Thousands throng Pakatan’s final rallies in major cities

Malaysiakini

DAY 15 LAST DAY
 Quotable quotes, planned events and unplanned incidents as they take place in the run-up to GE13.

12 midnight:
 The 15-day campaign has come to an end. There is an eight-hour cooling-off period before polling stations open at 8am tomorrow.

Voters are urged to vote early as showers and thunderstorms are expected in many parts of the country in the afternoon. Polling will end at 5pm tomorrow and the counting of votes will begin soon after. Results will start coming in at around 8pm.

Malaysiakini will be reporting LIVE all day tomorrow.

11.50pm – Gelang Patah:
In his final speech before polling day, DAP supremo and Gelang Patah candidate Lim Kit Siang praises Malaysians for creating history in the 15-day campaign.

“There were thousands of people who attended our ceramah in Gelang Patah and elsewhere in Johor.

“Thousands of people want change. Ubah! Wu Yue Wu, Huan Zheng Fu! (Change, May 5th, change the government)”

The veteran politician also urges party supporters to stay calm no matter what the election outcome tomorrow.

11.50pm – Kuala Lumpur:
  PAS says a letter dated May 2, purportedly signed by party secretary-general Mustafa Ali urging party members to vote only for PAS candidates and that the Islamic party is quitting Pakatan Rakyat is fake. According to Nanyang,  Mustafa has lodged a police report over the matter.

fake letter on pas leaving pakatan 040513 01PAS vice-president Husam Musa, who is contesting for the Putrajaya parliamentary seat, in a text message to Malaysiakini has also denied the rumours.

Party spiritual advisor and Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, in a Facebook posting several minutes before midnight, has asked voters to vote for Pakatan and lamented that Umno-BN is selling citizenship to foreigners in the bid to hold on to power.

“Oh ye Umno voters, realise from your slumber sleep of 55 years and think about the country’s future and that of your race if you let this to continue all for the purpose of vote,” he said in the posting.

Rumours are abound over the possibility of several newspapers printing the false news tomorrow to confuse PAS supporters on polling day.

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Final tally: BN 134, Pakatan 88

FMT Staff| May 5,2013
												FMT

Free Malaysia Today

Pakatan Rakyat says that it would not accept the results, blaming the EC for manipulating the polls to ensure a BN victory.

FULL REPORT

PETALING JAYA:  Barisan Nasional has formed the federal government by winning 134 out of 222 seats. In 2008, it won 140 seats.

Pakatan Rakyat meanwhile won 88 seats – six more than their total in 2008.

DAP emerged as the biggest winner among Pakatan parties, romping home to win 38 seats. PKR won 29 seats while PAS brought home 21 seats.

In 2008, PKR was the biggest winner with its 31 seats, followed by DAP (28) and PAS (23).

Their slim defeat in the hands of BN left Pakatan’s bid to capture Putrajaya in tatters although their leaders remain steadfast in not accepting defeat which they came from a manipulated elections aimed at giving victory to the BN.

Earlier, BN managed to form a government with a simple majority by winning 112 seats at 12.50am. At that stage, Pakatan had won 58 seats, with DAP winning 28, PKR 18 and PAS 12.

BN also managed to win back Kedah with a slim majority and Perak by a single seat. It also retained its two thirds in Perlis and Sabah.

The coalition also retained power in Negeri Sembilan, Malacca, Johor, Pahang and Terengganu with Pakatan giving a good show in all these states.

Pakatan meanwhile had a massive win in Penang and made bigger grounds to retain Selangor. It also managed to offset the onslought from BN to keep Kelantan.

Documentary evidence

Speaking at a press conference early this morning, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak hailed Barisan Nasional’s victory and called for a ‘time of national reconciliation’.

The prime minister praised the conduct of the election, which he described as ‘true, fair and transparent’. He asked Malaysians to accept the will of the people, respect the result and ‘show the world we are a mature democracy’.

Rejecting racial politics during the campaign as ‘unhealthy’, the prime minister called for the adoption of ‘policies that are moderate’, and decried extremism.

Pakatan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim meanwhile said Pakatan would not accept the results unless Election Commission can explain the electoral fraud that happened during polling today.

Speaking at a press conference today, Anwar said that the opposition had documentary evidence of the dubious electoral process which happened throughout they day at various locations.

“My decision stands. It’s not fair to expect me to make a decision in an election which is fraudulent,” he said.

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GE13: Big BN names defeated

Anisah Shukry| May 6, 2013

Free Malaysia Today

													Anisah Shukry| May

Many prominent BN leaders were positively decimated in the 2013 general election, paving the way for a fresh lineup in the cabinet.

PETALING JAYA: Despite retaining Putrajaya, Barisan Nasional yesterday suffered heavy blows when it saw several prominent leaders fall at the hands of Pakatan Rakyat.

Most notable are Federal Territories and Urban Well-being minister Raja Nong Chik Zainal, Transport minister Kong Cho Ha, and Plantation Industries and Commodities minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.

Despite his vast financial resources and position in the cabinet, Raja Nong Chik lost Lembah Pantai by 1,847 votes to incumbent MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.

Kong lost by an overwhelming 8,168 votes in Lumut to PKR’s Mohamad Imran Abd Hamid, while PKR’ newcomer Ignatius Dorell Leiking slaughtered Bernard in Penampang by a majority of 10,216 votes.

Popular deputy ministers who saw their heads roll at the ballot box were Umno’s Saifuddin Abdullah and Mohd Puad Zarkashi, Gerakan’s A Kohilan Pillay and MIC’s SK Devamany.

Former deputy education minister Saifuddin lost by a mere 1,070 votes to PAS’s Nasrudin Hassan, fuelling speculation that the BN leader was a victim of internal sabotage due to his “moderate” stance and vocal criticism of his party’s excesses.

Similarly, deputy education Mohd Puad Zarkashi lost by a mere 1,732 to PKR’s Mohd Idris Jusi in Batu Pahat, Johor.

In contrast, Kohilan was positively decimated by DAP’s Gobind Singh Deo in Puchong; the Selangor Gerakan chief cum deputy Foreign minister lost by a vast vote margin of 32,802.

MIC vice president, Devamany, meanwhile lost to PSM’s Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj by 2,793 votes in Sungai Siput, Perak.

Devamany, who was minister in the prime minister’s department, had been parachuted from the Cameron Highlands constituency where he won by 3,117 votes in 2008.

Replacing him in this election was MIC president G Palanivel, who managed to win with a meager 462 vote majority over DAP candidate M Managoran

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It was a M’sian tsunami, Kit Siang tells Najib

by Koh Jun Lin

Malaysiakini

May 6, 2013

DAP’s newly-crowned Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang has condemned BN head Najib Abdul Razak for attributing the coalition’s worst showing in a general election to a “Chinese tsunami”.

He said it was in fact a “Malaysian tsunami”, and that Pakatan Rakyat could not have achieved its results without the backing of Malaysians of other races.

“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 told a press conference today.

To back his claims, Lim listed several Malay or bumiputera-majority seats that Pakatan had won, or retained with an increased majority.

These include Kuala Terengganu, Alor Setar, Lumut, Sepang, and Penampang.

“The fact that Pakatan managed to increase its share of parliamentary and state seats is commendable, given that hundreds of millions of ringgit were spent by BN on free dinners, goodies, and to print lies and falsehoods in the mainstream press in order to propagate a disgusting and morally reprehensible (form of) politics based on fear,” he said.

Lim reiterated his condemnation of MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek, for saying yesterday that the election results have left Malaysia with a “two-race system”.

On another issue, he said that DAP is backing PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim as the parliamentary opposition leader.

‘Anwar leads Pakatan Rakyat’

This is in spite of PKR winning only 30 seats in Parliament, compared to DAP’s 38 seats.

“This is in keeping with the commitment that if we have formed the federal government, we would ensure that Anwar would be the prime minister.

“So this is in keeping with the commitment that he leads the Pakatan Rakyat government, whether in-waiting or in Putrajaya,” he added.

Lim also questioned the legitimacy of the BN government since it won with less of the popular vote in the election.

Pakatan Rakyat parties garnered 50.1 percent of the popular vote yesterday, compared to BN’s 46.7. However, the latter won the election with 133 parliamentary seats compared to Pakatan Rakyat’s 89 seats due to the way the constituencies are delineated.

Since this is BN’s worst ever performance in a general election, Lim called upon former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad (above) to answer whether Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should step down like his predecessor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Mahathir has previously said in May that Najib should step down if the coalition fares badly in the election, but did not name a suitable replacement at the time.

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Kit Siang: don’t racialise electoral results

Kuek Ser Kuang Keng

Malaysiakini

May 6, 2013

Refuting MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek’s remark that the electoral result has formed a two-race system, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang urged him not to racialise the choice of the people.

He said the labelling of the result as a “victory of the Chinese against the Malays” by Chua is a betrayal to the vision of Malaysians as well as the 1Malaysia spirit touted by BN.

NONE”It is a great disservice to the country,” he said, while asking Chua to stop his race-baiting.

Lim, who defeated former Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman in Gelang Patah by a whopping majority of 14,762, called a press conference after being officially announced as the winner at the tally centre in Skudai.

To back his argument, Lim said he could not obtain such a high majority without the substantial support of the Malay voters, who form 34 percent of the total voters.

Major advance

Contrary to PKR which refused to recognise the result claiming fraud and irregularities, Lim said he welcomed the outcome and described it as “a major advance to bring about change” and “an endorsement of the dream that we offer to Malaysians”.

The veteran parliamentarian, who had earlier announced that he would retire from politics if he lost this election, said he will carry out his new responsibility as Gelang Patah MP to serve constituents of all races.

“Pakatan Rakyat will work harder in Johor to bring about change.”

On MCA’s dismal performance, Lim said MCA only had only itself to blame.

“This is largely of their own doing, their failure to look out for the interests of all Malaysians,” he added.

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Lim Kit Siang wins Gelang Patah seat

By
Tracy Quek
 In Gelang Patah (johor)

The Straits Times

DAP veteran beats Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani by 14,000 votes

Published on May 06, 2013

VETERAN opposition leader Lim Kit Siang beat outgoing Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman by a huge margin of more than 14,000 votes in the hotly contested Gelang Patah parliamentary seat.

It was as much a symbolic victory for the Democratic Action Party (DAP) in the Umno-led Barisan Nasional’s stronghold as it was a personal one for 72-year- old Mr Lim. He announced he would quit his nearly five-decade political career if he lost here.

“Now that I have been given a new lease of life, it is a heavy responsibility,” he said last night, adding that he was awed by the winning margin.

“But what we have pledged is that we offer the people of Malaysia hope for the future, a new vision, a Malaysian dream where all are united in a common objective to create a better, more just, democratic, prosperous and progressive Malaysia,” he added.

For Datuk Ghani, 66, the outcome marks the likely end of his storied 18-year career as Menteri Besar, during which he oversaw the development of the Iskandar region, a major dynamo of growth for southern Johor.

Mr Lim won 54,284 votes to Mr Ghani’s 39,522.

The constituency has 106,864 voters, 52 per cent of whom are Chinese; 34 per cent, Malay; and 12.5 per cent, Indian.

Gelang Patah was one of the election’s most closely watched contests as the two political heavyweights had moved from their safe seats to set up what was seen as a proxy battle for Malaysia.

Mr Lim left his Ipoh Timur constituency in Perak to contest here as part of the DAP’s strategy to leverage on the dissatisfaction of Chinese and urban voters, and trigger “a political tsunami” in the BN stronghold.

Last week, Prime Minister Najib Razak weighed in on the battle, saying it carried far deeper significance for Johor and the “Johor way” of all races working together for shared prosperity.

Last night, at the opposition’s media centre in Skudai, Dr Boo Cheng Hau, Johor DAP state chairman and candidate for the Skudai state seat, told supporters that the DAP had won the Gelang Patah seat but urged them to tell friends and family to stay off the streets and avoid trouble.

At a vote-counting centre less than 2km away, crowds swelled and the riot police were called in to head off a potential confrontation between the police and opposition supporters.

Speaking to The Straits Times about Mr Lim’s victory, Dr Boo said his win showed that “the party was accessible to all races, including Malay support”. He added that the party was confident from the start that Mr Lim would win.

One of the first tasks for the DAP in Gelang Patah, Dr Boo said, would be to solicit views and ideas from residents about the future development of the Iskandar region, which lies within Gelang Patah constituency. The region has attracted heavy investment from Singapore.

Earlier in the day, long lines formed at polling stations throughout Gelang Patah, with voters having to wait more than an hour to cast their votes. First-time voter and Gelang Patah resident Chua Yong Chen, 25, said he was happy Mr Lim won. “Since the DAP is new here, everyone should be careful about ties between the different races. We should all work to strengthen them.”

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Malaysia BN’s polls slump a ‘Malaysian tsunami’, ex-NSTP boss says

The Malaysian Insider

May 06, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 ― Barisan Nasional’s (BN) weaker showing in Election 2013 points to a strong wave of rejection from all Malaysians and not just from the minority Chinese, a former editor of the Umno-owned New Straits Times said today.

Datuk A. Kadir Jasin observed that the 13-party coalition not only drew fewer seats in the 222-member Dewan Rakyat and 12 state assemblies in yesterday’s general election compared to 2008, but also lost the popular vote for the first time since polls in 1969.

“Is it not possible that this is not a Chinese tsunami or racial chauvinism but a Malaysian tsunami that is centred on the aspiration and new reality, especially among young voters?” the man who had been group editor-in-chief of the public-listed News Strait Times Press during the Mahathir administration wrote in his blog.

BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak had alluded to a “Chinese tsunami” in an immediate speech just after midnight when the Election Commission announced the BN as winners by a simple majority, but the veteran journalist today brushed aside the perception as unlikely.

Kadir highlighted that BN took a severe beating this round and bled more seats at both the federal and state levels compared to 2008, leaving it with only 133 federal seats and 274 out of the 505 total state seats despite wresting back Kedah from the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact.

It also prevented Perak from falling back to PR, but nearly lost Terengganu and was forced to cede many seats in Johor, the birthplace of anchor party Umno and the state it considered a vote bank.

He also noted that despite the three-party PR alliance’s failure to nab Putrajaya, it succeeded in enlarging its presence in Dewan Rakyat.

The DAP, PKR and PAS union won 89 federal seats compared to the 82 it had in hand previously.

Kadir cautioned the newly-sworn prime minister and the latter’s coalition against feeling proud of their achievements or being stubborn when carrying out necessary reforms.

“Najib was stunned by the decision and promised change to his Umno party. But the BN performance that was worse than in 2008 has made his position wobbly,” he warned.

He also advised the PR pact to accept their loss graciously, and to resolve their disputes through legal channels instead of resorting to street protests.

The BN succeeded in keeping its 56-year unbroken grip on federal power for another five-year term, but allegations of vote-buying and electoral fraud were among other voter irregularities that have cast a shadow on Najib’s administration.

His rival for the prime ministership, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, has questioned the legitimacy of the BN mandate, which he claimed was obtained fraudulently in yesterday’s polls and vowed to challenge the results.

Election watchdog Bersih also said it will withhold recognition of BN’s victory until they have verified reports of electoral fraud.

Malaysia’s voter turnout hit an all-time high of 80 per cent according to the Election Commission.

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Pakatan makes ‘big’ inroads in Borneo

FMT Staff| May 6, 2013

										FMT

Free Malaysia Today

Pakatan Rakyat candidates slayed four federal ministers – three in Sabah and one in Sarawak.

KOTA KINABALU: Pakatan Rakyat made impressive inroads in Sabah and Sarawak in the 13th general election which ended yesterday.

In 2008, Pakatan was hardly visible in these states.

As at 2am this morning, Pakatan candidates had slayed four federal ministers – three in Sabah and one in Sarawak.

They were VK Liew, Bernard Dompok and Joseph Kurup from Sabah and Yong Koon Seng from Sarawak.

In Sabah, Pakatan wrested five parliament and 10 state seats.

Among the parliamentary seats that Sabah Barisan Nasional lost were Sandakan (Liew), Penampang (Dompok), Pensiangan (Kurup), Tuaran, Beaufort and Kota Kinabalu (Wong Tze Phin).

Liew, who helms the Liberal Democratic Party, lost to DAP’s Wong Ken Fatt in a straight fight, while Dompok, who heads Upko, lost to a PKR greenhorn Darrel Leiking in a three-cornered battle.

Kurup, the PBRS president meanwhile lost the Pensiangan seat to PKR’s Richard Gunting.

Pakatan also took away state seats in Klias, Moyog, Sri Tanjung, Kepayan, Lyang, Likas, Api-Api and Inanam.

STAR chief Jeffrey Kitingan wrested the Bingkor state seat.

Counting is still underway in several polling centres and speculations are rife that more seats could fall to the opposition.

In the 2008 general election Musa Aman-led Sabah BN lost only one seat each in the parliament and state constituencies.

On Friday it was reported that Musa was confident of securing 40 of Sabah’s 60 state seats and was battling to neutralise the “black” and “grey” constituencies.

Reluctant Yong loses seat

Meanwhile in Sarawak, Chinese dominated SUPP was wiped out save for its Dayak majority seat in Serian, retained by Richard Riot.

Pakatan won six seats compared to only one in the 2008 polls.

SUPP lost its Stampin, Sarikei and Lanang seats to DAP, while the Miri seat went to PKR. DAP retained its hold on Kuching and Sibu.

But perhaps the most surprising loss was the Stampin seat.

Veteran incumbent and federal Minister Yong Khoon Seng, was persuaded out of ‘retirement’ by SUPP and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to defend his seat in a bid to save the party.

Yong garnered 15,412 votes against DAP Julian Tan’s 26,576.

Unlike other states, Sarawak had its state level election in 2011. DAP and PKR collectively won 15 seats. The victory spurred their assault on the parliamentary seats.

Sarawak BN retained 25 of its 31 parliamentary seat.

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Strongly condemn Chua Soi Lek’s ‘Two Race System’ and Najib’s ‘Chinese Tsunami’ statements as factually inaccurate, politically irresponsible and represents a great disservice to the almost 11 million voters who came out to participate in the 13th general election in record numbers

While Pakatan may not have achieved its goal of winning a majority of parliament seats to form the next government in Putrajaya, it cannot be denied that we have made significant strides as a coalition in this 13th General Election. It was a “Malaysian tsunami” and not a “Chinese tsunami” which increased Pakatan’s parliament seats from 82 in 2008 to 89 in 2013 and which increased Pakatan’s state seats from 197 in 2008 to 230 in 2013. The fact that Pakatan managed to increase its share of parliament and state seats is commendable given the hundreds of millions of Ringgit that were spent by the Barisan Nasional (BN) on free dinners and goodies and to print lies and falsehoods in the mainstream press in order to propagate a disgusting and morally reprehensible politics based on fear.

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.

In P36 Kuala Terengganu (89% Malay), PAS won this seat with an increased majority of 10785 votes compared to a majority of 2631 for the 2009 by-elections.

In P9 Alor Setar (61% Malay), PKR won this seat with a majority of 1873 and defeated former Minister of Housing and Local Government, Chor Chee Heung.

In P74 Lumut (51% Malay) which includes over 10,000 navy voters, PKR won this seat with a thumping majority of 8168 after narrowly losing this seat by 298 votes in 2008 and defeated former Minister of Transport, Kong Cho Ha.

In P113 Sepang (57% Malay), PAS won this seat with a majority of 1104 after losing this seat with 4849 votes in 2008 and defeated Selangor BN coordinator Mohd Zin bin Mohammed.

In P174 Penampang (66% Sabah Bumiputera), PKR won this seat with a thumping majority of 10216 votes after losing this seat by 3063 votes in 2008 and defeated former Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities.

In the state of Johor, the BN fortress was broken with Pakatan winning 5 parliament and 18 state seats. Pakatan could not have won these seats only with Chinese support.

For example PAS won the 54% Malay state seat of N21 Parit Yaani with a majority of 1188 after losing this seat by 3857 votes in 2008. PAS also won the 40% Malay state seat of N41 Puteri  Wangsa with a majority of 3469 after losing this seat by 5721 votes in 2008.

In my own state seat of P162 Gelang Patah, my winning majority of 14762 could not have been achieved without a sizeable support from the Malay voters. In the polling stations under the Nusajaya state seat, for example, which is a 47% Malay state seat, I won almost 48% of the popular vote, an increase of 6% from the 2008 general elections.

Najib and Chua have also conveniently forgotten that in the state of Sabah, Pakatan won 12 state seats, up from just 1 in 2008. And 5 of these seats were Sabah Bumiputera / mixed seats: N4 Matunggong, N7 Kadamaian, N9 Tamparuli, N13 Inanam and N20 Moyog.

Pakatan Rakyat has campaigned based on a Politics of Hope during this 13th General Election in contrast to the dirty tactics employed by BN to continue their propagation of the Politics of Fear. I am confident that further analysis will show that there has been a noticeable shift in the support for Pakatan Rakyat across the country by voters from all races. And I am confident that the Barisan Nasional is at the end of its days as the federal government.

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Triumphant BN seen losing popular vote

BY CLARA CHOOI

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

May 06, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 — Barisan Nasional may have lost the popular vote in Election 2013, despite being returned to power with 133 seats from the 222-seat Parliament.

With all results in, BN polled 5.220 million votes to Pakatan Rakyat’s 5.489 million, for a deficit of 269,130 votes based on calculations by The Malaysian Insider. The Election Commission has yet to release the official results.

This was proportionally down from the 4.082 million votes the coalition polled in Election 2008, against the 3.796 million that the parties of PKR, DAP, and PAS collected then.

The last time an Umno-led coalition lost the popular vote was in 1969, then contested by BN’s predecessor, the Alliance Party.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s BN survived a hard-fought polls battle in face of “Chinese tsunami” yesterday, but rival Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has vowed to fight the result following allegations of widespread fraud.

The BN chairman admitted it had not expected the wholesale abandonment by the Chinese community, which he blamed on the Pakatan Rakyat’s alleged play on racial sentiments to woo support from the country’s second largest ethnic group.

“I think they were taken in by some of the undertakings given by the opposition… and that’s why there was that swing…. and a lot of sentiments there, some of them racial in nature, that were being played up in this election, which is not very healthy for this country,” he told a 1am press conference at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) today, shortly after a simple majority victory cemented BN’s place in Putrajaya.

“I expected it but I did not expect it to this extent. None of us expected it to this extent. But despite the extent of the swing against us, BN did not fall,” he added.

At a separate press conference, PR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the pact rejected the results of the poll, pointing to unanswered allegations on electoral fraud.

“As of now, we are not accepting the results… until the EC (Election Commission) responds and issues an official statement to the allegations of irregularities and fraud,” he told reporters.

Najib urged Malaysians and leaders in the federal opposition to accept tonight’s results “with an open heart”, and warned against any street demonstrations to protest the outcome.

He said BN will establish a mechanism to look into all the promises it made during campaigning to ensure that these will be implemented in full.

“One of the things we will do is the process of national reconciliation,” he said, noting the trend in Chinese support for the opposition.

“Overall, the decision made by the rakyat shows a certain trend in votes that worries the government because if it is not handled well, it could create tension and conflicts in our country,” he said.

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BN’s victory ‘superficial’

Jeswan Kaur| May 7, 2013

Free Malaysia Today

BN’s dirty tricks to win the 13th general election will never be forgotten; the time for retribution will come slowly but surely.

COMMENT

Ruling coalition Barisan Nasional has little reason to gloat over its win in the May 5 general election.

Violence, phantom voters and the unreliable indelible ink were only part of the shenanigans BN resorted to in its bid to secure Putrajaya.

Victory however was far from sweet for BN; not only did it fail to reclaim a two-third majority, the 13th general election also sent home the message that the rakyat, in particular the ‘thinking’ generation want “representatives” who respect them, their faiths and who ‘walk the talk’.

Despite BN’s extensive propaganda, good sense thankfully prompted voters to reject candidates such as Malay extremist party Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali who was knocked out by PAS’ Nik Abdul Nik Aziz in Pasir Mas, Kelantan.

In the 2008 general election, Ibrahim won the seat under the PAS ticket. He later contested as an independent candidate for the Pasir Mas parliamentary seat.

Also shown the door was Perkasa vice-president Zulkifli Noordin, who riled up the Hindus with his insensitive remarks about the religion.

Shah Alam incumbent MP Khalid Samad beat Zulkifli with a slight increase in majority. He polled 48,835 votes to Noordin’s 38,084.

Ibrahim despite receving full backing from former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad endorsing him as a BN candidate did not make the cut.

As for Zulkifli, despite being racist to the core, he was BN’s choice for the Shah Alam parliamentary seat; maybe it was poetic justice that brought an end to Zulkifli’s active stint in politics, for shortly before he was named as the BN candidate, Zulkifli invited trouble by belittling the Hindu deities.

In the 2008 general election, Zulkifli contested for the Kulim-Bandar Bahru parliamentary seat under the Pakatan Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) ticket.

Zulkifli’s announcement as the BN candidate prompted his rival Khalid to deduce that the decision to move from Kulim-Bandar Baharu to Shah Alam showed that Zulkifli had no confidence in retaining the seat.

BN big-wigs rejected

Also making an unceremonious exit were several BN big-wigs, namely Federal Territories and Urban Well-being minister Raja Nong Chik Zainal, deputy education Mohd Puad Zarkashi, Transport minister Kong Cho Ha, Plantation Industries and Commodities minister Bernard Dompok and SK Devamany, who was minister in the prime minister’s department.

Raja Nong Chik lost Lembah Pantai by 1,847 votes to incumbent MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.

Mohd Puad lost by a mere 1,732 to PKR’s Mohd Idris Jusi in Batu Pahat, Johor.

During his tenure as deputy education minister, Mohd Puad was busy propagating moves to denounce the existence of the LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders) communities, inciting schoools to do the same.

Unlike Mohd Puad, former deputy education minister Saifuddin Abdullah who lost by a mere 1,070 votes to PAS’s Nasrudin Hassan never feared criticising Umno’s excesses or ‘calling a spade a spade’ – but then rumours have it that Saifuddin was a victim of internal sabotage due to his no-nonsense stance.

As for A Kohilan Pillay, revelation by DAP election strategist Ong Kian Ming that the former deputy foreign minister held a fake degree was enough to put the voters off.

Kohilan who contested for the Puchong parliamentary seat had listed in his biodata that he obtained a Masters degree in Commercial and Industrial Economy from the Western Pacific University in the US, which according to Ong was a degree mill and had been closed down by the authorities some time back.

Kohilan, the Selangor Gerakan chief, lost to DAP’s Gobind Singh Deo by a vast vote margin of 32,802.

BN’s victory ‘superficial’

Putrajaya might have escaped the clutches of opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat but the fact remains that unlike BN, the opposition pact has succeeded in winning the rakyat’s trust, especially for states like Penang and Selangor which try as hard as it did, BN failed to recapture.

BN chairman Najib Tun Razak has little reason to believe he has received the people’s mandate and nambikei or trust to lead the country for another five years – the writing is all over the wall as to how BN secured victory in the 13th general election, seen as the most trying for it.

Vote-buying and manipulation of the electoral roll was not uncommon in the May 5, 2013, general election. The use of the so-called indelible ink was yet another trick employed by BN is swinging votes in its favour.

There were instances where several polling stations reported existence of phantom voters being brought to vote at several different locations.

The Lembah Pantai parliamentary seat for one saw an intense standoff when the police attempted to bring several dubious ballot boxes into the counting area.

PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim has cried foul, calling the Election Commission a failure, claiming that something was amiss with the early voting and postal ballots, with foreign nationals casting ballots as early and postal voters.

“The ballots were overwhelmingly in support of Barisan Nasional, which is not in norm with the current voting pattern,” Anwar had said.

BN’s dirty tricks to win the 13th general election will never be forgotten; the time for retribution will come slowly but surely.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 7 May 2013, 10:18 am and is filed under
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Disturbing questions surrounding GE13 polling

By
Bridget Welsh
 | 12:05PM May 7, 2013

Malaysiakini

GE13 SPECIAL The GE13 results are in and the BN has managed to hold only power, winning by a 22-seat majority. This result is the worst performance for BN in Malaysia’s history.

For the first time, the incumbent government has lost the popular vote nationally (in 2008, it was only on the peninsula). The BN coalition has still managed to hold onto power. This piece, in a series analysing the election results, looks at the concerns raised regarding the electoral process and the potential impact these issues may have had on the final results.

In analysing the fairness of any polls, one asks whether the irregularities in the process could have affected the final outcome. Were the problems enough to change which coalition would have formed government? These issues will be debated and assessed in the days and weeks ahead. Let me share some preliminary observations that suggest that in this election, some things appear not to be quite right.

Integrity of electoral roll

This was the longest wait for an election, and both sides were extremely active in registering new voters, especially in the urban areas where the party machinery was well honed.

Even factoring in the more robust voter registration efforts, changes in electoral procedures to register people where they live rather than where they are from, population demographics, and possible housing developments in different seats, the increased numbers in the electoral roll are significantly not in line with historical patterns of voter registration. This out-of-line pattern is in every state, except Negeri Sembilan.

The figure that stands out in voter increase occurred from 2004 to 2008 in Sabah. The questions about the electoral roll in Sabah have been long standing, and are the subject of the ongoing Royal Commission of Inquiry into Immigrants.

These increases from 2004 through 2008 are by any measure – huge – in places such as Liburan, where caretaker Chief Minister Musa Aman state seat is located, in Semporna, the seat of Shafie Apdal and in Ranau currently held by Ewok Ebin.

Yet, after 2008, while the numbers have dropped, there is still on average 21% new voters in Sabah seats, a high number not in line with demographic trends. Migration appears to continue be a factor shaping voter numbers in Sabah in this GE13, despite calls to tighten the flows.

We also find that new voters have flooded states like Selangor, Pahang, Terengganu and Johor in GE13. The average increase in voters nationally between 2004 and 2008 was 8.2%. In the run-up to GE13, the voters registered doubled to 19.4%. The national and statewide averages however obscure the differences among different seats within states. It is clear that some seats have been special recipients of new voters.

Much has been made of the 28% of new voters in Lembah Pantai. This seat is actually on the low side compared to others. Consider the whopping 61.5% increase in Tapah, recently re-won by BN, or Subang with 52% new voters, won by Pakatan with a larger majority this election but shaped heavily by Pakatan’s registration of new voters.

A total of 90 seats, or 41% of all parliamentary seats, have more than 25% new voters. Many of these were in races with tight contests in 2008, and continued to have tight contests in GE13. The new voters has advantaged the opposition in urban areas, but benefitted the BN in rural and semi-rural areas or in states where the machinery of the opposition is comparatively weak, such as Johor.

Such races also won by BN that had large number of voters include Cameron Highlands (20%), Pasir Gudang (39%) and Tebrau (45%) in Johor. While some of the increase in the latter two seats might be explained in part by development, bizarrely there are sharp increases in voting populations in the remote interior state of Pensiangan (33%) and remote coastal seat of Kota Marudu (32%) in Sabah. These abnormal high increases raise questions.

The placement of new voters is even more intriguing when studying the actual polling stations results. Many new voters are concentrated in more less populated areas within constituencies, often in rural and semi-rural seats.

This is where the questions over the large number of unexplained voters grouped in bunches in places like Bachok (21% new voters and won by PAS with less than 1% margin) and Bukit Gantang (29% of new voters and won by PAS with 2% margin) come in.

It appears that the localised remote placements of new voters may have had an impact. For example, the placement of 3,600 new voters in a remote Felda schemes occurred in Segamat, which was won by the BN with a 1,217 majority. The voting in this Felda scheme was over 90%, with one stream at 99%. In 2004, the voter turnout in this area was much lower.

This spike pattern of voter turnout in particular polling stations was found in Terengganu in 2004, when the BN wrested back the state, and questions were raised at that time as well.

Spike patterns out of line

This GE13 spike in voter turnout at the local level is being witnessed in specific places across the country. With the national level of turnout at 80%, the spike patterns that are well out of line with historic patterns of voting behaviour raise questions, even accounting for the overall rise in participation and voter turnout.

Another pattern in the placement of new voters beyond tight races involves prominent leaders getting large shares of new voters, such as Najib Razak’s own seat Pekan with 38% new voters, or Rompin represented by Jamaluddin Jarjis at 29% new voters. It remains unclear why these largely rural constituencies would have such large voter increases.

Generally out-migration areas such as Perak and Pahang receiving large numbers of new voters does not conform with population patterns. Why are places with people leaving to work outside get sharp increases in voters?

The lack of clear transparent explanations on why voters are registered in some areas in such high numbers this election, compared to past patterns in these areas, understandably raises questions.

Many seats that were lost by the opposition or were in tight races have large number of new voters, including, including Tanah Merah (24%) and Balik Pulau (25%), although in some cases the opposition picked up or retained seats with large voter increases in these seats, such as Kota Raja (47%) and Kuala Nerus (25%), among others.

This issue of voter registration and voter turnout levels needs further study, with more information on who are these new voters and their pattern of voting. The fact is that the polling station results will show the spikes at the local level and careful study will tell us statistically the impact of these new voters on electoral outcomes.

The Electoral Commission (EC) and electoral administration as a whole are facing a real trust deficit. A reliable electoral roll is essential for any fair elections. Repeatedly questions have been raised about the veracity of many new voters.

Election watchdog Merap and others have time and again drawn to the questions of electoral roll integrity. Before the polls, these matters were essentially ignored or dismissed. To date, the scope of phantom voters and questionable placement was not fully known. Now the results themselves will show the impact at the local level.

This is why the sharing of all results through the Borang 14 is essential in order to make a systematic and thorough assessment. Preliminary reviews of results are already raising red flags as they have shaped the outcomes at both the parliamentary and state levels.

Early and postal voting

Queries about the early and postal voting have also emerged. Here the question is about double voting, with individuals having the opportunity to vote twice. Postal voting numbers increased in this election. Historically, there have always been questions about the veracity of postal voting, with reports questioning that this voting is secret and others arguing over the accuracy of the results.

There have been improvements in recent years over postal voting involving polling agent access to this process in many locations. Yet, even with these improvements, questions about whether postal voting is fair and accurate remain.

In this election, further questions emerged over the numbers and placement of these postal voters in different constituencies. Many tight races, such as Sibu, had increases in postal voters. In some cases, the list of names of new postal voters were reportedly not provided openly.

Early voting, an estimated 240,000 people, is also a new addition for this election and being queried. Early voting includes many Malaysians within Malaysia, such as the wives of army officers and journalists who can vote before polls.

There was not a clear distribution of the list of early voters provided nationally, and in some cases even individual candidates were not able to access the names of who were the postal and early voters.

No clear explanation was given to why some constituencies received early voters and others did not. Importantly, this information was not properly shared so that it could be verified. Furthermore, there were unexplained instances when the numbers of early and postal voters increased. In Lembai Pantai, for example, the number stated was 200, but 600 showed up. How did this happen?

Given the reality that the indelible ink was in many cases not indelible, the possibility of double voting exists. On voting day there are numerous reports of individuals finding out that someone had voted fraudulently using their name, leading to concerns also about electoral disenfranchisement.

There were also reports of non-Malaysians being transported to the polling stations by buses and even flown in, some of these believed to be phantom voters. The scale and impact of these on the results is not yet clear, but given the combination of a non-transparent early and postal voting process in various locations and non-indelible ink issues on election day, and sightings of non-Malaysians in contentious seats, troubling questions are being raised.

The close results make these issues and questions more salient. A total of 72 of seats (or 32%) were won by less than 10% margins of turnout. Twenty percent of seats, 44 seats, were won with less than a 5% margin. The closeness of these races could easily have come down to a few voters. These razor-thin margin seats were won by both sides, but given the questions raised about the process of voting in these close seats, they need to be carefully reviewed.

To date, the total number of seats affected by either non-transparent new voter increases and early voting allocations and unexplained incidents of disenfranchisement appears to be more than the actual margin of victory for the BN. These reports need to be properly vetted and verified, but fundamental questions remained.

A spoilt-vote victory

Finally, this brings up the questions on the election night itself. There are queries surrounding the recounts and spoilt votes. How many recounts which overturned the results at the last moment were there? In Perak, for example, three state seats – three is a famous number in Perak – Alor Pongsu, Manjoi and Pangkor results were overturned at the last minute. Questions were also raised at Kamunting as well.

The need for transparency at the final count is essential for a fair election. When the EC asks people to leave and there are new ballot boxes seen outside of a polling station, as was reported in Lembah Pantai, there are questions. It is not fully clear what exactly happened with the recounts in Perak and elsewhere – as there were numerous recounts nationally this election – but the climate of distrust that has permeated the assessment of the election process raises doubts.

In the days ahead, a better sense of the numbers and recounts will emerge. With reports of sudden changes in the voting results such as Bentong and Labis, questions are being raised. Many people cannot understand how a result that was statistically a large margin ahead could be overturned. These need to be clarified, particularly in Bentong where the margin was larger.

Part of the problem is that in some cases, the number of spoilt votes exceeded the actual majority in places where recounts took place. Here are some of the seats at the parliamentary level where this happened: Kuala Selangor, Cameron Highlands, Bachok, Bentong, Sungai Besar, Kota Merudu and Baram won by the BN and Sepang and Kuala Nerus won by the opposition. Another seat with high spoilt votes is Segamat, at 950.

What distinguishes these close recounts from the famous cases of Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh losing in 1999 with more spoilt votes than the majority, is the process of the administration of the indelible ink in this election – before marking the ballot paper – thus staining the papers and contributing to higher spoilt votes.

This pattern of higher spoilt votes than actual margins of victory was also replicated at the state level as well in many areas, where only a few seats mattered for who should win state power. The process of administering the ink appears to have had an impact on the results in some areas.

It is important to be careful when reviewing the election results and not rush to judgement about what happened and why. It is also important to see the election holistically. The focus here has not touched on the use of money in the campaign, which was rampant, labeled ‘bombing’ in Sabah, or the mainstream media reporting.

The aim has been to raise the preliminary questions revealed in the results and the impact actual numbers of voters associated with the election. As the evaluation of the election moves forward, the call to answer these questions will only increase and intensify. Further study and analysis is essential.

Nevertheless, from the non-indelible ink and spikes in voter turnout to being not allowed to vote, concerns with the electoral process itself are not sitting right with many in the public, and this is not just supporters on one side or another. Transparent and truthful answers are both needed and welcomed.

__

DR BRIDGET WELSH is associate professor of political science at Singapore Management University. She is travelling around Malaysia to provide her GE13 analyses exclusively to Malaysiakini. Bridget can be reached at
[email protected]
.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 7 May 2013, 1:05 pm and is filed under
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Far from a black day

 — Alexandra Wong

The Malaysian Insider

May 06, 2013

MAY 6 — The day after GE13 I woke up to see all-black Facebook profile pictures.

I see something wrong with the picture here. I cast my vote based on the belief that a better Malaysia meant a more effective system of check and balance.

Post-election, I feel we’re still missing the point: we’re not focusing on the real stumbling blocks, the game-changers so to speak.

1) A disconnect with the rural voters, who either don’t care or don’t know about a better Malaysia. As far as they’re concerned, it’s more important to feed their families. If the urban supporters don’t acknowledge and address that, the opposition will always remain opposition. How many urban voters understand that a big part of the real Malaysia lies in the rural areas? How many have even been to a rural village? I have. And it smote me that they were so poor. I visited a Sarawak longhouse once and when I gave a grandma RM100 as a thank-you token, the look of shock and gratitude in her eyes haunted me for a long time afterwards. I found out later that’s how much they earn in one month — to feed one whole family.

2) Our real bogeyman was gerrymandering. As a friend put it, one vote in a Sarawak urban constituency equals six rural votes. Why was it not addressed before the election? That was the deal-breaker. Why were so much resources dedicated to the urban constituencies which were foregone conclusions? At this point, there is no conclusive evidence voting was rigged in some constituencies though I am sceptical of the manner in which some were won but “magic” alone couldn’t have orchestrated so many wins. While all eyes were on the cities with 100k voters, the sub-10k constituencies were quietly narrowing the gap.

The kampung folk were the real king makers.

Then why did Pakatan Rakyat give out an early victory cry? I believe it’s a war strategy. A general has to create the illusion of victory, even when you know it’s beyond reach, to keep your solders’ spirits high. Sometimes it makes the difference between losing and winning. Sometimes it doesn’t.

I believe the primary goal was so that the urban voters would not lose heart and come out in big numbers. And it worked. Because they (the city people) did and they sent out a powerful message to the ruling party. And that is why, in my heart, I believe it was a victory, not a loss.

Folks. With key losses by high-profile candidates, Malaysians sent out a clear message that racially-incited politics was NOT cool.

Even fence-sitters are awakening politically. On the eve of Polling Day, I attended a ceramah, and I had never seen so many people on the streets of Ipoh in my life, united for a common cause.

If that’s not change, I don’t know what is.

It’s not all bleak.

It’s not the time to mourn.

It’s time to carry on. Re-energise and get cracking.

Because we have a lot of work to do before GE14. And by “we”, I mean ALL of us Malaysians: BN has to work triply hard to restore our faith if the rulers-to-be mean what they say about a more moderate brand of politics, and Pakatan has to plug the cracks in its armour and fortify itself to make even more headway in the next election.

Before you know it, it’d be another five years.

Five years — it’s not that long.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 7 May 2013, 5:36 am and is filed under
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Malaysia GE13 an urban, not Chinese swing, say analysts

By Boo Su-Lyn
The Malaysian Insider

May 07, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 — The outcome of Election 2013 was not simply the result of a “Chinese tsunami” as Datuk Seri Najib Razak has claimed but a major swing in the urban and middle-class electorate that saw Malaysia’s urban-rural rift widen, analysts have said.

In their preliminary reading of the vote trend, analysts noted that despite the increase in Chinese support for Pakatan Rakyat (PR), the political tsunami had also swept with it “large numbers of the Malays”, many among them forming part of the country’s middle- to upper-class voters.

“They received Malay middle-class support, especially in urban areas,” political analyst Datuk Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin told The Malaysian Insider, referring to PR.

“So the DAP majority increased because of disgruntled Malay young voters’ support… in conclusion, to label racial polarisation is too easy. Two other factors operate simultaneously with race: class (rich-poor, middle class) and spatial (urban and rural),” said the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) founding director of Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA).

Shamsul Amri said the DAP majority increased because of disgruntled Malay young voters’ support.Although Najib’s Barisan Nasional (BN) retained federal power in the country’s tightest election in history, the coalition lost major cities and towns from George Town to Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, Malacca and big towns in Johor.

BN failed to win Selangor and Penang — two of the most industrialised states in Malaysia — although it retook Kedah, the mostly-rural rice-bowl state.

The DAP decimated the MCA in Election 2013, with party stalwart Lim Kit Siang defeating Johor BN chief Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman by a whopping 14,762 votes in the Gelang Patah federal seat, besides sweeping Kulai, Kluang and Bakri in Johor.

MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said the BN component party would not take up any government post after winning only seven parliamentary seats, less than half of the 15 federal seats it won in Election 2008.

BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak said late Sunday night that the newly-elected BN government would embark on national reconciliation efforts to unite Malaysians, after what he termed as the “Chinese tsunami” of the 13th general election that BN won with a smaller majority than Election 2008.

Political analyst Dr Lim Teck Ghee, however, pointed out that PR won more than half of the popular vote, showing that the coalition had received support from “large numbers of Malay and other non-Chinese voters”.

“The results in Selangor, which has the highest percentage of urban population, as well as in the other west coast states, certainly showed this urban middle-class trend,” Lim told The Malaysian Insider.

“Large numbers of Malays form part of this middle class, perhaps as many as non-Malays,” he observed.

The Centre for Policy Initiative (CPI) director said the vote against BN appeared largely because this segment of the electorate was better informed and less influenced by the mainstream and BN-friendly print media.

Wong said young voters who wanted change backed PR across ethnic lines.He said middle-class voters are generally more concerned about corruption, good governance and cost of living issues, and are less affected by the demonisation of the opposition and BN’s alleged play on racial and religious sentiments.

Political analyst Wong Chin Huat said young voters who wanted change backed PR across ethnic lines.

“Pakatan says let’s try something new — you can move away from racial categories. So you’re talking about questions of values,” Wong told The Malaysian Insider.

“Young voters who are much more confident and who want to embrace a changing world will be for Pakatan,” said the Monash University lecturer.

Veteran newsman Datuk A. Kadir Jasin observed that the 13-party BN coalition not only drew fewer seats in the 222-member Dewan Rakyat and 12 state assemblies in yesterday’s general election compared to 2008, but also lost the popular vote for the first time since polls in 1969.

“Is it not possible that this is not a Chinese tsunami or racial chauvinism but a Malaysian tsunami that is centred on the aspiration and new reality, especially among young voters?” the man who had been group editor-in-chief of the public-listed News Strait Times Press during the Mahathir administration wrote in his blog yesterday.

There were about 2.5 million first-time voters out of 13.3 million eligible voters in Election 2013 that saw an 84.84 per cent voter turnout, the highest in Malaysian history.

BN, which had campaigned on maintaining security and peace, lost an additional seven federal seats and 71 state seats to PR in yesterday’s polls. BN and PR won 133 and 89 federal seats, as well as 275 and 230 state seats respectively.

For federal seats, BN polled 5,237,699 votes to the Pakatan Rakyat parties’ combined 5,623,984 ballots. The three-party pact of PKR, PAS and the DAP also surpassed BN in state seats, pulling in 4,879,699 votes to the 13-member coalition’s 4,513,997 ballots.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 7 May 2013, 9:32 am and is filed under
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The Dream Lives On

By Allan CF Goh

The Dream Lives On

Election Day has now come and gone.

But our hopes have not been left alone.

Though BN won half of Malaysia,

Pakatan wins the ambrosia.

PR has won the plurality

With a national majority.

Pakatan ‘has won’ the election

By increasing its representation.

BN won by ways dark, secretive;

Losing its moral imperative.

Though it has won the seats of office,

Pakatan has won folks’ hearts, notice.

The wind of change is still blowing strong,

Most Malaysians still for “ubah” long.

The dream of citizens still lives on…..

For a true democracy to dawn.

All citizens will still want the same thing:

Their rights supreme as the sacred king,

In a just, meritorious nation,

Totally free of foul corruption,

Without the festering racism,

Without fetid communalism.

Where citizens live in harmony,

Not rent apart by cacophony.

When Malaysians stand proud and equal,

With justice, an unending sequel.

That is the way to a one-nation,

Pulling, pushing in the same direction.

Not purposely fragmented by race,

Nor rented by religious ill-grace.

Only united, can we progress,

Don’t let negativity digress.

Existing in people’s memory

Is the greatness of the one-country,

Malaysians must live the common values,

With proper mutual respects and dues,

As one great, national family,

With love as our nation’s homily,

There can never be masters and slaves.

That’s the quickest way to the nation’s grave.

The light at the end of the tunnel,

Gets brighter, stronger, and less banal.

The darkness will surely end one fine day,

Let’s bring it on without more delay.

When the new dawn finally appears

Most of the nation’s woes will disappear.

Our disappointment must be our fuel

To drive us forward to dreams fulfill.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 7 May 2013, 2:22 pm and is filed under
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Don’t repeat the 1987 ‘fire’, Kit Siang tells Najib

Ram Anand

Malaysiakini

May 8, 2013

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has warned Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak not to “play with fire” by making “race-baiting” statements targeted at the Chinese after the Sunday polls.

Kit Siang said that Najib is risking a repeat of the racial tension that emanated prior to the 1987 Operasi Lalang.

Although Kit Siang did not elaborate on the matter, in 1987 there had been an allegation, which Najib had denied, about waving a keris and a pledge to “bathe it with Chinese blood” plus a combination of other factors that caused racial tension with the Chinese community.

“Najib must ask himself, does he want to be a prime minister for all Malaysians?” Kit Siang asked.

Kit Siang said that whilst Najib might be making those statements to appease the Umno grassroots, the latter mustn’t lose sight of the 1Malaysia concept that he had espoused four years ago.

Kit Siang said that an Utusan Malaysia editorial today titled ‘Siapa dulu mulakan provokasi’ (who started the provocation) is tantamount to an admission by the paper that it had committed sedition.

In the editorial, Utusan blamed DAP for starting the provocation of racial tension via its election campaign.

The editorial was a response to DAP’s criticism of Utusan’s inflammatory front page report ‘Apa lagi Cina mahu?’ (What more do the Chinese want) yesterday.

“By publishing this, they are indirectly admitting that they have committed sedition,” Kit Siang said.

Kit Siang also urged all BN leaders,  including the like of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former Malacca chief minister Ali Rustam, who had repeated Najib’s views of a “Chinese tsunami”, to criticise the Utusan Malaysia headline yesterday ‘Apa lagi Cina Mahu?’ just like their Umno colleague Saifuddin Abdullah.

Saifuddin, who lost the Temerloh parliamentary seat to PAS’ Nasrudin Hassan, said that he would not blame his defeat on any particular race.

Kit Siang said that contrary to Najib’s allegations, DAP had never given the impression that votes from the Chinese community alone can unseat BN from federal power.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 8 May 2013, 7:15 pm and is filed under
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Kit Siang accepts polls results, but questions 30 seats affecting BN’s legitimacy

By Ida Lim

The Malaysian Insider

May 08, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — DAP’s Lim Kit Siang today said he accepted last Sunday’s polls result where Barisan Nasional (BN) won the contest to be the federal government, saying he was only questioning 30 federal seats which could affect the coalition’s legitimacy.

“By and large, I accept the elections result, but 30 seats – the electoral fraud, electoral abuse, electoral irregularities – if these are proved, then they have to be corrected.

“And if they are corrected and Najib loses these 30 seats, he doesn’t have majority to be prime minister,” the DAP advisor said at a press conference at the party’s headquarter.

Yesterday, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim similarly noted that the results in some 30 federal constituencies were in doubt, thus affecting the legitimacy of the BN government that was formed with just 133 seats, 21 seats more than the 112 seats required to win a simple majority.

Anwar, who leads the federal opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR), had taken a stronger approach yesterday by refusing to recognise the polls result, having highlighted the Election Commission (EC)’s failure to implement polls watchdog Bersih’s eight demands for a free and fair election.

“In fact, the EC could not even implement a simple use of indelible ink and the chairman fumbled miserably to provide a logical explanation for the failure,” said Anwar.

“It is therefore a dictate of our conscience to reject the election result until it is rectified and a reasonable justification is provided by the EC,” he said yesterday.

Bersih has similarly refused to recognise the BN government until it verified reports of possible electoral.

But Lim today appeared to be unaware that Anwar had chosen not to accept the results.

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Kit Siang denies ‘Utusan’ article, says it proves paper’s seditious act

By Ida Lim

The Malaysian Insider

May 08, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 — DAP today denied the allegations in an Utusan Malaysia article today, with the party’s advisor Lim Kit Siang saying that it was a self-admission by the Umno-linked paper that it had committed sedition.

“It is an admission that Utusan has committed seditious, incendiary and inflammatory articles and they justify by saying that ‘siapa dulu memulakan provokasi’ (who started the provocation).”

“We deny completely that we had anything to do with the various allegations made in this defence…we did not provoke them. We had nothing to do with all the things reported in this article,” Lim said at a press conference at the party’s headquarters here, referring to a piece titled “Siapa mula provokasi dahulu?” (Who started the provocation first?) by the Malay-language paper’s columnist Zulkifli Bakar.

In the column, senior editor Zulkifli claimed that DAP should be held responsible if chaos erupts, in a statement that echoes past warnings of a possible repeat of the May 13, 1969 race riots.

“The DAP should not be evasive in this matter and attack Utusan Malaysia.

“And they must be ready to be responsible if the country erupts into chaos because it was them that started the extreme political provocation to influence the Chinese to reject BN,” Zulkifli had written when defending Utusan’s choice of ‘Apa Lagi Cina Mahu? (What more do the Chinese want?)’ as its frontpage headline yesterday.

Lim challenged Utusan to list down the statements where DAP had allegedly spoken provocatively.

“What is it that we have said that we be compared to race-baiting and provocation and seditious outputs that appear daily in Utusan?” he asked.

During today’s press conference with other DAP leaders, Lim also urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak not to “play with fire”.

The DAP veteran leader asked if Najib truly believed in the “1 Malaysia” concept and the need for national reconciliation, claiming that the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman had singled out DAP when saying that the party had allegedly misled the Chinese community.

Lim accused Najib of behaving in a “racist manner”, asking when the leader would start acting as a prime minister for all Malaysians.

“When is he going to start becoming a Malaysian prime minister instead of a racist prime minister?” he asked.

Lim then challenged Najib to a series of public debates over the latter’s claim that BN’s poorer showing in the May 5 polls was due to a “Chinese tsunami”, while insisting that the switch in support for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in the seats it had won was from all races in Malaysia and from the urban areas.

When asked if Najib could be looking to garner more votes within the party for his Umno presidential post with his statements, Lim agreed that it was “possible”, before saying that national interests must take precedence over Umno’s and Najib’s interests.

“What’s the use of hoping to get re-elected in Umno if he abandons his own signature policy of 1 Malaysia?” Lim asked.

Lim also said the key issue was Najib’s stand as the country’s prime minister, while the issue of whether DAP would sue Utusan is a secondary matter.

He also urged BN leaders who had defended Utusan to follow former Umno deputy minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah’s lead in speaking out against the paper’s choice of headline yesterday.

Lim said the Attorney-General must take action against Utusan if he is “professional and independent”.

The police started investigating Utusan Malaysia for sedition yesterday, hours after the Umno-owned daily sparked a nationwide uproar with its incendiary front page report seen to blame the Chinese for the BN’s weaker score in Election 2013.

BN took a severe beating this round and bled more seats at both the federal and state levels compared to 2008, leaving it with only 133 federal seats and 274 out of the 505 total state seats despite wresting back Kedah from PR.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 8 May 2013, 7:56 pm and is filed under
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‘Stop blaming one community for BN’s bad performance’

BY CLARA CHOOI

The Malaysian Insider

May 08, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today demanded a stop to all attempts at racialising last Sunday’s polls by blaming a particular community for Barisan Nasional’s (BN) poor showing at the ballot boxes.

“This is unfair and unhelpful,” he said in a statement here.

The former prime minister, who stepped down in favour of Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2009 after he led BN to lose its coveted two-thirds parliamentary majority in Election 2008, agreed that following Sunday’s polls results, there was a pressing need for the country to undergo the process of national reconciliation and unity.

He also called on the opposition to accept and respect the election results, despite the fact that they had lost by slim majorities amid claims of fraud and widespread irregularities in the polling process.

“Malaysians deserve stability and certainty that can only come with finality and closure from this election,” he said in his message to the opposition.

“Let us move on in the interest of all Malaysians.”

The just-concluded Election 2013 saw the ruling BN pact recapture federal power but with an even slimmer majority than in Election 2008, polling only 133 seats to Pakatan Rakyat’s 89 in the 222-seat Parliament.

It had been a nail-biting race from start to finish between both powerful pacts and although BN emerged the winner, the vote trend that saw a large majority of the Chinese community backing PR has sparked a mini racial war between those across the political divide.

In his first response at the close of the polls, Najib termed the results a “Chinese tsunami”, even saying that if not handled carefully, the nation could see days of unrest ahead.

He mooted the idea for national reconciliation, saying efforts to unite the country through the introduction of fair and moderate policies were necessary to ensure Malaysia maintains its stability.

But in defiance of the prime minister’s words, analysts and opposition leaders disagreed with Najib’s reading of the election results, pointing out that PR had won the popular vote by a signficant 51.4 per cent to BN’s 48.6 per cent.

They said that this showed that it had not merely been a “Chinese tsunami” that caused BN to bleed seat but a massive swing in the urban and middle-class electorate towards the federal opposition.

The analysts also said that despite the clear increase in Chinese support for PR, the political tsunami had also swept with it “large numbers of the Malays”, many among them forming part of the country’s middle- to upper-class voters.

Adding salt to an alreay festering wound, Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia published on its front page yesterday an article headlined “Apa lagi Cina mahu? (What else do the Chinese want?)”, a phrase which has turned viral in the internet’s social sphere.

The newspaper came immediately under fire and angry netizens and politicians across the political divide railed against Najib and Umno for allowing the media to run riot with such incendiary headlines.

But despite the criticisms, Najib came to the paper’s defence yesterday and even appeared to blame the DAP, claiming the predominantly Chinese opposition party had misled the Chinese into greater racial polarisation by making them think that voting the party would lead to a change of government.

“You blamed Utusan but you don’t ask about the Chinese papers,” Najib told a press conference when asked how is he to achieve national reconciliation if Utusan kept harping on race issues.

He did not say what was objectionable in the Chinese-language newspapers.

Joining Najib, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he was shocked BN’s poor performance in Election 2013, and laid the blame on ‘ungrateful’ Chinese and ‘greedy’ Malay voters.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 8 May 2013, 7:46 pm and is filed under
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A People’s Election

In the aftermath of this historic election, we would like to thank all Malaysians for their support of DAP and Pakatan Rakyat. To all Malaysians, including those who did not support our coalition, we are indebted to the public for their extensive involvement in the campaign and commitment to the future of Malaysia. All races of Malaysians are united in one purpose to make our country strong and people stronger.

It is in this spirit of strengthening our country that we need to turn our resolve into the tasks that can move our country forward.

Foremost is the need to properly account for all of the irregularities during an election that was not only the dirtiest election in our country’s history, but also the most marred in its process. We support Bersih’s people’s tribunal as an essential step for justice and transparency. We call on all Malaysians to come forward to share their experiences and help us get to the truth.

We also will be supporting the electoral petitions to challenge the flawed contests where we have credible reports of tampering, electoral fraud and manipulation. The process for reform in Malaysia is ongoing, and we need to carry on.

We are heartened by the public’s support for justice and fairness in elections, as it is ultimately their will that has been thwarted. We are proud and humbled by the responsibilities we face to represent the majority of Malaysians.

In our initial assessment, we can point to multiple seats where serious irregularities occurred – Labis, Tapah, Segamat and Bentong, to name just a few. We believe that the irregularities are extensive and nation-wide and minimally affect up to 30 seats.  As the irregularities impact more than 21 seats, the margin for which we would have won government, and involve at least two state governments – Perak and Terengganu. The DAP, working in collaboration with our partners in Pakatan Rakyat, will work to gather and present the evidence. If Malaysia had free and fair elections, we would be in Putrajaya and many other state capitals across the country. Malaysians know this, and the BN knows it.

A victory that is earned through money, lies and manipulation is not a victory at all. It is not a true Malaysian victory.  The Malaysia I know is one that believes in fairness. The Malaysia that I know is one that believes in decency. This election shows how far we are moving away from our moral compass, and it is important to continue to set the course towards the ideals that founded our nation.

I firmly believe that the results show that a majority of Malaysians want better governance and a system that is not corrupt, feeding off greed and abuses of power. Pakatan’s majority of support from the electorate reaffirms hope in our country and fellow Malaysians.

Every one of you should be proud. Look around, these are your brothers and sisters, your family that is vested in building a better country. We are all here for a shared dream of a better tomorrow. While many of you are disappointed, frustrated, and some many even be angry, please take a moment to relish the shared community that has been built in this election and the reaffirmation of the ideals for a better Malaysia.

The Malaysia that I know is one that believes in respecting all Malaysians from every community. One of the reasons the BN is afraid of Pakatan Rakyat is because we represent all communities. It is impossible to win higher majorities in Selangor and Penang, for me to win my seat in Gelang Patah without multi-racial support. We are grateful to all Malaysians who supported Pakatan, but I would especially like to thank the Malays who voted for change, for national reconciliation and for a stronger country. We will continue to reach out to you and assure that you and all Malaysians receive our honest and hardworking commitment for the people and reform.

We call on all leaders in UMNO to act responsibly. This race baiting is another form of old politics, and we strongly condemn these tactics. It is an old story that when UMNO is fighting within itself, and when the government wants to distract the public from the real things that matter, they take to politicizing race. It is wrong and should stop immediately.

This election has brought to the fore the serious problems we face as we move forward. The Election  Commission abysmal performance, the complicity of other government agencies and others in interfering in the will of the people and failing to carry out their professional responsibilities ethically is of real concern. We have had years of weakening institutions, and the election has brought them to the fore. We also saw in this campaign the open links between crony companies and the incumbent government as funds poured in through rampant vote buying.

We turn now to the people for help, to channel their energies into exposing abuse and corruption, but to reach out to each other, across communities, with decency and respect. The time for mutual understanding and rebuilding hope is upon us. Malaysians will never forget GE13, as it has shown the common will to move the country forward, and exposed the desperate measures to hold onto power. We need your continued support to keep hope alive, to turn the disappointment and frustration into constructive efforts and building community and improving governance.

This was a people’s election – an election that has denied the will of the people, but at the same time reminded us of the need for community and to continue to put people first. The path ahead will not be easy, but the fight for justice, democracy and a better Malaysia is one that we must all strive ahead. We do so with confidence and commitment.

(Speech for  the 13GE Election Fraud Rally at Kelana Jaya Stadium, Selangor, on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 at 10 pm)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 9 May 2013, 6:53 am and is filed under
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This Little Malay Ripple That Joined The Tsunami

by Karina Bahrin (Notes) on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at 9:07pm

Dear Prime Minister and all in UMNO

I am, by your definition, Malay.  Except it is said that in our family folklore, my paternal grandmother was probably biologically Chinese.  And yes, my mother is a former Catholic from the Philippines.

Not that any of that should matter because, as far as you are concerned, I am Malay.

Only, I did not vote for you.  And neither did a whole lot of other Malays,despite what you would like to think.  Do the math.  If 80% of the population voted, then surely, you cannot blame the erosion of your power on the Chinese minority.  Or did you fail that subject too?

I voted for the Opposition because as a Malay, I myself have had enough.  Not because I necessarily like all the Opposition leaders, but frankly, I just like you lot less.  Because despite all your rhetoric about the Opposition being a lying, conniving bunch, I have personally born witness and been on the receiving end of YOUR lies and policies that stoke racial and religious polarity.  Not the Opposition’s.

Yours.

Because your government is the only one I have ever known since birth.  And what I see and experience every day in my life is your creation.

Yes, I am a recipient of your Bumiputera scholarship.  I went to one of the world’s best  schools.  In my graduating class, there were less Malaysians than you could count on one hand.  The truth is, I could have obtained my own scholarship from someone else in the world if I wanted to.  And believe me, there are many times I wish I had taken that route, so that I can be relieved of the only burden of debt I feel towards you and your policies.

After graduating from university, I chose to return home.  Yes, I was apparently bonded to work for you for ten years, in repayment for the education you provided me.  But instead, you chose to let me go.  And I still remained here.  Because this is my home.

I could have chosen to work in one of the richest and most developed countries in the world, but I decided to remain in Malaysia.

Over the last twenty years, I have never relied on favours or connections to get a job.  It is against my principles.  And I have done well.  Believe me.  I can get a job in corporate Asia if I want  to.  I used to have a job with one of the world’s largest companies, overseeing seven countries in the region.  Bosses tried to entice me to leave – decamp to Singapore,  Hong Kong and even Japan.  But I still chose to stay here.

In the last four years, I decided to leave corporate Malaysia, because the extent of the rot I saw within its walls were so bad that if I knew any more , I would have to migrate. You may find this hard to believe, but when us ordinary Malaysians are exposed to the incompetence of our policy-makers and leaders, appalled is an understatement.  More than that, the arrogance (and worse, lack of sheer, basic intelligence) of many of those in power whom I have met, whether in the government,quasi-government or private sector crony companies, made me begin to believe that Malaysia was not capable of producing good leaders.

You see, I have benchmarks for comparison.  I have worked with some of the world’s biggest leaders, names you would recognise in a heartbeat.   Don’t  believe me?  Try Colin Powell.  Or Kissinger. Or Bill Gates.   And NONE of them can equal the arrogance and despicable character of some of Malaysia’s corporate and government leaders I have met.

Since I have left corporate Malaysia, I have become a small business entrepreneur.  And to no surprise, there was zero assistance to be had, even with my Malayness.  Funds that should be used to catalyse entrepreneurs like me had dissipated.  Government funding vehicles were uninterested, because hey, they have no time to do due diligence on a company asking for a million Ringgit or two.  What’s the point?  It takes just as much work to do the due  diligence for a company asking for ten times that amount.

So I struck it out on my own.  And Alhamdullillah, things have been good.  In fact, they are so good our small little engine that could (it’s a tiny boutique hotel) won an award as one of Malaysia’s top bed and breakfasts within the first year of operations.

None of my achievements are because you helped me.

Yet, at every election, at every opportunity you get, you turn around and tell me how much you do for me.

Well honey, you lie.

So no, it is not just the Chinese who voted for the Opposition this time.  Because you can count on at least THIS Melayu who did as well. Please stop insulting me and negating my role in your erosion of power.  If you had any sense, you would realise this, and realise it quickly. And figure out how to win Malays like myself back.

But my faith in the good of your kind unfortunately does not stretch that far.  And today you reaffirmed my lack of confidence in you a thousand-fold.

Keep insulting my fellow Malaysian Chinese.  It will not bring me closer to you, because I do NOT count you as my people.

The Malays I am part of are a people who have for generations lived shoulder-to-shoulder with other races,  because we ourselves know our own history, and accept the fact that we are a race that is borne of a meld of many others.  We are a race that has itself experimented with different brands of theology, are unafraid of adapting aspects of other cultures into our own and has NEVER thrived in isolation.  Unlike Japan, we do not have a history of cultural, social or economic growth that does not coincide with an era of openness, cross-border trade or cultural assimilation, be it with or without force.

If you are going to blame the Chinese for your losses, please,blame me too.  And the rest of the Malaysians who did the same.  We ALL did it.  And yes, the entire classroom is standing up this time.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 9 May 2013, 9:39 am and is filed under
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How Malays voted at GE13

 — Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied

The Malaysian Insider

May 09, 2013

MAY 9 — Speaking at a news conference a day after the release of the results of the general election, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak stressed that: “On the whole, the people’s decision this time shows a trend of voting polarisation…This worries the government, because if it’s not handled well, it could spark tension.” These comments were made in light of the premier’s knee-jerk observation that the increasingly politicised Chinese community have now swung towards the opposition unlike Malays who are firmly in support of Barisan Nasional (BN).

Compelling as such reasoning can be, Najib’s reflex reaction towards BN’s worst defeat since 1969 masks the deeper nuances of voting patterns and trends in Malaysia. While the results of the 13th general election (GE13) provide evidence that the Chinese-Malay divide in Malaysian politics has indeed manifest itself at the ballot box, there are other developments within the Malay populace in the country that have become more apparent and may follow a more protracted course in the coming years.

The rural-urban divide is the most obvious phenomenon that has emerged among the Malay electorate.
Cash, food and other gifts dished out by the BN to the rural Malays, coupled by the promise of more development projects, have yielded expected outcomes in terms of the strong support shown by the rural Malays for the party. While such carrot-and-stick tactics worked well with the rural folk — at least for this year’s elections — and have found expression in terms of BN’s victory in rural parts of Malaysia, Malays in urban areas showed opposing reactions. Good governance, fair and clean elections and putting an end to corruption are issues that the establishment have found difficult to address to meet up with rising expectations of the urban Malays. The upshot of this is declining Malay support in urban towns such as Kota Laksamana (Malacca), Kota Alam Shah (Selangor) and Pasir Bedamar (Perak).

The elections also signalled the looming decline of the old-generation communal-based religious elites in place of young, pluralistic and dynamic preachers and activists in politics. The defeats suffered by the once-famed Mohamad Sabu, Haron Din dan Husam Musa of the Islamist party, PAS, are clear indications of this. Even though the rising BN ulama, Fathul Bari, had lost his bid to win over Sanglang, the thin margin of 121 votes clearly showed that the Malays are open to accepting a new crop of urbanite members from the laity into Parliament. Nik Abduh Nik Aziz’s easy win over Perkasa’s Ibrahim Ali drives this point home and much more.

The complete wipeout of Perkasa in the elections by two PAS candidates bears testimony that Malays in Malaysia are generally not keen on extreme racialised politics, particularly the kind promoted by the BN old guards. Indeed, given a choice between Islamised politics with an eye towards building a multicultural Malaysia to one that advocates Malay dominance at the expense of other races in the country, Malays are keen to see the former in place.

Celebrating multiculturalism does not however entail an easy acceptance of celebrities in politics. The losses suffered by two all-time favourites in the Malaysian entertainment industry, Wan Aishah of PAS and Dayangku Intan of PKR, send a strong message to Pakatan Rakyat that Malay politics has matured beyond the lure of superstars. What Malays want which have somewhat fell on deaf ears are people who can deliver beyond sound and fury. For most Malays, it is the candidates’ ability to manage their respective constituencies rather than their vocal cords that colour their voting behaviour.

Above all, Malay voting patterns in GE13 exhibited a strong predisposition towards political families. Sons, daughters and those who share familial ties with known politicians on either side of the political spectrum gained much headway in their respective constituencies with Mukhriz Mahathir clinching the Ayer Hitam seat for the BN and sworn in as the mentri besar of Kedah. Nur Izzah Anwar, in turn, slayed a BN giant for the second time at Lembah Pantai, enhancing her image as the “Princess of Reform” and soon-to-be leader of PKR. These two significant examples, along with Nik Abduh Nik Aziz and, to a lesser extent, Khairy Jamaludin, make obvious the fact that emotional bonds between Malay leaders in Malaysia could easily be passed on from one generation to another, influencing Malay voting patterns during the elections.

Najib openly mentioned that his new government “will undertake a process of national reconciliation so we can set aside any extremism and communalism with policies based on moderation.” The recent election has shown to us that the point made by the prime minister is rather belated. Malays in Malaysia have and will continually move along the path of moderation, shunning the extremist and communalist tendencies that are bound to emerge along the way. GE13 has laid bare the end of money politics and made it plainly obvious that the days of old-school racial politics are numbered. The new breed of Malays have their eyes now set on cosmopolitan leaders, regardless of which party they are from, leaders whose forebears have had Malay interests in mind and, above and beyond that, the interests of all Malaysians at heart. — New Mandala

* Dr Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied is an assistant professor at the Department of Malay Studies at the National University of Singapore.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 9 May 2013, 5:24 pm and is filed under
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Kit Siang praises Pak Lah, seeks government post for defeated rival Ghani

By Ida Lim

May 09, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 — DAP’s Lim Kit Siang today praised former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, while also asking that his polls rival Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman be given a post in the new Barisan Nasional (BN) administration.

Lim described Abdullah’s statement yesterday as being the “most sensible, level-headed and statesmanlike” comment on the results of last Sunday’s polls.

Despite holding on to power with its win of 133 federal seats, BN lost the popular vote and had a poorer showing this time round, which led the current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to suggest that it was due to a “Chinese tsunami”.

The DAP advisor also said Ghani was a moderate and rational man, saying that the former Johor Mentri Besar had contributed to the state and country’s development during his four terms of service.

“And I think it’ll be a shame that those who got him fielded in Gelang Patah in order to see the end of Ghani Othman have their way.

“I think it’s only just and fair for Ghani Othman to be appointed to an important post in the new government…” Lim said.

The 72-year-old Lim had contested against Ghani for the Gelang Patah federal seat, emerging a victor in the MCA stronghold when he defeated the latter by 14,762 votes.

More to come

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 9 May 2013, 5:10 pm and is filed under
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Lim: Stop racialising elections results

G Vinod| May 8, 2013

Free Malaysia Today

The DAP veteran urges Barisan Nasional leaders to improve the fraudulent electoral system instead of racialising the poll results.

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP has criticised Barisan Nasional leaders for racialising the recent general election results instead of revamping the electoral system marred with irregularities.

Speaking at a press conference held at the party headquarters, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang reiterated that the massive swing of support to Pakatan Rakyat was a Malaysian wave rather than a Chinese one.

“No doubt there are was considerable swing from the Chinese but it also involved the Malays and the other communities. Do you think I could have won the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat without the support from the Malays and the Indians?” he asked.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak attributed the heavy losses suffered by the ruling coalition due to a “Chinese tsunami.”

Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia yesterday carried a provocative headline, “Apa Lagi Cina Mahu?” (What else do the Chinese want) attacking the Chinese for backing Pakatan Rakyat.

While Umno supreme council member Saifuddin Abdullah denounced the daily, Najib, MIC vice president M Saravanan and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had backed Utusan’s comments.

Saravanan and Mahathir even upped the ante by calling the Chinese ungrateful.

In his criticism against the BN leaders, Lim said that in Selangor, where Pakatan won two thirds majority in the state assembly, the Malays form the largest electorate block.

“The Chinese consists 34% of the electorate, the Indians 15% and the rest two percent. So is Mahathir calling everyone who voted against BN as Chinese?” he asked.

He also pointed out that Umno supreme council member Ali Rustam lost the race for the Bukit Katil parliamentary seat to another Malay, PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Akin.

Lim added that the Malays make up 53% of the electorate in Bukit Katil.

“And almost half of the voters in Terengganu rejected BN and the state is 95% Malay majority. So are they also ungrateful based on Mahathir and Saravanan’s standards?” he asked.

The DAP veteran urged Najib to stop stoking racial fire and reminded him that Malaysians at large have voted against his corrupt regime.

Najib trying to keep his Umno post

Queried whether Najib was playing up racial sentiments to shore up support to remain as Umno president, Lim said that the prime minister’s personal interest should not override national interest.

“Don’t racialise issues just to consolidate your Umno post. It will go against the national reconciliation process and Najib’s own 1Malaysia concept,” he said.

On Najib’s accusation that the Chinese press was equally seditious as Utusan, Lim urged the BN chief to show proof of his allegation.

“I have followed the Chinese press for a long time and they are fair in their reporting. However, if Najib can prove the media had published seditious articles, I welcome action against it

“If Najib fails to find proof, he should apologise to the Chinese press,” he said.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 9 May 2013, 7:18 am and is filed under
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