A member of Malaysia’s governing coalition, Chua Jui Meng, has quit to join the opposition Pakatan Alliance.
He said he was concerned about alleged abuse of power and the unexplained death of an opposition leader’s aide.
Separately, the country’s ethnic Indians have applied to form a new political party to fight for what is Malaysia’s poorest minority.
The government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, which has introduced economic reforms, is less than four months old.
Mr Chua, a former health minister, was a member of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), the second-largest party in the government’s ruling coalition, for 33 years.
Mysterious death
"We see the abuse of power in the use of the federal institutions to harass, persecute and prosecute the leader of the opposition," he said.
This was a reference to a sodomy trial, for which preliminary proceedings have begun, against Mr Anwar.
Mr Chua said the sudden death of a young opposition political aide, Teoh Beng Hock, was the tipping point in his decision to join the opposition.
"The tragic death of 30-year-old Teoh Beng Hock is the consequence of one such institution going overboard in its action."
Mr Teoh, an aide to a member of the state cabinet in Selangor, ruled by the opposition alliance, apparently plunged from the 14th-floor offices of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
The opposition has demanded a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the death. Police have not ruled out foul play.
The government has accused the opposition of politicising the death.
Analysts described Mr Chua as a charismatic leader and said his defection would be a blow to the MCA and the ruling coalition.
Minority rights
Separately, P. Uthayakumar, an ethnic Indian who spent 17 months in jail for leading anti-government protests in December 2007, has applied to form the Human Rights Party.
He said both Malaysia’s ruling coalition and Pakatan had failed to address Indian grievances.
Ethnic Indians make up about 8% of Malaysia’s 28 million people, Muslim Malays make up nearly 60% of the population and control the government. Ethnic Chinese comprise about a quarter of the population and dominate business.</p
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