Malaysian general election, 1969

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)

Malaysia
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Malaysia

Constitution Social contract Yang di-Pertuan Agong Mizan Zainal Abidin Cabinet Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak Legal system Parliament Dewan Negara Dewan Rakyat Judiciary Opposition Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Assembly) Elections Election Commission Political parties/alliances Barisan Nasional Pakatan Rakyat States Anti-Corruption Agency Foreign relations
Other countries · Atlas Politics Portal view • talk • edit

The Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) made substantial gains in the general election of 1969.

The Malaysian general election of 1969 was the third general election since independence, held in West Malaysia (Malaya) on May 10, 1969, and in East Malaysia later in the month. It resulted in the return to power, with a reduced majority, of the ruling Alliance Party, comprising the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the Malayan Chinese Association, and the Malayan Indian Congress. The Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) and the Democratic Action Party (DAP), which had campaigned against Bumiputra privileges outlined by Article 153 of the Constitution, made major gains in the election.

[edit] Results

The opposition parties’ gain at state level was more shocking to the Alliance Party which not only continued to lose to PAS in Kelantan, but also to political infant Gerakan in Penang. No party commanded an absolute majority in two other states. The Alliance held only 14 out of 24 seats in Selangor and 19 out of 40 in Perak.

Very interestingly, the attrition of Malay support was much higher than that of the non-Malays. Malay opposition parties’ vote shares in the peninsula increased drastically from about 15% in 1964 to 25% in 1969 while the support for non-Malay opposition parties remained roughly the same at 26% in both elections. Thanks to the electoral system, however, PAS seats increased from nine to 12 seats only while the non-Malay opposition parties from eight to 25.

[edit] Reaction

Gerakan and DAP held a victory rally in the capital of Kuala Lumpur on May 12, but the rally turned rowdy, with party members shouting racial epithets at Malay bystanders^{[dubious – discuss]}. UMNO retaliated with its own rally on May 13, which soon broke out into full-scale rioting. This became subsequently known as the May 13 Incident.