won’t be drawn on who he will vote for at Wednesday’s poll. But Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese have in recent years largely swung behind the opposition, which has promised a better deal for minorities.
Krishna Kumari Letchumanan runs a small shop selling drinks, sweets and cigarettes in a poor Indian enclave in Kuala Lumpur.
The ethnic Indian minority make up about seven per cent of the population.
Krishna, 57, lives in a dilapidated wooden house in a small community with about 100 other families, sandwiched between a golf course and an affluent neighbourhood. Krishna said a politician from the ruling coalition had promised to build new homes for them after the election.
But she added, in broken English: “We voted so many times already but still ... no improve.”