
Malaysia Opposition, Led by 92-Year-Old, Wins Upset Victory - ernsheong
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/09/world/asia/malaysia-election-najib-mahathir.html
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1k
As a Malaysian, this win is so amazing. Literally against all odds. I’ve never
been more proud of my fellow Malaysians.

Najib had control of the Election Comission, Registry of Socieities, Attorney
General, Inspector General of Police, and his own political party.

With this power he shamelessly gerrymandered, deregistered the opposition
coalition, appointed someone to proclaim him innocent in 1MDB investigations,
locked up the opposition leader, and sacked critics within his own party
including the deputy prime minister and a VP.

Then there was also the EC who set voting date on possibly the most
inconvenient date, new laws to bar advertising of the opposition prime
minister candidate’s face, the Sultan who spoke out against the opposition and
the Agong who stripped some opposition leaders of titles.

This is indeed a historic moment.

~~~
APCarr
As an Englishman that has lived in Malaysia for about 15 years no, I share
that pride :)

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qubex
As somebody who frequented Malaysia extensively in the first half of the 2000s
(in the aftermath of the ruinous 1997 currency crisis) I’m very curious to see
how the dynamic between Mahathir and Anwar plays out: the latter was a member
of the former’s government during the crisis and the former had the latter
jailed on what were wildly held to be trumped-up sodomy charges (as the
article mentions). This is going to be a very awkward working relationship.

~~~
nailer
Mahatir is insane (or as the post notes below, perhaps shrewdly taking
advantage of ignorant or powerless populace). Asides from faking the sodomy
charges against Anwar (who was widely popular and hence seen as a threat), he
also believes an international conspiracy of Jewish people caused the Asian
Financial Crisis:

[https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/16/world/malaysian-
premier-s...](https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/16/world/malaysian-premier-sees-
jews-behind-nation-s-money-crisis.html)

[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/oct/17/malaysia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/oct/17/malaysia)

~~~
rayiner
The downvoting for pointing out the documented anti-semitism is interesting.

~~~
ptero
I do not think it gets downvotes for pointing out documented anti-semitism. My
guess is that the first sentence is a downvote magnet. Nothing else in that
post points to insanity. IMO, it rather indicates a very shrewd politician
working to control public opinion and get rid of opponents using all tools
available.

~~~
rayiner
I think asserting that there is a vast global Jewish conspiracy points
strongly to insanity.

~~~
ptero
The fine point though is that asserting != believing. In population with
largely anti-Israel feelings asserting it may give you short term political
benefits.

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baybal2
What a surprise. I was certain that when Najib Razak will be cornered, he
would've resorted to election rigging.

Looks like his rating tanked so hard, that even foul play on a level available
to him did not gained much for him.

Congratulating Malaysian people.

~~~
yen223
The sheer number of ads and propaganda by the ruling party actually convinced
me that the elections _weren 't_ going to be rigged. No one in their right
mind would have invested so much time and effort winning a battle that has
already been won

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rayiner
I don’t understand the spin. The article doesn’t mention that he was prime
minister for more than 20 years previously until halfway through.

By most accounts a decent prime minister. But also a virulent anti-Semite:
[http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp506.htm](http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp506.htm)

~~~
azernik
Because the leader isn't the point; the political parties _are_. He's a
unifying figure for an ethnic-minority and liberal-opposition coalition very
different from the one that's ruled the country since independence.

~~~
rayiner
“The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews
rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.” - The
Prime Minister Elect of Malaysia.

He’s the _liberal_ opposition?

~~~
azernik
He leads a breakaway party (the Malaysian United Indigenous Party [1]) that
jumped over two years ago from the ruling party to the opposition coalition.
That party is only a bit over 10% of the coalition that won this election (12
/ 113 seats); he's basically a figurehead/placeholder with good name
recognition, holding the spot until the leader of the largest party in the
coalition (Anwar Ibrahim of the People's Justice Party [2], with 49 of the
coalition's seats) finishes the jail sentence for his politically-motivated
sodomy charges.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_United_Indigenous_Pa...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_United_Indigenous_Party)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Justice_Party_(Mala...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Justice_Party_\(Malaysia\))

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nafey
If any Malaysians can answer: Recently Malaysia has been in news for increased
religious extremism/fundamentalism. Can any improvement on this front be
expected by the new government?

~~~
qubex
_N.B._ ‘ _Malays_ ’ is an ethnic group (the supposedly-native ”people of the
land” ( _bumiputra_ ) Muslim majority); nationality of Malaysia is fairly
mixed including Malays, ethnic Chinese, ethnic Indians, and even _orang asli_
(”original people”). The correct term for this aggregate is _Malaysians_.

~~~
sohkamyung
Correct. Just a minor typo at the end: it should be _Malaysians_.

~~~
qubex
Thanks, corrected.

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coldtea
> _Malaysia Opposition, Led by 92-Year-Old, Wins Upset Victory_

The future is theirs!

