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.