Malaysians voted on Sunday in an election that could weaken or even end the rule of the world's longest-ruling coalition, which faces a stiff challenge from an opposition pledging to clean up politics and end race-based policies.

Led by former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition is aiming to build on startling electoral gains in 2008, when the Barisan Nasional, or National Front, ruling coalition lost its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority.

The result signaled a breakdown in traditional politics as minority ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indians, as well as many majority Malays, rejected the National Front's brand of race-based patronage that has ensured stability in the Southeast Asian nation but led to corruption and widening inequality.

Election officials said they expected voter turnout in the country of 28 million people to be up to 80 percent, a record high in what could be the most closely contested election in 56 years of rule by the National Front coalition.

"I would like to see some change," said computer engineer Wardina Shafie, 31, after she cast her vote on the outskirts of the capital, Kuala Lumpur. "I think the opposition has a good chance of taking government. I only worry about voter fraud."

As polls closed at 5 pm, independent news site Malaysiakini was flooded with stories of suspected voter fraud carried out by the ruling coalition, raising the possibility that the opposition could dispute the result in the event of a narrow coalition victory.

There were widespread witness accounts that "indelible" ink, introduced by the government in response to demands for electoral reform, could be washed off voters' fingers easily, enabling some to cast ballots more than once.

Day-to-day issues

The Barisan Nasional, led by Prime Minister Najib Razak, has vowed to retake the two-thirds parliamentary majority that it lost in the last general election in 2008.

Barisan centers the campaign on its past record in building the nation and Malaysia's decent economic performance in recent years despite global uncertainties, as well as the economic and transformation agenda by Najib.

A failure in improving from the 2008 election result may cost Najib's job as prime minister.

Anwar and other opposition leaders have promised a fairer economic environment and an end to the race-based politics in a multiracial country. They have also vowed to tackle corruption and cronyism that they said had flourished under Barisan's rule.

However, some voters care more about some day-to-day issues.

"We have a few issues that must be looked into," said a young mother who asked for anonymity. "The first one is security and, second, as a young parent, my concern is education," she told Xinhua.

"The major slice of our disposable income today is used to protect ourselves. Another large slice of our disposable income goes toward education because schools are not doing their bit.

Reuters-Xinhua

(China Daily 05/06/2013 page12)