In one of its worst electoral performances, Malaysia's ruling coalition lost control of four state governments and failed to win a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
KUALA LUMPUR: In one of its worst electoral performances, Malaysia's ruling coalition lost control of four state governments and failed to win a two-thirds majority in Parliament in the general election amid complaints of racial inequality by ethnic Indians and rise in crime and corruption.
Malaysia's lone ethnic Tamil Minister Samy Velu, President of Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) - a component of ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, lost his Sungei Siput parliamentary seat in Perak state in yesterday elections for parliament and 12 state legislatures.
Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi-led Barisan Nasional failed to win a two-thirds majority in the 222-member Parliament for the first time since 1969.
It got 139 of the 220 seats, a simple majority, raising questions about the political future of Abdullah. The results of two seats are yet to be announced by Election Commission.
The Barisan also lost control of assemblies of Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Perak states for the first time. Apart from these four states, the opposition won in Kelantan.
Velu, who turned 72 yesterday, was defeated by his arch- foe D Jeyakumar, a former chest physician whom he had defeated in 2004 polls. Jeyakumar beat Velu by a margin 1821 votes.
The political tsunami that hammered Badawi's ruling coalition took the government by surprise as veteran politicians lost their seats.
The ethnic Indian voters, who form nearly 8 per cent of Malaysia's 27 million population, helped the opposition win more mixed seats, Jenison Jayasooria, Executive Director of MIC's think tank Yayasan Strategic Sosial said.
M Manoharan, one of the five detained leaders of non-governmental Hindraf spearheading protests against alleged marginalisation of ethnic Indians, contested the polls under the opposition DAP ticket and won convincingly.
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