Formation
The impetus for the BA's formation was the September 20, 1998 arrest and subsequent conviction of former UMNO deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, who had been fired from his government posts and subsequently became the leader of the Reformasi movement against UMNO. On October 24, 1999, the four largest opposition parties—the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS), the Democratic Action Party (DAP), the National Justice Party (Keadilan) and the Malaysian People's Party -- announced an electoral alliance and issued a joint manifesto.
In the 1999 general elections, the BA cooperated to contest only one candidate in each constituency. The big winner was PAS, which captured the states of Kelantan and Terengganu and increased its parliamentary seats from 7 to 27. DAP increased its share from 7 to 10 but with two of its most prominent leaders, Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh losing their constituencies. This disappointing performance was blamed mostly on its largely Chinese electorate's distrust of the alliance with PAS. The newly formed Keadilan, crippled by the detention of many of its leaders, took only 5 seats. The Barisan Nasional retained a 77% absolute majority with 148 of 193 seats.
Read more about this topic: Barisan Alternatif
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