From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 Parliament Dewan Negara Dewan Rakyat Judiciary Opposition Elections Election Commission Political parties States Foreign relations

Other countries · Atlas  Politics Portal view • talk • edit

The Opposition in Malaysia is a term used to describe political parties represented in the Parliament of Malaysia that is not in government either on its own or as part of a governing coalition. Note that this article uses the term government as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning the administration or the cabinet rather than the state.

The title Official Opposition, used in most of the other member nations of the Commonwealth to designate the political party securing the largest number of seats in the Lower House of parliament (Dewan Rakyat), and which is not in government, is rarely used in Malaysia. It is the common practice to refer to the Opposition simply as The Opposition, or by the party name.

Theoretically, according to the system of Westminster Democracy upon which the Malaysian system is loosely based, The Opposition is seen as the alternative government and prepared to assume office should the incumbent government be defeated at a general election. Due to the domination of the Barisan Nasional (and its predecessor, the Alliance) coalition of the parliament since independence, this perception is generally not acknowledged and recognized by Malaysians.

By convention, the Opposition Leader comes from the political party that secures the largest number of seats in the Dewan Rakyat, and which is not in government.

The present Opposition Leader is Lim Kit Siang of the Democratic Action Party (DAP).

The present political parties which are considered The Opposition in parliament are the Democratic Action Party (DAP), the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) and the People's Justice Party (PKR). There are also five non party representatives known as Independents of which one is considered aligned to the Opposition.

• Parliamentary opposition
• Loyal opposition
• List of political parties in Malaysia