Scare tactics may cost opposition Chinese votes

By Gwen Benjamin

KUALA LUMPUR (DPA): Anti-government street riots and the specter of a rigid Islamic state may cost the opposition crucial votes among the ethnic Chinese minority in Malaysia's Nov. 29 general election.

Ethnic Chinese, who form a third of Malaysia's 22 million people, are being seen as the "decision makers" in the polls because the Malay majority is deeply split over the sacking of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

Chinese votes are usually divided between the opposition Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's Barisan Nasional (National Front) government.

But events over the past year, such as Anwar's sacking and the country's worst-ever recession, plus bloody anti-Chinese riots in neighboring Indonesia, may cause a sizable swing of Chinese votes towards the Barisan in the polls.

"Top in the minds of the Chinese voters is stability in everything," said Barisan politician Kang Chin Seng.

Even the DAP acknowledges that the election will be a "do or die" battle for the party, whose decision this year to team up with the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) in a four-party opposition alliance unsettled many members.

The DAP, PAS and the National Justice Party (Parti Keadilan) are members of the Alternative Front which wants to appoint Anwar as premier if it wins the election.

Few expect the Front to oust the powerful Barisan, which is expected to be returned but with a reduced majority. The Front hopes to win at least a third of the 193 seats in the lower house of parliament.

The Barisan has held a two-thirds control of parliament for the past three decades, and losing it this time would be a big blow for the 73-year-old Mahathir who is seeking a record fifth five-year term.

The DAP's move to team up with PAS and Parti Keadilan, so as not to split the opposition vote, has jeopardized its own standing with the Chinese because of fears that PAS will set up an Islamic state if it seizes power in Malaysia.

PAS, which has ruled northeastern Kelantan state since 1990, bans discos, fun fairs, gambling and alcohol, while supermarkets have sex-segregated lanes and cinemas keep their lights on.

Comments by a top PAS cleric that alcoholism and gambling were Chinese vices that could be eliminated if the Chinese converted to Islam also rattled the mostly Buddhist Chinese community.

But the biggest fear of Malaysia's minorities is PAS's desire to implement hudud laws allowing amputation of limbs and stoning for offenses, as well as death for Muslim apostates.

Barisan's control of parliament has so far blocked PAS's attempts to push through such legislation as it lacked enough votes to amend the constitution.

To reassure non-Muslims, PAS dropped the Islamic state idea when it joined the Front and says hudud laws are only for Muslims.

But many Malaysians remain unconvinced, especially as PAS leaders in Kelantan and in Malay Muslim areas continue to campaign on the two proposals to woo support.

"A lot of Chinese are afraid that once the Alternative Front comes to power, its policies will change and it won't be as moderate as compared with the Barisan," Lee Chong Meng, a Barisan candidate in the election, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur DPA.

Another major factor which backfired on the opposition was the pro-Anwar reformasi (reforms) riots which forced many Chinese businesses to shut early and suffer losses over the past year.

"Reformasi, when spoken in the Chinese Hokkien dialect, sounds like lu huat wa si, meaning 'you shout, I die'," Lim said, adding that Malaysian Chinese linked Indonesia's reformasi protests to the ensuing bloody anti-Chinese riots there.

Malaysia suffered bloody racial riots between the Malays and Chinese after the 1969 general election.

Aware of such fears, the Barisan's advertising blitz in the pro-government media has played up pictures of the pro-Anwar riots, peppered with words such as "anarchy", "violence", "mob rule" and "Don't Gamble Our Future."

Opposition parties blasted the advertisements, with DAP leader and parliamentary opposition chief Lim Kit Siang saying they were "calculated to create fear and insecurity if voters support the opposition."

Barisan politicians, however, defended the campaign. Lim said it would "refresh" the people's minds as to the true aims and actions of the opposition.

Malaysian academician Heng Pek Koon said the Chinese vote will determine the fate of at least 16 percent of racially mixed areas.

"The Chinese will vote the Barisan not because they approve of the manner in which the Barisan leaders have conducted affairs of state," she said in a recent article written for the Sunday Star weekly.

"They will do so because they believe Chinese interests are far better served under a secular government presided over by a moderate, modernizing leadership of a party like UMNO, rather than risk their fortunes on a fervent, religiously based party such as PAS," she added.

UMNO, or the United Malays National Organization, is Mahathir's political party and the backbone of the Barisan.