Mahathir's coalition wins by landslide victory

Mahathir's coalition wins by landslide victory

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's National
Front coalition yesterday was re-elected by a landslide in
Malaysia's ninth general election, leaving the opposition, which
had exploited sectarian issues, in tatters.

The opposition ethnic-Chinese-based Democratic Action Party
(DAP) saw its bid for power in Penang, Malaysia's northern
industrial hub, fizzle out with the crushing defeat of its
leader, Lim Kit Siang, by Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon.

Koh defeated Lim by a thumping 7,487-vote majority at the
final count.

"This is our biggest victory since independence and many new
records have been created," said Mahathir.

Mahathir earned a fourth five-year term, while the National
Front, savoring its biggest win since Malaysia's independence in
1957, retained a firm grip on 12 of Malaysia's 13 states.

The Front made strong headway into the sole opposition-led
Kelantan, by winning two parliamentary and seven state seats to
chip away at the stronghold of the Moslem Parti Islam (PAS) after
failing to take a single ward in the 1990 polls.

Mahathir said the National Front's overwhelming win signaled
rejection of the racial and sectarian politics of the opposition,
particularly the DAP and PAS.

"In my opinion, they did not get the kind of support we did
because the voters are already mature and have rejected the
strongly racial politics of the DAP and the religious fanaticism
of PAS," a jubilant Mahathir told a news conference.

But the Front's sweep was tempered by a strong Christian-
opposition showing in Sabah, the oil-and-timber rich eastern
state, where the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) took eight of the
state's 20 seats in the federal parliament.

At the final tally, the 14-party National Front swept 161
seats in the 192-member Dewan Rakyat for a more than two-thirds
majority in the lower house of parliament.

The DAP won nine while PAS, which, as expected, retained
control of Kelantan, bagged seven parliamentary seats, with the
near-decimated Semangat 46 led by Mahathir's archfoe Tengku
Razaleigh Hamzah taking six.

The results for a remaining parliamentary seat in the rural
Kinabatangan seat in eastern Sabah state will be announced today.

With Mahathir making good his promise to crush the opposition,
the National Front saw its share of the popular vote soar to more
than 63 percent from 53.4 percent in the 1990 polls.

Mahathir had campaigned for re-election on the platform that
only his multi-racial coalition could ensure the stability
Malaysia needed to continue rapid economic expansion and full
employment.

Malaysia's economy has grown by more than eight percent
annually over the past seven years, fueled by huge inflows of
foreign capital that have transformed the country into a newly
industrialized nation.

New cabinet

The prime minister is expected to announce his new cabinet
early next week, according to official sources.

Officials said major changes were in store because he will
need to replace at least six ministers, including four from his
own United Malays National Organization (UMNO), one from Sabah
who crashed out in the polls and one from a component party who
did not seek re-election.

Health Minister Lee Kim Sai from the Malaysian Chinese
Association did not contest, while federal minister Bernard
Dompok and federal deputy minister Jeffrey Kitingan from Sabah
were defeated in the polls.

Public Enterprises Minister Yusof Nor, National Unity and
Social Development Minister Napsiah Omar, Sports Minister Ghani
Othman and Agriculture Minister Sanusi Junid vied in state
constituencies.

Analysts said the runaway victory had enhanced Mahathir's
position as president of UMNO -- the linchpin of the National
Front -- to thwart any possible bid by supporters of his deputy,
Anwar Ibrahim, to prematurely oust him from office in party
elections next year.

Mahathir has been at the helm since 1981.

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