Mahathir to support two frontline states
Mahathir to support two frontline states
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): With three days to Malaysia's national polls, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was yesterday promising to pump resources into two frontline states if his National Front coalition was returned to power.
The National Front has unveiled an addendum to its national manifesto for Malaysia's sole opposition-led Kelantan state in the northeast, pledging one billion ringgit (US$416 million) in projects to create more than 20,000 jobs within a year if it won power.
"The manifesto is proof of our commitment to raise the living standard in Kelantan so that it does not lag behind other states," said Annuar Musa, the National Front chairman for Kelantan.
In a blatant appeal to the people in Kelantan to reject the fundamentalist opposition Parti Islam (PAS), Annuar said only the National Front coalition government could develop the rural Malay heartland into a "model state."
Kelantan is the only state out of the National Front's reach after it was crushed by PAS in the 1990 polls.
Analysts said there was no doubt that the National Front would win its traditional two-thirds majority in federal parliament in the April 24-25 polls, but a crucial battle was brewing in Malaysia's sole ethnic-Chinese dominated state in Penang.
The Democratic Action Party (DAP) is mounting what it called a "do-or-die" bid for control of the northern state, which is home to the world's major electronic corporations and the country's wealthiest and most industrialized state.
After criss-crossing Malaysia's 13 states, covering up to two states a day, Mahathir was yesterday campaigning for the second time in 10 days in northern Penang state, which is set to be the key battleground in the polls.
"The prime minister wants to drive home his message to the people of Penang that the fate of the industrialized state's future lies in their hands. If they choose the Democratic Action Party (DAP), the state's development will come to a grinding halt," a National Front campaigner said.
Clearly worried about losing an economic linchpin, Mahathir was preparing for a heart-to-heart dialog with the local Penang Chinese community late yesterday.
Mahathir had warned voters that the state would be "finished" if they allowed DAP's Lim Kit Siang to unseat Penang's chief minister Koh Tsu Koon in the coming polls.
"I hope Penang will not be duped," Mahathir had said when spearheading a vituperative campaign against Lim, even calling Malaysia's opposition leader of 25 years a "nincompoop".
Campaigners on the ground said at the last unofficial gauge, Lim, secretary-general of DAP -- the country's largest ethnic- Chinese opposition party, had the "upper hand" in his bid to unseat Koh in the local state constituency of Tanjung Bunga.
"But the National Front is stepping up an 11th hour fight. Votes can easily swing either way," said a local political analyst, wary that Lim succeeded in toppling Koh's predecessor in the 1990 polls.
Analysts said with Mahathir personally plotting the coalition's defenses in the state, there is still a fair chance of holding on to Penang.
"(Koh) Tsu Koon is humble, clean and approachable, generally he enjoys a positive image," said Chandra Muzaffar, a leading political scientist of Koh's chances.