A legislator from Malaysia's three-party opposition alliance quit on Friday amid rumours that more would follow in a bout of squabbling between largely ethnic Chinese and Malay parties.
The Malaysian Insider website (www.themalaysianinsider) said Zahrain Hashim, one of 82 opposition MPs, would sit as an independent following "doubts" over whether the People's Justice Party could be trusted to reform.
Zahrain's departure comes as People's Justice Party and alliance leader Anwar Ibrahim stands trial on what he says are politically inspired charges of sodomy, and as questions have being asked about whether Anwar is the best candidate to lead the opposition.
Malaysian media have reported that other MPs from Anwar's party could also resign soon, although not enough to give the government the majority it needs in parliament to change the country's constitution.
The three-party opposition alliance scored its best-ever election results in 2008, winning over a third of parliament's seats and ending up in control of five of Malaysia's thirteen states.
The opposition's success against a National Front government that has ruled for 52 years unnerved investors who were already worried by the global financial crisis, and Malaysia suffered one of the biggest portfolio outflows of any emerging market in 2009.
