Barisan Nasional victory welcomed as good news

Barisan Nasional victory welcomed as good news

Bantarto Bandoro, Editor, The Indonesian Quarterly,

Centre For Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

Jakarta, bandoro@csis.or.id

The results of the recent elections in Malaysia drew region-
wide commentary that Malaysia is a good model for the development
of democracy in the region, and that it is also good for the
stability of the region.

The landslide victory of the Barisan Nasional, causing the
main opposition party -- Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) -- to
suffer, is attributed particularly to the marvelous job of Prime
Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. After only four months in office,
he convinced the people of the importance of a strong economic
program, clean government and moderate Islam for the future of
the nation.

What is perhaps incredible, is the fact that the elections
proceeded peacefully, despite the Formula I race (held at the
same time as the elections) which attracted huge crowds.

As revealed, Barisan Nasional achieved victory over PAS in
Trengganu by winning 28 seats against the latter's four. Five
years ago, Barisan Nasional was defeated with just four votes to
28. The Barisan's near win in Kelantan, with 24-21 for PAS, was
also due to Badawi's consistency in his vision of a progressive
Islamic state.

On a national level, Barisan Nasional has secured 198 out of
the 219 seats in parliament, meaning that it not only commands
two-thirds of the seats, but also enjoys a strong rule over the
country. This also means that Badawi can feel supremely confident
of his position going into Umno's leadership election later this
year.

Barisan National's victory gave Badawi a clear mandate to
continue with programs for the improvement of Malaysia. The swing
to the government is perhaps due to the public's confidence in
Badawi and an endorsement of his vision of Malaysia's future.
Many of the reports and broadcasts were focused on PAS' losses,
with an emphasis on Badawi's "acceptable brand" of Islam and his
easy style.

The triumph of Barisan Nasional in this year's elections could
mean many things for Malaysians. The public certainly expects to
see continued efforts by the Badawi government to improve living
conditions, particularly in Malaysia's poorest states.

What really impressed the public was Badawi's strategy to
tackle poverty combined with his determination to eliminate
corruption. The latter may have the most dramatic consequences.
People in Malaysia will be waiting for Badawi to act against
high-profile suspects within the civil bureaucracy, the business
community, and critically, within his own government.

So, post-elections Malaysia will see Badawi tested -- on what
he can really offer, and whether it is worth voting for Barisan
Nasional.

What was really interesting about the elections was not just
the way in which Badawi attempted to detach himself from the
policies of his predecessor -- that enabled him to win the hearts
of the public -- but also the defeat of PAS.

The New York Times, in one of its recent reports said that
"PAS has been decimated," while the Age, Australia, said Islamist
routed in Malaysia vote.

It is true that the Malaysian election sees clearly the
falling of a moon, the PAS emblem of a white moon on a green
flag, as well as the rejection by the voters of the intolerance
of PAS.

PAS was rejected because Malaysians may have felt uneasy about
the kind of politics implemented by the Islamic party. The
election results were considered to be an endorsement of the
open, largely secular policies of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, a low-
key leader known as a consensus builder. The "fear factor" may
have been instrumental in leading Barisan Nasional to rout PAS,
meaning that people in Malaysia were afraid to see their country
turned into an Islamic nation (as proposed by PAS).

The victory of Barisan Nasional led one to raise questions:
Was the loss of PAS a big blow to other Islamic parties in the
region? Does the general preference for moderate Islam over PAS
mean that radicalism has been curtailed? Such questions may have
been based on the assumption that Islamic parties and
conservative Islam are equated with militancy and radicalism.

Here in Indonesia, the leaders of some of the country's
Islamic parties said that the trouncing of PAS in predominantly
Muslim Malaysia would not stop them from pushing their manifesto
to strengthen political Islam here.

Other, however, were fearful that Indonesia's Islamic parties
faced a similar fate in the legislative election.

An analyst with the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre,
however, said that the overwhelming endorsement of Badawi's
leadership showed that the more extreme Islamic forces had been
kept at bay.

So, there are those who believe that if moderate Muslim is
dominant in a certain country, it is unlikely that the given
country would be a foothold for religious fundamentalism. There
is every reason, therefore, for countries in the region to feel
relief.

Whatever is perceived as the cause of the "falling of the moon
of PAS", the elections highlighted the inability of the Islamist
party to accommodate modernity.

The signal sent to the region was that to mix religion and
politics is no easy task. Perhaps Indonesian parties would do
well to observe the experiences of Malaysia, in the current
campaign period here.

The writer is also a lecturer of the International Relations,
Post Graduate Studies Program, School of Social and Political
Science, at the University of Indonesia, Jakarta.