Stakes High as Malaysians Flock to Polls in Election

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/06/world/asia/06iht-malaysia06.html

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KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA — Millions of Malaysian voters went to the polls Sunday to decide what could be the closest election in the country’s history, following a fierce 15-day campaign marred by violence and opposition claims of vote-rigging.

Prime Minister Najib Razak’s National Front coalition, which has governed Malaysia unchallenged since its independence in 1957 and enforces economic and political policies based on race, and the three-party opposition People’s Alliance led by Anwar Ibrahim were neck-and-neck in independent polls as voting began at 8 a.m.

There are more than 13 million registered voters, and turnout was expected to be high. The electorate is divided along racial, geographic and generational lines and has been given a stark choice: maintain a semiauthoritarian government that has brought modernity and economic progress or vote in a combative but untested opposition promising enormous changes.

The scene at polling stations around Kuala Lumpur was festive as lines formed early. One government supporter, who would identify herself only as Shin, said that Malaysians had to seriously consider whether they wanted change, noting the violent Arab Spring in the Middle East.

“I am concerned and I am also very worried about change,” she said. “If the change comes, can we make it? We are not a violent country.”

Nurul Izzah Anwar, the 32-year-old daughter of Mr. Anwar, waited in line with hundreds of other voters Sunday morning at a secondary school in a western suburb of Kuala Lumpur to cast her ballot. She is running for re-election to defend her seat in the 222-member federal Parliament.

“I’m extremely optimistic but very cautious,” she said. “We have to be very cautious. This is Malaysia and we’ve gone through many, many elections to understand that it’s important our election agents must be there and vigilant in the counting process.”

Polls close at 5 p.m. local time and results could begin coming in after 8 p.m. Mr. Najib, 59, voted Sunday morning in his home state of Pahang, while Mr. Anwar, 65, cast his ballot in his native Penang.

The opposition accused Mr. Najib’s government of flying in tens of thousands of dubious voters, including people from Bangladesh, Indonesia and Myanmar working in eastern Malaysia, to cast votes using false identity cards. The government and National Front have denied the claims.

“The allegations of friendly parties to BN bringing in foreign workers to vote is totally untrue. We are committed to a fair election,” Mr. Najib said in a Twitter message Sunday, referring to Barisan Nasional, the Malay term for National Front.

Gurmit Singh Hullon, an opposition election observer in Ms. Anwar’s constituency, said he confronted six men outside a polling station he believed were from Myanmar, who quickly left without voting.

“They didn’t speak Malaysian and they didn’t look anything like their ID cards, so we chased them away,” he said. “Should we accept this? We will take matters into our own hands.”

In 2008, the governing coalition had its worst-ever showing, winning only 51 percent of the vote and losing control of five of Malaysia’s 13 states.