The Razaleigh factor, the Anwar sacking and the polls uncertainty
S46 and for a while there Dr Mahathir seemed pretty much on his own – except for the support of Anwar and Tun Daim Zainuddin.
Zam confesses that Utusan found itself in a spot because Razaleigh held shares in the newspaper.
The next interesting election was in 1999 after Dr Mahathir sacked Anwar as his deputy prime minister and deputy Umno president over allegations of sodomy and there was a massive public outcry, particularly among the Malays, because Anwar was hugely popular.
Athough Barisan did lose a number of seats in the Malay areas, the non-Malay support pulled the coalition through to secure another two-thirds majority.
There was a new buzz in the 2004 election. Dr Mahathir had stepped down after handing over the reins to Datuk Seri (now Tun) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah).
Zam says there was a lot of excitement: Pak Lah had a softer approach, was likeable, was doing and saying the right things, seen to be “Mr Clean” and there was a feel good factor all around.
Pak Lah led Barisan to one of its best victories ever taking an impressive 198 seats.
But four years later in 2008, there was a reversal of fortunes. A political tsunami handed the opposition its biggest victory. The opposition (PAS, DAP, PKR) had managed to present itself as a significant alternative front calling itself Pakatan Rakyat.
The coalition retained Kelantan, and won over Selangor, Kedah, Penang, Perak (until Perak fell after some defections) and made significant inroads into states like Johor and Negri Sembilan.
Zam, who was Information Minister, con- tested and lost in Sungai Petani.
He admits Barisan was over-confident and made a lot of mistakes.
“Many things were not strategised. There was no election manifesto. Prices of goods and petrol went up. The salary hikes for civil servants was announced so much earlier than the elections.
“There were policies bringing in billions and billions of ringgit but the people didn’t feel the impact.
“Pak Lah thought that by giving people more freedom, they would support him. But people lost confidence.”