For many reasons, mostly foolish ones, the opposition has never been able to garner support and strength in Malaysia eventhough there have have won a substantial part of Parliamentary & State Seats in Parliament, they are breaking up into bits & pieces at a rather worrying level.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – A lawmaker resigned from the main opposition party Monday amid speculation of a coming wave of defections to the ruling coalition _ a blow to the political bloc of Anwar Ibrahim as he faces trial on sodomy charges.
Tan Tee Beng, a lawmaker from Anwar's home state of Penang, announced he was quitting the opposition People's Justice Party after weeks of bickering with other officials in the northern state. He is the second lawmaker to recently quit the party.
Anwar's three-party opposition alliance made major strides in national polls two years ago, depriving the ruling National Front, led by Prime Minister Najib Razak, of its two-thirds majority in Parliament for the first time in four decades. But the front, with 137 of the 222 seats in the legislature, is now just 11 seats shy of regaining that majority and the power to change the constitution.
Less than three weeks ago, another opposition lawmaker in Penang, Zahrain Hashim, resigned from Anwar's party. Both have so far chosen to become independent lawmakers, but opposition leaders fear that they and several others might eventually join the National Front.
Since the opposition's strong performance in the March 2008 elections, ideological and personality conflicts have weakened the bloc. Anwar is also struggling to maintain the confidence of his allies as he stands trial on accusations of sodomizing a male former aide.
If found guilty, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
Anwar claims the government fabricated the charge to crush his political career, but Najib denies it.
Some disgruntled opposition members have blamed their woes on Anwar, saying he has failed to defend the interests of the ethnic Malay Muslim majority in recent national controversies, including a dispute over whether non-Muslims can use the word "Allah" as a translation for God.
Jeff Ooi, an opposition lawmaker in Penang, said he believes the National Front would try to coax some opposition legislators to switch sides within the coming weeks. But he voiced confidence that the opposition could still achieve its goal of winning federal power in the next general elections due in 2013.
"It would be a major setback because the government hopes to subvert our stability, but we will do the repair work over the next few years," Ooi told The Associated Press. "For now, we would like to do some housekeeping and say good riddance to those who leave."
Tan's resignation on Monday comes a day after Penang's former deputy chief minister, Fairus Khairuddin, and dozens of opposition party youth wing members announced they were joining the National Front. Fairus had once been a close ally of Anwar, but he quit his seat in the state legislature last year after other Penang officials complained he was not performing well.
Najib said Sunday that Fairus' departure proved that opposition members were losing confidence in their leaders.
