March 22, 2004

Voters reject Islamist party

Voters gave their secular prime minister a huge election victory yesterday, smashing a fundamentalist Muslim party that had wanted to impose an Islamic state in this Southeast Asian country.
[...]
Many voters -- especially the Chinese and Indian minorities -- had feared Islamic fundamentalism was on the rise in Malaysia, a country that has detained scores of suspected terrorists in the past two years, some linked to al Qaeda.
[...]
In another surprising result, imprisoned former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's party lost all five of its seats -- disappearing as fast as it burst onto Malaysia's political scene five years ago, when Anwar was dumped as Mr. Mahathir's anointed successor.
    
Even Azizah Ismail, Anwar's wife, lost her parliamentary seat.
    
The result reflected how much support for Anwar has faded since he was convicted on sodomy and corruption charges and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He says the charges were fabricated to prevent him from challenging Mr. Mahathir, who denies it.
    
The only winner among opposition parties was the Democratic Action Party, a nonreligious, multiethnic group that was largely sidelined during a campaign dominated by debate about the role of Islam. It won at least seven parliamentary seats.

Well, Huzzah for Malaysia!
Good on you!
Who would have thought that the Malaysians were so much smarter politically and more far-sighted than the Spanish?
These elections results--along with the death of Yassin in "Palestine" and the possible death of al-Zawahiri in Pakistan-- are very good news for the start of what may be a good week for the race...the human race!