KOTA KINABALU - A SMALL party in Malaysia's ruling coalition quit on Wednesday, in a fresh blow for the beleaguered government which is also facing an opposition bid to seize power.
The decision by the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), which has two lawmakers in parliament, comes as the opposition led by Anwar Ibrahim is signing up defectors from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
SAPP president Yong Teck Lee said the party would become independent and was not applying to join the opposition alliance, but he launched a savage attack on the BN coalition, which he said had 'lost its moral authority to rule'.
'Perhaps, after 50 years of uninterrupted government, some BN leaders have got it in their heads that they have a divine right to rule,' he said in Sabah's capital of Kota Kinabalu.
Mr Yong accused the 14-member coalition of mismanaging the economy, widening ethnic divisions in the multicultural country, and targeting its opponents using draconian internal security laws. 'SAPP hereby proudly dissociates ourselves from these shameful wrongdoings of the BN government,' he said.
SAPP has been an irritant to the coalition since June, when it called for a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Its departure from the coalition was not unexpected. In the past, SAPP has said it would consider joining the opposition, which has courted disaffected lawmakers in Malaysia's underdeveloped eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo island.
Lim Kit Siang, from the Democratic Action Party that is part of the three-member Pakatan Rakyat opposition alliance, said SAPP's departure has 'been in the works.' 'It's a reflection of the deepening crisis of confidence in Abdullah's leadership,' he said in Kuala Lumpur.
SAPP deputy president Raymond Tan, who is also Sabah state deputy chief minister, stormed out of the party meeting in protest over the decision to quit. 'Of course Pakatan Rakyat is going to take advantage of this and woo SAPP to their side,' he said.
Anwar said this week that he has the support of more than 31 lawmakers from the coalition, giving him a small majority in parliament that would end Barisan Nasional's long rule. He has called for a meeting with Mr Abdullah to arrange a smooth transition of power, but the premier has refused and has demanded that Anwar release the names of the defectors.
In March elections, the coalition won 140 seats and the opposition claimed 82, denying the government a two-thirds majority in parliament for the first time in the country's history.
Anwar has targeted concerns in Sabah and Sarawak, where many people are unhappy with the way they have been treated since they joined the Malaysian federation in 1963, along with Singapore. Singapore left Malaysia in 1965, but Sabah and Sarawak stayed on, and some now feel that was a bad decision.
Many Sabahans accuse the government of allowing large numbers of Muslim Filipinos to settle here illegally, tipping the ethnic balance against indigenous tribes who were formerly in the majority.
In peninsular Malaysia, Muslim Malays are the dominant population, alongside large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.
Source Straits Times
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