Abstract
On 8 March 2008 (GE 2008) Malaysians unexpectedly delivered a stunning blow to Malaysia’s long-standing ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional (BN), at the twelfth general election. Although it won the election, BN lost its psychologically important two-thirds majority in parliament which allows it to change the Federal Constitution at will. The blow was all the more devastating as the Anwar Ibrahim-led informal coalition of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR/People’s Justice Party), Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Se-Islam Malaysia (PAS/Pan Islamic Party of Malaysia) managed to form state governments in almost all states in the developed western parts of Peninsular Malaysia with citizens of the two most industrialised states (Selangor and Penang), as well as Kedah and Perak, joining Kelantan (the poorest state on the peninsula) on the opposition side. BN was also wiped out almost entirely from the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur with the opposition winning ten of the eleven parliamentary seats. All of these suggest that urbanites had deserted BN in droves. BN, nevertheless, was formidable in its birthplace, the state of Johor, and in the two resource-rich, but poor, states of Sabah and Sarawak while winning the states of Perlis, Negeri Sembilan, Malacca, Pahang and Terengganu with differing margins…