Agence France-Presse

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's states on Friday worked to resolve various problems that emerged after historic weekend elections, including power struggles and ethnic tensions.

The three-party opposition seized four states and a third of parliamentary seats in March 8 polls, and the unexpected gains presented them with the difficult task of forming workable coalitions to rule.

On Friday they reached a deal over control of northern Perak state, ending days of squabbling by choosing a chief minister from the Islamic PAS party with a state cabinet dominated by the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP).

Ahmad Awang, state commissioner of PAS, played down suggestions the public row had damaged confidence in the opposition, saying that teething problems were to be expected.

"The public knows that this is the first time in the history of Malaysian politics that these three parties are governing together," he told AFP.

"We can show to them that we can cooperate with each other, even though we have differences in our political ideology."

In the island state of Penang the new DAP chief minister Lim Guan Eng moved to reassure Muslim Malays their rights would be protected, as hundreds of protesters from the dominant United Malays National Organization (UMNO) claimed they faced being sidelined.

"There have been all sorts of rumors that we are going to do this and that," Lim said after talks with Malay-based civil society groups.

"But I have told them that this government will be a friend to everybody and they understand this."

However, at least 1,000 people defied a police ban to gather outside Lim's office in the state capital George Town after Friday prayers, chanting: "Long live Malays. Malays will not disappear from Penang".

The group was led by senior officials of UMNO, which has dominated Malaysian politics for half a century but was humbled in the weekend elections.

Protest leaders said they were angry over Lim's plans to dismantle the New Economic Policy (NEP), a decades-old system of positive discrimination for Malays, in Penang which is the only state dominated by ethnic Chinese.

"Any decision taken against the spirit of the NEP will be seen as an attempt to marginalize the Malays," said UMNO division chief Musa Sheikh Fadzir.

Malaysia's opposition -- including the DAP, the conservative PAS and the multiracial Keadilan -- have said they want to reform the NEP because it fosters cronyism and corruption.

Opposition figurehead Anwar Ibrahim slammed UMNO for organizing the rally.

"UMNO failed to protect the interest of the Malays and that is why they were rejected in the election," he said, adding that Malays backed the new policies in Penang.

"UMNO has been in power so long, why didn't they help solve Malay problems in the state?"

Another power struggle erupted in the tiny northern state of Perlis, where the incumbent UMNO chief minister Shahidan Kassim was dumped in favor of another UMNO state lawmaker. The move led Shahidan to insist he was the rightful leader.

"I have a letter from Prime Minister Abdullah to the Perlis Sultan nominating me as the Perlis Chief Minister but yet the Sultan has appointed someone else as chief minister," Shahidan told AFP.

"I am now waiting to speak with the PM to see what we can do next," he said.

A palace statement said the Sultan wanted to appoint someone he believed enjoyed the confidence of the majority of state assemblymen as chief minister.