VZCZCXRO4825
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHKL #0182/01 0740952
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 140952Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0700
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 2492
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0397
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 KUALA LUMPUR 000182 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR EAP/MTS, INR AND DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KDEM MY
SUBJECT: MALAYSIA'S ELECTION: EMBASSY OBSERVATIONS IN 
BATTLEGROUND STATES 
 
REF: A. KUALA LUMPUR 160 - ELECTION SHOCK 
     ¶B. KUALA LUMPUR 158 - FINAL PUSH 
     ¶C. KUALA LUMPUR 154 - CLEAN FINGERS 
     ¶D. KUALA LUMPUR 140 - CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Embassy KL positioned election observers in six 
hotly contested states during the final days of Malaysia's 
campaign period and on the March 8 polling day.  In addition 
to our previous reporting on campaigns in the capital city 
areas of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, this message provides 
first hand observations from Perak, Terengannu, Penang, 
Kedah, Kelantan and Sabah.  We observed common patterns in 
many of these states which highlight some factors that may 
have brought about the unprecedented opposition gains (ref 
A).  Despite the prevalence of signs, banners and flags 
around the country for Prime Minister Abdullah's National 
Front (Barisan Nasional or BN) coalition, and despite the 
coalition's heavy dominance of the mainstream media, the BN 
was out-campaigned in many areas.  The opposition parties' 
ceramahs, or street rallies, dwarfed BN's efforts, and the 
coalition's decision to limit most campaigning to small 
groups and "walk-a-bouts" failed to draw the large number of 
votes to which it was accustomed.  Issues of corruption, 
crime, good governance, fair elections and racial equality 
resonated loudly in the communities that eventually fell to 
the opposition, and many voters chose "anyone but BN." 
Finally, on the peninsula we also saw a general lack of 
confidence among both BN volunteers and candidates in 
constituencies that the eventually fell to the opposition. 
The opposition's energetic campaigns contrasted with 
lackluster BN efforts, foreshadowing the serious political 
setback suffered by Prime Minister Abdullah and BN in the 
March 8 polls.  End Summary. 
 
Perak 
----- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In our early visits around Perak's capital of Ipoh 
we heard many conclude that the Malaysian Chinese Association 
(MCA) would have a tough time beating DAP.  The MCA ceramahs 
were far from a success and turn outs were minimal.  Staffers 
of the BN-MCA candidates went around the tables, shook hands 
and handed out brochures, hand fans and CDs.  We attended a 
typical ceramah that had a maximum of 500 people in 
attendance with about 30 per cent of the crowd being 
children.  They were there primarily to watch the Lion Dance 
(which the party paid RM 8000 for a 10 minute performance). 
When the performance ended the people began leaving.  By the 
time the 3 late-teens girls act finished singing and the 
politicians started talking, the crowd was less than 200 and 
most were ignoring the speakers.  People were just not 
interested.  Looking for other BN activities, we walked into 
the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) building, but 
it was sparsely staffed and looked like a ghost town.  We 
were told they were not holding any ceramahs, only going 
door-to-door. 
 
¶3. (SBU) We also attended parliamentary opposition leader Lim 
Kit Siang's last ceramah in Perak.  It was raining heavily up 
until the start of the event.  When we arrived the rain had 
just stopped and there were almost 2000 people, with 
umbrellas.  There were no performances or gimmicks to attract 
the crowd, only speakers.  The people came in droves and by 
11:30pm there were about 20,000 people mostly of Chinese and 
Indian descent, at the event.  Speakers worked up the crowd 
mentioning the brandishing of the ceremonial Malay kris at 
the UMNO conventions. They emphasized that Chinese born in 
Malaysia are also true Malaysians; and touched on religious 
cases of Lina Joy, and other conversion cases; and on 
education and the number of Chinese schools allocated in the 
last 10 years.  Speakers also complained of the Altantuya 
murder case and called it the "MongolianNajib" case, in 
reference to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's 
alleged connections to the case.  Making fun of Prime 
Minister Abdullah's reputation of sleeping through meetings, 
one speaker commented that the Royal Malaysian Customs close 
"one eye" to matters but the Prime Minister closes "both 
eyes".  Speakers frequently referenced the rising crime rates 
and linked the crimes with corruption and poor governance. 
Speakers made reference to the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) 
and renamed it "Another Collection Agency," and highlighted 
the endemic corruption that was apparent in the VK Lingam 
 
KUALA LUMP 00000182  002 OF 005 
 
 
case. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Election day was uneventful.  Embassy observers 
traveled around Ipoh to different polling sites.  At each 
site the people were coming in a steady trickle.  Volunteer 
civil-defense personnel (RELA) or police were at all the 
polls, with a BN booth (locally called a "pondok panas") 
set-up near-by to help voters verify their registrations. 
Observers did not see any buses or other overt forms of 
possible voting irregularities. 
 
 
Terengganu 
---------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) We observed the election in three districts - 
Marang, Kuala Terengganu, and Kuala Nerus. Kuala Terengganu 
was awash with banners and posters of both parties.  However, 
both the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) and UMNO did not 
hold any mass ceramahs two days prior to polling, but instead 
focused on smaller neighborhood ceramahs door-to-door 
campaigning and the distribution of political pamphlets and 
CDs. In Kuala Nerus, it was a similar situation as in Kuala 
Terengganu.  However, in the PAS stronghold of Marang and the 
state constituencies within the district, it was obvious that 
there were many more PAS posters and banners compared to BN. 
 
¶6. (SBU) In PAS ceramahs, we noted that speakers were 
focusing on two issues - Islamic values and the "kain kapan" 
(or funeral shrouds). The speakers were emphasizing the 
importance of Islam and the afterlife. They told the people 
that they should vote for the "right candidate" but reminded 
everyone that it is sinful to vote for a candidate or party 
who is corrupt.  The rationale being, since all BN candidates 
are corrupt, the vote should go to PAS. In one small ceramah 
at Kuala Terengganu, a local PAS leader campaigning for PAS 
Vice President Mohamed Sabu, also stated that although they 
hated Mahathir, they could still tolerate him but not PM 
Abdullah whom they claim was "stupid."  PAS also accused BN 
of stealing the people's money and added that Terengganu does 
not need any more development that only benefits the rich. 
 
¶7. (SBU) BN supporters on the other hand were generally happy 
with the PM and developments in Terengganu.  A MCA party 
worker told us that the people should give the PM at least 
two terms before judging his administration but "the 
uneducated folks in Terengganu want to see results in a day." 
 Another BN supporter shared her experience on how PAS 
supporters had openly questioned her at the local market for 
supporting the BN and gave her a "religious lecture" on why 
she should be supporting PAS.  Due to these incidents, BN 
supporters told us that they would normally pretend to agree 
with PAS whenever they are approached by the Opposition party 
to avoid a lecture, and because of "the fear of a mishap from 
Allah" (as PAS supporters would claim if someone did not 
support the party). 
 
 
Penang 
------ 
 
¶8. (SBU) On March 6, two days before the election, we met DAP 
candidate Liew Chin Tong and asked if he felt confident.  He 
replied that he felt confident in himself, but still not sure 
if the voters would turn out.  Nevertheless, the DAP 
headquarters and PKR operations center we visited were 
buzzing with people and activity.  Groups of people were 
chatting outside, and seemed charged up and excited. A steady 
stream of people were coming and going, while candidates Liew 
Chin Tong and Jason Ong Khan Lee (PKR) were among the group 
of workers greeting people and handing out literature. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) On March 7, at the People's Movement Party 
(Gerakan) headquarters, a volunteer told us that he felt like 
it was hopeless, and that he felt very discouraged. We 
visited Barisan Nasional's MCA headquarters and Gerakan 
headquarters and both were relatively quiet and empty.  In 
fact MCA's office was so quiet that we initially thought it 
was closed.  We tried calling one of the Gerakan election 
centers for directions to a ceramah, and no one answered. 
When we inquired about ceramahs at the MCA headquarters, a 
volunteer suggested that we attend the DAP ceramah instead. 
 
Issues of importance to Penang voters 
------------------------------------- 
 
KUALA LUMP 00000182  003 OF 005 
 
 
 
¶10. (SBU) From Chinese and Indians, most comments were about 
the economy, high prices, and declining standard of living. 
Several Chinese mentioned that huge schools are being built 
for Malays in areas where there are few Malays, and the 
Chinese are packed into tiny schools.  There is anger on this 
point and on other race-related inequities. They said that 
they cannot demand higher wages from the multi-nationals or 
the companies will be driven out of Malaysia.  People are fed 
up that the government is not keeping costs down.  Many 
Chinese and Indians said that they are poor, and the 
government does not help them. 
 
¶11. (SBU) We attended several ceramahs in the state, but 
without exception, only DAP and PKR were able to draw a 
crowd.  On March 6, we went to a DAP ceramah that drew some 
50,000 people. Speakers included Karpal Singh, Lim Guan Eng, 
and Lim Kit Siang among others.  They spoke a mix of Hokkien, 
Mandarin, English, and Malay; all speakers using at least two 
languages and some using four.  The crowd's reaction to Lim 
Guan Eng stood out the most. He first approached while 
someone else was speaking.  The crowd which had been sitting 
on the grass stood and chanted his name, cheering wildly.  He 
didn't come up on stage then, but came back later.  Again the 
crowd stood, with deafening chanting and cheering greeted his 
entrance.  When he finally spoke, he was given a rock-star 
reception, again with deafening cheers to his words. 
Although others 
received enthusiastic receptions, the standing, cheering and 
roaring applause were reserved for Lim Guan Eng. 
 
¶12. (SBU) In contrast, we attended a BN ceramah in Jelutong 
for Gerakan candidate Thor Teong Gee.  There were only about 
100 people in attendance, and they milled around and chatted 
while he spoke.  The crowd was completely ethnic Malay and 
Dr. Thor spoke Bahasa.  BN provided food and drinks, but 
still there were many empty chairs.  Dr. Thor was not very 
animated, and after he finished his 30-minute speech he left 
immediately.  BN later hosted several other speakers, and 
though the crowd fluctuated in size, there were at most only 
200 people at its height. 
 
 
Kedah 
----- 
 
¶13. (SBU) Upon arriving in Alor Star, the capital of Kedah, 
we stopped at the UMNO headquarters and spoke with a worker. 
The office was empty except for him and one other, and they 
were entirely at a loss when asked about ceramah schedules. 
They said another office took care of that, and searched for 
the phone number of someone to call.  When we called, we only 
got an error message.  With little support from the party we 
decided to speak with locals about the campaign.  We spoke 
with a Chinese Malaysian vendor at a printing shop with large 
a Gerakan banner posted above the entrance.  He said that a 
large number of BN banners around Alor Star were not 
necessarily representative of widespread support, and 
estimated the town at 60-40 pro-BN.  He himself was not sure 
whom he would vote for and seemed to weigh some of the same 
things that media had been harping on -- making votes "count" 
by voting for BN vs. voting for the opposition as a way to 
signal displeasure at the current government. 
 
¶14. (SBU) As we drove through the rural areas of the state we 
saw considerably more PAS banners, which increased markedly 
as we made our way into the small town centers. The owner of 
a local shop confirmed that PAS would be holding 22 ceramahs 
across the state every night of the campaign.  When talking 
about his own district of Pendang, he said the race was "hot" 
between PAS and UMNO but guessed it 50-50 that either side 
would win.  Not surprisingly for this conservative area, very 
few women were seen to be involved in the political process, 
and the people we spoke to seemed generally suspicious and 
uncomfortable when an American woman asked questions about 
the elections.  Although it was considered a "hot" race, 
there was little outward political activity to suggest active 
mobilization or participation on either side.  In general, it 
was very quiet for 2 days before polling, and we surmised 
that most voters had long since made up their minds about 
which party to vote for. 
 
¶15.  (SBU) On the last day of campaigning we happened upon 
one of the campaign offices of PKR candidate Gobalakrishnan 
(a recent Embassy IVP alumnus) in Padang Serai.  One of the 
 
KUALA LUMP 00000182  004 OF 005 
 
 
campaign's biggest concerns was about polling-day 
shenanigans, including phantom voters.  The indelible ink 
issue was brought up constantly, as evidence that the 
government was intent on ensuring that voting would not be 
fair while at the same time blaming others for it. Gobal 
described how the local Indians were very angry with 
Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) President Sammy Vellu, so 
much so that when Samy came to the town last week to support 
the BN candidate he did not inform the Indian community. 
When word got out, according to Gobal, there was a 
spontaneous protest demonstration by 10,000 people that 
clogged roads and brought out the police.  Police arrested 
the PKR candidate's son, claiming his stereo speakers were 
too loud, then told Gobal they would release him if Gobal 
told the crowd to disperse.  Gobal proudly said that he told 
them to keep his son locked up.  The campaign figured their 
chances of success were about 50-50, but in the end won by 
almost 12,000 votes and the opposition took the state. 
 
 
Kelantan 
-------- 
 
¶16. (SBU) In the battle of banners, Kelantan was the Maginot 
Line of Malaysia where the green banners of PAS buttressed 
the navy blue of Barisan Nasional at every corner.  Yet 
despite the constant flag warfare, and despite repeated 
visits earlier in the campaign by the Prime Minister and 
Deputy Prime Minister, little else was observed that would 
indicate BN was truly prepared to fight.  In the final days 
of the campaign, while PAS held street rallies (ceramahs) and 
mass prayers at the local stadium in Kota Bahru, BN 
candidates quietly visited their neighbors and limited their 
campaigns to "walk-a-bouts."  On March 6, just two nights 
before the election, we were informed by a sparsely staffed 
campaign headquarters that UMNO would not be holding any 
ceramahs or public events before the elections. 
 
¶17. (SBU) Nevertheless, PAS candidates continued to campaign 
hard throughout the state and in the capital city.  Former 
State Assembly Speaker and parliamentary candidate Wan Rahim 
Wan Abdullah invited us to attend a PAS ceramah in a Chinese 
village on the outskirts of Kota Bahru, "to get a real 
feeling for the issues facing Kelantan."  Upon arriving, we 
quickly noticed that the only Muslims at the ceramah were the 
candidate and his family. Yet, a crowd of some 200 Chinese 
voters bought food from local hawkers and listened for hours 
as Hokkien speakers explained why even non-Muslims should 
support PAS over Barisan Nasional.  The crowd laughed and 
cheered as the speakers disparaged the BN national 
government.  As one attendee explained, "PAS cleaned up our 
state.  So you want to gamble or go to a night club. . .go to 
Thailand.  It's not far.  Some of us go, but we don't need 
the problems those things bring us here." 
 
¶18. (SBU) We spent the final day of campaigning in Bachok, 
the hotly contested seat of Deputy Finance Minister Dr. Awang 
Adek Hussin and his challenger PAS Deputy President 
Nasharuddin Mat Isa.  BN supporters confirmed that the 
coalition had taken the same approach throughout the campaign 
and limited most of their campaigning to small group 
meetings, door-to-door encounters, and relied heavily on the 
personal reputation of the candidate.  We met briefly with 
Awang, and he expressed optimism of retaining his 
parliamentary seat, but less confident of winning the state 
seat which would designate him the coalition's choice for 
Chief Minister.  PAS supporters remained confident of 
sweeping the parliamentary and state assembly elections in 
the district and held ceramahs nightly even to the last day 
of campaigning. 
 
¶19. (SBU) Election Day in Kota Bahru remained calm and voters 
flowed to the polls in steady streams throughout the day. 
There was a true feeling of excitement in the air as both PAS 
and BN "pondok panas" workers greeted arriving voters with 
enthusiasm and attention.  But by the end of the day, BN 
workers confided that they had hoped for a better turn out. 
They estimated that turn-out was around 70 percent, and they 
had hoped for 80 percent to ensure a BN victory.  In the end 
they were right, and PAS and PKR candidates handily defeated 
BN in both state and parliamentary elections across Kelantan. 
 
Sabah 
----- 
 
 
KUALA LUMP 00000182  005 OF 005 
 
 
¶20. (SBU) Prior to election day in Sabah, there was sentiment 
expressed both in news articles and even by some supporters 
within the BN's Sabah People's Progressive Party (SAPP)  that 
some Barisan seats were likely to be lost in the general 
election, with the Democratic Action Party (DAP) expected to 
reap the benefit of any BN losses.  Journalists speculated in 
the run-up to Election Day that the areas with Chinese voter 
majorities were being targeted by opposition parties such as 
the People's Justice Party (PKR) and DAP. 
 
¶21.  (SBU) When the voting was done and the ballots were 
counted, DAP managed wins only in the Kota Kinabalu and Sri 
Tanjung districts.  Just days before the election, however, 
many BN candidates confided that they were not sure how well 
the BN would perform in urban areas, and that they expected 
to lose more seats.  Still, one BN party activist we 
interviewed made the interesting comment that Chinese voters 
in Sabah become anxious when they see demonstrations leading 
to crackdowns such as those taking place in the peninsula 
where Bersih and Hindraf demonstrations came to grief.  He 
noted that Chinese in East Malaysia would, in order to avoid 
strife, rather stay away from supporting parties like PKR in 
the elections and prefer instead to support moderate mainline 
groups like the SAPP who are already aligned to folks in 
power. 
 
¶22. (SBU) During the period of observations, we saw no buses 
being used to transport potential voters.  However, at one 
site we could overhear an UMNO worker on his cell phone 
requesting that transportation (including buses) be provided 
to bring voters to the station.  We observed an interesting 
situation when a youthful voter exited from the polling area 
and asked one of the uniformed UMNO party workers what he 
should do now.  Paraphrasing, she told him "not now" but to 
"come to the office tomorrow." 
 
KEITH