Malaysia: UMNO´s Search for Relevance

Abstract

To many observers, Malaysia at the beginning of 2000 appeared a rare case of stability in a turbulent region. Just a month earlier, Dr Mahathir Mohamad had led his government to secure 148 of 193 parliamentary seats in a general election. Political uncertainties had receded, declared a leading financial house.1 Government electoral success, however, came from the support of non Malays on the peninsula and indigenous groups in Sabah and Sarawak, while Malays deserted it in droves. The United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the dominant party in the governing Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, had perhaps its worst election ever. Its parliamentary seats declined from 94 to 72. Four ministers and five deputy ministers were defeated, and many others experienced a massive reduction in their majorities. Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) was the main beneficiary, tripling its representation to 27 seats, becoming leader of the parliamentary opposition, and scoring massive majorities in Kelantan and Terengganu state assemblies. The new Parti keADILan Nasional (National Justice Party, or keADILan) led by Wan Azizah, wife of ousted former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, gained 5 seats and some 12 per cent of the vote. About half the Malay vote went to the opposition ? indeed, some UMNO leaders put the party's share at less than 40 per cent.2 That removed the basis of governmental legitimacy in Malaysia hitherto, which had rested on UMNO having overwhelming Malay support. What were the reasons for UMNO's setback? The main cause was the