Najib May Win Back States in Malaysian Election, Ex-Premier Mahathir Says

(Bloomberg) Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the country’s ruling National Front coalition may win back one or two states in general elections required by 2013 because the opposition is in “shambles.”

The ruling coalition “may not get the two-thirds majority which would enable them to rule the country with a strong majority,” Mahathir said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 16. It “might be able to recover maybe one or two states.”

His optimism for the ruling party’s prospects follows a series of wins in local by-elections. The successes may convince Prime Minister Najib Razak to call national elections before they’re required by 2013, said Ooi Kee Beng, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

“There’s a certain feel-good factor spreading in his camp,” Ooi said by e-mail. “The premier may take the risk and call for general elections before the opposition catches its breath.”

Najib will chair a meeting of the National Front’s supreme council this weekend to discuss preparations for elections, the Star reported today, citing a person from the party it didn’t name. Participants won’t discuss a date for the contest, according to the report.

His coalition won back control of Perak state on Peninsular Malaysia in February 2009 after three opposition lawmakers defected to become independents. It also won two by-elections on Nov. 4 after having lost seven of 11 previous parliamentary and state votes since 2008.

‘In Shambles’

A two-thirds majority is required in parliament to pass legislation, requiring a party without such a mandate to win backing from independent or opposition lawmakers.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is facing dissent within his own People’s Justice Party after former Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim defected this week, having called on Anwar to step down.

“At the moment his party is in a shambles,” Mahathir said.

He called Najib a “vast improvement” over his predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Mahathir picked Abdullah to succeed him when he retired in October 2003, before later leading calls for him to resign after 2008 election results.

Abdullah led the National Front coalition, or Barisan Nasional, to its slimmest election victory since independence in the 2008 national vote, with Anwar’s opposition seizing control of five of the country’s 12 states.

Economic Rebound

Najib, 57, succeeded Abdullah mid-term and has since guided the country back from recession, unveiling an economic transformation program in September aimed at stimulating investment. Gross domestic product is forecast by the government to grow 7 percent this year, before expanding as much as 6 percent in 2011. The country’s benchmark stock index hit a record high on Nov. 10.

Mahathir, who led the country between 1981 and 2003, implemented construction projects that he sought to help the former British colony build a national identity following independence in 1957. They included the 88-floor Cesar Pelli- designed Petronas Twin Towers, which were the world’s tallest when they opened in 1999.

Najib’s government identified $444 billion worth of potential private sector-led projects as part of an economic transformation program in September, including mass rail, a 100- floor tower and plans to develop a nuclear energy industry.

Fired Deputy

Anwar served as Mahathir’s finance minister and deputy until he was fired after opposing capital controls during the Asian financial crisis in 1998. He was arrested a few weeks later and imprisoned for almost six years on corruption and sodomy charges.

Malaysia’s Federal Court quashed the sodomy conviction in 2004, though it upheld the corruption charge. The 63-year-old Anwar is now de facto head of the People’s Justice Party, one of three key parties in the opposition People’s Alliance coalition. Anwar is fighting fresh sodomy charges and if jailed would not be able to participate in elections.