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Ruling coalition romps in Malaysian by-elections
Straits Times - March 7, 2011
Carolyn Hong, Kuala Lumpur – The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition won two by-elections convincingly Sunday, giving it a morale boost in what could be the last polls before Malaysia's next general election.
With the coalition's largest party, the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO), winning the Kerdau seat in Pahang and Merlimau in Malacca, the BN and the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) each have eight victories from 16 by-elections held since the March 2008 general election.
But the bad news for Pakatan is that its winning streak ended almost a year ago and the BN is now on a roll. Sunday's s victories were another indication the tide has turned for the BN.
UMNO's candidate Syed Ibrahim Syed Ahmad, 44, beat Parti Islam SeMalaysia's (PAS) Hassanuddin Salim, 43, in Kerdau by 2,724 votes – a stronger showing than UMNO's 1,615-vote majority in 2008.
Almost 90 per cent of Kerdau's 9,000 voters are Malay, with 5 per cent Chinese, 3 per cent Indian and the rest Orang Asli and other races.
In Merlimau, UMNO's Roslan Ahmad, 44, won with a 3,643-vote majority over PAS's Yuhaizad Abdullah, 38. This is also significantly higher than the 2,154 votes Umno garnered in 2008.
The seat is also predominantly Malay – 64 per cent of its 10,600 voters are Malay, 20 per cent Chinese, 15 per cent Indian and the rest Others.
Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a tweet: "I would like to thank the voters in Merlimau and Kerdau for supporting BN. The big wins are very significant."
Deputy Premier Muhyiddin Yassin said the results added to the BN momentum and feel-good factor.
These two by-elections are possibly the last ones for this term as the law allows seats to be left vacant if there are less than two years left to the mandate. The deadline is the middle of this year.
But there are still the Sarawak state polls, which must be called by July. Sarawak traditionally holds its state election separately from the rest of Malaysia.
This is the more crucial election as Sarawak forms one of the largest vote banks for the BN.
Any substantial shift in votes to the opposition will likely delay the general election, which is not due until 2013.
Analysts believe that UMNO's twin victories came from a swing in Malay votes back to the BN, partly fanned by the BN's relentless rhetoric accusing the opposition of marginalizing the Malays through their merit-based policies.
Political analyst Ong Kian Ming said that PAS, faced with four consecutive defeats, may now be tempted to ramp up its religious credentials to win back its core Malay-Muslim constituency.
In recent weeks, the Islamic party has controversially lashed out at Valentine's Day celebrations. The PAS Kelantan state government sparked a furor when it banned lottery ticket sales last week.
Noting Pakatan is in for a hard time, veteran opposition MP Lim Kit Siang tweeted: "The road ahead will not be easy, and it's not to be taken for granted."
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