By John Roberts
9 May 2013
The opposition People’s Alliance (PR) in Malaysia launched a campaign yesterday to challenge the result of Sunday’s election, denouncing it as fraudulent. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim vowed on Tuesday to lead a “fierce movement to clean this country from election malpractices and fraud.”
Between 50,000 and 80,000 people, many dressed in black, defied police threats of arrest to attend the first opposition rally last night at the Kelana Jaya stadium, just outside the capital Kuala Lumpur. Anwar told supporters: “This is the beginning of a battle between the people and an illegitimate, corrupt and arrogant government.”
Police banned the rally, saying the PR had not applied for a permit. The opposition insisted that permission was not required for a rally at a “designated place of assembly.” In the event, the government, which has a long history of violent crackdowns on protests, backed away from an immediate confrontation.
There is widespread anger among opposition supporters over the election result. The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition secured only 47 percent of the overall vote, yet won 133 seats–57 percent of seats in the 222-seat national parliament. The opposition gained just over 50 percent of the vote, but only 89 seats.
The election outcome is a product of a systematic gerrymander in favour of the rural ethnic Malay base of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the main BN partner. Over half the seats won by BN came from only three of the country’s 13 states, the largely rural Sabah and Sarawak in Borneo, and Johor near Singapore.
Opposition support was strong in urban areas, particularly among sections of the middle class. Ethnic Chinese and Indians, who comprise about 40 percent of the population, also deserted the government in droves. UMNO-led governments have systematically discriminated against the country’s minorities in favour of ethnic Malays, including in government jobs, education and business.
The opposition has alleged that the government was involved in widespread vote buying, ballot stuffing and the transporting of voters to key marginal electorates. After more than half a century in power, UMNO also has a stranglehold over the main media and the state apparatus.
Prime Minister Najib Razak has flatly denied any electoral malpractice and disputed the findings of two Malaysian think tanks that the election was “only partially free and not fair.” The think tanks’ timid report was co-funded by the Election Commission, the British and Canadian High Commissions in
This article originally appeared on : World Socialist Web Site