Hundreds of thousands of voters in Malaysia’s largest state cast ballots yesterday in a crucial election on Borneo island that will test the ruling coalition’s ability to block the opposition’s hopes of wresting national power.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and other top government politicians have spent the past week campaigning in coastal towns and villages deep in Borneo’s rain forest as part of their National Front coalition’s efforts to retain control of a 71-seat legislature in eastern Sarawak State.
Najib’s coalition previously held 63 seats and is not expected to lose this election, but a convincing victory could spur the prime minister to hold a snap national election later this year. The opposition has been hampered by a lack of resources to reach indigenous tribal communities in remote districts accessible only by boat or helicopter.
Photo: Reuters
Nevertheless, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s three-party alliance hopes to seize one-third of Sarawak’s legislature seats, mainly in urban constituencies, amid public dissatisfaction over alleged corruption and the slow rate of development in the sprawling state.
Najib has pledged hundreds of millions of ringgit in development aid to build new roads and improve facilities in Sarawak, which is rich in timber, but comprises many poor communities with little access to electricity and modern communications.
“Don’t vote based on sentiments,” Najib said late on Friday. “The question that needs to be thought over by Sarawak voters is ... a better future, because Sarawak is a very big state that needs huge investments, particularly in modern infrastructure.”
Officials sent hundreds of boats and helicopters yesterday to obtain ballots from isolated villagers who live near winding rivers and survive on hunting and rice farming.
The Election Commission estimated that nearly 30 percent of about 980,000 eligible voters cast ballots in the first three hours of the nine-hour voting period.
Anwar’s alliance is banking on voter frustration over the 30-year rule of Sarawak’s chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, whom critics say has amassed huge riches through shady timber deals.
Abdul Taib has denied any wrongdoing, but promised recently to step down within a few years.
“We want to deny [the government] its monopoly of Sarawak State,” Anwar said.
However, he reiterated concerns that the ruling coalition might use vote-rigging or bribery to win in areas where the opposition could not monitor ballots. Government authorities have rejected those fears.
The Sarawak State election is Malaysia’s biggest since 2008 national polls, when Anwar’s alliance won more than one-third of the seats in Parliament as many voters complained of racial discrimination and economic mismanagement by the government. Sarawak and a neighboring state on Borneo contribute one-fifth of the national Parliament’s lawmakers.
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