Sales Tax: Muslim-Majority Malaysia and Opposition Parties

sales tax: It is also a surprising exception to backsliding on democratic values in Southeast Asia, a region of more than 600 million people where governments of countries including Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines have swung toward harsh authoritarian rule, according to The Chronicle Herald. Official results show the opposition parties, which banded together as the Alliance of Hope, surpassed the 112 seats needed for a majority in parliament. The result is a political earthquake for Muslim-majority Malaysia, sweeping aside the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose reputation was tarnished by a monumental corruption scandal and the imposition of an unpopular sales tax that hurt many of his coalition's poor rural supporters. Mahathir in a televised address Thursday said a representative of Malaysia's constitutional monarchy had contacted the opposition to acknowledge its victory. He said Thursday and Friday would be public holidays, another slap for Najib, who on election eve had promised public holidays if his coalition won. A prime minister would be sworn in within a day, he said, which would make Mahathir the world's oldest elected leader. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.