Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian opposition leader, urged his supporters to protest peacefully against a "stolen election" on Monday after official results gave the government a narrow victory.
The final outcome of the general election was 133 seats for Barisan Nasional, the ruling coalition, compared with 89 for Mr Ibrahim's Pakatan Rakyat. But the opposition won the popular vote outright for the first time since Malaysia achieved independence from Britain in 1957, taking 50.1 per cent of the total compared with 46.7 per cent for the governing parties.
The fact that Najib Razak, the prime minister, has achieved re-election despite losing the popular vote by a significant margin has helped to infuriate his opponents.
Mr Ibrahim said he was "disgusted" with the "fact that they could, in this day and age, steal the election and disrespect and reject the true aspirations of Malaysians wanting reform".
(...)
Of the 30 countries surveyed in Transparency International's "bribe-payers' survey" last year, Malaysia came first as the country with the most expensive bribes in the world. Once paid, that money often leaves the country to be invested worldwide.
Last year, one study calculated that over £180 billion left Malaysia in the decade until 2010.
Sarawak, the largest state in the country, has been cleared of most of its rainforest in commercial deals that campaigners believe to be corrupt. Earlier this year, Global Witness covertly filmed the owners of a company called Ample Agro offering to sell an expanse of land for £10 million. They had been given this area by the administration of Abdul Taib Mahmud, the chief minister of Sarawak and a pillar of the ruling coalition, for £200,000 in 2010. Full story...
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The final outcome of the general election was 133 seats for Barisan Nasional, the ruling coalition, compared with 89 for Mr Ibrahim's Pakatan Rakyat. But the opposition won the popular vote outright for the first time since Malaysia achieved independence from Britain in 1957, taking 50.1 per cent of the total compared with 46.7 per cent for the governing parties.
The fact that Najib Razak, the prime minister, has achieved re-election despite losing the popular vote by a significant margin has helped to infuriate his opponents.
Mr Ibrahim said he was "disgusted" with the "fact that they could, in this day and age, steal the election and disrespect and reject the true aspirations of Malaysians wanting reform".
(...)
Of the 30 countries surveyed in Transparency International's "bribe-payers' survey" last year, Malaysia came first as the country with the most expensive bribes in the world. Once paid, that money often leaves the country to be invested worldwide.
Last year, one study calculated that over £180 billion left Malaysia in the decade until 2010.
Sarawak, the largest state in the country, has been cleared of most of its rainforest in commercial deals that campaigners believe to be corrupt. Earlier this year, Global Witness covertly filmed the owners of a company called Ample Agro offering to sell an expanse of land for £10 million. They had been given this area by the administration of Abdul Taib Mahmud, the chief minister of Sarawak and a pillar of the ruling coalition, for £200,000 in 2010. Full story...
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- In Malaysia's election, a focus on rainforest graft...
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