Anwar Ibrahim |
- DAP backs Anwar as opposition leader, says Kit Siang
- Anwar seeks ‘national consensus’ to reject BN rule
- My work is not done yet, says Anwar
- Anwar challenges ‘stolen’ election
- CAUGHT ON CAMERA – BN’S HATCHET FACED VOTE BUYERS!
- Najib’s hollow victory
- The political war of attrition continues
| DAP backs Anwar as opposition leader, says Kit Siang Posted: 06 May 2013 03:50 AM PDT The DAP is endorsing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as Opposition Leader despite winning more seats than PKR in Election 2013, party advisor Lim Kit Siang said today. The DAP won 38 federal seats in the country's tightest election in history, making it the second-largest party in Parliament; PKR and PAS took 30 and 21 seats respectively. "We supported him as prime minister for a Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government, which was supposed to be formed on the fifth of May," Lim told reporters at the DAP headquarters here today. "But since this didn't come about, the preparation and commitment for Pakatan Rakyat remains. That's why we propose that Anwar continues as parliamentary opposition leader and shadow prime minister," added the DAP advisor. Lim also said the results in some constituencies could be challenged due to alleged electoral fraud. "Pakatan Rakyat will look into these constituencies where fraudulent practices were committed and take the necessary steps to uphold the integrity of the electoral process," said the newly-elected Gelang Patah MP. DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke pointed out that the DAP lost the Bentong, Cameron Highlands and Labis federal seats by fewer than 400 votes each. "Many of these seats didn't provide 'Borang 14,'" said Loke, who was also at the press conference, referring to the form recording the total number of votes at each polling stream that must be provided to counting agents. Anwar said earlier today that he would gather mass support to question the legitimacy of the newly-elected BN government, stressing that the "worst electoral fraud in history" had kept the coalition in federal government. Election watchdog Bersih also said it would not recognise the BN government until it verified reports of vote-rigging. BN won the 13th general election with a smaller majority, losing an additional seven federal seats to PR, besides failing to retake Selangor and Penang, the two most industrialised states in Malaysia. BN and PR took 133 and 89 federal seats respectively, while the latter also significantly increased its number of state seats from 197 in Election 2008 to 230 in yesterday's polls. Lim pointed out today that PR won the popular vote as well. "It was a 'Malaysian tsunami' and not a 'Chinese tsunami'," said Lim, dismissing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's statement yesterday that attributed BN's losses to a Chinese swing. "In many parts of the country, Pakatan won seats in areas that were previously considered as BN strongholds and took down many big BN guns in Malay-majority areas," he added, highlighting the Kuala Terengganu, Alor Setar, Lumut and Sepang federal constituencies. BN's losses in major cities and towns from George Town to Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, Malacca and big towns in Johor show a rising discontent among the middle-class and urban working-class, who are concerned with issues like corruption, increasing cost of living and crime. DAP publicity chief Tony Pua, who was also at the press conference, similarly pointed out that PR's improved performance in Selangor, particularly the semi-rural areas, were won with a "massive increase in Malay support". |
| Anwar seeks ‘national consensus’ to reject BN rule Posted: 06 May 2013 03:48 AM PDT
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim vowed today to amass support from Malaysians indignant at last night's polls results and move for "national consensus" to question the legitimacy of the newly-elected Barisan Nasional (BN) government. He reiterated claims that the "worst electoral fraud in history" kept BN in federal power and issued a stern reminder to his foes that the push for change is "unstoppable". Anwar also insisted the demand for clean and fair elections would persist beyond Election 2013. "Our conscience cannot allow us to accept election results conjured through frauds and cheating," he said in a statement here. "My heart is with every Malaysian who does not accept the results. I will work towards a national consensus to question the legitimacy of the BN's government achieved through such electoral frauds," he added. Anwar also vowed to devote all his time and energy to work with polls reform group Bersih to remove the current crop of leaders in the Election Commission (EC), saying they should be held responsible to all proven acts of electoral fraud. "The fact that Pakatan Rakyat won the popular votes by a large margin (50.3 per cent, compared to BN's 46.8 per cent) confirms the mandate given to us and highlights that electoral frauds won the 13th General Election for Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak," he said. Anwar's Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact lost its bid for Putrajaya in a hard-fought election last night, picking up 89 seats to the 133 secured by Barisan Nasional (BN), despite increasing its seat numbers in Parliament and many state legislative assemblies. As the results streamed in, the senior politician, who has vowed to stay out of the forefront of politics after this, said he would not accept the polls outcome due to widespread reports of vote-rigging and electoral discrepancies. In a press conference late last night, Anwar noted claims that several hotly-contested seats were marred by allegations of widespread fraud. "As of now we are not accepting the results," the visibly upset Anwar told the press conference packed with supporters, local and international pressmen. "Many of the seats they have announced we are contesting (the results) and they have not responded to our allegations," he said. The opposition leader added that PR would only accept yesterday's results if the EC gives a satisfactory explanation to the complaints. "They were complicit to the crime," he said. Anwar added today that a mass gathering will be held at the Kelana Jaya Stadium this Wednesday where he will address Malaysians for the first time after the polls. "I call upon as many Malaysians to join hands and express our rejection and disgust at the unprecedented electoral frauds committed by Najib and the EC," he said. |
| My work is not done yet, says Anwar Posted: 06 May 2013 03:39 AM PDT PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has said that he is not contemplating retirement from politics yet, as he believes that his work "is not done" in the Malaysian political arena after Pakatan Rakyat's defeat in yesterday's disputed polls.
He had previously said that he would consider retiring to a teaching job in Europe if Pakatan fails to attain power this elections. "These elections have been stolen from us by Umno-BN. As far as I am concerned, we have won this election," he told Malaysiakini during an interview at PKR headquarters today. Anwar said that he and the other coalition party leaders from DAP and PAS will decide on the next course of action, which will probably involve petitions to the court to re-look into the results of some disputed seats. "I have said that the issue of legitimacy (of the elections) is in question. There is evidence of clear fraud. There are constituencies where we have a case. We will not accept the results of these seats- about 30 to 40 of them. We are working on it," said Anwar. Dressed in a dappled black shirt and a black coat, Anwar appeared mellow and slightly downbeat, and even admitted that he and his family did enjoy his time teaching in the US. "When I was teaching in the US, those were the best times for me, Wan Azizah (Wan Ismail, his wife) and the family," he said. Anwar noted that he was confident that he was robbed of winning this election because of the groundswell momentum that he had observed during the last leg of his campaign. "I know about the sentiments, because I have been campaigning my whole life," he said, rolling his eyes. "It saddens me (the result). I can still visualise the frustration that the people had during my ceramah nationwide," he added. During the closing days of campaigning, Pakatan ceramahs nationwide drew in bumper crowds ranging from 20,000 to 100,000 participants almost on a daily basis. Postal votes don't reflect groundswell sentiments He also said that apart from allegations about phantom and foreign voters along with reports of controversial final counts which favoured BN, early votes and postal votes did not reflect the groundswell sentiments. "Early votes and postal votes – are you telling me that Pakatan only got 12 percent of these votes? Are the army and police cut off from the rest of Malaysia? They don't have relatives that they communicate with?" he asked. He, however, appeared to be slightly sceptical about getting any form of response from the EC regarding the alleged discrepancies in the polling process.
"But we have not tried yet, we will give them a chance to respond to us," he added, before saying that his party "cannot accept the process". "It has become so pervasive, the extent of fraud, that this is maybe the worst-conducted elections we ever had." Anwar, 65, was stripped of his deputy prime minister's post and subsequently jailed for corruption in 1998 in a highly publicised rift with then-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He spent six years in jail prior to his release in 2004, and also formed Parti Keadilan Nasional, which later became Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) This election was the first time he had led an opposition pact heading into the polls- his wife Wan Azizah was still the opposition leader during the 2008 elections because Anwar was still banned from contesting. Going by results alone, this is still the best ever performance for an opposition pact in the country's history – with 89 parliamentary seats obtained. Pakatan have won seven more seats than the 82 it won in 2008, and also won the popular vote nationwide at about 51 percent. However, Anwar might be pushing 70 by the time Malaysia heads into the 14th general election, and it remains to be seen if a man who has has made an unlikely comeback in politics would be able to muster one last push to unseat BN, and assume the prime minister's post. |
| Anwar challenges ‘stolen’ election Posted: 06 May 2013 02:36 AM PDT As voters go viral with their protests, the opposition warns it will challenge the result.
Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has declared Sunday’s knife-edge election was stolen and announced a legal challenge to the victory claimed by the ruling coalition. “We won the elections,” he said. “The Election Commission is complicit in the crime of stealing the election from Malaysians. The government has lost its legitimacy.” The announcement came as protests against the result went viral on the internet and prime minister Najib Razak blamed a swing against his government on what he called a dangerous “Chinese tsunami”.  “The polarisation in this voting trend worries the government,” Mr Najib said. “We are afraid that if this is allowed to continue, it will create tensions.” He was speaking after his government extended its half-century rule, despite its worst performance in a general election. He also dismissed claims that the vote was rigged, hitting back at the opposition for “stirring up hatred, anger and racial issues”. He welcomed a court challenge. “We have a very transparent system whereby we can refer to the courts,” he said. “But in the interest of the country, we hope all parties, especially the opposition, will accept the results with an open heart and allow our democratic process to run smoothly.” Mr Najib emerged victorious with a simple majority after the most gruelling election in his country’s history that left his opposition rivals claiming widespread fraud influenced the result. Ethnic Chinese, who make up a quarter of Malaysia’s population, deserted Mr Najib’s Barisan Nasional coalition in droves, continuing a trend from the 2008 elections. They turned to the opposition, attracted by its pledge to tackle corruption and end race-based policies favouring the majority Malays in business, education and housing. Voters swung from Barisan’s race-based policies in the cities, with the ruling coalition winning about 60 per cent of seats with less than half the popular vote. It lost ? by bigger margins in more seats than it won by big margins and tended to win in districts with smaller populations. The government’s core voters are rural Malay Muslims and rural indigenous people in Borneo, which translates into large numbers of seats because of the way district boundaries are drawn. Barisan won 133 seats and the opposition 89 in the 222-seat parliament, short of its customary two thirds majority. Enthusiasm for change was so great in urban areas, where 70 per cent of the population live that more than 90 per cent of registered voters turned out in some areas despite voting not being compulsory. Many of them were educated middle-class Malaysians. The three-party Pakatan Rakyat opposition alliance maintained its momentum at the election, showing it can be a real challenge to one of the world’s longest-ruling governments, despite infighting and diverse ideological views. Pakatan for the first time presented a credible alternative budget and vision for the country. As well as winning the cities the opposition made inroads into the government’s traditional strongholds in Johor, Sabah and Sarawak. But the result shattered opposition leaders, including former student firebrand Anwar Ibrahim who believed they had a good chance of winning after being swamped at huge rallies and a surge of support in the cities. The opposition has accused the government of bringing “phantom” foreign voters to hotly contested seats, using indelible ink that washed off and blatant vote buying, violence and intimidation. ? Opposition supporters are venting their anger. An internet petition (change.org) protesting electoral fraud has gone viral with people signing at a rate of 1100 a minute. Videos, pictures and first-hand accounts of purportedly foreign “voters” being confronted at polling centres has also gone viral online. Mr Anwar, who said before the election he would quit politics if the opposition lost, said: “It is unfair for us to form a decision based primarily on an election that we consider fraudulent.” Mr Najib accused the opposition of stirring up hatred, anger and racial issues. One of the first declared winners was 32-year-old Nurul Izzah Anwar, the daughter of Mr Anwar, who is seen as a potential future leader of the country. She retained the Kuala Lumpur seat she won in 2008 despite a strong challenge from Raja Nong Chick Paintai Abidan, a senior minister and powerbroker in the United Malays National Organisation, the main ruling party. Police dispersed an angry crowd of government supporters where the votes were counted. The Chinese-backed Democratic Action Party had a landslide win in the northern state of Penang, securing more than three quarters of the vote. In Kelantan, voters chose an opposition candidate over the Malay chauvinist Ibrahim Ali, head of the extremist Perkasa organisation who had the backing of former prime minister Mahthir Mohamad. Mr Najib, a 59-year-old British-educated aristocrat who campaigned on a “stay the course” argument, now has a mandate to push through an ambitious $US444 billion economic program aimed at lifting Malaysia to the ranks of wealthier neighbour Singapore by 2020. Shareholders of the Australian-owned Lynas rare earths processing facility in the eastern state of Pahang will breath a sign of relief over the result. Its stocks jumped 16 percent Monday. Mr Anwar had said he would close the plant pending an inquiry into its safety if he won office. |
| CAUGHT ON CAMERA – BN’S HATCHET FACED VOTE BUYERS! Posted: 05 May 2013 11:23 PM PDT CAUGHT ON CAMERA – BN'S HATCHET FACED VOTE BUYERS!
Election foul! – This hatchet faced BN organiser was filmed paying for votes at a car parked up by this polling station in Perak We warned the vote buyers of BN that they were in danger of exposure this year like never before. We said that an army of young Malaysians holding cameras, mobile phones and recorders as their weapons would be patrolling the streets ready to catch them in the act and post it on the Worldwide Web. But, it seems they took no notice and carried out the instructions of their BN masters to try and cheat and buy up this election. What greater crime can there be than to attempt to steal the liberty of your own people? This crime is treachery. Sarawak Report, like so many of the internet eyes on this election, has been watching and we present a round up of the cheating captured by the busy eyes of our team of supporters. We will be updating it during the next hours.
RM50 ringgit – cheap for your liberty mate! The woman at this polling station in Perak was then clearly filmed walking back to the BN polling centre with the bought ballot form to join her flag-waving party colleagues. Handily, the camera was able to catch the number plate of the car she walked past as well… it was the car from which the money in the transaction was handed from.
The car, the woman and the BN flags…. time to call the police? There have been numerous incidents caught on camera of BN agents up to untoward activities in this election. This is how they have always won in the past. Take a look at our vote buyer as she returns to base.
Back to her BN base…. the toad in her hole Meanwhile, the citizen camera people were also picking up and posting evidence of other untoward activity in Perak, with helicopters dropping out bags marked for the Election Commission into the middle of a football field during the course of the day!
Marked for the election commission! A horrified onlooker posted the shot on Facebook and said this:
Soon enough some relevant video footage arrived on the matter. BN will try to front out this evidence when it comes out in court, hoping they can bludgeon through to yet another 'victory' and continue their gangster rule of Malaysia for another 5 years, helped no doubt by a 'crack down' on freedom of information about activities like this.
Washed off in a trice with soap and water! As for indelible ink? The whole of Malaysia is laughing about that one… and the excuse that has just come out, that the reason was it had to be 'Halal'! This on the basis it is 'Hudud' for BN not to be allowed to break the law to win? BN's foreign voters
The voters many who can't sing the national anthem or speak Malay have been filmed arriving at the stations….. And then there were of course the imported voters. The buses duly drew up at polling stations around the country, protected by obliging police…. but filmed by outraged local people. These matters will all be filed as reports, but what would a returning BN government, staffed with proven money grabbers do about it?
More dubious bus loads of voters arriving…. Then of course there was the foreign voter who made the mistake of presenting himself to PKR's chief crook buster Rafizi Ramli, looking for money to pay for his vote! The chap was questioned and could not sing the anthem or give a convincing account of why he had come from Sabah to vote in the Peninsular! His suspicious IC is now up on the internet for all to see. Maybe he was just trying it on. With the culture of corruption engendered by BN's vote buyers you can hardly blame the poorer classes from trying to get rice money out of a process that has been netting ministers billions. But, they were being identified and caught on camera all over the place. BN should hang its head in shame for exploiting the people they have kept poor in this way. But, it seems these vote riggers have no shame, just a sense of entitlement that allows a bunch of 3rd generation under-achievers to think they should continue to run the country.
Can you pay me for my vote please? I came over from Sabah! Sarawak And of course over in Sarawak, Taib's money bags (and those of his side-kick Sgn Chee Hwa of the spurious Sarawak Workers Party) started arriving at the longhouses at midnight last night. Poor rural voters were shown by helicoptered big wigs "who was boss" with piles of money such as they had never imagined could exist. RM500 to each of them. If only those people could actually see the money piled up in the bank accounts of Taib Mahmud and his henchmen, then they would realise what a small amount they have received and how short a distance it will go towards repaying the vast natural resources they have thereby allowed Taib's men to keep their hands on. This evening opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim expressed his fears that the cheats would stop at nothing…
They are hijacking results…. And then of course, when BN really needed to force through a 'victory' they had to turn off the lights and shut down the comms!
Anwar's latest tweet Attempt to steal Nurul's victory Perhaps the most brazen attempted rigging at this election was the onslaught on Nurul Izzah's Lembah Pantai seat. Not only was the bribery rampant, but as the count was being finalised in her favour this evening the Election Commission officials came up with an extraordinary request. They needed everyone to clear the count, so that they could take a 'rest'! The 15 PKR observers refused to accept the proposal and stayed on. Shortly after a car drew up outside the count stuffed with ballot boxes inside! The Election Commission officials attempted to force this late entry of extra mystery votes into the count!
The car full of ballot boxes is stopped by the crowd A human barricade prevented the ballot boxes from being illegally introduced at this late stage, which Federal Reserve Unit officers attempted to disperse. The people refused to leave and the ballot boxes are still the in car and were not were not allowed into the count.
Ballot boxes marked 120 found in EC car boot trying to enter 121 Lembah Pantai polling station. Blocked by public. Nurul has been officially declared the winner thanks to the actions of the people who refused to allow their rights to be violated.
If you want to win an election against BN in Malaysia you have to stay put at the counting station! How they tricked Wong Tack The counts were all going the way of DAP through the evening, until suddenly last minute turnarounds went in favour of BN. Listent to what happened to Wong Tack, who has lead the Lynas protest Bentong. He was leading by 3,000 towards the end of the count. When suddenly the lights went out! During this dark period a new ballot box of 'postal ballots' was introduced, which were then counted. This is against election law for votes to be introduced at the last moment. After these were counted Wong Tack's majority of 3,000 was turned around to a minority of 300. Apparently all the postal voters were unanimous for BN, whereas the non- postal votes had been fiercely in favour of Wong Tack. Where did these postal votes come from ?
Keeping out 'prying eyes and public scrutiny' at the count in Johor Meanwwhile, the BN controlled TV stations kept up a night of saying that their party had won. By 1230am they were claiming a win and getting ready to swear themselves in and the TV was reporting the 'fact'!
Cheating - Ballot box mania Observers of the election started to wonder why the delay on declaring so many counts where PR was leading by thousands? It soon became clear. At count after count illegal late arrivals of ballots boxes started being sneaked in under police escort. Take a look at what happened in Johor.
Ballot 're-enforcements' to help out flagging BN in Johor The strategy had become clear. The media held off announcing the PR wins, while promoting the BN wins all evening until the seat where PR had been leading had been 'sorted' by the late ballot box arrivals. Anwar Ibrahim who had announced an earlier victory was forced to announce there had been massive fraud. As dawn breaks tomorrow Malaysian will have to make up their minds if they are prepared to be fed up another pretend election charade at all this fuss and expense. More vote buying
"SK Sri pandan this afternoon around 1.45pm" – more BN workers with no shame, handing out vouchers to voters. The evening ended with seats bullied and wrested away by a stone faced Najib who could clearly not revel in a victory he clearly had not really won. Next to him sat Muhyiddin Yassin, who is now wondering in how many days he can take over his job. The PR coalition parties have not accepted this bludgeoning. They are collecting their information from an evening of black outs and stray ballots and last minute bus loads of 'voters' escorted by police and they will contest Najib's sour tasting 'victory'.
Malays are registering their disgust at the UN… Plenty more to come….
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| Posted: 05 May 2013 11:05 PM PDT It is widely believed that a happy and contented Singaporean is one who has achieved the 5Cs – cash, credit card, car, condominium and country club. In neighbouring Malaysia, the victorious Umno Baru leader is defined by the 6Cs; corruption, chaos, cheating, cronyism, cowardice and concubine.
For many Umno Baru leaders, the effort has been worthwhile because the alternative is a long spell behind bars. Ironically, the worst damage inflicted on Najib and BN, was Najib's own '1Malaysia' slogan. Malaysians are fairly reticent people and not known for outward displays of public-spiritedness, but yesterday, in the true spirit of '1Malaysia', Malaysians of all races were united in defending their polling stations against foreign 'phantom' voters. Members of the rakyat blocked the path of buses suspected of carrying Bangladesh and Myanmar nationals to polling stations. Elsewhere, foreign-looking individuals at the polling centres had their identification papers scrutinised. Outsiders are wrong to think that Malaysians are xenophobic. Malaysians were not targeting these foreigners as individuals; rather they were stopping an abuse of the voting system.
He cannot be trusted to run his own bath but, in the last week, ran a rash of reforms, most of which were hurriedly plucked from Pakatan Rakyat's manifesto. It is Najib's self-inflicted wound which has given rise to our deep mistrust of institutions. Despite the cries of fraud, the rakyat watched with incredulity when the EC went ahead with the announcement that BN had won. What hope have Malaysians of a free and fair election if the leaders of the EC are biased and in denial? Shouldn't they at least investigate the allegations of voting irregularities? BN stole the votes of the rakyat and the future of the country. Najib's report card Najib's tenure was an unremarkable one. He was out of touch with the electorate and did not know how to engage with the rakyat. For someone who has not known real hardship in his life, he has yet to discover that money is not what consumes most people's minds. He is unable to understand that people are concerned about their families' well-being; security, education, governance, justice and fair-mindedness.
He refused to deal with corruption, injustice and racial intolerance. He chose to alienate the rakyat by underestimating their needs and by declining to engage with them. Najib and Umno Baru should see if they can retain their popularity without flashing any money. When Umno Baru arranges a ceramah, it is alleged that the participants receive money, buses are used to transport them and food is provided. Kelab Umno Baru meetings at overseas locations, operate with the same modus operandi. If Umno Baru stopped the food, transport and money handouts, would attendance at these events diminish?
In the final days of campaigning, we looked on in bewilderment when Najib claimed that reducing petrol prices would only benefit the rich. Is he out of his mind? The poor cannot get by without a car; even a decrepit Proton held together with duct tape is better than nothing. The greatest manipulator of all, Dr Mahathir Mohamad wanted funds for his pet project, Proton, and billions of ringgit have been pumped into the Proton car industry, while he neglected the development of an efficient public transport system. Today, car prices are artificially inflated and we waste our money on the Proton. Our suffering does not end there. We waste more money feeding Mahathir's cronies, the toll operators. If you talk to the graduates who went overseas to study, they will tell you that, when they were abroad, they moved around easily on public transport,;but when they returned home to work, a car is needed for mobility. Again Najib's stupidity astounds us. When in Kuantan he said the public transport system was marvellous. But has Najib tried to emulate the daily journey of a worker who lives in one part of KL but works across the city? The majority of Umno Baru leaders have the roads cleared by outriders and know nothing of our suffering. Dubious victory When Malaysians voted yesterday, they wanted a change for themselves, but more so for their children and future generations. They despise corrupt politicians, but they are also weary of the inappropriate behaviour of the children of these politicians. Abdul Taib Mahmud's daughter gave editors at a Sarawak newspaper a dressing down, making them sit for several hours until while she raged on about a report which portrayed the chief minister in a negative light. Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz's son impersonated a member of royalty and then beat up a security guard who dared challenge his authority. Other ministers' children get preferential treatment at school and their exam papers are isolated for lenient marking. Malaysians have no faith in the BN leadership, particularly, Umno Baru leaders. By condoning cheating and promoting violence, Najib, Umno Baru and the EC chairperson and his deputy, have disgusted and humiliated the Malays, and betrayed all Malaysians. Umno Baru must not be allowed to get away with cheating, not this time, nor ever. Our votes have been stolen and if we sit by and do nothing about this, Umno Baru will have us in their evil clutches forever. Cheating is the last straw and we must not sit idly by and give up.
If Najib is allowed to form a government despite 'winning' by fraudulent means, Umno Baru will stay in power by cheating for another 56 years. Umno Baru would not have organised and perpetrated fraud on a massive scale if they had known that they would have the support of the rakyat to win GE13. |
| The political war of attrition continues Posted: 05 May 2013 11:03 PM PDT “Somewhere in the world there is a defeat for everyone. Some are destroyed by defeat, and some made small and mean by victory. Greatness lives in one who triumphs equally over defeat and victory.” - John Steinbeck (The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights) COMMENT “Mohd Najib terkejut dengan keputusan itu dan menjanjikan perubahan kepada partinya Umno. Tetapi prestasi BN yang lebih buruk daripada 2008 menjadikan kedudukan beliau goyah. Juga, apakah keputusan PRU kali ini berupa 'Chinese tsunami’ seperti yang Mohd Najib ungkapkan atau ia adalah sesuatu yang lebih besar dan menyeluruh iaitu ramai pengundi tidak lagi menerima BN dan kerajaan BN seperti yang wujud sekarang? Adakah tidak mungkin bahawa ini bukan tsunami Cina atau cauvinisme kaum, tetapi tsunami Malaysia yang berpaksikan aspirasi dan realiti baru, khasnya di kalangan pengundi muda? Walaupun BN berjaya merampas semula Kedah, tetapi kekuatannya dalam semua DUN merosot. Ia hampir-hampir kehilangan Terengganu dan menyerahkan banyak kerusi kepada Pakatan di semua negeri. Di pihaknya pula, Pakatan hendaklah menerima keputusan pemilih dan sebarang ketidakpuasan dan pertikaian hendaklah diselesaikan mengikut peraturan dan undang-undang dan bukan dengan protes jalanan.”
The narrative in most pro-establishment blogs is one of retribution to the Chinese community for abandoning the social contract of racial give-and-take of Umno. I am neither shocked nor perturbed by this because seeing the way how pro-opposition partisan operate in cyberspace, especially some DAP supporters (apparatchiks) who engage in the politics of hate, all the while decrying that of Umno’s and the vitriol they heap on pro-establishment partisans, all this is to be expected. MCA’s Chua Soi Lek’s threat to the Chinese community that the MCA will not participate in the new BN federal government remains to be seen but what the MCA is doing is merely fuelling the retribution narrative of pro-establishment forces. In other words, there will be no real reconciliation but merely an extension of Umno benefice to Chinese plutocratic interests to maintain the multiracial facade which is important for various economic and propaganda reasons. Umno can rule alone While I have never been in the habit of quoting Kadir to bolster any of my arguments, the themes of this particular post of his is something I can get behind. Anyone who had any real knowledge of the mood on the ground would have paid attention to William Case’sperceptive article on the chances of Pakatan Rakyat claiming the throne in Putrajaya. Optimism usually gets the better of us. The Chinese/Malay dialectic although it plays well in the race discourse is really a minor narrative in the goal of 'ubahing’ Malaysia. The greater story is the class divisions in the Malay community that translates to the rural/urban divide of the voting patterns in the Malay polity.
It is pointless to warn against “racialising” Malaysian politics as long as a greater minority group is aligning itself with a faction of the Malay polity whose aspirations are at odds with the racial dogma of the current ruling Malay elite that holds sway with the rural Malay population. The moral and intellectual bankruptcy of 1Malaysia and Bangsa Malaysia demagoguery is demonstrated with the reality that people have always voted across racial lines when supporting the alliance of their choice and of course the agendas of opposition political parties and their targeted racial demographics. However, the reality is that the aspirations of a sizeable section of a multiracial urban population are in conflict with a dominant Malay rural electorate. Therefore, it is a racial game played on many levels but which always revolve around the Malay community. In fact I would argue that barring the possible retributive design of the federal government on the Chinese community, what this election has done is once and for all define the conflict in the context of the Malay community. Simmering class tensions Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad knows his audience well. This is why he was screaming his head off stirring the racial and religious pot and throwing his support behind racist candidates like Ibrahim Ali and Zulkifli Noordin. The fact that these two lost, is something any right-thinking Malaysian can take comfort in but I do wonder if Zulkifli had stuck to his Kulim-Bandar Baru seat, would he have delivered it to BN since BN did win this seat? I hope that even if he stood there, voters there would have rejected him as they did Ibrahim Ali in Pasir Mas for whatever reasons.
It is pointless for Umno to attempt reconciliation with not only the Chinese community but also anyone who voted for Pakatan merely because the aspirations that divide the various Malaysian communities are the very ones that Umno seeks to propagate. Unless Umno manages to reconcile the aspirations of those Malays who have rejected Umno and those who believe in the system Umno continues to propagate, eventually Umno will face a Malay tsunami.
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Anwar (right), who has said that he does not accept the Election Commission’s (EC) results for the general election, where Pakatan managed to win 89 parliamentary seats but fell short of forming the federal government, said that he will need to "settle all the issues" regarding the polls results before evaluating his options.
"Of course they (EC) never took us seriously. They are unrepentant and are in a state of denial. They must be stupid to say that the indelible ink can't be washed off when thousands of people complained about the same thing," he further added.
BN head Najib Abdul Razak injected many millions of ringgit into the country to secure a victory, and unleashed a violent campaign of 'blood, sweat and tears' to defend Putrajaya. In the end, he only managed a 'win' by a handful of seats.
The rakyat's apparent xenophobia must be blamed on Najib and the Election Commission (EC). The EC chairperson and deputy have obstinately refused to acknowledge voting irregularities and to complicate matters, Najib has allegedly bribed voters to secure a win.
Najib's rule was fraught with disaster and U-turns. He failed to act to control extremist views within his own party and he firmly believed that churning out acronyms like ETP, BR1M and KR1M would resonate with the rakyat.
Anyone who has attended a Pakatan event is aware that coaches are not laid on, no food is distributed and when the donation box is passed around, people give freely and generously. Money goes from the rakyat to its machinery, and not the other way round, as with Umno Baru events.
We must demand that the wishes of the electorate be respected and the result of the electoral fraud be reversed, so that DAP, PAS and PKR can form the government that the people of Malaysia voted for.
The above is the last few paragraphs of A Kadir Jasin’s blog post on the results of the concluded general election and on the issue of the so-called 'Chinese tsunami’ that seem to have engulfed Umno thinking in Putrajaya.
The one thing Umno has proved with this election is that it can retain the federal government without the aid of the 'others’. Until the others lose the demographic game, the best we can hope for is that urban areas will always be the base for a supposed multiracial alliance.
However, it all goes back to the simmering class tensions within the Malay community that Umno has managed to keep a lid on by its use of gerrymandering, creation of instant citizens, racial/religious fear-mongering and of course the handout culture. Ironically, these are the very measures that would break the camel’s back in the eventual class struggle that would spill onto the streets in the near future.| You are subscribed to email updates from Anwar Ibrahim To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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