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Eyewitness: Malaysia's day of decision
A trishaw driver shows his support for the PM |
By Christopher Gunness in Kuala Lumpur
The streets of Kuala Lumpur and the other main towns and cities across Malaysia are strewn with political posters.
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Many of the flyers depict Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad smiling and confident of another victory for his National Front coalition.
Others show his main rivals in the four-party Alternative Front and the man who has become the rallying point for Malaysia's opposition - the jailed former Deputy Prime Minister and Dr Mahathir's own one-time heir apparent, Anwar Ibrahim.
 My children are young and I need a stable future for them  |
| Malaysian voter |
What did that mean, I asked him. "Vote buying", he said and sloped away.
A woman who runs a small business and has three children told me she had little choice but to vote for the National Front of Dr Mahathir.
"My children are young and I need a stable future for them," she told me. "I don't know what might happen if the opposition got in."
The Anwar factor
For the younger generation of Malaysian voters there appears to be more at stake. A twenty-something said the so-called Anwar factor - the treatment of the former deputy prime minister and his followers - would have an influence on the way he might vote.
Parties have poured huge efforts into the short campaign period |
On election morning, Malaysia's pro-government press made it quite clear where they stood on that argument.
Readers of the English Language New Straits Times, awoke to the front page headline quoting Dr Mahathir: "A vote for the National Front is a vote for continued peace, stability."
Beneath that in even larger letters, "Development, security, top priority of voters." The paper confidently predicted the ruling coalition would retain its two-thirds majority in parliament.
All week, the paper has carried a series of advertisements extolling the virtues of Dr Mahathir's programme for the nation.
Some suggest this sits oddly with a party that claims to be in control, and smacks of desperation.
Certainly, the stakes are high, for both the government and opposition.
Christopher Gunness is a presenter on the BBC World Service programme East Asia Today
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See also: |
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24 Nov 99 | Asia-Pacific |
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Malaysia accuses diplomats |
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12 Nov 99 | Asia-Pacific |
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Analysis: Malaysia's electoral showdown |
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15 Nov 99 | Asia-Pacific |
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Analysis: The challenge for Malaysia's reformers |
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22 Nov 99 | Asia-Pacific |
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Wan Azizah: Malaysia's opposition torch-bearer |
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11 Nov 99 | Asia-Pacific |
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Party guide: Malaysia's opposition alliance |
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Office of the Malaysian Prime Minister |
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