The new ethnic Chinese chief minister of Penang today picked a Malay and an Indian as his deputies, underlining the opposition's multiracial image.

lim guan eng and penang deputy cm p ramasamy and mohd fairus khairuddin 120308 meeting Lim Guan Eng, head of DAP, was appointed chief minister yesterday after a stunning performance in weekend polls which handed Penang and three other states to a three-party opposition alliance.

Lim, who will govern one of the nation's richest states and the only one dominated by ethnic Chinese, appointed Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin from PKR and the DAP's P Ramasamy to serve with him.

keadilan penang economic talk 261106 p ramasamy Ramasamy, a former political science lecturer at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, described his appointment as "an historic moment".

"There has never been an ethnic Indian deputy chief minister before and the appointment shows the DAP is living up to its electoral promise to represent all races," he said.

DAP seeks to recast its image

Analysts said Lim's efforts will cement the opposition's unprecedented polls performance against the Barisan Nasional - a coalition of 14 race-based parties - and recast the image of the DAP as a predominantly Chinese party.

"I think this reflects the extra sensitivities given by the DAP to reflect its brand of multiracial policies," said James Chin, a political science professor at Monash University's campus in Kuala Lumpur.

"Now they can tell the whole world that they are truly a multiethnic party."

penang state seat 2008 breakdown The weekend elections, which deprived the government of its two-thirds parliamentary majority for the first time in its half-century history, has shattered the nation's race-based political scene.

Opposition figurehead Anwar Ibrahim's PKR has also emerged as a truly multiracial party, with lawmakers and supporters from all three races - posing a direct threat to BN.

Previously, it had touted itself as the only institution that could claim to represent Malaysia's racial spectrum.

Gerakan, a component party of BN which had ruled Penang since 1969, was wiped out in the March 8 polls. It only fielded ethnic Chinese candidates.