Dramatic liaisons
A tie in state assembly
THE seventh general election was nothing short of dramatic. The Opposition came close to denying Barisan Nasional a two-thirds majority by winning 53 seats, eight short of the total required. It was their best performance since 1969.
In the run-up to the polls, DAP strongman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye resigned from all his party posts, saying that he could not continue as his leadership had been undermined.
Semangat 46, headed by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, presented a challenge to Barisan by forming an electoral alliance with opposition parties.
Semangat 46 teamed up with PAS, Berjasa (Barisan Jemaah Islamiah Se-Malaysia) and Parti Hizbul Muslimin Malaysia to form Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah, while linking with DAP to set up Gagasan Rakyat.
Worse still for Barisan, a week before the elections, Parti Besatu Sabah (PBS) pulled out of the coalition to join Gagasan Rakyat.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad described the move as “a stab in the back” because it came at the 11th hour, after nominations.
He ordered Umno to spread its wings to Sabah and this decision historically changed the politics of the state with Usno dissolved to make way for Umno.
Although PBS eventually contributed 14 parliament seats in Sabah to Gagasan Rakyat, the loose coalition failed to make an impact in the peninsula.
A last-minute campaign strategy of distributing posters of Tengku Razaleigh wearing a Kadazandusun headgear with a cross turned Muslim voters away from Semangat 46.
However, the Chinese voters dealt a blow to Penang Chief Minister Dr Lim Chong Eu who lost his parliamentary seat to Lim Kit Siang while PAS wrested Kelantan from Barisan.
Dr Mahathir was returned unopposed as Umno president at the November general assembly where Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim obtained the highest number of votes for the vice-presidency, followed by Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi, who came back to the government after a four-year hiatus.
In 1992, Tun Ghafar Baba resigned and Anwar, who won the Umno deputy president post, took over as Deputy Prime Minister. Seats in the Selangor state assembly was deadlocked at 14-14 between Alliance and the Opposition, including an independent candidate in 1969.