Malaysia's PM-to-be says by-election a must win

Sat Dec 13, 2008 2:46pm IST
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's ruling coalition needs to win a by-election in January to re-establish its credibility after it performed poorly in recent polls, the country's prime minister-in-waiting said on Saturday. ...";

By David Chance

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's ruling coalition needs to win a by-election in January to re-establish its credibility after it performed poorly in recent polls, the country's prime minister-in-waiting said on Saturday.

The Barisan Nasional government that has ruled Malaysia for 51 years slumped to its worst election result in March and in an August by-election, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was returned to parliament with a larger than expected majority.

"We have to win because we want to make the victory a starting point for BN (Barisan Nasional) and UMNO's revival from the defeat in Permatang Pauh (Anwar's seat)," Najib Razak, who will become prime minister in March, told a meeting in the rural constituency where the vote will take place on Jan. 17.

On Saturday, Najib, who is finance minister, handed over a 408.6 million ringgit ($114.1 million) cheque for oil royalties to the state on the east coast of Malaysia where the by-election will be held, according to Malaysian news agency Bernama.

Najib is set to take office after the departure of lacklustre Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was brought forward by UMNO, the dominant party in the Barisan Nasional coalition.
The by-election is a key test for Najib, who will lead the government campaign in a constituency that is almost 90 percent Malay, the race traditionally represented by UMNO, compared with 60 percent nationally in this country of 27 million people.

The opposition alliance will put up a candidate from an Islamic party that held the seat in 1999 and hopes to retake the marginal constituency which was won by the government with a majority of just 628 votes in the March general election.

It is taking place against a backdrop of a sharp deterioration in Malaysia's economy with growth set to drop to 3.5 percent next year, according to government forecasts, and to zero according to some private sector forecasts.