Mahathir's victory boost for business<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's
\nlandslide victory in Malaysia's ninth general election will be a
\ntremendous boost for investor confidence, businessmen and
\nanalysts said yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"This is exactly the stability that businessmen would like to
\nsee,\" said Yong Poh Kon, vice president of the Federation of
\nMalaysian Manufacturers.<\/p>\n
Analysts said businesses were anxious for Mahathir's ambitious
\neconomic polices not to be disrupted, calling the prime minister
\nMalaysia's most pro-investment leader yet.<\/p>\n
Mahathir's coalition had campaigned on its formidable record
\nof more than eight percent annual growth during the last seven
\nyears. The National Front also promised to sustain annual
\nexpansion at seven percent for another 25 years to lift Malaysia
\nto fully-industrialized status.<\/p>\n
\"This is a tremendous endorsement for Mahathir and for Vision
\n2020,\" said Jomo Kwame Sundaram, professor of economics at
\nUniversity Malaya, referring to Malaysia's quest to become fully
\nindustrialized by that year.<\/p>\n
The sweeping win gave Mahathir a comfortable 84 percent
\nmajority in parliament, up from 70.5 percent in the 1990 polls
\nand well over the two-thirds majority needed to pass
\nconstitutional amendments.<\/p>\n
Analysts said the prime minister's victory was especially
\nsignificant in the key battleground of northern Penang state,
\nwhere the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) had made a
\nstrong bid to prise state control from the Front.<\/p>\n
Penang is dubbed the \"Silicon Valley\" of Southeast Asia being
\nhost to multi-national technology corporations such as Germany's
\nRobert Bosch, Japan's Matsushita and US-based Seagate, Hewlett-
\nPackard and Intel Corp.<\/p>\n
But voters in the showcase industrial state -- fearful of a
\nclamp on state funds -- opted to give the Front even wider
\ncontrol of the state. Mahathir's party won 32 of the 33 state
\nseats in Penang and all but three of the 11 parliamentary seats.<\/p>\n
\"Malaysia as a fast-developing country still needs a lot of
\ninfrastructural development and obviously states with the same
\nparty in power as the federal government will find it easier to
\nget allocations for development funds,\" Yong said.<\/p>\n
But some analysts said the Front's overwhelming majority also
\nendorses an increasing tolerance of corruption.<\/p>\n
\"My fear is that the strengthened majority of the Front will
\nbe widely seen in business circles as tolerance of money politics
\nand an increasing intimacy between politics and business,\" Jomo
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The DAP and other opposition parties had argued that despite
\nthe robust economic record, Mahathir's government was riddled
\nwith corruption and mismanagement.<\/p>\n
\"People are also going to conclude that to get on the inside
\ntrack of business, you basically have to buy your influence,\"
\nJomo added.<\/p>",
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