Even as another state, on the Strait of Malaca through which Japanese and Chinese destined Arabian oil must pass, teeters on the edge ...
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asia.scmp.com
Monday, September 24, 2001
MALAYSIA
Officials predict further disintegration
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The opposition coalition, now reduced to three chiefly ethnic Malay parties, would probably disintegrate further after months of bickering over whether Malaysia should become a fundamentalist Islamic state, government officials said yesterday.
But the Democratic Action Party (DAP) said it might renew co-operation to fight Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's National Front coalition in the 2004 general election.
"Our common enemy is still the National Front," said Ronnie Liu, spokesman for the Chinese party. "We will remain friends with our former partners and continue to work together on issues such as defending human rights and fighting corruption."
Dr Mahathir, Malaysia's leader for 20 years, said the break-up proved that the opposition parties shared little in common - except a mutual hatred for the Government and fierce desire to win votes.
"I have been awaiting this for a long time, because no marriage between incompatibles can last long," he told the New Sunday Times newspaper. "It must break [and] the relationship has ended."
The coalition initially tried to capitalise on public anger that followed Dr Mahathir's decision to fire his popular former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, in September 1998. The gambit received mixed results.
The Islamic party tripled its seats in Parliament in 1999 elections, the first time since Malaysia achieved independence from Britain in 1957 that the ethnic Malay, Muslim majority shifted allegiances so heavily from the ruling party.
But the Chinese party suffered stinging losses in areas where ethnic Chinese Buddhist and Christian minority voters worried whether religious freedom would be hurt if the opposition alliance won.
The Islamic party has 27 seats in the 193-member Parliament. The DAP holds 10, while another member of the coalition, the National Justice Party, led by Anwar's wife, has five. Dr Mahathir's coalition has 148 seats.
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