Malaysia 2008 Elections
Malaysia held national elections in March 2008. UMNO and its coalition allies in the BN won a simple majority of the seats in the national parliament but for the first time in history failed to gain the two-thirds majority necessary to amend the constitution. The election results came as a shock to the country, which has only known the governance of the formidable National Front coalition. A loose coalition of opposition parties, called the Pakatan Rakyat or Peoples Alliance, led by Anwar Ibrahim, won 82 of 222 seats in parliament and took control of the state-level assemblies in five of Malaysia's thirteen states. The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition suffered two morale-sapping parliamentary by-election defeats, where the opposition seized control of five of Malaysia's 13 states and a third of parliamentary seats.
In the March 2008 general election, the ruling National Front (BN) needed the 30 seats it won in the East Malaysian (Borneo) state of Sarawak to ensure its majority in Parliament. BN captured 140 out of 222 seats; 110 would have left it short of a majority. Neighboring Sabah's 24 BN seats were critical too. Hence, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has described the two states as the BN's "safe deposits." Sarawak's role as a "kingmaker" in national politics was significantly increased its importance in the eyes of Federal leaders. Furthermore, the staunch loyalty shown to the BN by the 30 BN Sarawakian Members of Parliament, some of whom were initially rumored to have agreed to crossover to the opposition People's Alliance (PR), has also boosted Sarawak's BN fortunes. The BN's ability to deliver a large number of Parliament seats was due to Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud's (who had held the chief minister's post since 1981) "iron grip" on the state.
The co-operation of the opposition parties, broadly united under Malaysia's former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, was recognised as a key factor in UMNO losses. Other factors included concerns about a slowing economy, rising fuel and consumer prices, and Prime Minister Badawi's inability to follow through on promises to tackle corruption.
A belt of Opposition states formed in the upper peninsula. The "spirit of change" was not nationwide, it was peninsula-wide. The elections had raised hopes for a post-racial Malaysia, but changes deepened the fault lines. Although the Chinese are a minority - forming 23 per cent of Malaysia's 27 million people - their vote can be decisive if the Malays are split. Chinese support for the BN fell to 30 per cent from over 50 per cent in the 2004 election. In recent years political divisions have been increasingly shadowed by cultural and religious ones. The Muslim Malay majority has become more conservative in Islamic observance, while the next largest group, the Chinese, has become more liberal and cosmopolitan. The Malay-Muslims majority is being challenged to forgo their political power and economic protection, to allow the other races to benefit from what the country has to offer.
Post-election, Anwar continued to push the government hard. In July 2008 he filled a motion seeking a debate in parliament on 'loss of confidence' in the Government and he has vowed to seize power. The opposition People's Alliance, led by charismatic former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, was plagued by defecting members, internal squabbles and embarrassing scandals involving its lawmakers.
The penal code states that sodomy and oral sex acts are “carnal intercourse against the order of nature,” but it was rarely enforced. Anwar's former aide, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 26, claimed he had sex with his boss. In March 2009 Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial was transferred to the High Court. If imprisoned for sodomy Anwar could face 20 years in prison as all homosexual acts in Malaysia, a mainly Muslim country of 27 million people, are against the law. Sodomy remains a crime in Malaysia that carries up to a 20 year prison term. The latest sodomy charges dated to just after his Parti Keadilan Rakyat delivered the ruling UMNO party its worst electoral drubbing since independence in 1957. UMNO lost its cherished two-thirds majority in parliament and control of four of Malaysia’s 13 states.
In October 2008, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi announced that he would step down as UMNO party president, and by extension as Prime Minister, in March 2009, after a stunningly inept performance since he assumed the Barisan Nasional leadership in 2003. Since the general election in March 2008, which saw the Barisan Nasional lose five states to the opposition, there had been a clamor for change. Abdullah Badawi endorsed a transition of power to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.
Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak, the 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia, was born in Kuala Lipis, Pahang on July 23, 1953. Najib is the eldest son of the second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, who is known as the father of the country's development, and a nephew of the the third Prime Minister Tun Hussein Onn. He was among the youngest to be elected into the Malaysian Parliament when he won the Pekan constituency uncontested at the age of 23, following the death of his father. He also holds the title of Orang Kaya Indera Shahbandar, Pahang. Prior to being the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Najib held several posts including the Pahang Menteri Besar, Youth and Sports Minister and Education Minister. He also held the Deputy Minister's post for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
Najib faced a huge challenge to avert a recession in Malaysia, whose exports have been badly hit by the global slowdown. This made it all the more compelling for Najib to adopt a fair-policy position. Transparency and good governance trump all else. Najib enjoyed the support from both the establishment and the business class. He had support from Malay-Muslims trusting him with their faith, the last frontier of Malay political dominance in Malaysia.
On 09 January 2012 Malaysia’s High Court acquitted opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on charges of sodomy, ending a two-year case that his supporters say was politically motivated. Judge Mohamad Zabidin Diah determined that the DNA samples considered crucial to the prosecution’s case were unreliable. The judge said the court was not convinced that the samples had been properly handled by police. Throughout the three-year ordeal, Anwar had maintained his innocence. An emotional crowd greeted the acquittal, which was expected to have an impact of elections expected in 2012 or 2013.
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