General elections were held in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

on Saturday, 10 May 1969, although voting was postponed until between 6 June and 4 July 1970 in

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

and

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

. This election marked the first parliamentary election held in Sabah and Sarawak after the formation of Malaysia in 1963. The elections resulted in the return to power, with a reduced majority, of the ruling Alliance Party, comprising the

United Malays National Organisation The United Malays National Organisation (Abbreviation, abbrev: UMNO; , PEKEMBAR) is a Conservatism, conservative, Nationalism, Malay nationalist political party in Malaysia. As the oldest national political party in the country (since its ince ...

(UMNO), the

Malayan Chinese Association The Malaysian Chinese Association ( abbrev: MCA; Malay: ''Persatuan Cina Malaysia''), formerly known as the Malayan Chinese Association, is an ethnic political party in Malaysia that seeks to represent the Malaysian Chinese ethnicity; it was ...

, and the

Malayan Indian Congress The Malaysian Indian Congress ( abbrev: MIC; )，formerly known as Malayan Indian Congress, is a Malaysian political party. It is one of the founding members of the coalition Barisan Nasional, previously known as the Alliance, which was in powe ...

. The

Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia The Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (; abbrev: GERAKAN or less commonly as PGRM) is a liberal political party in Malaysia. Formed in 1968, Gerakan gained prominence in the 1969 general election when it defeated the ruling Alliance Party in Pen ...

(Gerakan) and the

Democratic Action Party The Democratic Action Party (DAP; ) is a social democracy, social democratic and Secularism, secular political party in Malaysia, sitting on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. As one of four component parties of ...

(DAP), which had campaigned against

Bumiputra ''Bumiputera'' or ''bumiputra'' ( Jawi: , Native) is a term used in Malaysia to describe Malays, the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia, various indigenous peoples of East Malaysia, and Peranakans. The term is derived from the Sanskrit langu ...

privileges outlined by

Article 153 Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia grants the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia) responsibility for "safeguard ngthe special position of the 'Malaysian Malays, Malays' and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak and ...

of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, made major gains in the election.Report on the parliamentary (Dewan Rakyat) and state legislative assembly general elections 1969 of the states of Malaya, Sabah, and Sarawak

Election Commission of Malaysia The Election Commission of Malaysia (; Jawi: ), abbreviated SPR or EC, is a commission set up for ensuring fair and equitable operations in undertaking the elections in Malaysia. The agency falls under the purview of the Prime Minister's Depa ...

Voter turnout was 73.6%. Opposition won 54 seats in total causing the Alliance to lose its two-thirds majority in the Parliament (two-thirds majority being the majority required to pass most

constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment (or constitutional alteration) is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly alt ...

s) for the first time. The elections also saw Alliance lose its majority in

Perak Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kel ...

Selangor Selangor ( ; ), also known by the Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the e ...

and

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

in addition to

Kelantan Kelantan (; Kelantan-Pattani Malay, Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate''; ) is a state in Malaysia. The capital, Kota Bharu, includes the royal seat of Kubang Kerian. The honorific, honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' ("The Blissful Abode"). ...

. The result of the election and subsequent reactions would cause widespread race riots also known as the

13 May Incident The 13 May incident was a period of violent racial conflict that erupted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 13 May 1969, following that year's general election. The clashes primarily involved the Malay and Chinese communities and were triggered b ...

. As a consequence of this incident, the federal government decided to suspend parliament and government administration was monitored by MAGERAN until 1971. It also marked the end of

Tunku Abdul Rahman Tunku Abdul Rahman (8 February 19036 December 1990), commonly referred to as Tunku, was a Malaysian statesman who served as prime minister of Malaysia from 1957 to 1970. He previously served as the only chief minister of Federation of Malaya ...

's administration as Prime Minister before he was succeeded by

Tun Abdul Razak Abdul Razak bin Dato’ Hussein (; 11 March 1922 – 14 January 1976) was a Malaysian lawyer and politician who served as the second prime minister of Malaysia from 1970 until his death in 1976. He also served as the first deputy prime minis ...

several months later. Razak would then seek the main purpose to establish the Federal Territory of

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

. State elections also took place in 330 state constituencies in 12 (out of 13, except

) states of Malaysia on the same day.

Results

Dewan Rakyat

Candidates were returned unopposed in 20 constituencies. Voting in one constituency was postponed. West Malaysia went to the polls on 10 May, while Sabah was scheduled to vote on 25 May and Sarawak on 7 June. The Alliance won eight seats on nomination day being unopposed in some constituencies. Tun Mustapha Datu Harun's United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) won 10 out of 16 seats unopposed on nomination day. The opposition parties' gain at state level was more shocking to the Alliance Party which not only continued to lose to PAS in Kelantan, but also to political infant Gerakan in Penang. No party commanded an absolute majority in two other states. The Alliance held only 14 out of 24 seats in Selangor and 19 out of 40 in Perak. The attrition of Malay support was much higher than that of the non-Malays. Malay opposition parties' vote shares in the peninsula increased drastically from about 15% in 1964 to 25% in 1969 while the support for non-Malay opposition parties remained roughly the same at 26% in both elections. Thanks to the electoral system, however, PAS seats increased from nine to 12 seats only while non-Malay opposition party, DAP, from 1 to 13. ''Sarawak Alliance contested under Alliance Flag (though not formally under Alliance pact)'' ''Total Electorate (1969): 3843182. Registered voters shown above refer to the contested constituencies (excluding 20 parliamentary uncontested seats''

Results by state

Source:Tindak Malaysia Github

Johore

''Total Electorate for Johor (1969): 436 620. Above registered voter count is based on electorate of contested seats (excluding 5 uncontested seats)''

Kedah

Kelantan

Malacca

Negri Sembilan

''Total Electorate for Negri Sembilan (1969): 170 128. Above registered voter count is based on electorate of contested seats (excluding 1 uncontested seat of Rembau-Tampin)''

Pahang

''Total Electorate for Pahang (1969): 176768. Above registered voter count is based on electorate of contested seats (excluding 2 uncontested seats which includes MCA seat)''

Penang

''Total Electorate for Penang (1969): 282401. Above registered voter count is based on electorate of contested seats (excluding the uncontested seat of Bagan)''

Perak

Perlis

Sabah

''Total Electorate (1969):208861. Above registered voter count only refers to total electorate of 5 seats. Remaining 11 seats were won uncontested''

Sarawak

''Sarawak Alliance contested under Alliance Flag''

Selangor

Trengganu

State Assemblies

Aftermath

Gerakan and DAP held a victory rally in

on 12 May. The rally soon turned rowdy, as party members and Malay bystanders started to shout racial

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

s at each other. UMNO retaliated with its own rally on 13 May, which soon broke out into full-scale rioting. This event subsequently became known as the

References

{{Malaysian elections General elections in Malaysia

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...