Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi is facing calls for his resignation, after his ruling coalition lost critical ground to opposition parties in general elections. The coalition, in power for five decades, suffered the biggest election setback in its history Saturday.

馬來西亞總理巴達維面臨著要他辭職的呼吁，此前他的執政聯盟在議會選舉中被反對黨奪去關鍵的議席。這個執政長達五十年的聯盟在星期六的選舉中受挫，這是該聯盟有史以來最慘重的一次受挫。

It was a stunning setback for the multi-racial Barisan Nasional or National Front coalition of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi. After winning a more than 90 percent majority of parliamentary seats in the last elections four years ago, it now has only a simple majority in parliament - short of the two-thirds needed to make constitutional changes. The coalition also lost several states to the opposition.

對總理巴達維領導的由多民族組成的國民陣線來說，這是一個極大的受挫。國民陣線在四年前的大選中贏得了超過90%的議會席位，而這次只贏得了略微超過50%的選票，不夠進行修改憲法所需的三分之二席位。該聯盟還把好幾個州的控制權輸給了反對派。

Critics accuse Mr. Badawi's government of mishandling racial tensions in this country of 25 million people. One-third of the population is made up of ethnic minorities, mainly Chinese and Indian.

批評人士譴責巴達維的政府對馬來西亞兩百五十萬人的種族緊張處理不當。該國三分之一的人口是由少數民族組成的，主要是華人和印度族人。

But analysts note that much of the loss of support happened among the majority Malay Muslims who voiced their anger at the coalition, accusing it of complacency and corruption.

但是分析人士提出，國民陣線這次主要是失去了主要民族馬來族穆斯林的支持，這些人對聯合陣線感到氣憤，說該陣線驕傲自滿，貪污腐敗。

Mr. Badawi says he does not plan to resign. Leading the calls for him to go is the man who hand-picked him, long-ruling former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who accused Mr. Badawi of destroying the governing coalition.

巴達維說，他不打算辭職。這次呼吁他辭職呼聲最高的人，是曾經親手提拔他的、長期執政的前總理馬哈蒂爾。他譴責巴達維毀掉了執政聯盟。

"I think he needs to consider stepping down," said Mahathir.

馬哈蒂爾說：“我認為他需要考慮下臺了�！�

The former leader told reporters he was sorry that he had chosen Mr. Badawi as his successor.

這位前總理告訴記者，他很抱歉選擇了巴達維當他的繼任者。

He indicated he does not blame people for voting against the Barisan Nasional, known as the BN.

"This is more my strong feelings against BN than strong feelings for the opposition. They had no choice. If you do not vote BN, who do you vote for? There are only two candidates," he added. "So you vote for the opposition, or you do not vote at all. Either way, the BN is going to lose a lot of support."

Analysts say the ruling coalition will have to work hard to win back the support it lost - especially among disillusioned non-Malays whose protests could lead to instability. James Chin, a politics professor at Monash University's Kuala Lumpur campus says the coalition will look for pragmatic ways to rebuild support, or face extinction.

分析人士說，執政聯盟必須努力贏回失去的支持，特別是那些大失所望的非馬來族人，這些人舉行抗議的話可能會導致不穩定。莫那什大學吉隆坡校區的政治學教授詹姆斯.真說，該聯盟將尋求以務實的方式重建支持，要不然就面臨著滅亡。

"This is a strong wake-up call for the Barisan Nasional ruling coalition to do something about the grievances of the non-Malay community. I believe that the Barisan Nasional government has heard this message loud and clear, and that they will do something about it because they need to win the next election," said Chin.

他說：“這是對國民陣線執政聯盟的一個強有力的警告，讓他們對非馬來社區的苦痛做些事情。我相信國民陣線政府已經聽到了這個響亮清晰的信號，他們會采取行動，因為他們需要贏得下次的選舉。”

Many in the now-stronger opposition are rallying for an end to Malaysia's system of race-based politics and set-asides that benefit Muslim Malays. The governing coalition, in power since independence in 1957, is made up of race-specific parties that are supposed to represent each of the major ethnic groups.

目前變得更加強大的反對派中的許多人舉行集會，呼吁結束馬來西亞系統中讓馬來族穆斯林受益的帶有種族偏見的政治體系和財政分配制度。自1957年馬來西亞獨立以來一直掌權的執政聯盟是由各種族政黨組成的，他們代表每個主要的民族。

Malaysia has long prided itself as a model for ethnic harmony. That image was tarnished in recent months when police used teargas and water cannon to suppress demonstrations by thousands of ethnic Indians who were protesting what they say is discrimination by the majority Muslim Malays.

馬來西亞長久以來一直以民族和諧而自豪。最近幾個月以來，警方使用催淚瓦斯和高壓水炮鎮壓由幾千名印度族人組成的示威人群，這種鎮壓破壞了馬來西亞的形像。這些人抗議他們所說的主要民族馬來族穆斯林對他們的歧視。