THE victory of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's ruling coalition in a by-election in the state of Selangor yesterday showed that his leadership was gaining stronger public confidence, giving the National Front more openings to win elections in the future.

K S Balakrishnan, senior lecturer of the international and strategic studies department at the University of Malaya, said yesterday that the victory would pave the way to strengthen the National Front ruling coalition.

"For them to recapture (the victory from opposition) shows the chances are better in the future," Balakrishnan told The Brunei Times from Kuala Lumpur.

He said that the triumph in Selangor was important for the ruling party to improve its image as the then candidate from the opposition was a strong contender.

The National Front candidate, P Kamalanathan from the Malaysian Indian Congress component defeated People's Alliance Datuk Zaid Ibrahim from the People's Justice Party in the contest for the Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat.

Kamalanathan secured 24,997 votes against former law minister Zaid's 23,272 votes, a majority of 1,725 votes out of almost 49,000 cast. The ruling coalition has lost six of the previous eight parliamentary seats it has contested since the general election in March 2008.

The result on Sunday was the National Front majority only accounts for 3.57 per cent of the votes cast in the opposition-controlled state.

Bridget Welsh, a political science professor at the Singapore Management University, said the victory was an important lesson for the state government to count on its constituency even if the state assemblymen were from the opposition. "It is a slim majority, so I do not expect serious implications for the opposition state government," she commented on the National Front's victory in the opposition-controlled state.

In the context of promoting 1Malaysia concept, Prime Minister Najib's ruling coalition victory provided a platform for Najib to advertise similarities rather than differences among Malaysia's various communities. Balakrishnan said, "It (the victory) will give maybe some positive signs, positive image, for people to believe in the concept especially for the non-Malays. They may believe that the government care for all and not just the Malays."

But Welsh said that the programme has been politicised that it has moved away from any effective multi-ethnic cooperation.

According to Balakrishnan, Najib still need some work to improve the economy to gain more support from people, including the Chinese community who plays important role in the country's economic activities. He hoped that Najib, who has been taking the office for a year, will carry out policies that can boost country's economy and promote the national unity.

When asked about the opposition's claims that National Front has involved in buying votes to win Hulu Selangor, Balakrishnan said, "If you say direct involvement of money-politics, I doubt it and I don't think there was any money politics."

However, Welsh said that during the last campaign, the National Front had been giving development promises to their audiences as well as small cash payments and gifts. "It is tied to the patronage system that is deeply embedded in Malaysia which speaks to the challenges of managing party finances, transparency and corruption," Welsh said.

The Brunei Times