16 October 2009 / REUTERS, KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysia's main ruling party agreed to internal voting reforms on Thursday in a bid to end the corruption that helped inflict the biggest ever losses on the government in last year's national and state elections.
The reforms were approved as the second largest party in the National Front coalition that has ruled this Southeast Asian country for 52 years appeared headed for a new bout of infighting with no decision on whether its leader would step down. Prime Minister Najib Razak called on his own party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), at its annual meeting to accept the proposed democratic and economic changes or risk losing at the next elections, which must be held by 2013. "UMNO needs to open up and improve," he told delegates.His hour and twenty minute speech was greeted with polite applause rather than the rapture that met his appointment as UMNO president in March, even though it came on the heels of a rare by-election win for the government last weekend. Najib tempered his reformist message with promises of fresh aid and said the government would hand out 22 billion ringgit ($6.5 billion) for fuel and food subsidies this year.
