2008-03-07 17:46:44 -

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Campaigning reached a climax Friday for general elections in Malaysia that could see gains for the opposition amid anger among Chinese and Indian minorities over race and religion.
Despite expectations of an improved showing for the country's small opposition, the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is seen

certain to win Saturday's elections as they have done for decades.
On Friday, Abdullah met fishermen and visited a mosque in the northern state of Penang, while his deputy, Najib Razak, inaugurated a health clinic and met schoolteachers and senior citizens in eastern Pahang.
«Every time you face the election, you get some degree of anxiety because we cannot assume that victory is in our hands,» Najib told reporters.
At stake in the elections are 222 seats in the Parliament. Twelve of Malaysia's 13 states will also go to the polls simultaneously to elect state legislatures. Most of the results will be known by early Sunday.
Unlike other parliamentary democracies, campaigning is low-key in Malaysia, largely because the weak opposition has little money to push through its message, and the ruling National Front has little need to prove its credentials.
The National Front has won every election since independence in 1957, and is expected to win again even though it is unlikely to repeat its 2004 performance when it captured 91 percent of Parliamentary seats.
Tricia Yeoh, director of the Center for Public Policy Studies think tank, predicted the opposition would win between 35 and 38 seats in Parliament, nearly doubling the 19 seats it held before Parliament was dissolved.
«There should be a swing in these seats» due to Chinese and Indians voting for the opposition, Yeoh said. «That's the fear of the BN ... The Chinese and Indian votes will be the important swing votes,» she told The Associated Press.
A reduced majority for the National Front in Parliament would be seen as a personal rebuke for Abdullah, who has lost much of the goodwill he received when he took office in 2003, replacing longtime leader Mahathir Mohamad.
Abdullah has been blamed for failing to properly manage inflation, crime, corruption and most importantly ethnic tensions between the minorities and the majority Malays.
Muslim Malays make up 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people, and form the bulk of voters for Abdullah's United Malays National Organization. The party dominates the National Front coalition, which includes Chinese- and Indian-based parties in a power-sharing arrangement that has ensured racial peace in this multiethnic country.
But the minorities have complained of increasing discrimination, citing a 37-year-old affirmative action program for Malays that shows no sign of being diluted despite their rising standards of living. The program gives Malays preference in government jobs, business, education and religion.
The Chinese and Indians are also angry at a string of court decisions in religious disputes that have gone in favor of Malays. Indians were incensed by the demolition of Hindu temples by authorities last year.
«The problem is not with the Malays. The problem is with the corrupt leadership of this country,» opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim told a rally in Kuala Lumpur Thursday night.
Anwar, a former deputy prime minister under Mahathir, promised to end racial discrimination if his People's Justice Party wins, a virtually impossible scenario.
«We want strong Malays, strong Chinese, strong Indians ... Take the best Malays, let them work with the best Chinese and the best Indians,» he said to roaring applause.

At another rally on Thursday night in Chinese-dominated Penang, the opposition Democratic Action Party drew some 30,000 people, compared to a few thousand at a speech by Prime Minister Abdullah earlier.
«I think we have broken some new ground,» said Jeff Ooi, a DAP candidate. «We are still hoping that the massive crowds will translate into votes. People are disappointed with how the government has been run in the past few years. People are dissatisfied with the inequitable distribution of wealth and opportunities.
Still, large crowds at opposition rallies do not always translate into votes.
«It's your choice but I hope the people think carefully,» Abdullah told his rally, warning that the minorities will have no voice in the coalition if they do not vote for the Front.
Associated Press reporters Sean Yoong and Julia Zappei in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.