KUALA LUMPUR — It was hardly the look of the victorious. Wearing a bright blue shirt and a grim expression, Prime Minister Najib Razak appeared before the media Monday to somberly acknowledge that his coalition had won general elections for the 13th time in a row. He had reason to be cheerless. The National Front coalition's victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections despite losing the popular vote has not only exposed the entrenched racial divide in the country but also a new schism — between the rural poor who preferred the status quo and the urban middle-class who wanted change. Healing the divisions will be a big challenge for Najib, who took the oath of office Monday to begin his second five-year term after surviving the fiercest challenge to the National Front's 56-year rule. If left untended, the racial and social divisions could undermine the stability of Southeast Asia's third-largest economy. On the face of it, the National Front appears to have done well. It won 133 seats in the 222-member Parliament — down a fraction from the 135 it won in 2008. The opposition People's Alliance coalition led by Anwar Ibrahim won 89 seats. But look deeper and the numbers carry a grim story for Najib: q The National Front polled 5.22 million votes to the opposition's 5.49 million votes, according to calculations by The Malaysian Insider, an independent news website. q The National Front banked heavily on three states with large rural populations — Sarawak, Sabah and Johor — where many people from indigenous groups and the ethnic Malay majority are beholden to the government for handouts traditionally given to them. The three states alone, out of Malaysia's 13, accounted for more than half of the 133 seats won. q People in many urban areas — especially Chinese who are Malaysia's second largest ethnic group — voted overwhelmingly for the opposition, reflecting the huge disenchantment with the government's affirmative action policies that favor Malays. Speaking at the news conference, Najib blamed a “Chinese tsunami” for the coalition's performance. “On the whole, the people's decision this time shows a trend of voting polarization,” Najib said. “This worries the government, because if it's not handled well, it could spark tension.” Many opposition supporters also believe the coalition resorted to fraud to win, including using migrants from Bangladesh as illegal voters. The government and electoral authorities deny it. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's biggest city, Anwar's alliance won nine of 11 parliamentary seats, losing the other two by slim margins. Farther north, in the ethnic Chinese-majority state of Penang, known for its electronics factories and beach resorts, the National Front was trounced so badly that its state chief immediately resigned. “The National Front is even more reliant on Malay votes now. It is more UMNO now than ever before,” said Ibrahim Suffian, head of the Merdeka Center opinion research firm. Najib pledged to soon reveal a “national reconciliation” plan to heal racial rifts. Khairy Jamaluddin, a ruling coalition youth chief, tweeted that the victory was merely a “reprieve” and warned the National Front would lose the next elections if it fails to deliver positive changes. It must be clear to Najib that to woo the Chinese he would have to take more serious steps than participate in the kind of events the National Front's corporate allies held for two Chinese constituencies before the elections — a performance by South Korean rapper PSY and a dinner with Bond actress Michelle Yeoh. — AP
