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Opposition parties merge in bid for Malaysian support

Seeking broader support, the party led by the wife of jailed politician Anwar Ibrahim yesterday merged with one of Malaysia's oldest opposition groups to form a new party.

The merger is part of the opposition's efforts to challenge the government in general elections expected early next year following Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's scheduled retirement in October.

After two years of negotiations, opposition leaders held a jubilant ceremony to launch the People's Justice Party -- a marriage between the National Justice Party founded by Anwar's wife, Azizah Ismail, and the nearly 50-year-old Malaysian People's Party.

Azizah, who remains president of the new party with 200,000 ethnically diverse members, said she hopes to attract a wider range of people while reducing polarization in Malaysian politics, which is dominated by parties based on race or religion.

"We hope this party will unite the people to rise and create a new Malaysia, based on justice, peace and solidarity," Azizah told 500 supporters at a community hall in Kuala Lumpur.

About 60 percent of the country's 24 million people are ethnic Malay Muslims.

Ethnic Chinese Buddhists and Christians, as well as ethnic Indian Hindus, also form large minorities.

Mahathir's United Malays National Organization, which has 3 million members, is the linchpin of a ruling coalition.

It includes ethnic Chinese and Indian-based parties and controls more than two-thirds of the federal parliament.

Azizah founded the National Justice Party in early 1999 in a bid to topple Mahathir, who had fired Anwar, his former deputy, after a policy dispute.

But the party has floundered amid waning support for Anwar, who is serving 15 years in prison for corruption and sodomy.

Anwar claims the charges were fabricated to wreck his political career. Mahathir, who has led Malaysia since 1981, denies any conspiracy.

Mahathir is scheduled to hand power to his deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, in October. The government's five-year term expires late in 2004 and the general elections are expected to be held well before that date to determine a new government.

The Justice Party is allied to the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, the largest opposition group. But both sides have bickered over the Islamic party's goal of setting up an Islamic state and imposing criminal laws that allow amputation for thieves and death by stoning for adulterers.
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