- Title: MALAYSIA: RULING COALITION MEET TO DECIDE ON ELECTION CANDIDATES.
- Date: 4th March 2004
- Summary: (U3) KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (MARCH 4, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/CU: STREET SCENE IN KUALA LUMPUR WITH BILLBOARDS; BILLBOARD OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER MAHATHIR MOHAMAD AND SUCCESSOR ABDULLAH AHMAD BADAWI; POSTER WITH PAST AND CURRENT PRESIDENT OF RULING UNITED MALAYS NATIONAL ORGANISATION PARTY (3 SHOTS) 0.11 2. MV/ZOOM OUT/GV/SV: PULLOUT PORTRAIT OF ABDULLAH TO ABDULLAH TAKING SEAT IN MEETING ROOM; CAMERAMEN (2 SHOTS) 0.29 3. GV: ABDULLAH MEETING RULING COALITION PARTNERS IN MEETING ROOM 0.33 4. MCU: ABDULLAH SIGNING SOME DOCUMENTS 0.42 5. MV: COALITION PARTNERS DISCUSSING 0.45 6. CU: INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INDUSTRY MINISTER RAFIDAH AZIZ WRITING DOWN NOTES 0.49 7. GV: ABDULLAH CONFERRING WITH SECRETARY-GENERAL KHALIL YAACOB 0.53 8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SENIOR RULING COALITION PARTNER SAMY VELLU SAYING: "This election will be a better sh owing than the last election because number one, new leadership, number two, people like the leader who is very simple, very friendly, very loving to the people." 1.10 9. MV: MALAYSIAN STRATEGIC RESEARCH CENTRE (MSRC) OFFICE 1.14 10. MCU: WSRC DIRECTOR ABDUL RAZAK BAGINDA 1.18 11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MSRC DIRECTOR ABDUL RAZAK BAGINDA SAYING: "Well, I think there is going to be an element of continuity and change. I think people are voting for the process of continuity, a successful transition. The current generation has not seen the kinds of transition. The last time they saw was in 1988, 1981 you know. So obviously its a vote for that continuity process, the transition process. But I think there is also an element of change, so there is also that vote for Abdullah himself."; (SOUNDBITE) (English) MSRC DIRECTOR ABDUL RAZAK BAGINDA SAYING: "No, I think the 1999 election was fought on the twin issues of Anwar Ibrahim and Dr Mahathir. And if you look at the 2004 elections, obviously these two factors are no longer around. Well, Anwar is still around but is no longer as a compelling issue as it was in 1999. Dr Mahathir is no longer around." 2.14 KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (FILE) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) 12. GV: PARLIAMENT BUILDING 2.17 13. ABDULLAH SPEAKING TO HIS CURRENT DEPUTY MV/GV/LV/PAN: PREMIER NAJIB ABDUL RAZAK; FORMER PRIME MINISTER MAHATHIR MOHAMAD WALKING TO TAKE HIS SEAT FOR BUDGET 2004 TABLED IN 2003; PARLIAMENT CHAMBER (3 SHOTS) 2.38 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 19th March 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
- Country: Malaysia
- Reuters ID: LVAE44607CJFMMUWW1IH33TL6TY4
- Story Text: Malaysia's ruling coalition meets to decide on
election candidates.
Malaysia's election day will be decided on Friday
(March 5), with new Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
sure of beating an Islamist-led opposition, but knowing the
margin of victory matters most.
Abdullah took over from veteran leader Mahathir Mohamad
four months ago knowing he had to seek an early mandate not
just to stamp his authority over the country, but over his
own party too.
On Wednesday (March 3), he announced he was going for a
snap election, although he could have waited until the end
of the year.
Parliament was dissolved at midnight, and an official
later told Reuters the Election Commission will announce
the date for polling day on Friday (March 5).
The most likely date is seen as on the weekend of March
20-21, but the result is a foregone conclusion.
Abdullah will win, but if he fails to convincingly
counter the Islamist led-opposition's push across the Malay
heartland in the north of the peninsula, the plotting in
his own United Malays National Organisation could begin.
Gains by the Islamic opposition would unsettle the
more affluent Chinese, who make up about a quarter of the
population, and heighten concerns about fundamentalism in a
region that is a frontline in the U.S.-led war on terror.
Mahathir dominated Malaysia for over two decades, but he
also presided over two splits in UMNO. The last, in 1998,
was the most damaging as it polarised support among the
Malays, who account for just over half of the country's 25
million people.
The sacking and subsequent jailing of former deputy
prime minister Anwar Ibrahim drove many into the arms of
the hardline Muslim preachers who run Parti Islamse-Malaysia (PAS).
UMNO lost more than half the Malay vote to PAS and its
smaller ally Keadilan, the party led by Anwar's wife, in a
bitterly fought election in 1999. But the Barisan Nasional
coalition that UMNO leads still scored a two-thirds
majority.
"This election will be a better showing than the last
election because number one, new leadership, number two,
people like the leader who is very simple, very friendly,
very loving to the people," said Senior Ruling Coalition
Partner Samy Vellu.
Regardless of divided views over the realities of the
militancy scare, Abdullah has won friends by trumpeting his
strong stand for ethical governance and embarking on an
anti-corruption drive that implicitly recognised problems
festering during Mahathir's time.
Analysts feel these elections are significant as they
signify a moment in transition in Malaysian politics.
"Well, I think there is going to be an element of
continuity and change. I think people are voting for the
process of continuity, a successful transition. The current
generation has not seen the kinds of transition. The last
time they saw was in 1988, 1981 you know. So obviously its
a vote for that continuity process, the transition process.
But I think there is also an element of change, so there is
also that vote for Abdullah himself," said the Abdul Razak
Baginda, director of the Malaysian Strategic Research
Centre. This time the Anwar issue has faded, a Chinese
opposition party that joined forces with PAS and Keadilan
has quit the alliance and the Islamists image was hurt by a
militancy crackdown that intensified after al Qaeda's
terror attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
"No, I think the 1999 election was fought on the twin
issues of Anwar Ibrahim and Dr Mahathir. And if you look at
the 2004 elections, obviously these two factors are no
longer around. Well, Anwar is still around but is no longer
as a compelling issue as it was in 1999. Dr Mahathir is no
longer around," he added.
By striking out at corruption, Abdullah -- who has
the full weight of the pro-government mainstream media
behind him -- has effectively taken away one of the biggest
sticks the Islamists used to beat UMNO with.
But the opposition has accused the government or
whitewashing an investigation into the role played by a
firm owned by Abdullah's son in the nuclear proliferation
scandal involving Pakistan's top scientist, Abdul Qadeer
Khan. However, the media is sure to marginalise the issue during
the campaign. To make it even harder for the opposition, a
redefinition of constituency boundaries will also work in
the ruling parties' favour.
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