Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Malaysia has been shaken by the massive political shift generated by the outcome of recent March 8th elections in which the general consensus long enjoyed by the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) have been seriously eroded. In five of the 13 states, won over by the three main opposition parties, the new leaders are already talking of dismantling the decades old New Economic Policies. The NEP – brought to bear over 30 years ago by premier Abdullah Badawi’s party, the Umno – provides for special financial privileges for the Malay Muslim majority across the economic spectrum, as well as in education and job opportunities. According to it’s critics it is a source of corruption and favouritism.
The Prime Minister, who barely succeeded in gaining a second term, is visibly shaken. Above all because local opposition gained an important State, Penang, the industrial, electronic and technological heart of the nation, as well as its wealthiest. There the Democratic Action Party (DAP), drawn from ethnic Chinese which represent the majority of the population. The new chief minister, Lim Guang Eng, has already come out against the NEP, receiving in answer from Abdullah an invitation to “avoid creating an atmosphere that creates racial tensions”.
In the immediate aftermath of the election win, which eroded the BN’s three-quarters majority in the Federal Parliament, the opposition groups decided to make a common stand against the ex Premier Anwar Ibrahim, head of the Peoples Justice Party (PKR). But the coalition is already showing the early signs of internal fracturing. The DAP is suspicious of the Islamic PAS which is fighting for an introduction of Sharia law for Muslim citizens. In Perak state, members of the Democratic action party will boycott the swearing in of the new chief minister, chosen by the local sultan from the rank and file of the PAS.