APSN | Malaysian opposition bloc collapses

Home > South-East Asia >> Malaysia

Malaysian opposition bloc collapses

Bloomberg - June 19, 2015

Leading human rights activist among dozens arrested in Malaysia after May Day protest – Agence France Presse. May 2, 2015
Malaysian parliament debates strengthening controversial Sedition Act in first amendment in 40 years – ABC Radio Australia. April 9, 2015
Malaysia resurrects indefinite detention, passes anti-terror act – Sydney Morning Herald. April 8, 2015
Journalists held as Malaysian arrests mount – Agence France Presse. March 31, 2015
Daughter of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim arrested for sedition – Agence France Presse. March 16, 2015

Chong Pooi Koon, Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia's disparate opposition alliance has imploded after months of internal bickering, a boon for Prime Minister Najib Razak at a time his popularity has been waning.

The three-party Pakatan Rakyat coalition "no longer functions formally", said Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, president of the People's Justice Party and wife of former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, said this week. Democratic Action Party Secretary General Lim Guan Eng said the alliance "ceases to exist".

The grouping has struggled with disagreements on the governance of Selangor state and the jailing of Mr Anwar for sodomy. It started to fray earlier this year when its Islamic member party sought to implement sharia criminal law in an opposition-held state, prompting a backlash from the mostly ethnic-Chinese DAP.

The disarray will probably help Mr Najib, who has been under pressure for his handling of the economy and the performance of troubled state investment company 1Malaysia Development. He has faced repeated public calls from former premier Mahathir Mohamad to step down, while the ringgit has been sliding toward its fixed exchange rate of a decade ago.

"The collapse of Pakatan Rakyat is a good thing for him because it removed one source of pressure," said Chia Shuhui, an analyst for Asia at BMI Research in Singapore. "Especially since the DAP has been very, very vocal in calling for Najib to explain 1MDB. The DAP is somewhat weakened because they no longer have the other two partners behind them."

Formed in 2008, the opposition alliance had little in common apart from a goal to unseat the Barisan Nasional coalition that's been in power since independence in 1957. The parties have issued ambiguous statements about future cooperation, Mr Chia said, and although significantly weakened the bloc could try and regroup in some fashion.

A dysfunctional opposition puts at risk its control of Selangor, Malaysia's most populous state, which accounts for about a quarter of national gross domestic product. Pakatan Rakyat holds 43 of 56 Selangor state seats.

Mr Anwar said the three parties will work together at state and parliamentary levels even as formal ties have been severed. He urged the leaders to focus on the opposition-held states and problems affecting ordinary Malaysians, according to Sivarasa Rasiah, a People's Justice Party lawmaker who met Mr Anwar on Thursday.

Mr Najib implemented a goods and services tax in April and has been gradually removing subsidies on items from sugar to petrol to plug a budget gap. Rising living costs and concern ahead of the introduction of the GST contributed to a fall in Najib's approval rating to 44 percent in January from 48 percent in October, according to a survey conducted by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/malaysian-opposition-bloc-collapses-20150619-ghryta.html.