When the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition lost the 2018 general election – for the first time since Malaysia gained independence in 1957 – it seemed possible that it was finished. The coalition's primary party, the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), was not just hammered at the ballot box but nearly one third of its MPs then defected to the victorious Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, leaving Umno with just 39 MPs in the 222-member Parliament. State elections were held simultaneously and by the time the dust settled, the coalition was in power in only two of the country's 13 states.
Criminal charges were raised against top BN leaders, and the incoming PH administration was a seemingly solid alliance of long-standing opposition parties led by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and his own new Malay party, Bersatu. At the time, if you had predicted that BN could be back with a strong chance of returning to power in a general election in 2022, you would have received scornful looks. But that is exactly the position it is in now, after a stunning victory at the Melaka state assembly election last weekend in which it won 21 out of 28 seats.
This didn't happen overnight. BN's fortunes began to improve sooner than expected, winning a series of by-elections after PH's honeymoon period came to an end. Then in February 2020, the PH government collapsed; Dr Mahathir resigned from his second stint as prime minister; and many of the ruling coalition's MPs – led by Muhyiddin Yassin, also of Bersatu – formed a new government with the support of BN and a handful of other parties. But Mr Muhyiddin's government lasted only 17 months, as he struggled to command a majority in Parliament. Public disaffection with his administration's handling of the pandemic and the withdrawal of support from key MPs led to his resignation in August.
The coalition remained in place, with a senior Umno leader, Ismail Sabri, as the new Prime Minister. However, it is an increasingly unhappy alliance. Indeed, despite keeping the coalition together, Umno in March voted to cut ties with Mr Muhyiddin's Bersatu party. What would happen in the next general election when Umno and its BN allies faced off not just against PH, but also parties they have been in government with, including Bersatu? Three-way contests could be highly unpredictable. Many looked to the Melaka vote as an acid test.
In the event, BN crushed both PH – down from 15 seats to five – and Bersatu, which won two seats. If this were to be repeated across peninsular Malaysia, BN could easily form a government on its own, even without its past allies in Malaysia's two states in Borneo.
That may be a big "if", but it is still a massive turnaround either way. How and why did it happen?
The almost unanimous verdict is that voters want stability. They are heartily fed up with the machinations and "frogs" – party-hopping representatives – that have led to Malaysia having had four prime ministers in a little more than three years. Even to take the very ungenerous line of "better the devil you know", Malaysians do know BN, and it did deliver enormous progress, stability at home and certainty for outside investors for 61 years.
Secondly, the PH government did not deliver. In some cases it went backwards, such as the ill-conceived decision to abolish the Goods and Services Tax that led to a major hole in the public finances. Pledged reforms did not happen because, as the banker Nazir Razak wrote in his new book What's in a Name: "Mahathir audaciously admitted that some manifesto promises were made because they did not expect to win."
The Melaka election is a personal triumph for Najib Razak
This leads to the third point. PH's wild allegations, such as that Malaysia was on the verge of becoming a failed state under BN, may have succeeded as fear-mongering tactics in the 2018 election campaign. After a while, however, many began to feel that they were actually better off under BN. Numerous people who favoured PH in 2018 have told me that they thought Najib Razak, the incumbent prime minister in that historic election, would have dealt with the pandemic far more effectively had his coalition won.
Indeed, the Melaka election is a personal triumph for Mr Najib, who was tasked with heading BN's campaign, and who has managed to recover so much from his fall from office that he has probably never been more popular, and may well be the most popular politician in the country. With his new man-of-the-people "Bossku" (our boss) image, the warmth and generosity Mr Najib always conveyed personally have connected with the wider electorate triumphantly. Attempts to taint him as corrupt, wrote The Star newspaper's political analyst Joceline Tan, "failed to move many voters who believe that life was better when Najib was prime minister".
BN is aided by the fact that it has a tier of competent and non-divisive leaders such as Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin and an avuncular premier in Mr Ismail, who was at one point best known for the colourful batik shirts he wore to daily news conferences, such has been his relatability among the public.
And there is evidence, too, that BN has learned from its 2018 defeat. After the Melaka polls, Mr Najib warned that there was "no room for arrogance". Having lost power once, it knows it can never take the people's trust for granted. Many voters wanted to teach BN a lesson in 2018 – but were shocked that it actually lost the election. It wouldn't be surprising if they returned to the BN colours if an election is held next year, perhaps gladdened by the thought that the grand old coalition may be a little chastened, and a little wiser.
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War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 258hp at 5,000-6,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm from 1,550-4,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.4L/100km
Price, base: from D215,000 (Dh230,000 as tested)
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl, 48V hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 450Nm
Price: Dh289,000
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West Ham United 2 (Antonio 73', Ogbonna 90 5')
Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Son 36', Moura 42', Kane 49')
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EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
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15 years, 235 days old
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15 years, 271 days old
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The years Ramadan fell in May
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Manchester United v Club America
When: Thursday, 9pm Arizona time (Friday UAE, 8am)
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
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The five pillars of Islam
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Jetour T1 specs
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
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Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
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Qosty Byogaani
Starring: Hani Razmzi, Maya Nasir and Hassan Hosny
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Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
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BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
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What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
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SCHEDULE FOR SHOW COURTS
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Angelique Kerber (1) v Irina Falconi
Martin Klizan v Novak Djokovic (2)
Alexandr Dolgopolov v Roger Federer (3)
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Milos Raonic (6) v Jan-Lennard Struff
Karolina Pliskova (3) v Evgeniya Rodina
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Specs
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Power: 905hp
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Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 502hp at 7,600rpm
Torque: 637Nm at 5,150rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh317,671
On sale: now
