Malaysia 2004 Elections
Malaysia is a federation of 13 states and 3 federal territories with a parliamentary system of government based on periodic multiparty elections. Opposition parties actively contest elections but face significant obstacles in competing with the ruling National Front coalition, which has held power for more than 45 years.
Since 1969, the National Front coalition always has maintained at least a two-thirds majority in parliament, which enables the Government to amend the Constitution at will. Over the years, power increasingly has been concentrated in the Prime Minister. In 2003, Mahathir Mohamad, who had been Prime Minister since 1981, retired and relinquished power to his deputy, Abdullah Badawi. In national elections held in March, the ruling coalition captured 90 percent of total parliamentary seats. In the March national elections, opposition parties captured 20 of 199 parliamentary seats and 52 out of 453 state seats.
The March 2004 national elections were conducted in a generally transparent manner, but the opposition complained of the ruling coalition's exploitation of the powers of incumbency. Opposition parties won 10 percent of the seats in the Parliament, and an opposition party retained control of one state government. Mahathir stepped down as prime minister in October 2003 after 22 years in power, and his successor, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was sworn into office. Abdullah called elections and won an overwhelming victory in March 2004. Since taking office, Abdullah, an Islamic scholar, promoted the concept of "Islam Hadhari" or "civilizational Islam," emphasizing the importance of education, social harmony, and economic progress. His relationship with Mahathir eventually soured, and the former prime minister now expresses regret at supporting Abdullah to be his successor.
Opposition parties were unable to compete on equal terms with the governing National Front coalition, led by the ethnic Malay UMNO party, which has held power at the national level since independence in 1957, because of significant restrictions on campaigning, freedom of assembly and association, and access to the media. Political parties could not operate without restriction or outside interference. The lack of equal access to the media was one of the most serious problems encountered by the opposition. Opposition leaders also claimed that the election commission (EC) was under government control and lacked the independence needed to carry out its duties impartially.
Opposition leaders claimed that the Election Commission, which is responsible for holding and monitoring elections, did not carry out its duties impartially. The Election Commission is nominally independent but was perceived to be under the control of the Government. NGOs were permitted to form independent election watch organizations, but were accorded no special privileges.
There were numerous opposition complaints of irregularities by election officials during the March campaign; however, most observers concluded that they did not substantially alter the results. Complaints included unregistered names, broken computers, and late opening of polling stations, all of which prevented some persons from voting. In the state of Selangor, Election Commission officials extended the polling period by 2 hours in apparent contravention of elections laws. The Election Commission blamed many of the glitches on last-minute increases in the number of polling stations and associated voter rolls, which the Commission alleged threw the process into disarray. Opposition leaders complained that local government officials who served as election officers were not always neutral.
More serious allegations were lodged of voter rolls being inflated by illegally registered "phantom" voters, who reportedly included voters from other districts brought in to vote in tightly contested districts, non-registered voters using fictitious names or the names of dead voters still listed on the voter rolls, and non-citizens illegally registered to vote. The opposition claimed that 70,000 phantom voters in Terengganu were used to swing the vote in favor of the ruling coalition. Opposition parties also complained about their inability to monitor postal votes (absentee ballots) cast by police and military personnel. The Government, citing security concerns, did not allow party agents to monitor postal vote boxes on military and police installations.
Ballots were marked with a serial number that could be matched against a voter's name. While there was no evidence that the Government ever traced individual votes, some opposition leaders alleged that the potential to do so influenced some voters, particularly civil servants.
The Constitution states that parliamentary constituencies should have approximately equal numbers of eligible voters, although the same section states that greater weight should be given to rural constituencies. The Government conducted a nationwide electoral redistricting exercise during 2002. In 2003, 25 new parliamentary seats were added primarily in states in which the ruling coalition is strong. The opposition complained that the two states it controlled prior to the March elections did not get any new seats and that the redistricting was undertaken by the Government to weaken the opposition. Observers agreed that the redistricting favored Government candidates for parliamentary seats but believed it had less influence on elections for state seats.
The Elections Commission lifted the ban on political rallies for the March elections; however, to hold a rally, organizers needed to file an application with the police 14 days in advance of the proposed event. With only 17 days between the announcement of the election and polling, and only 7 days of formal campaigning permitted, it was difficult to comply with this requirement. Nonetheless, the opposition held many rallies during the campaign.
In recent years there has been a widely held perception of widespread corruption and cronyism within the ruling coalition and in government institutions. In his first few months in office Prime Minister Abdullah publicly denounced corruption, canceled a high-profile project tainted by cronyism, called for strengthening of the Anti-Corruption Agency, proposed the creation of a civil service ethics training institute, and pushed government institutions to be more responsive to the public. In February 2004, both the former managing director of a government-owned steel company and the then-federal Minister for Land and Cooperative Development were arrested in separate cases on corruption-related charges. In November 2004, UMNO suspended 16 members for possible vote buying in party elections.
In recent years, members of the bar, NGOs, and other observers have expressed serious concern about the general decline of judicial independence, citing a number of high-profile instances of arbitrary verdicts, selective prosecution, and preferential treatment of some litigants and lawyers. The most widely criticized such case was that of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. In 1998, after a peaceful demonstration in which he called for then-Prime Minister Mahathir's resignation, Anwar was detained for alleged corruption and sodomy. In a 1999 trial flawed by political interference, Anwar was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 6 years in prison. Appeals in 2000 and 2002 were denied, and Anwar completed the sentence in 2003 after it was reduced to 4 years for good behavior.
In September 2004, the Federal Court, the country's highest, dismissed Anwar's petition to reconsider its 2002 appeal decision, leaving Anwar ineligible to participate in politics until 2008.
In 2000, Anwar was convicted on a separate charge of sodomy and sentenced to 9 years in prison, to be served consecutively with the corruption sentence. In September, the Federal Court ruled that the trial court had misdirected itself, and that Anwar's conviction for sodomy was unjust. The panel vacated the conviction and ordered Anwar released. International observers applauded the decision and credited Prime Minister Abdullah for encouraging greater judicial independence. Amnesty International (AI) hailed the decision as "an historic milestone in the restoration of confidence in the rule of law and respect for human rights in Malaysia."
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