Sarawak State Election and The Consolidation of Najib’s Confidence

Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem is accompanied by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak to the nomination centre at Dewan Masyarakat Lundu in Lundu, Sarawak. Also with them is adenan’s wife Jamilah Anu (right)
AZHAR MAHFOF / The Star. April 25, 2016.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s coalition won both by-elections on 18 June 2016 and Sarawak State Election on 7 May 2016 by the landslide, with bigger majorities despite corruption allegations, political turmoil, and online media noise against the premier.

Winning the two by-elections on Saturday, June 18, 2016, with bigger majorities, has boosted Najib`s confidence and strengthened his political power.

“I am grateful to the people for putting their faith in Barisan Nasional again. We are especially humbled that we received such landslide results,” the Prime Minister Najib Razak said.

Malaysia’s ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) has also won Sarawak State Election with majority win on 7 May 2016.

“Now, with these two huge majority wins, ‎and BN’s landslide 72 out of 82 seats in Sarawak election win last month, the people have shown their confidence for and trust in BN… And they rejected Tun Mahathir’s lies, they rejected his unworkable coalition of former enemies, and they rejected the incoherent opposition.” Najib added.

The premier, Najib Razak, 62, has been accused of corruption since July when Wall Street Journal and some local independent online media allegedly reported that RM2.6 billion (about $681 million) were channeled into his personal bank account from the indebted investment 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds.

He denies wrongdoing, saying he never used public funds, and that the accusation was only a political conspiracy and a lie made by the opposition party and the Former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir to topple a democratically elected leader and government.

Najib was cleared by the Attorney General, Mohamed Apandi Ali of any wrongdoing on Tuesday 26 January 2016. The money he received was only a donation from the Saudi royal family and he returned back most of it, the attorney general said.

“I am satisfied with the findings that the funds were not a form of graft or bribery… There was no reason given as to why the donation was made to PM Najib – that is between him and the Saudi family,” Apandi Ali said.

Najib Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia

This vote was the first test of public support for Najib on peninsular Malaysia after a year of political turmoil over 1MDB scandals and RM2.6 billion allegations. The size of the wins suggests Najib retains support within the broader Barisan Nasional coalition led by UMNO (reported Bloomberg.com, June 18, 2016).

“Najib desperately needs these wins. It will validate his position that despite all the problems he’s facing, they are able to win. Otherwise, his status will be in the balance, especially as president of UMNO,” said Ahmad Martadha Mohamed, Dean of The College of Law, Government and International Studies at Universiti Utara Malaysia.

The opposition parties (Pas and Amanah) lost in the twin by-elections because of many factors. First, they are very divided – they keep fighting among themselves instead of fighting with the BN government, said the political analyst, Associate Prof. Dr. Jeniri Amir.

PAS, which is pushing for the Islamic penal code hudud to be implemented – Under PAS’s hudud laws, adulterers and apostates could face death by stoning while those found guilty of theft could have their hands amputated- has lost badly in this by-elections than ever before.

Voters in Sungai Besar in Selangor state and Kuala Kangsar in the northern Perak region opted/chosen to keep ruling party lawmakers in the seats, with wider majorities than the 2013 federal election, said the Election Commission.

Almost 68 percent of voters in Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar are Malays, the rest are Chinese and Indians and other ethnicities.

This victory in the Sarawak state and by-elections have boosted Najib`s grip on power. Moreover, it has given him more confidence that the majority of the public still trust him and his party.

The strong win is a boon for Prime Minister Najib Razak, who will likely use the victory to show that the people still support his coalition despite the financial scandal engulfing his brainchild, state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad, analysts say (reported StraitsTimes, 8 May 2016).

Voting for BN meant that voters are not affected by the  foreign or the online media allegations involving the Prime Minister in corruption and mismanagement.

The 1MDB scandal, that the opposition used to oust the BN government, has failed to capture the imagination of Malaysian voters , especially Malays, and rural voters.

Author: ZIININE ABDESSELAM, Correspondent, Malaysia