Malaysia opposition ‘will work with govt’

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim speaks during the  interview in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

AFP/Kuala Lumpur

Anwar Ibrahim acknowledged yesterday that his Malaysian opposition would have to bite the bullet and work with a ruling coalition he calls illegitimate, while pledging a sustained fight for electoral reform.

Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition won May 5 elections but the opposition, which gained more than half the popular vote, has said ruling-coalition fraud cost them victory.

Anwar has rejected the outcome and led a series of rallies denouncing it as fraudulent, raising the spectre of prolonged instability over the bitter elections, the closest the 56-year-old ruling coalition ever came to losing.

But he said his three-party opposition would participate in parliament “as a reality for now” while continuing to question the government’s legitimacy. “Of course we have to move on, but that does not mean we should accept the fraud,” he said in an interview.

“They stole the election from us,” he said.

The opposition says voter rolls were full of irregularities, enabling the ruling coalition to sway results in closely fought seats. Supposedly indelible ink introduced to prevent multiple voting easily washed off.

The government has admitted “problems” with the ink - which it had touted as proof of its commitment to fair polls - but has rejected charges of cheating.

The election was seen as the first in which Barisan Nasional, which has governed tightly since independence in 1957, faced possible defeat.

Barisan has developed Malaysia’s economy, but many analysts say the country is losing its competitive edge. The opposition has blamed corruption and repressive tactics by Barisan, and pledged to free up society and improve governance.

Ban on leaders decried as illegal

Malaysia’s opposition said yesterday its top leaders have been blacklisted from a key state, decrying the move as illegal and aimed at stifling its message of ruling-coalition power abuse and election fraud.

The opposition said those banned by the state of Sabah include its leader Anwar Ibrahim, who has led a series of public rallies around the country to protest May 5 elections that he says were stolen by the ruling coalition.

“It’s really undemocratic and blatantly unjust because you are denying members of parliament to perform their duty in their own country,” Anwar told AFP, adding he would challenge Sabah authorities by flying there this weekend. Lim Kit Siang, a top leader in the three-party opposition, says he was among others blacklisted, as was Ambiga Sreenevasan, co-leader of an NGO alliance that has staged massive past demonstrations demanding electoral reform. The issue first came to light last week when Anwar’s parliamentarian daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar was prevented from entering Sabah. Lim said the additional bans were detailed in a document obtained from the Sabah state government. Sabah officials could not immediately be reached.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Najib Razak said Sabah and Sarawak, two Malaysian states located on Borneo island, have “separate immigration systems to peninsular Malaysia and immigration powers rest with the state government”.