APSN | Anwar's great challenge is to end martyr politics in time for election

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Anwar's great challenge is to end martyr politics in time for election

Bloomberg - January 11, 2012

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Daniel Ten Kate, Gan Yen Kuan – Anwar Ibrahim's acquittal on sodomy charges pushes the Malaysian Opposition Leader to shed his image as political victim as he tries to widen support for his coalition and blunt the impact of government election sweeteners.

"The test now is to move out of what I call martyr politics to offer a more positive alternative to voters," Bridget Welsh, an associate professor in political science at Singapore Management University, said. "The number one issue is the economy. The public is looking for leaders who are able to manage Malaysia through economic turmoil."

Mr Anwar pledged on Monday to "clamour for reform" as he leads a disparate opposition alliance seeking to unseat Prime Minister Najib Razak's ruling coalition after 55 years in power in elections that must be held by June next year. Mr Najib's administration said the decision proved the judiciary's independence and touted his "current wave of bold democratic reforms".

Both leaders are aiming to convince Malaysia's 28 million people he is the right choice to restructure a $US238 billion economy beset with race-based preferences the World Bank warned were holding back growth.

Mr Najib may call an election as early as March to capitalise on budget handouts passed at the end of last year, fund manager Nik Hazim Nik Mohamed said.

"This feel-good factor will actually be a good platform for the ruling party to call for elections. I don't think they will want to wait longer than that because that effect will diminish."

Mr Anwar, 64, leads the three-party People's Alliance, which aims to unwind economic preferences for ethnic Malays and promote greater political freedom. The coalition was formed before the 2008 election, when it captured 37 per cent of seats in the 222-member Parliament, the narrowest victory for Mr Najib's ruling 13-party National Front coalition in five decades.

Mr Najib, 58, took over as Prime Minister in April 2009. Since then, he has sought to blunt the opposition's momentum by introducing rules to roll back some preferential treatment for ethnic Malays and promising to repeal an internal security law that allows for detention without trial. Abdul Razak, Mr Najib's father, initiated the ethnic preferences in 1971.

"The opposition will play up the reform card, which appeals to younger voters," Joseph Chinyong Liow, an associate dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said. "Najib is trying to pull the rug from under their feet by saying, 'Look, I have been initiating all these reforms."'

Mr Najib's ruling coalition has won five byelections in the past 15 months after implementing stimulus measures that enabled the economy to grow 7.2 per cent in 2010, the strongest expansion in a decade.