With a record of landslide victories in the last four general elections, anything other than a comfortable victory in next week's poll will be seen as a defeat for the coalition government headed by Malaysia's Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad. This is something his supporters refuse to contemplate and they have reached for the traditional election weapon to smear the opposition - mud, and lots of it. With voting only five days away the snap general election is turning into what opposition leader Mr Lim Kit Siang, of the Democratic Action Party, has called Malaysia's dirtiest campaign.
Every day brings new charges. Yesterday Dr Mahathir's party, the United Malays National Organisation (UNMO), accused the Alternative Front opposition of accepting funding from unnamed foreign diplomats, and of establishing secret relations with Israel to undermine Islam.
At the same time videotapes accusing jailed ex-minister Anwar Ibrahim of sodomy surfaced in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. Mr Raja Petra, a spokesman for the Alternative Front coalition, said the opposition intended to file a police report asking authorities to investigate the tape, which was shown to reporters at the opposition's daily news conference. Mr Raja said: "They are trying to frame Anwar. It is meant to swing voters. There are no X-rated scenes in the videotape apart from the language, but a lot of things which are libellous and scandalous are said on the tape." Mr Anwar is currently on trial on charges of sodomy.
The allegations against the opposition are getting maximum publicity in Malaysia as the mainstream media is state-owned or controlled by companies with close government ties. Opposition members from Malay and Chinese parties have come together to fight Dr Mahathir's coalition, united in their dismay at the sacking of Mr Anwar in 1998, seen as a blow against reform, and his subsequent ill-treatment and imprisonment for corruption. UNMO has been in power since 1957 and is integrated into the administrative and patronage structures of Malaysia, making its defeat very unlikely. It nevertheless needs more than two-thirds of seats in parliament to act with impunity in constitutional and other matters.
Scare tactics have been a feature of the campaign from the start, with large billboards showing pro-Anwar demonstrators rioting in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year, and the warning slogan: "Foreign Interference Threatens National Stability".
The deputy prime minister, Mr Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, yesterday accused foreign diplomats of funding the opposition. He was commenting on a newspaper report which quoted a member of the youth wing of Dr Mahathir's party as saying diplomats from Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States had offered funds to opposition politicians.
The embassies of Australia, Canada and the US denied this. They said diplomats routinely met politicians from both the ruling coalition and the opposition.