Malaysia's opposition parties mull forming formal coalition

The Associate Press

The loose three-party opposition alliance that made enormous gains in Malaysia's recent elections is ready to form a formal coalition to pose a stronger challenge to the government, an official said Friday.

"If we are going to respect the people's wish for change, we have to have some kind of cooperation," opposition leader Lim Kit Siang of the Democratic Action Party told The Associated Press. "We have to try to make it work. If there is a failure, all will suffer from it."

The DAP, a left-leaning ethnic Chinese-based party, is part of the unlikely alliance that won 82 seats in the 222-member Parliament in general elections held March 8, a huge jump from 19 seats the opposition held previously. The other two parties in the alliance are the Malay-based Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, and the multiethnic People's Justice Party, or PKR.

Lim said the three parties met Tuesday to discuss forming a formal coalition, but no timeframe was mentioned. He described a possible coalition as a "political experiment."

The three parties joined together for the elections with a common agenda to provide racial equality and a corruption-free administration. The message struck a chord among many Malaysians, who voted across racial lines for the opposition.

In the past, Malaysia's three ethnic groups generally voted for parties representing their communities — the majority Malays for the United Malays National Organization, the Chinese for the Malaysian Chinese Association and the Indians for the Malaysian Indian Congress.

The three parties form the core of the ruling National Front coalition, and their combined strength has ensured that the coalition has remained in power since independence in 1957. The National Front won the recent elections as well, but with a much lower majority.

Over the years, the parties in the ruling coalition have fed on fears that only they can look after the interests of their communities. But this time, growing disenchantment over corruption, inflation and racial tensions overrode such fears for many voters.

Lim called it "a new scenario" where disappointed Chinese voted for the opposition, even the Malay PAS.

Lim said that if a coalition was formed, the DAP would ensure that "our basic principles are not in any manner compromised." He was referring to the party's opposition to the PAS goal of setting up a theological Islamic government in Malaysia, including enforcement of strict Islamic laws, or hudud.

But PAS has toned down its religious rhetoric in recent months, and even dropped from its election manifesto its demand for an Islamic state.

"There is a greater understanding of realities ... for instance that in a multiracial, plural society, an Islamic state and hudud laws are just unacceptable," Lim said.

Officials of the other parties could not immediately be reached for comment.