Pakatan sees state model guiding path to power

Stuart Grudgings, Reuters

8:50AM Apr 22, 2013

Lim Guan Eng, the hyperactive caretaker chief minister of Malaysia.s Penang state, is not the type to miss a good photo-opportunity, so there were plenty of witnesses when he handed over the keys to his government Mercedes ahead of a May 5 general election.

Integrity is a central battle cry for Malaysia’s disparate three-party Pakatan Rakyat opposition as it pursues its best chance of ending 56 years of rule by the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

“The official cars should not be misused for our own personal use,” Lim, a 52-year-old ethnic Chinese, told reporters as his administration shifted to caretaker status this month. “This is the integrity held by the state administration.”

Five years after the opposition took control of four state governments, northwestern Penang will be Exhibit A in its case that it can make South-East Asia’s third-largest economy cleaner and more competitive.

Malaysia’s second-smallest state topped the state investment league for the first time in 2010 and again in 2011, bolstering its position as a hub for high-tech manufacturers such as Intel and Honeywell.

Overall investment doubled in 2008-12 compared with the previous four years, a powerful rejoinder to the BN’s claims that the opposition cannot be trusted to run the economy.

The BN, or National Front, led by caretaker Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, points to a 73 percent slump in Penang’s investment last year and mounting traffic congestion in the state, which also draws tourists to its beaches and the colonial elegance of its capital George Town, as evidence Lim’s touch is wearing thin.

But the opposition hopes Lim’s reforms to tackle corruption linked to laws favouring majority ethnic Malays will resonate with a bulging younger generation of voters angry at graft and less attached to race-based politics.

Polls suggest a narrow win for the BN, which lost the two-thirds parliamentary majority that allowed it to change the constitution for the first time in 2008.

Potential shake-up

The ‘Penang model’ also highlights risks to investors from an opposition victory, which promises to unravel five decades of cosy relations between the government and business in what would be the biggest shake-up since independence from Britain.

Led by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, it says it will review suspicious contracts and cancel some, including a controversial US$800 million rare-earths plant built by Australia’s Lynas Corp. Its manifesto also pledges to break up “monopolies” in certain sectors.

“We wouldn’t want to take any action that would destabilise the market, but at the same time it doesn’t mean they can get off scot-free, no,” Lim (left), who will campaign nationwide, told Reuters in an interview. “The imperative should be there are no crony-driven contracts.”

Major firms and tycoons seen as having close ties with the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), the dominant party in the ruling coalition, could suffer.

“On individual stocks, (it would be) disastrous, I should think,” said Gerald Ambrose, managing director at Aberdeen Asset Management in Kuala Lumpur, adding that the overall stock market had likely priced in some risk of an opposition win.

Reform, not revolution

When Lim, who was imprisoned for 18 months under draconian security laws in the 1980s, took over Penang, he began a social and economic experiment that outraged Umno traditionalists. From now on, state public works contracts would be awarded through open, computerised tenders rather than direct negotiations.

Some portrayed it as a dangerous move to tear down the New Economic Policy (NEP), a system of affirmative action introduced following race riots in 1969 between Malays and economically dominant Chinese. Lim says he was targeting distortions in the policy that have enriched an elite few.

“It was pure pork-barrelling,” Lim says of the old system.

The NEP is credited for nurturing a Malay middle-class, but ‘bumiputras’ (Malays and indigenous people) still make up the majority of low-income Malaysians. Economists say the policy has deterred investment and driven a brain drain, especially of ethnic Chinese, entrenching Malaysia’s ‘middle-income’ trap.

The reforms levelled the playing field for small Malay businesses, Lim says, enabling them to win contracts based on merit rather than connections. Smaller firms still have special protection because all contractors for ‘class F’ jobs up to RM200,000 (US$64,500) must be bumiputra by federal law.

Even for higher value contracts, Lim says Malay firms now win more than 70 percent of open tenders in Penang. State figures show the value of contracts won by bumiputra firms doubled from 2008 to 2011.

As he oversaw workers renovating a small Muslim prayer centre in Georgetown – a job won through open tender – 28-year-old Ahmud Kairul Arif scorned the idea that as an ethnic Malay his business would need special help.

“There has been a shift which means we can compete against the Chinese,” said the graduate in project management. “I’m willing to go out from my comfort zone to compete.”

Taking ‘Penang model’ national

Prime Minister Najib has said the opposition’s generous and sometimes vague campaign pledges, which include free university education and the abolition of road tolls, would explode the national budget deficit.

Lim says he has saved about 25 percent of state spending compared with the previous administration through cutting graft. Penang’s budget surplus grew 57 percent between 2008 and 2011, even as a chronic federal budget deficit pushed the national debt to 53 percent of the economy from 41 percent in 2008.

“It would be a model to say that if we are financially prudent, with a little money we can do a lot of things,” said Tony Pua, a leading opposition parliament member. “There’s a lot more we can do with the federal budget.”

Transferring Penang’s policies to the national level would not be straightforward. The three other states run by the opposition, including two by the Islamist PAS party, have had more mixed records on governance and transparency.

The state’s 1.6 million population is evenly balance between Chinese and Malay, whereas Malays outnumber Chinese nationally by 60 percent to around 25 percent, making reforms to race laws more sensitive.

But Penang’s influence has already been felt at the national level as the government comes under pressure to award more contracts through open tender and end what critics say are sweetheart deals with favoured businessmen.

Rolling back privileges enjoyed by bumiputras – literally ‘sons of the soil’ – is political dynamite for Najib, who faces heavy resistance to reform from within Umno.

In an interview with Reuters in March, Najib said that the “vast majority” of federal government contracts were now awarded through open tender, adding he made “no apologies” for some that are negotiated directly.

“There are certain tenders that we carve out for bumiputra, but we would allocate that to the deserving bumiputra,” he said.

Malaysia’s Finance Ministry and the government’s Performance Management Delivery Unit declined interview requests.

A leaked US diplomatic cable from 2006 identified opaque government procurement practises as a major stumbling block in talks on US-Malaysia free-trade deal, which remains stalled.

“Malaysia’s procurement process falls short in three key areas: lack of transparency, outright corruption, and bumiputra requirements and preferences,” it said.

As they hit the campaign trail, opposition politicians are reminding Malaysians of what they say are a litany of major projects and concessions handed out in cosy deals.

Its prime target is Syed Mokhtar, the country’s richest ethnic Malay with a net worth estimated at US$3.3 billion. The opposition says he has built up his business empire, which encompasses power, telecoms, cars and ports, through close ties with former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and now with Najib.

“What is so special about Syed Mokhtar that he has to have a finger in every pie in Malaysia?” said Pua.

– Reuters

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 23 April 2013, 10:03 am and is filed under
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Still uphill for Johor Malay vote, admit Pakatan leaders

BY
IDA LIM, MOHD FARHAN DARWIS AND DEBRA CHONG

APRIL 22, 2013

The Malaysian Insider

JOHOR BARU, April 22 — While Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders on their campaign trail have been feted like rock stars in the Chinese-majority areas across Johor, the muted response from the Malay-dominant neighbourhoods shows the opposition has a long and uphill road to victory in the May 5 polls.

Several PR leaders have acknowledged so.

“I’m seeing positive signs but Ghani still has the advantage,” DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang told The Malaysian Insider last night after wrapping up a night ceramah in Pulai Perdana, a fringe Malay residential neighbourhood chock-a-block with car service workshops.

The 72-year-old Gelang Patah MP candidate is up against four-term Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman in the parliamentary constituency where Chinese make up 52 per cent, while Malays and Indians account for 34 per cent and 12 per cent of the registered voters there.

Another DAP hopeful, newcomer Wong Shu Qi, shared similar sentiments with The Malaysian Insider when speaking about her Senai state seat.

“So far we have a very good response from the Chinese community,” the journalist-turned-politician said in a phone interview.

She said while the party had managed to sway Chinese support towards PR, it had a tougher time to convince Malay voters that PR’s policies were better, even in suburban areas like Senai and Kulai that are also part of Iskandar, Malaysia’s southern economic corridor.

The Iskandar region, which had already brought in investments worth over RM100 billion since it came into the picture in 2006, is seen as a key driver of Johor’s economy but has also been blamed for pushing up the cost of living in the state lying north of Singapore.

“We do need more time to make the Malay voters more familiar with us,” Wong said, claiming that many Malay voters have been “cornered by Umno into a very small area like Felda and they can only watch TV3”.

Unlike some states to the north, the opposition parties have been repeatedly thwarted from gaining more than a toehold in Malaysia’s southernmost state.

Political observers have said that Johor’s resistance towards PAS and PKR was largely historical. Malaysia’s southernmost state had been used to running things its own way for a long time as it was among the last to be incorporated into colonial British rule.

It had built up a strong religious wall that did not give room for PR’s Islamist partner, PAS, to grow since Johor’s Islamic schools are well-funded and are state-run. In addition, PAS was seen as a northern influence, Ibrahim Suffian who is executive director of independent research house Merdeka Center, had said.

“The Malay parties in the opposition have a tougher time trying to get support from the Malay community in Johor, so Kit Siang’s presence in southern Johor especially has tilted the situation,” Ibrahim had told The Malaysian Insider on Nomination Day, at the start of the formal campaigning period for Election 2013.

But in the five years since Election 2008, a perceptible change has been felt in Johor.

In Pulai Perdana, some 100 people turned up to hear Lim speak, a distant cry from the thousands that thronged the open air carpark of Sutera Mall — a boulevard filled with shops that stay open till after midnight and a popular hangout with south Johor Chinese — just two nights ago.

Despite the locale, the audience seemed evenly distributed among Malays, Chinese and also Indians and looked to consist largely of working adults on the older side of their 30s and upwards.

The Malays there who spoke to The Malaysian Insider said they were tired of the same old politics in BN-run Johor and were willing to give PR a chance.

“We want change, want new people… we want it to be like Singapore, where people that can give good ideas rule,” said a tudung-clad Malay woman in her 30s.

The woman, who declined to be identified as she was an undergraduate and said her family were stout Umno supporters, said she believed PR had a fighting chance as the Malays too were willing to give the other side a chance.

When pointed out that there did not seem to be many Malays present at the nightly ceramahs, and that Abdul Ghani, Lim’s rival for Gelang Patah, appeared to enjoy widespread support on his rounds in the Malay areas, the woman claimed her community was disinclined to be committal to questions from outsiders.

“Itu kata mulut saje,” she said, using the Malay phrase meaning “lip service”.

Pulai Perdana resident Mohd Ridwan Talib said a key issue in Johor is the sky-high prices of property in the state, a point the PAS speakers had latched onto in their speeches before Lim took to the stage.

He said there should not be “selective development” in Johor, pointing out that homes in Nusa Jaya, one of the gateways to the Iskandar region, cost RM3 million and upwards and were beyond the affordability of regular working Joes.

PR has been relying on Lim to drive the opposition’s charge into Johor’s Malay heartland and has been selling his “new politics” of multiracialism to draw the younger generation to his camp.

“If we love the country, it’s not possible that we fight for only one race.

“We fight for all races, all religions in Malaysia,” the multi-lingual seasoned politician told his Malay, Chinese and Indian audience last night, switching effortlessly from Malay to Mandarin and English to convey the same message.

Rumbles of discontent made their presence felt even in the southern state’s Malay heartland in the state capital, Kampung Melayu Majidee, where PKR’s candidate for the Johor Baru federal seat, retired Gen Md Hashim Hussein, pleaded for their support.

Several residents there claimed the BN incumbent Tan Sri Shahrir Samad did not spend enough time here, signalling that they wanted a representative to be closer to their grounds than one who spent his time in the national capital in Kuala Lumpur.

“Shahrir is too busy outside of this area, his time with the residents is quite limited. We try to give opportunities to those that are bersemangat (spirited),” said Anggerik Abidin, a 41-year-old who said he had been a member of the Johor Baru Umno division executive committee from 2004 to 2008.

Anggerik said he would choose Johor-born Hashim as he believed the ex-military man would continue to serve the country.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 23 April 2013, 10:15 am and is filed under
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Vote to ensure a better Malaysia

Press statement of
Group of Concerned Citizens on the General Election

CPI ASIA

We are a group of Malaysians from diverse ethnicities, religions and backgrounds including military, academic, business, professional and the not-for-profit sector. We have been drawn together by our love for our country and our concern that this general election may see further setbacks in our aspiration for a better society.

Malaysians need a better government and good governance, especially in these tumultuous times of heightened racial discord and religious hatred and extremism.

If we succeed, we can be a modest example for the rest of the world in the way we tackle our racial and religious differences and in our resolve and actions to ensure social justice and the fair distribution of the wealth of our land.

Past governments and politicians have too often failed us by abusing the public treasury for private gain, by concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a few, and by debasing our democratic rights. For some years now, we have been one of the top countries in the world in terms of illicit outflows of money. According to Global Financial Integrity, the total 10-year estimate of financial outflow for Malaysia was RM871.4 billion for 2000-2010. No country in the world can afford such a high level of capital flight.

The coming elections provides us an opportunity to exercise our individual and collective right to decide on who will lead this country in the next five years and manage our finances, economy and society in a fair and just manner. If we choose badly we will have only ourselves to blame.

We wish to share with voters in this election pamphlet, which is being disseminated throughout the country, our concerns as well as our position on the principles and values that can propel our country towards that better society that we seek and which all Malaysians deserve and can be proud of. We believe that most Malaysians share not only these concerns but also our expectations of the high moral and ethical standards from the parties and politicians that will soon come into power.

We hope that this election message – a non-partisan one – will be etched in the minds and memories of those who will shortly take political office as well as of all voters so that the promise of moral and good governance is in the forefront of national priority, not just during the election campaign period and particularly on election day but every day during the next four or five years.

Other citizens and civil society organisations wishing to endorse this or a similar message are free to adopt or adapt it, and disseminate in their own names.

click on picture to enlarge and download

Civil society leaders endorsing this message:

Ahmad Farouk Musa

Arshad Raji

Azmi Sharom

K J John

Koon Yew Yin

Lim Teck Ghee

Masjaliza Hamzah

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Ramon Navaratnam

Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh

Thasleem Mohamed Ibrahim

S Thayaparan

Zaid Ibrahim

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 23 April 2013, 12:14 pm and is filed under
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11Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day – I never accuse Ghani Othman as a “racist” , I believe he is not a “racist” and I invite Ghani to join me in making Battle of Gelang Patah and the Battle of Johor a clean, fair and gentlemanly contest of ideas and visions with no playing race or religion cards or money politics

Johor Mentri Besar, Johor Barisan Nasional Chairman and BN candidate for Gelang Patah, Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman is reported in the media of expressing his disappointment that I had accused him of playing the race card.

He said I should not get “desperate” and insinuate that he is racist just to gain support from the Chinese voters who made up the majority of constituents in Gelang Patah.

He told New Straits Times: “I believe that he (Lim) is getting desperate. Everyone knows that I am not racist, and that is why I think he is trying to paint a picture of me being one”.

I do not know where Ghani got this report, just as I am equally mystified where Ghani got the report that I had said that if I win in Gelang Patah, PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang will become the Prime Minister.

I had never said that Ghani is a racist. I do not believe Ghani is a racist. This is what I said about Ghani two days ago:

“The BN candidate for Gelang Patah, the four-term Johor Mentri Besar, Datuk Ghani Othman, is a classic Malay gentleman who is respected for his moderate and rational views. I have no qualms in giving credit to him for bringing development and progress to Johor in his 18 years as Mentri Besar.

“But he does not sound like himself in his first two pronouncements after the Nomination Day on Saturday, as captured by these Malaysiakini headlines:

Ghani rails against Pakatan’s ‘racial polarisation’

Ghani: If Kit wins, Hadi might be PM

“Ghani is sounding more like Perkasa leaders like Ibrahim Ali and Zulkifli Noordin as what he said is completely contrary to his image as a moderate, rational and level-headed political leader.

“Is this the price that moderate leaders have to pay if they are to stay and survive in present-day UMNO, whose most powerful leader is not Najib Razak but Mahathir?”

It would appear that Ghani is surrounded by very bad or sinisters advisers who seem to want to destroy Ghani’s reputation as a moderate, rational and level-headed political leader.

Let me reiterate. I never accuse Ghani Othman as a “racist” , I believe he is not a “racist” and I invite Ghani to join me in making the Battle of Gelang Patah and the Battle of Johor a clean, fair and gentlemanly contest of ideas and visions with no playing of the race or religion cards or money politics.

This will be our greatest contribution to Malaysian politics, especially as the 13GE is expected to the dirtiest general elections in history, not only in terms of the lies and falsehoods, race and religion cards, which will be deployed (I expect the worst examples of such “dirty politics” to be unleashed in the last three days of the 13GE campaign) but the scale of money politics which put previous general election campaigns to shame.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 24 April 2013, 12:57 pm and is filed under
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Buying support – Najib’s ‘commercialisation’ of GE13

by
Bridget Welsh

Malaysiakini

9:58AM Apr 23, 2013

GE13 SPECIAL
 The billion ringgit question of this campaign is how much is being spent in the 2013 general election campaign and who is paying for it?

Throughout the country, voters are already reporting early efforts to woo the electorate such as special grocery
vouchers
 of RM300 in Sandakan and handouts of RM50 to attend a Umno meeting in Tanjong Malim, among many others.

The promise of more goodies on the way is being repeated over and over, from the symbolic extension and increase of BR1M (Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia) to more general ‘assistance’.

The use of electoral incentives is well-known and honed, but there is a fundamental shift in the overall pattern this time round. Scholars such as Universiti Sains Malaysia emeritus professor Francis Loh have described the electioneering pattern as from one of patronage to ‘developmentalism’, where voters have moved from relying on everyday personal ties and relations with politicians to the promise of development projects.

In this election, a new pattern of commercialisation has emerged, where the ‘You help me, I help you’ and ‘Let’s make a deal’ mantras are framing the campaign in what is crassly an economic exchange.

The base money flows, materialism and expensive brand marketing in GE13 cannot be understated, as they represent the dominant strategic mode of BN’s campaign.

Najib’s RM58bil election primer

Incumbent Prime Minister Najib Razak has systematically adopted this strategy since taking office in April 2009.

He knew he inherited a difficult terrain, and more importantly, he would need to win seats. In the four years before he dissolved parliament to get his own mandate, he engaged in arguably the most expensive election primer in Southeast Asia, and by far the most expensive in Malaysian history.

Gleaned from over 4,000 news reports since April 2009 and a study of the three budgets/supplemental budgets (2010-2013), I conservatively estimate that his administration has spent a total of RM57.7 billion from after he took over as PM to just before the dissolution of parliament on election-related incentives.

(The primary sources of these electoral-related pledges are from national news agency Bernama.)

The two main components of this largess are politically targeted distributions and 1Malaysia spending. These measures are inherently political as not only are they framed as political tools, they are being openly been touted as a reason to support the BN at the voting booth.

 As shown in the table, the main share of the election primer is not BR1M in the overall 1Malaysia programmes – this only amounted to RM5.6 billion – but other measures including salary increases and targeted populist initiatives in areas such as school construction from money administered through the PM’s Office.

Targeted items include money to taxi drivers, repeated allocations for fisher folks, special allocations for the Danga development project in Johor, a rice subsidy for Orang Asli, special settlement for housing in Hulu Selangor, tricycle 50 percent subsidy support for those in agribusiness, subsidised discounts for students on trains, solar energy subsidies and so much more.

The estimate excludes money spent on special infrastructure projects, which have the spillover of government contracts. These have increased, especially in the defence sector.

Please note that this spending only captures public spending, and excludes the non-transparent donations of mass dinners, entertainers and use of jets provided free by government-linked private businessmen.

I also exclude the repeated announcements of treating different communities to a meal and drink, as the reports are only the tip of the iceberg for this funding. This estimate, and this is only what it can be seen to be an estimate, also does not fully capture the spending by the BN-linked 1Malaysia NGOs, whose funding sources remain ambiguous.

BN spends RM4,363 per voter

The most politically affiliated programmes involve 1Malaysia. Some of the highlights are provided in the table.

 This estimate should be treated with some degree of caution. Many of these projects are legitimate spending on the part of the government, as they focus on basic needs. The use of cash transfers, moreover, is a common tool to address inequalities.

Nevertheless, what distinguishes these measures from earlier development spending is that rather than be included as part of ‘development’ strategy or development budget, they are part of a campaign strategy administered through the prime minister, whose main purpose is to return the incumbent coalition to office.

They are short-term tools aiming to please voters and gain their support at the polls. They are like items placed near the cash register at the convenience stores, such as sweets, to make you feel good and buy them, but they are often quickly used up and many are not actually good for you.

Most of these measures are also framed under the Najib-linked slogan of 1Malaysia. They are branded with an explicit tie to the caretaker premier. And given the amount of Malaysian taxpayers’ money spent, they are not cheap.

To put in another way, the estimate suggested that the Najib administration has spent an estimated RM4,363 per voter so far. This is by far the most expensive election primer in Malaysian history. Given that money has been allocated to different candidates for the campaign, more money is coming.

Another defining feature of this spending pattern is the use of targeting. There is a clear orientation to find potential groups of voters, identify their immediate needs, and provide it.

Some of my favourite initiatives include those for teachers, fisher folks and young people. Others are narrower, geographically located. If Najib found a group with a legitimate demand, he would try to fill it. It would not matter if you were Hindraf or a Chinese school.

All of this is part of a ‘let’s make a deal’ BN electoral mantra. The modus operandi is similar to that in Umno elections, only this time the pattern of vote buying is extended nationally, with the use of public money to fund the exercise.

‘Zaman duit’ for voters

The bottom line in the BN’s strategy is that it assumes Malaysians can be bought, and that their main motivation is driven by money. This obsession with materialism is a remnant of the Mahathir Mohamad era, where it is assumed that a person’s worth is judged by how many houses they own, the cars, or the latest model of smart phones.

‘Money politics’ is deeply ingrained in Umno. It is also assumed that the dominant paradigm is accruing wealth. They have appeared to have forgotten about the importance of morality and basic principles. Do they not see other needs for society? Do they really think that all Malaysians care about is money?

At the core, they mistakenly conceptualise Malaysians as driven by greed. They are transposing their own values and behaviour on the public.

This is not to say that money does not matter. Over and over across Malaysia, people describe this period as ‘zaman duit’, especially the young. There is recognition of the difficulties of the majority to make ends meet. This is practiced in everyday decisions such as the choice of restaurant to eat, what to buy at the market and where to send your child to university.

Young people struggle with the high cost of housing, while elderly worry about whether their pensions can cover their needs in their old age and whether their grandchildren will have the opportunities they had.

Yes, Malaysians do worry, and the aim of the cash handouts is to offer temporary relief and in that haze of temporary-flushed finances, they will reward the giver. However, polls have shown that this has had a diminishing effect over time, and the time is ticking since the last BR1M, but BN hopes that come May 5, the giving will have its impact at the polls.

Najib’s programmes are geared toward this ‘zaman duit’, as are many of the opposition’s proposals. Yet, there are three important differences in Najib’s programme. For BN, there is a more calculated aim of using everyday economic challenges for political advantage.

This can be seen by the scope of the initiatives and is much more raw than most of the opposition’s proposals. There is also no real recognition by the BN of the factors that have put the majority of Malaysians in these circumstances in the first place.

And more importantly, there is no substantive strategy to bring about sustainable changes in the quality of life and higher incomes. Many of these measures are short-term, vote-buying deliverables.

Where is the attention to the other needs of Malaysians? Where is the long-lasting investment in the people? Indeed, the ‘You help me, I help you’ modus operandi reflects a disturbing shallow view of Malaysian society.

Selling BN as a product

It is not just the money and materialist orientation of Najib’s electoral strategy that is so apparent. There is another commercial exchange taking place – Najib is offering himself for sale.

Signs across the north use the slogan ‘Produk Dahulukan Rakyat Malaysia’ next to pictures of the caretaker premier ‘People First’. In the Malay heartland, these posters contrast with the ‘Kestabilan’ posters in the urban areas.

The BN is being described as a ‘product’ that the people should repurchase. The government is hoping that the electorate is on automatic payment, and will repurchase the 55-year old incumbent coalition.

To back up the purchase is a massive amount of advertising. Traditionally, the government has used the mainstream media for its electoral messages. This time round, they have spent so far an estimated RM100 million on advertising on public websites, billboards and shows – including Malaysiakini.

This marketing is obvious. BN messages are placed in between songs on the radio, on city billboards and lit up like it is the time for a grand sale. How much is the amount of money spent to light up the Umno building nightly? This is well beyond the saturation point.

Why is there this focus on selling Najib? It is part of the commercial approach that rests on the same principles of commercial exchange above. Najib is packaged as a product to buy. The BN is framed as a ‘lasting’ product that should stay.

The beneficiaries of the branding exercise to date have been the advertising companies that were paid small fortunes for the marketing programme, and they have been the biggest advocates of this strategy.

Do voters buy their choices on brand marketing or is there something more fundamental at work? Are Malaysian voters that shallow that they will respond to political advertising?

Mitt Romney outspent Barack Obama in last year’s United States presidential campaign by more than double. The 2012 campaign spent an estimated US$5.8 billiion, a bit less than half of Najib’s election primer and not including the advertising and current vote buying efforts. Importantly, this money was raised from the private sector not public funds.

Money is important, and some people will be swayed by it, but not everyone. Romney lost. He spent billions but lacked the human touch, the needed connection to win loyalty and inspire hope that Obama provided through a more people-oriented organisational campaign that was build from the grassroots.

A successful campaign sees people in their totality, not just as materialist consumers. Najib’s use of commercialisation is increasingly pushing the electorate to see his methods and his product as past its expiry date.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 24 April 2013, 9:01 am and is filed under
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Satu lagi fitnah UMNO tentang 13 Mei untuk menaman rasa benci orang Melayu terhadap DAP; tetapi orang Melayu sudah bersedia untuk perubahan bersama Pakatan Rakyat dalam PRU13.

DAP menjadi mangsa fitnah Berita Harian, akhbar harian kawalan UMNO, hari ini Rabu 24 April 2013 apabila ruangan Rencana di muka surat 25 yang ditulis oleh “Lanang” telah mendakwa, tanpa sebarang bukti, bahawa DAP adalah “parti perkauman yang memperalatkan hak sama rata”. Malah rencana itu menuduh “Masa kempen pilihan raya 10 Mei 1969, DAP ghairah mainkan isu perkauman. Hasilnya sengketa 13 Mei 1969”.

Satu lagi fitnah UMNO tentang 13 Mei untuk menaman rasa benci orang Melayu terhadap DAP; tetapi orang Melayu sudah bersedia untuk UBAH bersama Pakatan Rakyat dalam PRU13. Semakin ramai orang Melayu sedar bahawa DAP bukan pencetus tragedi 13 Mei 1969.

Saya ingin jelaskan bahawa ini adalah pembohongan dan penipuan. Saya telah banyak kali jelaskan bahawa tuduhan itu tidak benar sama sekali kerana DAP tidak mencetuskan peristiwa 13 Mei 1969. Malah saya telah menuntut kepada kerajaan Malaysia supaya membuat siasatan terbuka dan pendedahan awam sepenuhnya tentang rusuhan kaum 13 Mei 1969 kerana masih banyak rahsia yang tidak didedahkan oleh pihak berkuasa. Tetapi sehingga sekarang tidak ada mana-mana pemimpin kerajaan BN yang berani berbuat demikian.

Kemudian, tulisan Lanang itu dalam Berita Harian mendakwa pula “DAP hanya benarkan PAS dan PKR bergasak sesama sendiri di tujuh kawasan. Yang untungnya DAP kerana berjaya melihat Melayu pecah” dan “Akhirnya yang rugi adalah Melayu. Yang berkuasa dan memencilkan kuasa Melayu adalah pihak lain. Kita dapat tulang, depa dapat isi.”

Isu menjadi calon pun mahu dijadikan isu perkauman? Berita Harian bersikap hipokrit kerana isu pertindihan kerusi Pakatan Rakyat hanya berlaku di tujuh kawasan sedangkan ia melibatkan 61 orang di kawasan-kawasan BN! Sehinggakan UMNO terpaksa memecat 58 pemimpin dan ahlinya yang menjadi calon bebas! Malah, orang penting seperti Naib Ketua Wanita UMNO Datuk Kamalia Ibrahim pun menentang parti dengan bertanding sebagai calon bebas di Parlimen Kuala Kangsar.

Beranikah Berita Harian, sebagai alat propaganda UMNO, mengatakan “MCA dan MIC untung kerana berjaya melihat Melayu pecah” kerana 61 ahli BN berebut kerusi menjadi calon bebas menentang BN? Atau adakah Berita Harian hanya berani memfitnah DAP dan Pakatan Rakyat kerana ia cukup yakin bahawa Suruhanjaya Pilihanraya (SPR) dan pihak polis tidak akan berani mengambil apa-apa tindakan terhadapnya kerana ia adalah alat UMNO-BN?

Rakyat Malaysia, terutamanya orang Melayu, sudah bosan dan marah dengan ketidakadilan dan kezaliman yang berlaku. Mungkin hanya UMNO dan Berita Harian belum sedar tetapi ramai orang Melayu sudah mula condong ke arah Pakatan Rakyat. Kita rakyat Malaysia sudah bersedia untuk UBAH.

Ini kali lah!

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 24 April 2013, 7:03 pm and is filed under
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Zaid Ibrahim accepts invitation to be Pakatan Rakyat adviser for Battle of Johor which is critical for PR to win Battle of Malaysia to replace Barisan Nasional in Putrajaya

I want to thank Datuk Zaid Ibrahim for speaking in support of my parliamentary candidature at the Pakatan Rakyat ceramah in Taman Nusantara, Gelang Patah last night.

The Battle of Gelang Patah is a microcosm of the battle for the hearts and minds of Malaysian voters in the 13GE and a prelude to the Battle of Johor and Battle of Malaysia in the 13GE.

I call on the caretaker Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to lead a campaign throughout the country and all the states of Malaysia which is clean, fair and honest, not marred by the politics of money.

I can speak on behalf of Pakatan Rakyat that this the type of general elections Malaysians want and should have in the 13GE. It is not too late for Najib to send our a message loud and clear to let the 13GE the “most clean, free and fair” instead of being the most dirty, unfree and unfair in the nation’s 56-year history.

Since the ending of the four-year wait by Malaysians for the 13th national polls on April 3, there is a new hope and a new expectation in the air for all Malaysians, regardless of whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans of a new political order – as summed up in the powerful catchphrase first coined in Sabah: “Ini Kali Lah!”

The historic objective of Pakatan Rakyat in the 13GE is to effect a peaceful and democratic change of government in Putrajaya – and this is why the PAS Vice President Sallehuddin Ayub and I have left comparatively safe seats in Perak and Kelantan respectively, together with Gen (rtd) Tan Sri Hashim of PKR, to return to Johore to lead the charge in the state to trigger a political tsunami emanating from the south reaching upwards to the north of the country, and to cross the South China Sea to Sabah and Sarawak to complete the partial political tsunami in the 2008 GE.

MCA President Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek said DAP leaders are only dreaming when talking about winning the strong constituencies of Barisan Nasional in Johore.

The difference between the DAP and Pakatan Rakyat on the one hand and MCA and Barisan Nasional on the other is that we in the former dare to dream Big Dreams for the people and country, while those in the latter are only obsessed about titles, money making or other advantages and benefits to be derived from their political involvements.

DAP and PR leaders Dare to Dream and to act to achieve our dreams.

Chua had made the ridiculous accusation that I am a “political fugitive” for leaving Ipoh Timor to come to Gelang Patah, the BN “fortress” which MCA had won with close to 9,000-vote majority in 2008 and with a monstrous majority of 31,666 votes in 2004.

But it is Chua who cut a most ridiculous figure when nobody in MCA (including him) dared to contest against me in Gelang Patah and instead, MCA had to “lend” the MCA fortress constituency of Gelang Patah to UMNO, with the four-term Johor Mentri Besar, Datuk Ghani Othman, ordered to be BN parliamentary candidate in Gelang Patah.

The UMNO mouthpiece, the New Straits Times, today carried a front-page report “
Ghani a huge threat to DAP in Gelang Patah
” alleging that I had attacked Ghani for being a “racist”.

Ghani was quoted by NST as being “dismayed” by the attack, saying: “Honestly, I am sad. How can they be so cruel? I have served this state for 18 years as a mentri besar and, throughout those years, I have treated every Johorean I came across fairly, regardless of his ethnicity.”

I am surprised by the NST report trying to conjure up a scenario presenting Ghani as being the victim of an unfair attack on him by me, when I never attacked Ghani as a “racist”. In fact, knowing Ghani who was Deputy Minister of Posts, Energy and Telecommunications as well as for Finance, culminating in his appointment and Minister for Youth and Spofts before he came down to Johor Baru as Mentri Besar in 1995, I dare say that he is not a “racist”.

Those who know the story of Ghani in the run-up to the 13GE know that he had been treated rather unkindly, but it is not me or DAP/PR leaders who had been “cruel” to him but certain UMNO leaders. If Ghani wants me to tell this story, I am prepared to do so.

I never challenged Ghani to contest against me in Gelang Patah. I concede that his candidature is indeed a “huge threat” to me, adding the pressure of a thousand tons on my shoulders.

Before his candidature, I rate my chances in the BN fortress in Gelang Patah as 50-50. With Ghani as candidate, my chances have dropped to 45-55.

But I had never any intention of withdrawing, even if the BN candidate is Ghani or even Tun Mahathir himself.

This is because the battle of Gelang Patah is not so much between Lim Kit Siang and Ghani or whether DAP and PR can get an extra parliamentary seat, but concerns the future of all Johoreans and Malaysians.

It is a symbol of a new Malaysia struggling to be born, a choice between the politics of the future as represented by DAP/Pakatan Rakyat and the politics of the past practised by UMNO/BN for more than five decade.

The Umno/BN politics of the past is an exclusive politics based on racial politics, accompanied by rampant corruption, gross abuses of power, massive violation of democratic and human rights of Malaysians, worsening polarisation of rce and relgiion resulting in Malaysia losing out to more and more countries even in the region.

The new politics of the future of DAP/PR is based on the patriotism and love of country of all Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region to unite their energies and abilities to build a really united, harmonious, competitive, progressive and prosperous Malaysia for all Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans.

If the Battle of Gelang Patah is just my personal battle on whether I can be re-elected to Parliament, I should stay back in Ipoh Timor which I had won with a majority of over 21,000 votes in the 2008 general elections, instead of going for a very high-risk contest in Gelang Patah which was won by the MCA/BN candidate with a majority of over 8,000 votes in 2008 and a humoungous majority of 31,666 votes in 2004.

I could very well lose but I am prepared to take the risk.

The Battle of Gelang Patah is about whether Johore can become a “kingmaker” in the 13GE, together with Sabah and Sarawak, to spark a political tsunami to effect the first peaceful and democratic transfer of power from Barisan Nasional to Pakatan Rakyat.

The First Objective of the Battle of Gelang Patah is in south Johore – to target the six Parliamentary and 13 State Assembly seats in south Johore to pave the way for Pakatan Rakyat to Putrajaya in the 13th General Elections.

The Second Objective of the Battle of Gelang Patah is the challenge to Pakatan Rakyat on a state-wide basis in Johore in 13GE.

If we can create a political tsunami to set off from Johore, then Pakatan Rakyat should aim to target 19 Parliamentary seats and 30 State Assembly seats.

The future not only of Johore but also Malaysia is in the hands of the voters of Johore in the 13GE.

The Battle of Gelang Patah is a prelude to the Battle of Johor and the Battle of Malaysia to wn the hearts and minds of Malaysians to secure the mandate for a Pakatan Rakyat Federal Government in Putrajaya.

I have invited Dato Zaid Ibrahim, the only Minister in the nation’s 56- year history to resign from the Cabinet on a matter of principle – the gross abuses of executive powers in the arbitrary arrest of DAP MP/Selangor Exco Teresa Kok as well as others – to help in the Battle of Gelang Patah, the Battle of Johore and Battle of Malaysia as an adviser, and Zaid has graciously agreed.

On my return to Gelang Patah on Friday, I will discuss with Zaid the next strategy of the Battle of Johor to target 19 Parliamentary and 30 State Assembly seats in Johore in the May 5 general elections.

Media Conference Statement by Pakatan Rakyat candidate for Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang in Sandakan on Wednesday 25th April 2013

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 24 April 2013, 6:01 pm and is filed under
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Zul’s shallow apology

by Kunjuraman Karuppan

The Malaysian Insider

April 22, 2013

APRIL 22 — Does Datuk Zulkifli Noordin think his shallow apology to the Indians helps his cause in Shah Alam?

Does the Perkasa vice-president standing on a Barisan Nasional (BN) ticket think he can blame the Pakatan Rakyat for his congenital racism?

How does he imagine all this will help him go against Khalid Samad in Shah Alam and win “101 per cent” in the May 5 general election?

Khalid was the one MP who stood side by side with the Indian community after the cow-head protest in Shah Alam even when it was not the politically smart thing to do.

What did Umno do? They got the cow-head protesters to pose for pictures with their vice-president after explaining the protest against a Hindu temple in Shah Alam.

So, who’s the one hell-bent on demolishing or preventing Hindu temples from coming up in Shah Alam?

Zulkifli Noordin’s candidacy is an insult to 1 Malaysia, particularly the Indian community.

This man has the audacity to blame his former colleagues for insulting Indians but won’t take responsibility for it himself. What a character, what a “transformative candidate”.

Put him where he belongs, in the garbage bin of history.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 24 April 2013, 1:04 am and is filed under
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10-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day: UMNO dan Barisan Nasional perlu menjelaskan secara terbuka sama ada mahu melaksanakan hudud atau tidak – DAP tidak ubah pendirian dan tetap berpegang kepada Perlembagaan Persekutuan

UMNO dan Barisan Nasional perlu menjelaskan dengan terbuka sama ada mahu melaksanakan hudud atau tidak. UMNO dan BN tidak perlu membuang masa untuk mengelirukan rakyat dengan menjadikan hudud sebagai isu politik.

Malah saya menyeru Datuk Seri Najib Razak supaya memartabatkan agama Islam dan menghormati umat Islam dengan menghentikan kempen yang mempergunakan agama kerana ia memberi kesan buruk kepada masyarakat. Saya harap para pemimpin BN benar-benar menghormati kesucian Islam dan agama-agama lain kerana kepercayaan agama bukanlah alat permainan politik.

Dengan itu, saya ingin menjelaskan bahawa laporan dalam media massa hari ini tentang cabaran Datuk Seri Najib supaya Pakatan Rakyat menyatakan pendirian secara jelas mengenai isu hudud, hanyalah satu gimik politik semata-mata. Saya kesal kerana beliau terus mempergunakan agama dalam PRU kali ini.

Saya juga ingin menjelaskan bahawa DAP tidak ubah pendirian dan tetap berpegang kepada Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Pakatan Rakyat telah pun menyatakan bahawa hudud tidak terkandung dalam Manifesto Rakyat, pendirian bersama dan apa-apa prinsip bersama.

Dalam pada itu, DAP tetap menghormati PAS dan ideologinya, sama seperti PAS dan PKR menghormati DAP dengan ideologi DAP. Prinsip perjuangan kami adalah semata-mata untuk kepentingan rakyat atas dasar demokrasi.

Oleh itu, tidak timbul soal hukum hudud dalam perjuangan bersama Pakatan Rakyat. Malah, PAS telah pun menjelaskan pendiriannya dalam konteks Negara Berkebajikan yang amat penting dan berfaedah kepada umat Islam dan rakyat Malaysia keseluruhannya tanpa mengorbankan prinsip perjuangan PAS. Ini memang DAP hormati.

Dengan itu, Datuk Seri Najib, Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek (MCA), Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon (Gerakan), Datuk Seri G. Palanivel (MIC), Tan Sri Pairin Kitingan (PBS), Tan Sri Taib Mahmud (PBB) dan lain-lain pemimpin BN yang sepatutnya menjelaskan secara terbuka pendirian mereka tentang hudud.

Pengundi Malaysia, terutamanya orang Melayu Islam, berhak untuk tahu sama ada UMNO dan BN mahu melaksanakan hudud atau tidak. Jika UMNO dan BN tidak berminat untuk melaksanakan hudud atau sudah menolak hudud, janganlah cuba bermain kotor dengan menuduh Pakatan Rakyat dengan menggunakan isu hudud.

Saya juga berharap media massa berani mengemukakan soalan yang sama mengenai hudud kepada semua pemimpin BN, terutamanya pemimpin UMNO, sama ada mereka mahu melaksanakan hudud atau tidak. Jangan hanya berani bertanya soalan kepada Pakatan Rakyat sahaja.

Ubah! Ini kalilah!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 April 2013, 4:01 pm and is filed under
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Are Chinese voters still fearful of PAS?

By
LIM MUN FAH
 | 2013-04-24 13:18

Translated by DOMINIC LOH

Sin Chew Daily

MCA advertised aggressively on newspapers targeting specifically DAP and PAS.

Lim Kit Siang trashed the advertisements for portraying DAP as attempting to turn Johor into another Kelantan, where no entertainment outlets would be allowed, no safety and all commercial activities would come to a halt.

These advertisements were just among the tricks deployed to win the hearts of voters, but they could inadvertently turn against the ruling coalition itself.

As an observer, what I personally understand is this: Ten years ago, such advertisements would indeed turn some Chinese voters away from the opposition. But today, their effects would be drastically subdued, and would even work the other way round, arousing detestation among the voters!

A bare fact that lies before our eyes is that majority of Chinese voters are leaning towards Pakatan Rakyat. While they loyally support the Rocket, they also rally behind the Blue Eye and are even ready to give the Moon a chance.

This is a voting trend which I’m sure the ruling coalition is itself aware of, and that also explains why BN’s campaign on Chinese media has been specifically targeting PAS.

“Just five years! If they can’t rule, we’ll bring them down next time.” This is what I often hear from people of late.

To turn the tide around over the next fortnight invariably poses an uphill task for the ruling coalition, simply because things are no longer the same today as ten years ago. If BN still sticks to the old strategies it employed ten years ago, thinking that the Chinese community is still fearful of PAS, then I’m afraid its wishful thinking is at best a futile effort.

I have been in the journalistic line for well over 30 years. I still can recall the complete absence of traces of PAS in Johor Bahru during the elections back in the 1980s.

In the 1990s, we started to see some PAS people moving round the city. Back then the PAS candidates and campaigners were dressed almost exclusively in religious robes with a white or green songkok, an unmistakable clerical look that was so discordant with the Chinese community.To put things a little crude, ordinary Chinese voters would try to stay away from them, let alone cast their votes in their favour.

But today, PAS candidates are dressed the way you and I do. They come out to the market to solicit votes alongside DAP candidates and no longer refrain from shaking hands with female voters. In the meantime, Chinese voters no longer feel repulsive of them, a stark contrast to the fearful looks at the sight of the Moon hardly a decade ago.

Of course, we should not therefore conclude that the Chinese community has put down its guard. As a matter of fact, many Chinese voters remain skeptical of PAS, but owing to their powerful desire for change, they have resolved to take a little risk.

In contrast to the Chinese community’s altered attitude towards PAS, I have nevertheless discovered that a shift in Malay voters’ attitude towards DAP is far less conspicuous. I was told that when DAP people solicited votes at the markets, they were given cold shoulders by the Malay traders while some kampung residents simply declined DAP’s leaflets.

Does this imply that DAP’s acceptance in the Malay society lags far behind PAS’ acceptance among the Chinese?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 April 2013, 12:21 pm and is filed under
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DAP’s dark horse in Tanjung Piai

Pauline Wong
 | 23 April 2013 – 11:30pm

The Sun

PONTIAN (April 23, 2013): The battle in the Tanjung Piai parliamentary constituency of about 51,000 voters may not be as intense as in Gelang Patah, where top guns Lim Kit Siang (DAP) and Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman (BN) are facing off.

Still, Tanjung Piai is exciting because a relatively unknown and dark horse candidate will give incumbent MP Datuk Wee Jeck Seng (BN) a run for his money.

Mahdzir Ibrahim, 37, (pix) from Batu Pahat, is eager to make his mark here.

“About one month ago I was asked by DAP leadership to stand in Tanjung Piai, and after I went on the ground and did some groundwork, I accepted the challenge,” said the former DAP Roketkini.com co-ordinator.

As the only Malay candidate fielded by DAP in Johor, the humble and forthright former lecturer (in music and arts) said he is under no illusion that being a Malay would give him an advantage in the Malay-majority area.

Malays make up about 51% of the voters in Tanjung Piai, with the rest being Chinese and less than 1% are Indians.

“Whether Malay or Chinese … I believe this election is more than about me or (Datuk) Wee Jeck Seng. It is about Pakatan Rakyat representing the people, versus the BN,” he said.

Mahdzir, who is also national executive council member of the DAP youth wing, DAPsy, said he is looking to help bring job and economic opportunities to Tanjung Piai.

“Tanjung Piai is such a unique place … it’s the southernmost tip of Asia, with so much potential for eco-tourism. However, despite being part of the Bandar Iskandar development, many young people are moving to Johor Baru or Singapore for jobs,” he said.

“We will convince the people here that PR is offering many good things for the people, not just one-off cash like BN did – not that I am criticising the move, but we offer long-term economic development.

“It can be so much better here.

“We are talking about free education and reduction of petrol prices, rather than just RM500, RM1,000 eah year. We want to convince people that a vote for PR is a vote for the long term, for the future,” he said.

As for the rest of the campaign period, Mahdzir hoped the campaigning would be clean and not tinged with racial issues.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 April 2013, 12:40 pm and is filed under
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Fear-mongering ads against Pakatan likely to backfire, says industry

BY
EMILY DING
 | APRIL 24, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, April 24 — Barisan Nasional’s (BN) advertisement campaign in newspapers is peddling racial fear against Pakatan Rakyat (PR) but could backfire in the May 5 general election, say industry insiders and opposition politicians.

A few of the print advertisements play on Chinese fears of PAS’ Islamist influence on the one hand, and Malay fears of DAP influence on the other, with the slogan: “A vote for DAP is a vote for PAS,” and vice versa.

An advertisement in the MCA-owned The Star depicts a rocket shooting into the sky only to reveal the PAS moon logo in its wake, with the message: “The power behind DAP is PAS. First their flag. Tomorrow their fundamentalist principles?”

“The ads look like they are designed to cause anxiety and fear that the Chinese would lose their culture and education if they vote for DAP,” Masjaliza Hamzah, from the Centre of Independent Journalism (CIJ), told The Malaysian Insider.

“There’s zero concept. Just accusations with no tact or respect. The ads are very patronising, an insult to the people’s intelligence,” said 32-year-old copywriter Kevin, who declined to give his last name.

“They forgot the golden rule of advertising. No advertising can save a bad product,” he added.

The advertisements appear to be riding on the DAP’s close shave when the Registrar of Societies (RoS) decided not to recognise its office-bearers, which meant that the party came close to having to contest under PAS’ moon logo instead of its own iconic rocket symbol.

However, the opposition parties said they are not worried about the BN ads having any negative influence, and told The Malaysian Insider that in fact they help prove that PR is a united coalition.

“Indeed a vote for DAP is a vote for PAS, and at the same time a vote for PAS is a vote for PKR, and a vote for PKR is a vote for DAP. We’re together in a coalition,” said Tony Pua, DAP national publicity secretary and Petaling Jaya Utara MP.

“The ads are very good… I hope BN continues to propagate the slogan. No vote for BN,” PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu also said.

Twitter user @patricklsk agreed, tweeting: “MCA actually paid for newspaper ads to help promote DAP-PAS cooperation? This is getting hilarious! #freemarketing”

This nuance is perhaps lost on most, however, and the ads have angered many.

“We were talking about it in the office today. Someone asked me if I had seen it, and I said yes, I have it. Come over, it’s in my dustbin,” said an account director, who declined to be named.

“The more ads they put up, the more angry the rakyat will be. They are digging a deeper hole for themselves,” she said.

A chief operating officer of an agency described the ads in The Star, with three to five opposition-slamming ads per newspaper, as “overkill”, which the public would tire of very soon.

“They do it all wrong. They give too much attention to the opposition instead of highlighting their own achievements,” he said.

“But they are good for a laugh, a bloody expensive laugh,” he added.

Pua said that BN had preyed on racial fears in the last four elections and that DAP would have reacted with anger and defensiveness before, but not this time.

“BN is still playing old politics. We have gone well beyond old politics,” he said.

A Facebook user, Tan Lin Li, wrote: “Let’s attack policies, not parties,” posting a photo of a DAP ad published in The Rocket and Sinar Harian featuring Penang Chief Minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, which has also been making the rounds on social networks as a counter-example to the BN ads.

“There is nothing to be frightened about and I believe people in Malaysia are intelligent enough today to discern the lies BN tells them as opposed to the truth of the matter,” Pua said.

He added that if PR had any money it would create counter ads saying, “A vote for MCA is a vote for Perkasa.”

Masjaliza also questioned whether the BN ads adhere to the Malaysian Code of Advertising Practice.

Datuk Johnny Mun, chairman of 4As Malaysia, an association of advertising practitioners who share best industry practices, told The Malaysian Insider that the Code only applies to product advertising generally and does not govern political advertisements.

Masjaliza also said the ads compromise the integrity of a free and fair media.

“For example, spending on advertising should be limited to a certain amount. If there isn’t a limit, then it would give the advantage to the party with the biggest coffers,” she said.

It was earlier reported that BN and the Prime Minister’s Office had spent at least RM73 million last month on advertising, as the ruling coalition launches an advertising blitz to keep Putrajaya in what is set to be the most expensive general election ever.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 April 2013, 12:51 pm and is filed under
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GE13: REFSA chooses transformation

By
Teh Chi-Chang,  Executive Director
 | 25 April 2013

refsa.org

On Sunday, May 5, Malaysians go to the polls.  For the first time in our history, in the 56 years since Merdeka, we have a real choice in choosing who to grant the privilege of governing us. Which coalition will you choose? The incumbent Barisan Nasional (BN), which is the only federal government that all of us have known so far? Or the young upstart Pakatan Rakyat?

We at REFSA have made our choice. We choose transformation. We choose Pakatan Rakyat.

Pakatan has transformed race relations.
 Malaysians of all races gather congenially under the PAS moon and DAP rocket. A Malaysian-Chinese flying the PAS flag, or a Malay waving the DAP rocket symbol, would have been an unimaginable sight as recently as Feb 2008. Pakatan leaders have transformed the prisms by which we view each other, and led Malaysians from narrow communal siloes to broader, harmonious relations.

Pakatan has transformed state governments.
 The federal Auditor-General has given  Penang top marks for being the best financially-managed state; and the RM1.2b cash savings in Selangor are the highest in 28 years. Pakatan state governments were the first to give direct welfare aid to Malaysians: for example, the Senior Citizen Appreciation Programme in Penang and the TAWAS programme in Selangor. Pakatan has demonstrated that it is possible to be financially responsible and populist at the same time.

Pakatan has proven that it can transform Malaysia for the better
, in contrast to the ‘transformation’ that (caretaker) prime minister Najib uses as a smoke-screen to hide business-as-usual shenanigans. Even BN supporters seem to tacitly agree. “What is the alternative?” is their common response when asked why they support the dacing. They do not extol the virtues of Najib or of the BN. Instead, they imply the alternative is worse
1
.

Indeed, a key thrust of the BN election campaign is fear mongering and cultivating mistrust and divisiveness. Malays are warned that the DAP will install a Chinese-Christian prime minister
2
 who will threaten their interests; the Chinese are presented with the spectre of PAS-instigated hudud law
3
 and everyone is cautioned that “Najib sees dire consequences for markets if Pakatan wins
4
”.

The mainstream media BN propaganda machine conveniently disregards the contradiction and inherent implausibility of a Chinese-Christian prime minister making Christianity the official religion and imposing hudud law. That such double falsehoods have traction with Malaysians is testimony to the triumph of successive BN federal governments in cultivating mistrust among us and crippling our education system. Did you know: 15% of our schools do not have access to something as basic as clean water?
5

It is depressing to find the incumbent government so insipid and insecure that it must resort to oxymoronic negativities in its election campaign. Perhaps Pakatan is so strong that the old men
6
 at BN cannot find real, solid, reasonable themes to support their case.

True, Pakatan chief Anwar Ibrahim has issues. But unlike Najib, who is “BN”s best hope”
7
, Pakatan has a depth and breadth of talent. Experienced stalwarts like Tok Guru Nik Aziz and Lim Kit Siang have inspired a profusion of younger leaders who are set to take Malaysia forward. Just to name a few: Lim Guan Eng, Mat Sabu, Tony Pua, Husam Musa, Dr Dzul, Teresa Kok, Salahuddin Ayub, Nurul Izzah, Liew Chin Tong, Hannah Yeoh, Fuziah Salleh and Rafizi Ramli.

True, there is infighting within Pakatan, but that can also be interpreted as a vigorous exchange among equals. Unlike domineering UMNO
8
, Pakatan is a genuine coalition of 3 equal parties, each with their own strong personalities, and the venting of different views is vital for political revitalisation
9
.  So there will be arguments and there will be squabbles before a consensus is reached – just like in any family.

True, there are party hoppers and frogs, but these are the exception, not the norm. Extremists such as Hassan Ali, Ibrahim Ali and Zulkifli Nordin were expelled (and found homes within the BN). Top Pakatan leaders are selfless and willing to sacrifice their political careers for their parties. Consider PAS vice-presidents Husam Musa and Salahudin Ayob, who have left their safe, comfortable home seats to pursue the Pakatan cause in the BN strongholds of Putrajaya and Pulai, Johor, where UMNO was born.

REFSA chooses Pakatan for transformation, harmony, prosperity and stability in action. We reject the deceptive rhetoric proffered by the BN and disseminated by its formidable propaganda machine.  To those who prize ‘neutrality’, we say being neutral is also making a choice, albeit passively.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality – Desmond Tutu
10

Having made our choice, in the coming days, we shall be publishing infographics and other material illustrating and explaining our position. As always, we shall work on relevant facts and sparkling analysis, and as always, we welcome constructive discourse.  No lies for us – we are confident the truth will prevail.

—

1
 Please see our REFSA Says: Why do you support (caretaker) PM Najib? published yesterday. Available at www.refsa.org.

2
 The Utusan Malaysia front page on 7 May 2011 headlined  Kristian agama rasmi?, repeating bloggers’ allegations that DAP Member of Parliament Jeff Ooi met church leaders to discuss making Christianity the official religion of Malaysia and electing a Christian prime minister.  Google images for “Utusan Malaysia Kristian Agama Rasmi” for a snapshot of the front page and  google “Kristian agama rasmi Malaysia” for more examples of the recurring disinformation.

3
 For example, MCA president Chua Soi Lek continued to accuse the DAP of trying to “delude” the public into thinking the Islamic law would not be introduced despite Pakatan clearly not including it in its common policy platform. Soi Lek challenges PR to put hudud in common policy platform.  Yow Hong Chieh, 4 Dec 2011, the Malaysian Insider.

4
 As was the headline of a report by Malaysiakini on 17 Apr 2013 based on work by Barry Porter and Gan Yen Kuan of Bloomberg. Available at www.malaysiakini.com/news/227117

5
 Exhibit 6-11, National Education Blueprint 2013 to 2025. Besides that shocking statistic, 20% of schools have inadequate science labs and 27% have inadequate computer labs.

6
 We specifically said men as BN lacks capable women leaders, evidence being Najib deciding to become Minister for Women, Family and Community Development after Datuk Seri Shahrizat resigned.

7
 Please see our infographic Tale of the Tape #1: Najib vs Anwar for more.

8
  Peninsular UMNO controls 81% of all federal government spending, belying the claim that BN is a coalition. Details in Domineering UMNO and the trivial role of other BN parties. Galvin Wong, REFSA, 27 Apr 2012. Available at www.refsa.org.

9
  Please see Internal Party Disagreements are Like Ginseng – Bitter but Natural and Rejuvenating. Ong Kar Jin, REFSA, 9 May 2012. Available at www.refsa.org.

10
  From The Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation website www.tutufoundation-usa.org

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 April 2013, 9:57 am and is filed under
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Ghani should change his political advisers in the Gelang Patah contest as he is made to say things which undermines his reputation as a sober, rational and level-headed classic Malay gentleman

I am really flabbergasted. I am accused by the Johor Mentri Besar and Barisan Nasional candidate for Gelang Patah Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman of saying things about him which I had never done.

For instance, in an interview today with the UMNO-owned and controlled New Straits Times, which claims to be a newspaper when it is in fact a “lies-paper”, the Johor Mentri Besar was asked a loaded and completely untruthful question and Ghani gave an equally baseless and untruth answer because it was founded on lies and falsehoods.

This is the Q and A I am referring to:

“
Question: Your opponent had tried to paint a picture of you being a Malay chauvinist. Do you think it will influence the Chinese electorate, who make up the majority of voters in Gelang Patah?

“Answer: It is cruel. I’m quite sad about the attempts to label me a racist. But Johoreans know me.

“I have been here for the past 18 years and the Chinese community here knows that I have always engaged them. I work with them directly on community issues as well as on education, culture and welfare.

“Since (Lim) Kit Siang decided to come here to contest (Gelang Patah), he has been provoking the Chinese.”

The interviewer from the News Straits Times “lies-paper” asked not only a loaded a question, but a completely fabricated query as I had never “tried to paint” Ghani Othman as “a Malay chauvinist” in my campaign in Gelang Patah.

Having been a four-term Mentri Besar for 18 years, Ghani cannot be so naïve as not to know that the question is not only loaded, but grossly unfair and untrue. How could Ghani answer a question that I had tried to paint him as a Malay chauvinist when I had never done so?

Surely, Ghani should have known what I said publicly about him, and if he does not know, let me repeat what I said on Monday, two days after Nomination Day, viz:

“The BN candidate for Gelang Patah, the four-term Johor Mentri Besar, Datuk Ghani Othman, is a classic Malay gentleman who is respected for his moderate and rational views. I have no qualms in giving credit to him for bringing development and progress to Johor in his 18 years as Mentri Besar.

“But he does not sound like himself in his first two pronouncements after the Nomination Day on Saturday, as captured by these Malaysiakini headlines:

Ghani rails against Pakatan’s ‘racial polarisation’

Ghani: If Kit wins, Hadi might be PM

“Ghani is sounding more like Perkasa leaders like Ibrahim Ali and Zulkifli Noordin as what he said is completely contrary to his image as a moderate, rational and level-headed political leader.

“Is this the price that moderate leaders have to pay if they are to stay and survive in present-day UMNO, whose most powerful leader is not Najib Razak but Mahathir?”

An experienced four-term Johor Mentri Besar would have sensed that there is something very wrong about the question, as it is so far from the truth from what I had said publicly about Ghani.

His protest that my attacks (which never existed) on him being so “cruel” causing him to feel “quite sad about the attempt to label me as a racist” is completely baseless as I had never called him a Malay chauvinist in Gelang Patah.

Why is Ghani playing to the tune portraying him as an “aggrieved victim” on attacks from me, when I had not done any such thing?

Equally baseless, unworthy and dishonourable in his attack on me in retaliation, saying: “
Since (Lim) Kit Siang decided to come here to contest (Gelang Patah), he has been provoking the Chinese.
”

Can Ghani quote chapter and verse as to when and where in Gelang Patah I had been “provoking the Chinese”?

It was former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir who accused me of wanting to cause “racial confrontation” in contesting in Gelang Patah, alleging that I want to cause the Chinese to hate the Malays.

I don’t think Mahathir had made a more irresponsible and defamatory statement than this, which is why I have instructed my lawyers to institute legal action for defamation against the former Prime Minister.

Why did Ghani act as if Mahathir is speaking the gospel truth about my contest in Gelang Patah?

My invitation to Ghani to make the battle of Gelang Patah the model of a clean, free, fair and gentlemanly contest in the 13GE still stands.

If Ghani responds positively, I am prepared to meet him to finalise the ground rules as to how both of us can agree for the Gelang Patah contest to be the model of a clean and gentlemanly election contest in a general election which is expected to the dirtiest in the nation’s history – stemming from Najib and UMNO/BN’s kiasu and kiasi attitude about the possible outcome of the 13GE.

In any event, whether Ghani accepts my standing invitation to make the battle of Gelang Patah the model of a clean and gentlemanly contest in the 13GE, the first thing he should do is to change his political advisers in the Gelang Patah contest as he is made to say things which undermines his reputation as a sober, rational and level-headed classic Malay gentleman!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 April 2013, 7:46 pm and is filed under
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Has Najib Transformed the Mainstream Media?

By Martin Jalleh

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 April 2013, 12:47 pm and is filed under
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Malcom X’s Warning on the Media

By Martin Jalleh

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 April 2013, 12:48 pm and is filed under
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Return of old warrior

by
Terence Fernandez
 TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013 – 16:54

Malay Mail

Party elder comes out of retirement 23 years later after call from Kit Siang

THE last time he was in active service was in the 1990 elections, where he had campaigned for his party the DAP in Kluang.

After that, party elder Lee Kaw, called it quits to focus on his business and retire to a life of “napping, walks and taking care of my old lady”.

So what motivated the once treasurer-general of the DAP to come out of retirement 23 years later? For one, it was the call from fellow party elder Lim Kit Siang.

Then, it was the candidate. “No matter who calls, if I don’t believe in the candidate they put up … if they don’t like them — I’m not going to waste my time. If the candidate is a useless fellow, why should I support?” said Lee over coffee at the Rail Coffee cafe — the town’s main meeting place run by the Lim family of the famous Kluang Railway Station Canteen.

According to Lee, there have been several bad choices which made him wonder about the judgment of the DAP leadership, conceding that there were times when the party was not really spoilt for choice. “But when Kit told me it was Liew Chin Tong, I said ‘OK’,” he said of his endorsement of the incumbent Bukit Bendera MP.

“This boy is brilliant and he willingly gave up Bukit Bendera — a safe seat — to contest in this unchartered area.

“He was putting his party before himself, he’s smart and he’s down to earth, which is why I said I will use my influence here to back him.”

Lee’s endorsement of Liew — who takes on twoterm MCA MP Datuk Dr Hou Kok Chung — would certainly help earn the newcomer some brownie points.

It is understood that Lee had persuaded the local strongmen and business leaders to endorse Liew and they had conceded, not just due to the drop in MCA’s popularity, but also to give Lee “face”.

Two weekends ago, Lee delivered his first ceramah in 26 years to a crowd of 5,000 people — and again last week to 10,000 people. According to locals like Jack Lim, the third generation Kluang Railway coffee proprietors, the numbers were unprecedented in the town.

“I never felt so alive in so long,” said Lee, who was once the sole opposition representative in the Johor State Legislative Assembly, and one-term MP for Kluang. He quit politics after losing his seat in 1982 and failing to recapture it in 1986.

Like many others who had lost their seats, Lee, now 74, blamed the administration for redelineating the boundaries which saw more pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) voters coming into his area.

He cautions that the DAP still has its work cut out for it in getting the Malay votes, although at 49 per cent, Chinese make up the majority of the 86,914 voters. (Malays 39 per cent; Indians 10 per cent).

“We cannot be overconfident and say we will get all the Chinese votes because of the MCA factor. Even with 70 per cent of the votes, we need the Malay votes.

“We cannot be too Chinese-centric if we want to take the Federal Government,” he said, confident that the solidarity with PAS and PKR will see it becoming more acceptable to the Malays.

And Lee feels the opposition never had a better chance to take Putrajaya. “In 2008, the target was to deny BN its two-thirds majority, and we succeeded.

Now we are going for ubah (change) and if we keep this momentum, I think we have a fighting chance.” “I tell you, never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see BN lose its two-thirds in my lifetime,” he said with tears in his eyes.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 April 2013, 12:17 pm and is filed under
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The turning point of 1969: Lessons to be learnt

By
Koay Su Lyn
 | APRIL 22, 2013

The Malaysian Insider

APRIL 22 — The general election held on May 10, 1969 in Malaysia remains an eventful one despite the passing of 44 years. People who lived through that era of transformation will probably describe the event as having altered the course of Malaysia’s political history forever.

The unprecedented event came as a rude awakening for the Alliance with the victory of the opposition parties, namely the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, the DAP and PPP. The exceptional victory, coupled with rising ethnic tensions within, contributed to the occurrence of the May 13 riots.

As a crucial turning point in Malaysia’s political history, the 1969 general election and its aftermath serve as a considerable lesson that all Malaysians could learn from and ponder in the light of the upcoming general election of 2013. However, to fully comprehend its significance, it would be necessary to first appreciate the political developments prior to 1969.

The 1964 elections and the birth of new parties

The elections in 1964 were held under the shadows of Indonesian Confrontation and internal opposition, stemming from the Socialist Front. Due to the instabilities encountered, the political climate was certainly unfavourable to the opposition parties. Their failure to co-operate and formulate a common strategy resulted in unnecessary multi-cornered battles. Grassroots support was also poor as the majority preferred stability in the government’s defence of national sovereignty. The failure to foresee such circumstances led to a shocking defeat and served as a severe lesson to the opposition in the forthcoming elections.

The years from 1965 onwards also witnessed the birth of new parties in the nation. The separation of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965 altered the political landscape of Malaysia when one of the principal leaders of the PAP, C.V. Devan Nair, chose to remain in Malaysia. A year later, he initiated a Malaysian-based Peoples’ Action Party (PAP), known as the Democratic Action Party (DAP).

Distinguishable from its Singaporean predecessor, the DAP adopted a firmer stand on communal issues in promoting a “Malaysian Malaysia”. Its primary aim then was to establish itself as the champion of the non-Malay communities, in the light of the previous failure of the PAP in wooing Malay support, which incurred the wrath of Umno.

The mentioned period also witnessed the beginning of the end of the Socialist Front when the Labour Party (LP) parted with the Malay Parti Rakyat. The LP, dominated by Chinese chauvinists, later called for a boycott of the 1969 general election. The disintegration of the Socialist Front, however, paved the way for the emergence of the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan), which was formed and led by intellectuals like Dr Lim Chong Eu, Dr Tan Chee Khoon and Professor Syed Hussein Alatas. This new, non-communal political force was destined to forge a new “political wave” in the nation, typically in Penang.

The electoral understanding

The 1969 elections saw a tough contest between the governing Alliance, and the opposition parties namely, the DAP, Gerakan, PAS (formerly known as the Pan-Islamic Malaysian Party) and the PPP. Having won the elections since independence, the Alliance demonstrated a casual attitude and did little to construct a favourable image. Guided by their defeat in 1964, the opposing parties were in a much pessimistic mood. However, they determined to overcome their differences in a battle against a common enemy.

In February 1969, a “Three Corner” agreement (Persetujuan 3 Penjuru) was reached between the PPP, DAP and Gerakan. They agreed to divide the sections of the general election based on the popularity of each party to prevent the issue of internal rivalry. This was a crucial strategy as they refrained from fielding candidates against each other like that in 1964. This had the potential of depriving the Alliance a chance of victory.

Based on the agreement, many areas in Penang were given to Gerakan. Selangor was divided between the DAP and Gerakan while Negri Sembilan, Johor and Malacca were allocated to the DAP. The PPP, on the other hand, had its main base in Perak.

The important thing to note is that the main objective of the opposition coming to an electoral agreement was to collectively deny the Alliance a two-thirds majority in Parliament so that it could not amend the constitution without the approval of the representatives from the opposition.

The mood of the nation

Ever since independence until 1959, the majority of the non-Malay communities were still uncertain of their identities in Malaya. However, their mood towards 1969 changed. Lee Kuan Yew’s Solidarity Convention had consolidated them with more political awareness and they were willing to adopt a positive stance in safeguarding their interests. As such, they were generally less willing to concede to previous bargains and were less hesitant in approaching the opposition parties to secure their welfare. Their sentiments impacted the Malay community with intensified fears. They perceived the opposition’s agreement as a serious threat against their political supremacy guaranteed by the traditional quid pro quo arrangement of the Alliance.

The Solidarity Convention organised by Lee’s PAP, followed by the control of the Labour Party by Chinese-educated extremists and the controversy pertaining to the national language in 1967, further heightened the insecurities of the Malay community. There were feelings of disappointment towards the late Tunku Abdul Rahman’s leadership as the inter-communal Alliance co-operation had failed to protect them against the non-Malays. As such, many turned their support towards the Pan Malayan Islamic Party (PIMP). The Alliance, however, turned a blind eye and deaf ear towards such changes in the sentiments of the grassroots and faced the elections with an air of confidence. With the absence of the Indonesian Confrontation and disunity of the opposition, their victory in 1964 was unlikely to repeat in 1969.

Additionally, the nation was also confronted with two unfortunate events that aggravated existing racial tensions. Just months into the elections, the LP convened a meeting in Penang which ended with several young men scribbling anti-election slogans along the streets in a campaign to boycott the 1969 elections. Later, an Umno worker, Kassim Omar, who happened to be in that vicinity, was found murdered. A curfew was executed but such cruelty failed to be prevented in the coming days.

A month later, a 23-year-old LP member, Lim Sun Seng, was shot dead in a gruesome fight with the police in Jalan Kepong. The police had initially ordered a group of young men to disperse and to cease vandalising the streets with anti-election sentiments. Their refusal led to a fierce fight and subsequently the death of Lim. The incident formed a magnet for a huge demonstration of around 10,000 people. Almost like a ticking time bomb, there was bound to be a racial explosion between the Malays and non-Malays in the near future.

The shocking defeat

The poll results marked a shocking defeat to the Alliance. In relation to the number of seats, it only managed to secure a mere 66 out of 104 parliamentary seats and 162 out of 282 state seats. Many top guns of Umno and the MCA were not re-elected and even the majority of the Tunku himself was significantly reduced. Interestingly, the most crushing blow was in Penang, where it merely captured four of the 24 state seats. The Alliance had also failed to obtain a majority in both Selangor and Perak.

In contrast, huge successes can be attributed to the DAP in Selangor, Perak and Negri Sembilan. The party also emerged as the largest opposition party in Parliament with 13 seats. The Gerakan obtained the greatest victory in Penang with 16 out of 24 seats and formed the state government with Dr Lim Chong Eu as the second chief minister of Penang. The PPP also did extremely well despite its initial blow with the death of its leader, D.R. Sreenivasagam, by having four of its candidates elected to Parliament. Simply, the Gerakan, DAP and PPP were successful in depriving the Alliance government of a two-thirds majority.

In addition to the above, three of Gerakan’s Malay candidates were elected, followed by two more under the DAP’s ticket, who were successful in the state elections. This marked the first time in Malaysian history that Malay candidates were elected to represent non-communal parties. The PIMP, on the hand, recovered its losses in the 1964 elections by capturing 12 seats contested and retained control of the state government of Kelantan.

To the non-Malays, the results demonstrated a great, democratic leap forward in establishing a “Malaysian Malaysia” and provided hope in the viability of non-communal parties in the nation.

The explosion — May 13, 1969

Despite the victory, the electoral results of 1969 simply ignited the smouldering racial tensions. In Selangor, the results confirmed the end of the quad pro quo arrangement in the eyes of the Malays, which guaranteed both their economic and political supremacy. The victory processions of the non-Malays were also perceived by some as a threat to their security. This resulted in a counter-rally by Selangor Umno which escalated into an unprecedented ethnic violence.

The time bomb exploded three days after the elections and led to the declaration of a state of Emergency under Article 150 of the Constitution. Both Parliament and the elections were suspended with the National Operations Council taking over the administration of the nation. According to Tun Dr Ismail, the new minister of home affairs: “Democracy is dead in this country.”

This marked the most gruesome riot the country ever experienced.

Lessons to be learnt

The 21st century witnessed an evolution of the Malaysian society. The intervention of technology and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube took the nation into a different level of politicking as guns and pens were no longer the sole tools of the trade. As immaterial as it may be, the case of 1969 remains a lesson for all to learn.

Firstly, the constraints of public expression could be relaxed and exercised vigilantly as the society matures politically. In 1969, the killing of Lim by the police in a fight to halt the spreading of anti-election expressions created further tensions in the brewing public sentiments which indirectly contributed to the racial explosion. While the maintenance of public order is essential, Article 10 of the Malaysian Constitution, which confers freedom of speech, association and assembly to all Malaysians, should not be strictly encroached upon as well.

Compare this scenario to the Bersih demonstration in 2011. Although street demonstrations are rare in the country, thousands of Malaysians, irrespective of races, took the streets in Kuala Lumpur in a march for clean and fair elections. While this signifies that Malaysians today are united in expression, it also indicates a healthy sense of political awareness in the nation’s struggle for true democracy on the part of the younger generation.

Unfortunately, the authorities deployed heavy police presence to block the rallies. Several leaders and activists were also arrested and the rally ended with the use of tear gas and water cannons to disperse the participants. Although one may argue that the Bersih rally differs eminently from the killing of Lim by the police, a clear point stands out — violence is inevitable in the end when the over-suppression of public expression is met with wide resistance. Perhaps, a vocal public alongside a resurgent opposition, demands a non-violent and reasonable, check-and-balance approach in ensuring that their freedom of expression is upheld and public order is safeguarded, especially in the pre-election times.

Secondly, coalition building should cut across the ethnic boundaries. A coalition today should fight for the welfare of all Malaysians instead of a single communal, ethnic group. Previously, growing dissatisfactions towards the Alliance policies led to many non-Malays being attracted to the opposition’s concept of equal rights. Hence, despite their multi-racial character, then opposing parties like the DAP and PPP formulated their objectives to primarily secure the support of the non-Malays. Attempts to obtain Malay support were only affected in the later stages. Gerakan however, was an exception. Unlike today, with the presence of Syed Hussein Alatas as one of Gerakan’s founders and leaders then, the party guarded its non-communal personality carefully and made attempts to woo the Malay voters. Arguably, although these three parties reached an effective electoral understanding, ethnic boundaries and communalism much existed.

Today, with more Malays forming and leading the opposition parties together with the non-Malays, coalition building has taken a far more liberal twist across the ethnic boundaries. Perhaps, it can be generally claimed that the victory of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition consisting of PKR, the DAP and PAS in the 2008 political tsunami marked the closest the nation ever returned to the 1969 elections.

Despite the sociological and environmental differences, the Barisan Nasional coalition comprising the MCA, MIC and Gerakan with Umno as its superior, experienced a similar crushing defeat by losing five state legislatures to the opposition. They lost Penang, followed by Selangor, Kedah and Perak and failed to wrest Kelantan back from PAS. Just like the previous Alliance government, they were also denied a two-thirds majority in Parliament. The only difference was that the situation in Malaysia was remarkably calm in 2008, without any riots like that of May 13, 1969 taking place.

Although inter-ethnic connections in a coalition didn’t happen in 1969, in the face of a tedious battle against corruption, nepotism and serious cases of injustice demonstrated by a declining regime today, most Malaysians have come to realise that we should no longer be divided by our petty racial differences. Malaysia is our home regardless of race. The spirit of a coalition should reflect such a nature. Thus, a coalition should be constructed on the strong pillars of understanding and acceptance of each other’s ethnicity in order to form a concrete and united platform in terms of governance.

Last but not least, a ruling government should not play ignorant by sweeping grassroots sentiments under the carpet. In 1969, the downfall of the Alliance can be partially attributed to its own ignorance towards the change of grassroots sentiments. As a result, they were unaware of the change of mood in favour of the opposition. The 2008 political tsunami witnessed a certain sense of resemblance to 1969 on this point. As Malaysia matures into a true democratic country, the government should be more responsive and tactful at the same time towards the needs and demands of the people. Therefore, it would be wise for a ruling government to abide by its principles and to address the cries of the electorate. As Thomas Jefferson once said — “When governments fear the people, there is liberty but when people fear the government, there is tyranny.”

With these reflections in mind, having undergone both the 1969 elections and 2008 political tsunami, would the general election of 2013 witness another turning point in Malaysia’s road to true democracy? Only the polling results would tell. However, one can expect a metamorphosis. All Malaysians would be united once again in authoring the nation’s political course. As Barack Obama once said: “A change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Hence, let us be reminded of our past in our struggle towards making yet another change for a better, brighter Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 April 2013, 12:08 pm and is filed under
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Three Challenges to three Barisan Nasional “fixed deposit states” of Sarawak, Sabah and Johore on their catalytic role to take Pakatan Rakyat to Putrajaya in 13GE

The coming 13th GE is the most historic and significant one in the 56-year history of the nation as Malaysians will decide if the change of Federal government in Putrajaya will come about on Polling Day on May 5, 2013.

The battle of the 13GE is the battle between the politics of the future represented by the Pakatan Rakyat coalition versus the politics of the past as practised by the Barisan Nasional in the past few decades.

The politics of the past is the politics of race and the politics of rampant corruption, cronyism, massive abuses of power, gross violation of democratic and human rights, injustices, unsustainable development because of despoilation of the environment, lack of transparency, accountability and good governance.

The politics of the future transcends racial politics where Malaysians unite not because they are Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans or Kadazans but because they are Malaysian patriots who dare the dream the Malaysian Dream to create a more harmonious, just, free, progressive and prosperous Malaysia for all Malaysians.

It seems to be an Impossible Dream that the politics of the future represented by the Pakatan Rakyat can replace the politics of the past as practised by Barisan Nasional, and Malaysians can see a future where there is an end to the politics of race, corruption, cronyism, abuses of power, violation of democratic and human rights, injustices and good governance in the country.

But five years ago, nobody would dare to expect, hope or dream that it is possible to effect a change of the federal government under our system of parliamentary democracy.

Now such a dream of a new federal government to replace the Umno/BN government in Putrajaya, is no more an Impossible Dream but eminently achievable, possible and probable.

Sarawak, Sabah and Johore – dubbed the three Barisan Nasional “fixed deposit” states – are the kingmakers in the 13GE as they hold within their hands the keys to Putrajaya.

In the 2008 general elections, Barisan Nasional won 140 parliamentary seats as against 82 by the Pakatan Rakyat parties.

The PR results in the three states of Sabah, Sarawak and Johore were particularly dismal, winning only three parliamentary seats out of the total of 83 seats in these three states – or one in each state, i.e. Bandar Kuching for Sarawak, Kota Kinabalu for Sabah and Bakri for Johore.

This is why we are now targetting the three BN “fixed deposit” states of Sarawak, Sabah and Johor, to start the process to turn them into Pakatan Rakyat “fixed deposit” states!

There are three challenges for Malaysians in these three BN “fixed deposit” states because of their catalytic role to take Pakatan Rakyat all the way to Putrajaya in the 13GE, resulting in the formation of a PR Federal Government and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia.

These three challenges to the voters of Sarawak, Sabah and Johor are:

Firstly, to achieve a breakthrough of at least one-third of the parliamentary seats in each state, i.e. at least nine parliamentary seats each for Sabah and Johor and 11 seats for Sarawak, giving a total of 29 parliamentary seats to PR.

Secondly, adding 29 parliamentary seats to 80 seats won in Peninsular Malaysia in 2008 (two more are each from Sarawak and Sabah) will yield at total of 109 seats, just three short of the magic figure of 112 to win a simple majority in Dewan Rakyat of 222 Mps.

However, I have a higher benchmark for Sarawak, Sabah and Johor, hoping that they can achieve a higher score than just cross the one-third mark, and that collectively the three states can achieve a total of 33 parliamentary seats which will give a total of 113 seats when we will be at the doorsteps of Putrajaya.

This is still not a comfortable majority. My hope is that Pakatan Rakyat can win a total of 125 parliamentary seats, with PKR getting 45 seats and DAP and PAS each getting 40 seats, yielding a comfortable majority of 28 parliamentary seats (the balance of the remaining 12 seats coming from the other Peninsular states apart from Sarawak, Sabah and Johore).

Thirdly, a challenge to the three BN “fixed deposit” states of Sarawak, Sabah and Johor as to which state can emerge as the leading state to win the biggest total of parliamentary seats to catapult Pakatan Rakyat to Putrajaya.

[
Media conference statement by Pakatan Rakyat Parliamentary Candidate for Gelang Patah in Kuching at Sarawak DAP premises on 25th April 2013 at 4.30 pm
]

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 April 2013, 4:41 pm and is filed under
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