UMNO celebrates by-election victory

UMNO celebrates by-election victory

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Leaders of Malaysia's ruling party on
Sunday celebrated their victory in a closely watched by-election,
trumpeting the win as a rebuke of opposition claims that Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad was losing the people's support.

In what was widely seen as a test of Mahathir's popularity
among Muslim Malays, 11,639 voters in the rural district of
Sanggang in eastern Pahang state cast ballots Saturday to choose
a new state assemblyman.

Redzwan Harun, candidate for Mahathir's United Malays National
Organization, or UMNO, polled a majority of 1,963 votes,
retaining the seat won by the party in last November's general
election.

Redzwan, a former mosque official, defeated Hishamuddin Yahya,
who spearheaded a challenge by the fundamentalist opposition Pan-
Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS.

Mahathir said on Sunday his coalition won a closely-fought by-
election partly because people were no longer agitated about the
treatment of Anwar Ibrahim.

"We found that the opposition resorted to very dirty tactics
and tried to instil fear so that people especially the Chinese
would not go out to vote."

The sacking and jailing of Mathathir's former deputy Anwar
split the ethnic Malay vote. UMNO lost significant ground in last
November's parliamentary and state elections to PAS.

Mahathir, quoted by the official Bernama news agency after
launching the Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix, said Malays'
confidence in UMNO would be fully restored when the government
had the chance to explain what happened with Anwar.

"There is no conspiracy, there is no victimization ... only
that we want to save the country from people we feel are not
suitable," he said.

Anwar was jailed in April 1999 for six years for abusing his
official powers to cover up claims of sexual misconduct. He is
now on trial for sodomy and could face another 20 years if
convicted.

The former heir apparent to Mahathir says he was framed by
high-level politicians because he threatened to expose government
corruption and was seen as a political threat to the premier.

Anwar is trying to call Mahathir as a trial witness but the
judge has yet to rule on this.

Both sides had placed extraordinary importance on winning
Sanggang.

The result will boost the standing within UMNO of Deputy
Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who had campaigned intensively.
Mahathir says this is his last term in office and has indicated
Abdullah as his likeliest successor. UMNO holds leadership
elections in May but Mahathir and Abdullah are not being
challenged for the top two posts.

"It's a moral boost in terms of Abdullah's ability to deliver
the goods," said Abdul Razak Baginda, executive director of the
Malaysian Strategic Research Center.