Headache for BN

By Carolyn Hong, Malaysia Bureau Chief (Straits Times)

KUALA LUMPUR: - It could not have come at a worse time for Barisan Nasional (BN). Two unexpected by-elections loom after an opposition MP in Perak died yesterday and an opposition assemblyman in Kedah quit his seat.

Mr Roslan Shaharum, 50, of Parti Islam SeMalaysia, who won the Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat in Perak in the general election last March, died of a heart attack.

Across the border in Kedah, Bukit Selambau assemblyman V.Arumugam, 57, of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), resigned his seat over claims that he had been under intense pressure to defect to BN.

Both events will trigger a by-election that must be held within 60 days. This is seen as the worst possible time for the BN to face voters, after its takeover of Perak last week stirred up anger.

Mr Roslan had gone cycling and was later found dead on the road near his home in Batu Gajah, Perak. He is believed to have died of a heart attack.

At the March election, Mr Roslan won with a 1,566-vote majority, defeating Mr Azim Zabidi, who is Umno's treasurer, and an independent candidate. The voter breakdown is 63.5per cent Malay, 27.1per cent Chinese, and 9.1per cent Indian.

The Kedah state seat was won by Mr Arumugam, who ran as an independent in March. He later joined PKR. He won with a 2,362-vote majority over a Malaysian Indian Congress candidate. The voter breakdown there is 50.2per cent Malay, 19.3per cent Chinese, and 29.5per cent Indian.

Kedah chief minister Azizan Abdul Razak yesterday said Mr Arumugam had quit.

Early this month, Mr Arumugam lodged a police report saying there had been a bid to kidnap him to force him to defect. He also said he had been offered RM4million (S$1.7million). He is now also battling accusations of adultery.

Separately, five Indian opposition assemblymen in Perak said BN was wooing them by offering up to RM60million, Sin Chew Daily reported.

There is no doubt the by-elections will be seen as a referendum on the BN takeover. The money is on an opposition win for both seats, with bigger majorities.

Perak is in turmoil after BN wrested the state from the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government via four defections last Thursday. The ground sentiment has been strongly in favour of the PR following Sultan Azlan Shah's refusal to call a snap poll, and his decision instead to install a new BN government last Friday.

'It will be a difficult by-election for Umno to go into in the midst of high emotion and anger running in Perak,' political analyst Khoo Kay Peng wrote in his blog.

Deputy Premier Najib Razak will be anxious to win back the two seats, to take them as prizes to the Umno general assembly on March24 where he will take over the party presidency from Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi. The Umno president, as leader of the biggest component party in BN, also becomes prime minister.

The outcome of the Bukit Gantang by-election will not alter the power balance in Parliament, where BN holds 137 seats to PR's 82, with three independents, and neither will the outcome of the Bukit Selambau poll. In Kedah, PR holds 22 seats to BN's 14.

Umno has lost two by-elections since March. It lost the Kuala Terengganu by-election last month. This was preceded by a loss in Permatang Pauh, which brought opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim back to Parliament.