LONE

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Stop School Thugs : New EDU MINIster

Newly appointed EDU MINIster is pretty fast off the mark, he has swung into action upon learning of the latest case of gangsterism in school. He will be personally seeing to it that a new taskforce will be formed to monitor schools and help overcome this latest menace to Malaysian school children. He said ::

“I want gangsterism among students to be contained and eliminated at its root immediately.
“I will personally give special attention to this matter and will not hesitate to take strict action against those involved.”

He was similarly doubly disappointed that the latest act of violence had happened in a religious school.
The question is whether there is really a need to form another taskforce when there is already in place the 'taskforce' to monitor the schools, there is only a need to better utilize this. By this i mean the principal, headmaster, warden, teachers and the PTA, who are already there on the ground. What has to be done is to get them off their backs and get them in sync with what is happening in their schools and hostels.
The other important thing is to deal with the most important component of these school violence :: the students. How is it that the students of today are so prone to aggressive behaviour and tend to over deal with problems thhey face? Imagine bashing someone in just because of a kettle or that he is popular and well liked by the teachers or that he was seen talking to a girl? Where will all this violence lead next?
Could our newly appointed EDU MINIster, who in his prevous MINIstership was the Youth and Sports MINIster, have dealt with our youths better in past MINIstry. But it is better late then never, he should be targetting the youths. Find out what's wrong with them these days, understand them better and find better ways of defusing their aggressive and violent behaviour and better channel their energies to healthier pursuits.
Obviously violence in schools is not a local phenomenon, there have been many studies on this, below are some required reading for our new EDU MINIster ::

| ¶ 3/31/2004 12:03:00 PM

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Gangsterism in Schools

Gangsterism in schools is getting out of hand. The latest reported in the front page of the Star happened in what has been said to be a top religious school in Negri Sembilan. In the incident 14 Form 5 students have been arrested for the death of a fellow schoolmate. As to what cause the assault the papers have diferrent versi. The Star reported thus::

The seniors are said to have attacked Mohamad Faris Ibrahim because they were jealous of him for being a top student and popular with teachers despite being a newcomer to the SM Agama Datuk Klana Putra Ma’amor.
It is learnt that some of the seniors had also attacked Mohamad Faris on Friday after accusing him of stealing a kettle from one of them.
Sources said the assailants tied Mohamad Faris to his bed and assaulted him in front of others living in the same dormitory..
The seniors again attacked Mohamad Faris on Sunday at 4pm, again in front of other boys who did not dare interfere.

The MMail and the NST both reported the cause of the assault was because the victim refused to lend the attackers his newly bought electric kettle.
All three papers were in agreement that the school involved made a polis report that the victim had injured himslef after slipping and falling in the toilet.

As to the cause of the victim's death, the Star reported :: “... the post-mortem revealed that he (the victim) succumbed to multiple internal injuries including ruptures in both kidneys."

What is so shocking about this case is that it had happened in a top religious school and prior to the fatal assault, an earlier attack had occurred 2 days earlier in front of other dormitory mates. Why the victim or his other mates never thought to report it to the hostel authorities is a mystery. If it had been reported and action taken, the fatal assault might not have taken place and the victim would have been alive today. How can those mates just stand aside without doing anything, what has happened to the youths of today?

In the old days, when i was schooling, it was not that we never had fights and misunderstandings, but there were never organised mob assaults. There was a code of honour or a code of conduct when such trouble arose. Ever fearful of the cane wielding principal, fights among students rarely occurred within the school compound or hostel. The combatants would be required to choose a time and day for the confrontation and the ususal venue would be a particular spot, called appropriately the Arena, in the Taiping Lake Gardens where the combatants would be adequately shielded from the eyes of the public. On the appointed day, supporters of both the aggrieved parties would turn up, not just to give moral support but to ensure that no weapons were used and no serious injuries occurred to either parties. Such fights witnessed by this blogger never ended up with fractured bones but often with fractured egos. The combatants often ended up shaking hands and with a few superficial bruises. There never was a case of mob assault with death as the result. What school kids and youths of today do are beyond this blogger's understanding, i moan for our youths, the leaders of tomorrow. Where have we gone wrong?

| ¶ 3/30/2004 11:35:00 AM

Another My Way PM on the Way

Before taking over the PMship, he was the Mr Nice and Mr Clean while playing the dutiful role of the DPM and when anointed, the subservient PM-in-waiting. On 1st Nov, he successfully took over the PM post and continued to played the same role as before but taking on more, now he was the crusader for zero corruption, the one who had to hear the truth, the one who insisted that Malaysians should work not for me but with me. He was also portrayed as the 'cutter of red tape' and more.
The Mr Nice and Clean image suffered a little when his son was associated with the sales of nuclear parts to Libya and North Korea. But this was soon put aside as the polis cleared the son and his company. It was time to call for election and to earn his own mandate. Could this early election call be for reasons other then the prevailing 'good feel' atmosphere, striking it while the iron is hot; could there be more skeletons in the cupboard or one further possiblity that he was getting fedup of smiling all the time and being Mr Clean and Nice?
Anyway some 4 months after becoming PM. the 11th election was called and during the campaign, he had among other things going in his favour, 3 or 4 advertsing agencies to continue sprucing up his nice and clean and feel good factors. There was this media blitz to get the electorate to vote him and the BN in with a massive majority in order for him to do what he has to do for the good of the nation. On the night of polling day, he was overwhelmed by the 90% majority that he and the BN received. Some say even among the BN candidates, this victory was beyond their expectations. But a thumping victory, it certainly was.
While the electorate waited eagerly, anxious to know who were the MINIsters he was going to drop in line with his 'zero corruption' and 'incoruptible cabinet of the future'; he took a break probably to mediate, to rest and conjure up the new cabinet lineup. When finally, the cabinet lineup was released on Saturday last, it was a bloody letdown.
Criticisms were abundant, see here and here for Malaysian bloggers' responses. The alternative parties were also not enchanted with the new ministers and new ministries and were specially disgusted with the retention of certain 4 tainted MINIsters.
DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang said the line up had failed to live up to the reputation of being a cabinet with integrity.
"This is so with the retention of four ministers who have not been able to clear themselves of the taint of corruption or serious allegations of abuses of power and malpractices," he said in a statement.
PRM Dr Syed Husin Ali said the cabinet lineup gave that Pak Lah had failed to move away from the influence of former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He also accused Pak Lah of unnecesarily holding on to important portfolios such as the finance ministry and home ministry.
Pak Lah reacted strongly to the criticisms and views of the alternative party leaders concerning his new cabinet. The frontpage headline in the NST said it all :: "I will do it my way, says PM and Pak Lah had this to say ::
"They will always be sceptical. Since when have they said anything good about what we have done? I will run the government and I will run it my way," newspapers quoted him today as saying. In the 11th election, the BN may have won 198 Parliamentary seats and the nonBN a paltry 21, but the popular votes won by the BN was some 64% only. The alternative parties represents some 35% of the electorate and certainly their voices deserve to be heard, Mr PM.
With the massive win, is it time to remove the mask and drop the Mr Clean and Nice image and is the real arrogance of a leader with a massive majority showing. Is there no longer the need to say "tell me the truth, however unpalatable"? Is it time to tell the natives just do what I say and want and no more of work with me, it's now work for me. Will we over the next weeks and months see further removal of the Mr Nice and Clean mask? If so, it would confirm that we have all been had and everything of the recent past was just a bloody good act. Are we going to end up with another top-down MY WAY PM?

| ¶ 3/30/2004 12:34:00 AM

Sunday, March 28, 2004

BN Retains Sungai Lembing State Seat

KUANTAN, March 28 (Bernama) -- Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Md Sohaimi Mohamed Shah has successfully defended his Sungai Lembing State seat in Pahang against PAS challenger Idris Ahmad in Sunday's re-polling exercise.
Md Sohaimi garnered a 5,405-vote majority after he recorded 5,949 votes against Idris' 544. There were 145 spoilt votes.
As a result of the polling, Idris also lost his deposit after failing to secure one-eighth of the 6,638 votes cast.

| ¶ 3/28/2004 11:09:00 PM

Will Sue Yong get her NS deferment

The Star recently carried a story regarding an 18-year-old student, Koh Sue Yong, who is appealing to defer her national service training till next year. Sue Yong is among the chosen ones and was to report to the national service training camp in Tanjung Tuan on March 22. But the sudden death of her mother as a result of a heart attack on 11th March has put her in a spot of sorts.
Sue Yong is the eldest of three siblings, the other two are 14 and 16 year old and their father is a construction worker who is often away. Father and daugther have been trying to get her NS training postponed for a year but has been given the run around. According to the NS website, possible reasons for deferment are ::

1.Those taking important examinations
2.Those who are schooling/studying locally or overseas
3.Those who are facing 'extraordinary difiiculties' / kesusahan luar biasa mengikut keadaan tertentu.

Sue Yong's predicament appears to be that of the third reason started above and her application should be considered. Her case has been brought to the attention of DAP Kota Laksamana ADUN Betty Chew. The ADUN subsequently wrote to the NS training department whose council chairman said that deferments would be decided at a meeting at the end of May. By then Sue Yong's NS stint would be over. Would she be subjected to another predicament, that of not attending NS training and a fine of RM3000 would await her. Can't her kesusahan luar biasa have the red tape cut and be considered in a luar biasa manner.

| ¶ 3/28/2004 07:58:00 PM

Saturday, March 27, 2004

The PM new bigger streamlined Cabinet
Oh, What a Bloody Letdown

The much awaited new Cabinet has finally been announced by the newly elected PM. Much is expected of his cabinet lineup to see that all promises made are kept. A bigger mandate was asked for, and a bigger mandate has been given, now he must gather good men around him to carry out the good work for the people. The new lineup can be seen here.

These are the headlines and initial responses to the announcement of the New Cabinet ::

An enlarged cabinet, merging some ministries and creating new ones::Malaysiakini
Abdullah Introduces New Faces, Sweeping Changes To Cabinet::Bernama
New Cabinet announced::The Star
Pak Lah announces new cabinet::The Sun
Three ministries split, five others renamed::NST
Few changes in Abdullah's new cabinet::The Straits Times

If one cares to look carefully at the New Cabinet, there is little change from the one Tun M had. Many of the old faces are around to haunt us and can we really expect them to help carry out and keep those promises made by Pak Lah in the previous 4 months. Among the famous oldies are Datuk Seri Samy, Datuk Seri Rafidah, Datuk Seri Lim KY, and too many more to name. Our former Tourism minister of the patriotic flag raising fame is the newly minted Information MINIster and he is going to be ably assisted by the former media/propaganda advisor, the new Merbouk MP. The former law MINIster has found his way to the Arts and now we have an Higher Education MINIster and presumbly a lower Education MINIster or what. The former Entrepreneur Development Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz, of the taxi lesen fame, has been reined in and retained as a MINIster in the PM department.

Two MINIsters have been dropped, Datuk Jimmy Chua (of the SARS and Nipah fame) has been replaced by a MBBS Health MINIster, Datuk Chua SL; the MINIster of the Taiping 4 fame, after being monkeyed has also been dropped ie Datuk Law Hieng Deng.

There are now 34 ministers in his new Cabinet, up from 29, and the Prime Minister said 14 of them are new faces. There was also an increase of women representatives and younger people. For the new faces, see whether you can spot them here.

It looks like a lot of us have been had, the New Cabinet looks pretty like the old cabinet and we can expect more of the same. This blogger certainly don't have much faith in what the PM has to say regarding this new lineup :: 'All these changes are made to ensure effective and efficient government service. The economy will benefit from the changes.' Did he mention incorruptible government service?

The Straits Times has this to say ::

But the top functions stayed the same, especially for elders of Umno.
The Cabinet announcement was sure to disappoint critics who called for a wholesale shakeup of the government to bring in new blood and root out alleged corruption from the Mahathir era.

Oh yes, one more thing, there has been no public declaration of assets by those in the New Cabinet, as yet. Zero Corruption on the way IN/OUT? Worrying point number in the new lineup is that the former MINIstry of Home Affairs has been split into two :: Home Affairs and Internal Security. NO money for guessing who is the MINIster of Internal Security, it looks like the ISA and the gamut of other anti-human rights laws and acts are here to stay. Can Pak Lah really now look into our eyes and say that he is working with you and me, for me and you? Oh, what a bloody letdown.

| ¶ 3/27/2004 03:53:00 PM

Bigger Streamlined Cabinet?

The PM is supposed to announce his new cabinet today. There has been much speculations as to what the cabinet would be like, who would be excluded, who would the new faces be and would the cabinet be slimmer and nicer. But if press reports are correct the cabinet will not be trimmed down but would instead be bigger to cater for the increase in the number of MPs, so what we will have at the end of the day is more ministers and more ministries to make things more messy.

Already the last cabinet left over by Tun Mahathir was too big and had ministries treading on each other toes. At times the people were confused as to which ministry had which responsiblities. One would have expected Pak Lah to reduce the number of ministries by ensuring no overlapping of responsibilities.

What most of us are really interested in seeing, as far as the new cabinet is concerned, is now many of those ancient faces and tainted ones will not be making their appearances in the new cabinet. Will Pak Lah have the gumption to say sayonara to them. After all, he has got the massive mandate he asked for and as he and his government is said to be supportive of the people and not just of his MPs, he should ensure that his cabinet is made up of men and ladies with the following qualities :: accountability, trustworthiness, credibility, ability to pull one's weight, holding on and working towards vision 2020 and incorruptibility.i would consider the last to be the most important for possessing that quality, the others will automatically follow. So in order to have an incorruptible cabinet in announcing the new cabinet today, he together with all his cabinet memebers should also publicly declare their assets. If they are able to do so, it would be a great start to achieve zero corruption.

| ¶ 3/27/2004 10:08:00 AM

Friday, March 26, 2004

Parachute Candidates

The battle for Taiping P60 during the recently concluded election was a three-cornered fight between BN, DAP and KeAdilan. All three may be considered as 'parachute candidate' (PC) for all three were not Taiping based. Near nomination day, the only candidate the folks in Taiping had some idea of was the BN candidate, Datuk Kayveas. Being the PPP president and being recently involved in the MPAJ corruption case did result in him being recognised. But of course like the other two, he had had no base or previous good work to fall back on. Soon after nomination day, rumours were rife that the candidate was sent to lose but as events unfolded on polling night he emerged the winner. How come?

During the early phase of the campaign period Datuk Kayveas found himself stranded and the BN election machinery (mainly Gerakan) missing. But with the push by the Perak MB and with the MCA candidate for Pokok Assam having no need to campaign as he had won with no-contest, Datuk Kayveas' campaign got of the ground. The alternative candidate had campaigned citing the PPP president as anti-vernacular school. But their campaign machineries were not as good as that of the BN and really there were minimal local issues to fight over.

Up till the night before polling day, kopitiam talk was that the DAP would win. In this town which is famous for its 'rain-bettors', of course bets were on, not for who would win but by what margins the DAP would win. But when the outcome was known on polling night there were no real winners among the bettors.

Taiping has a core of alternative supporters as shown by the results for the 1999 election where a political greenhorn from KeAdilan, who stood on a DAP ticket narrowly lost to the incumbent BN/Gerakan candidate, one Datuk Kerk CT, who is also deputy president of Gerakan. After the 1999 election, the alternative candidate somehow for reasons unknown choose not to prepared his groundwork and faded away. This often is the case with election candidates who stand in elections for the alternative parties, they only appear to come alive when election nears. This is a big factor against them. So the call by Lim Kit Siang after this election that the loser will stay to do his groundwork and homework is good news but only time wiill tell. The days of having PC appearing when election nears and contesting elections are numbered. Voters are more sophisticated and demands for more now.

i seem to have digressed, so coming back, this election started of having the people of Taiping ready to elect an alternative candidate this time around, that is according to kopitiam talks. So what happened, how did Kayveas win,again according to kopitiam talk, the superior election machinery and the postal votes did the DAP candidate in. Taiping apart from having the better known ISA detention camp or 'Kem Perlindungan' also has a large army camp which contribute some 3000 to 4000 postal votes. The results for the Taiping Parliamentary seat, click Taiping P60, the majority obtained by BN in GE2004 was 2172, less when compared to that of GE1999 which was 3969.

There is nothing much that can be done about the postal voters but if the alternative candidate has any real desire to win the next time around, he/she will have to start his /her homework soon. Doing so will improve the chances of winning Taiping in the 12th election. Another factor to be considered is that the BN has already mentioned many times that Datuk Kayveas is only a one-term Taiping MP as the seat will be returned to Gerakan the next election. Considering this, will the Datuk be really serious in doing his MP work for Taiping? Will the folks of Taiping be shortchanged? Taipingites await. to see and meanwhile the voters of Taiping will be waiting to be won.

| ¶ 3/26/2004 04:42:00 PM

Thursday, March 25, 2004

RC on EC

There has been a call for the review of the EC by a Royal Commission (RC) by the EC chairman, political parties from both sides of the divide and the people. So if ever and whenever such a RC is set up it should do a total review of the EC and its job of conducting fair and free elections and not just be confined to the shenaniggans and happenings on the recently concluded elections.

The minimum it should look into must include the following areas ::

Gerrymandering during redelineation exercises which take place every 8 years or so
Voter weightage ::Whether there really is a need to continue giving weightage to rural votes. Give meaning to the oft quoted saying of one person one vote.
Voter registration to be made as easy as possible and should be a year round on-going exercise. The present merry-go-round when it comes to new voters registering and registered voters making changes of address should be consigned to the garbage heap. Better still make voter registration and changes automatic after all the EC promised online registration last year.
The category called 'absentee voters' should not just be so exclusive as to only include civil servants and their spouses, military personnels and their spouses and full time students and their spouses who happen to be out of the country on polling day. Considering that Malaysia is a large country, out-of-station voters who cannot go back to their hometowns for polling day should be allowed to vote where they are.
Polling day should be a national holiday.
Postal voters :: As it is impossible to know when polling day will be, the registration for postal voters should be a year round exercise and be made easy. Postal voting should be witnessed by the contestingg parties. The possiblity of those in the armed forces and the polis voting in the usual manner like the rest should be considered so that rumours of rigged postal votes will be a thing of the past.
Electoral rolls :: these should be constantly kept updated and be clean and correct, something which should be possible in these days. These rolls should also not be unreasonably priced.
Nominations :: The process of nomination should be simple and not as expensive as it presently is. Non acceptance of nomination on technical grounds should be minimised.
Campaign period :: A sufficient time should be given for all interested parties to campaign and bring therimessages to thhe electorate. The electorate should also be given sufficient time to digest these messages in order to make an informed decision when voting. Sufficient time should also be given the EC to make preparations for polling. During the campaign period, all parties concerned should ensure fair and free campaigning and not use unlawful and underhand means. The EC should be empowered to act on these.
Caretaker government :: The functions and can do's and cannot do's of the caretaker government should be clearly defined. Should the caretaker be allowed to usee the government machinery for campaign purposes?
Polling officials :: They should be adequately trained to deal with problems on polling day. They should be screened to ensure they are not biased. Officials like those affiliated with political parties should definitely be no-no.

Now have i left anything out? May be we can all look forward to truly fair and free elections in the future.

| ¶ 3/25/2004 09:55:00 AM

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

EC Chairman agrees :: A Royal Commission it should be

Soon after the many fumbles and debacle which happened on Polling Day, this blogger called for a Royal Commission to review the bungling and less than independent EC.

Today the papers have reported that the EC chairman has accepted blame for the fiasco in its conduct of GE2004. But in his acceptance he has refused to resign. This is so typical in Boleh land. He has now requested for an independent inquiry, preferrably by a Royal Commission answerable to Parliament. It is obvious that in the face of many complaints by the alternative parties and even by the component parties of the BN and Pak Lah, the EC chairman still wants to put a rearguard fight. Enough is enough, he should have the moral fibre to do what is right. But if he wants a Royal Commission, please give him one.

The EC is charged with independent management of free and fair elections for this country. But it obviously has been sleeping on its job and in its sleepy state has gone on to discharge its duties and responsibilities unfairly and without the care the job deserves. When that happens in the good old days, one is lined up and faces the firing squad, but then again these are not the bad old days.

In the face of the boycott of the re-polling for the Sungai Lembing seat, what is the answer from the EC? Would he like to settle this first, since the EC was responsible for the error in the printing of the ballot papers for that seat..

| ¶ 3/24/2004 04:44:00 PM

Latest on Sungai Lembing Poll

PAS president has said that the party will boycott the re-polling for the Sungai Lembing state seat in Pahang which is to be held this Sunday.

Bernama reported :: The re-polling for the Sungai Lembing state seat, which is in the Paya Besar parliamentary constituency, "created history" when polling for the state seat was nullified due to an error in the printing of the ballot papers. The ballot paper had placed the Parti Keadilan Nasional's symbol against the PAS candidate's name which had angered the supporters of the party (PAS).

Describing the 11th general election as a "magic show election", PAS president said the boycott was because PAS was dissatisfied with the proceedings of the GE 2004 which was held on 21st March.

For the Sungai lembing seat, the incumbent BN Md Sohaimi Mohamed Shah was being challenged by PAS candidate, Idris Ahmad.

| ¶ 3/24/2004 11:17:00 AM

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

More interesting figures and election results

Malaysiakini has reported that Terengganu recorded the highest increase in voter turnout in the recently concluded 11th general election, from 81.46%(1999) to 86.94%(2004), an increase of 5.48%.

For the Terengganu Parliamentary seat the voter turnout was 77.16% in 1999, this year it is a whopping 98.70%, which meant for every 100 registered voters more than 98 turned up to vote this time around!

For the Dungun Parliamentary seat the voter turnout was 82.11% in 1999, this year it is 90.12%, which meant for every 100 registered voters, more than 90 turned up to vote in 2004.

The other 3 seats in Terengganu which recorded voter turnouts of more than 90% are state seats Teluk Pasu ::90.17%[85.99%], Telemung :: 90.33%[90.13%] and Kijal :: 90.10%[84.57%]. Percentages in [ ] are for 1999. Terengganu folks must be fanatics/enthusiatics when it comes to voting. Now compare this with the folks in Rompin, Pahang only 25% of 38,319 registered voters came out to vote that day, and Sungei Lembing the only seat for which polling has not been concluded is not even in it.

The voter turnout in Terengganu topped the country in both 1999 and 2004 elections, for GE 2004, the Terengganu voter turnout is about 12.5% above the national average of 74.94%. See the figure below (from Malaysiakini) for the other figures.

Apart from Terengganu, the other states which showed increase in voter turnouts this year are Perlis, Kedah and Pahang (states PAS claimed they were going to take over) and Kelantan (a state narrowly retained by PAS). Kuala Lumpur and the states of Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Malacca recorded drops in voter turnouts.

| ¶ 3/23/2004 11:29:00 PM

The EC Fiasco

The EC chairman had some famous words when he announced nomination and polling dates for the recent 11th election. When he was asked why the short campaign period he was confident that things would go well and for the political parties contesting he felt that there was sufficient time. What he had obviously forgotten was the EC itself. The fumblings and things that went wrong on polling day showed that the EC obviously was the one who was ill-prepared. There were wrongly printed ballot papers, ballot papers sent to wrong polling stations, missing EC officers, spoilt lap tops, incorrect electoral rolls, gostan decisions and more.

Pak Lah has told the EC to buck up. Alternative parties and their candidates as well as those from BN have asked for the resignation of the EC boss following the fiasco. But in Boleh Land, can such an event follow such a fiasco? The EC secretary has said that he is ashamed, is that good enough? Meanwhile the chairman says, "Don't Blame me yet". Firstly he wants to investigate and find out what went wrong and if he is at fault,he will then resign. But in Boleh Land, often such investigations take years and at the end of them, one gets exonerated.

Despite the shenanigans and happenings on polling day, the missing names, the improperly trained officials, the chairman wants further invesstigations. He also had the cheek to say the following :: "At the top, we do the supervisory work. What happens at the ground level is not known to the top level". Lim Kit Siang has this to say :: "I call on Abdul Rashid (EC chairman) to resign with dignity because the conduct of this general election is the worst in the history of this country's democratic system". The BN Batu winner echoed similar sentiments. And the chairman is still asking for a chance to find out what has happened first. And to top it all,he has this to say :: "These things are bound to happen. But to me, except for these problems, it was a good election" Sounds like a fun guy, this chairman

.

| ¶ 3/23/2004 12:49:00 PM

Kota Melaka :: DAP NO MORE

Kota Melaka, DAP for 35 years, has fallen to the BN.
Bernama reports ::

The opposition's fortress in Kota Melaka finally crumbled after 35 years under the onslaught of the BN in the 11th general election.
After a recount at SMK Padang Temu, here Monday, Wong Nai Chee of the BN was declared winner of the contest for the Kota Melaka seat, defeating Kerk Kim Hock of the DAP.
He polled 31,217 votes to beat Kerk who is the DAP Secretary-General. Kerk garnered 30,998 votes to give the BN a majority of 219 votes.
In the 1999 general election, Kerk won the seat with a 9,667-vote majority when he defeated Lim Swee Kiang of the BN.
The much-awaited announcement of the intense fight was finally made at 9pm by Returning Officer for Kota Melaka, Zawawi Ghazali as the recount which started at 10am dragged on until 8.30pm.
The recount was made at the request of Kerk who said the majority obtained by the BN candidate on the first count was less than two per cent of the votes.
For Wong, the win was special as he was born in 1969, the year the DAP captured Kota Melaka from the BN.
"This is a historic win and we want the BN to represent this parliamentary seat for the next 35 years," he said in his victory speech.
Other DAP leaders who represented the seat in the past were DAP Chairman Lim Kit Siang for three terms (1969, 1974 and 1982 election) and his son, Lim Guan Eng, also for three terms (1986, 1990 and 1995).
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, who arrived soon after the announcement was made, was carried by BN supporters to the main stage.

| ¶ 3/23/2004 12:11:00 AM

Monday, March 22, 2004

To all The Alternative Candidates :: Thank You

Another battle for popular votes has ended and as in any battle, there will be winners and losers. This round has gone to the Pak Lah and the BN, they certainly seem to have won a massive majority. For their win, they garnered 64.4% of popular votes and 195 out or 219 Parliamentary seats ie 89% of all Parliamentary seats. The alternatives for their gallant effort received 35.6% of popular votes cast but 23 out of 219 Parliamentary seat ie 10.5%. At the time of writing, the recount for Kota Melaka is taking place.

To all the alternative candidates who have won and also all those who have not, this blogger and all right minded alternative supporters, salute you all and say a Big Thank You to you each and everyone of you all. Thank you for taking part in the 11th election and providing us an opportunity to vote for you. The very fact that you all have offered yourselves as candidates show your concern for us voters. Being aware of the uneven playing field, the less than unbiased EC, the behemoth BN election machinery, the hostile media, the distasteful propaganda likely to be hurl your way and all the obstacles placed before you; should make all of us even more thankful that all of you have offered your services to be our representatives in Parliament. Considering also that being a non-government MP is not exactly a thankful job and that there are no perks thrown in, should make all of you better appreciated.

The results obtained in the 11th election certainly do not reflect the effort put in and the sacrificies made by all of you and your families. But this is what happens as we continue with the first-past-the-post electoral system. Those who have not won this time do not despair, for whenever you are in the company of 100 voters, you know that 35 of them are with you.

What you may have on offer this time around may not meet the requirements of a majority of the electorate but never give up, a battle may have been lost but the good fight must continue. From now onwards, it is the time for soul searching and all the re's :: recuperating, reflection, rethinking, revamping, reorganising, rejuvenating, reinventing, regrouping, repackaging, reaffiliating, refortifying, refinessing, reestablishing, reforming, remodelling and when the 12th comes, you all will rebound and may be better armed to meet the needs of the electorate. Best wishes in all your endeavour and re's, and continue fighting the good fight for all of us. Don't count us out, for we all have just started to fight.

| ¶ 3/22/2004 10:22:00 PM

2 very troubling results

Just take a look at these two election results ::

1. Dr Wan Azizah wins Permatang Pauh Vote recount in Permatang Pauh, Penang, gives victory to Keadilan president and incumbent Dr Wan Azizah Ismail over BN/Umno's Firdaus Ismail by a slim 590 majority. Wan Azizah bagged 21,737 votes while Firdaus got 21,147 votes.

2. Batu Gajah (P - Perak), DAP youngest MP Fong (DAP) wins by majority of 7,927 votes after recount.

Last night, Dr Wan Azizah was said to have lost narrowly by a margin of 36 votes to Firdaus. On recount today, she has won by a 3 digit majority of 590, a 1638% difference. This has left many wondering, how come. Those counting obviously cannot count.

As for the Batu Gajah seat, Fong was reported in the papers as having won with a majority of some 3000 votes (Star papers) but on recount she is said to have won by 7927 votes. Again this defies a simple person understanding.

| ¶ 3/22/2004 07:02:00 PM

The latest from Malaysiakini

Malaysiakini has some corrections to make regarding its earlier reports ::

Recount for these seats at 10am
Permatang Pauh (Penang), Kota Melaka (Malacca), Bukit Bintang (Kuala Lumpur), Ipoh Barat, Batu Gajah (Perak). The latest in Kelantan - Umno won 20, PAS won 19, with a recount for six remaining seats. Meanwhile, Keadilan leader Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has 'won' Permatang Pauh on two recounts by 27 and 28 votes respectively. There will be a third recount in the morning.

Pak Lah claims victory
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that BN has won two-third majority of 146 parliamentary seats at 1.48am in the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

Nik Aziz, Hadi Awang not defeated
Both PAS leaders - the party spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat and party president Abdul Hadi Awang - have won the Chempaka (Kelantan) and Ru Rendang (Terengganu) state seats respectively after a recount. Malaysiakini had earlier reported that they had lost. However, Hadi was defeated in his Marang parliamentary seat.

Kelantan: Both sides claim victory
Both the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition and the opposition PAS are claiming victory in Kelantan. PAS, which has held the state since 1990, claimed that it had won 24 out of the 45 state seats. On the other hand, BN has claimed victory in 23 seats. Recount is currently underway in five seats.

Kula wins Ipoh Barat
DAP bagged another seat when M Kulasegaran won the Ipoh Barat parliamentary seat by 690 votes. DAP now has 12 seats in Parliament.

Opposition left with 16 seats
To date, key opposition parties have collectively won only 16 out of 219 seats in Parliament (DAP 11, PAS 5, Keadilan 0). In 1999, they had won 41 seats (DAP 10, PAS 26 and Keadilan 5)

| ¶ 3/22/2004 08:49:00 AM

The Landslide Victory

The people has spoken, a massive landslide win for Pak Lah and the BN. A disastrous outing for PAS and a massive crushing for Keadilan. As for DAP, a revival of sorts in the Kinta Valley and Penang but a loss in Malacca. Now we know that the calls for the alternatives to do their homework and to win voters over have not been heeded. It is never too late to heed the calls even now, the 12th is just 4 to 5 years away.

As for Pak Lah and the BN, congratulations on their massive win and with this win, we await the delivery of all the goods and promises he has spoken of in the past 4 months. Lets not have more of the same, the people has chosen to place their trust upon you and the BN. The voice of the alternatives must continue to be heard, although it may be reduced in numbers but they must strive to live up to the trust which a portion of the people have placed on them to keep in check and balance the massive power of the BN. They certainly have a lot to do after this 11th election. To all those who have lost in this election, it is never too early to start doing your homework and success may smile on you in the 12th.

| ¶ 3/22/2004 08:41:00 AM

Sunday, March 21, 2004

Lets have a Royal Commission to review the EC

After the fumblings and debacle caused by the gross inefficiency and rush to the poll by the EC, a Royal Commission should be set up to review the EC which is supposed to be an independent instituition but has been admitted by its Chairman that it is not truly so, read this.

Wrongly printed ballot papers, foul-ups with the electoral rolls, on-off polling (as in Sungei Lembing), ballot papers at wrong polling centres (in Malacca), insufficient barung, insufficient saluran, unilateral extension of polling times (in Selangor) and the gostan decision regarding the 'pondok parti' and 'pondok panas'. And after all these, the EC secretary is only ashamed, and what has the EC chairman to say for all these? Have we heard him apologise or tender his resignation?

What has our caretaker DPM got to say regarding this mess :: "I hope the technical hitches will not recur in future because it will affect the actual polling results as what happened in Sungai Lembing." According to him the technical glitches which occurred on polling day should serve as a lesson to the Election Commission and it must take immediate steps to rectify them, but then it would be too late for this 11th election. The actual results of the polls without these fumblings having occurred will forever remain unknown. Click here to find out what Tian Chua has to say regarding thes fumble and the time extension for polling in Selangor.

As for the caretaker PM, despite all these 'technical glitches' which must have been reported to him, Bernama reported that :: [Despite his busy schedule, casting his ballot early Sunday morning and visiting other constituencies to give support this 11th general election, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took time to join thousands of Malaysians at the Petronas F1 Grand Prix here Sunday.] Nero and his fiddle seem to come to mind momentarily.

| ¶ 3/21/2004 07:40:00 PM

Latest on Sungei Lembing

The EC has announced this afternoon that all the votes cast for the Sungei Lembing State seat in Pahang were not valid and had to be declared void. Fresh balloting will be called for on 28th March. It would be interesting when the results for the other 41 seats in Pahang are tallied tonight. It would be interesting if the tally for the Pahang State seats ended up 21 :: 20 tonight. The formation of the State government would have to wait for the 28th March. All this because of the fumblings of the EC. The tally ending up at 27 :: 14 would also be interesting as this would mean that the result of the 42nd seat would decide whether the State government has a 2/3 majority. All the 42 State seats are one-on-one fights between BN and PAS, Keadilan or DAP.

Fresh polls have to be called as it was found that the ballot slips for the seat carried the symbols of BN and Keadilan even though the candidates are actually from BN and PAS. We await an explanation from the EC. When the mix-up was spotted the polling process was suspended but was allowed to continue, the PAS was unhappy as many voters had left without voting. Police reports were lodged and looks like finally good sense has prevailed. But fresh polls are expected to cause woes to the voters.

The EC has admitted that he is ashamed with the fumblings of the EC which had been evident today. He said the EC was given only one week, between nomination and the polling days to print the 20.6 million ballot papers nationwide. This has resulted in a rush job in ballot paper printing and the resultant havoc on polling day. Who was it who said that 7-8 days are sufficient for everything and that we need to get on with governing?

| ¶ 3/21/2004 06:20:00 PM

The Messy EC and its Messes Bhg II

Looks like the EC is at it again. After getting caught with its pants down regarding the banners put up by Keadilan candidate for PJ Selatan, Sivarasa; PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali, has this to say regarding the incident :: "It is totally a government instrument. (Prime Minister) Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi) talks about change but this incident only shows that it is partial change, if is any," he said.

The EC has gone on to show more of its fumbling and biased ways. There is this issue of 'Pondok Parti' or 'Pondok Panas' where the EC has again shown how good it is at 'gostan decisions'. These 'pondoks' are set up to check voter details by party workers but often end up as centres for canvassing of votes, in aggressive last-minute campaigning after the official campaign period had ended the night before. This led to the introduction of amendment to the Elections Offences Act in 2002 to end such practices. In its place, the EC was required to set up its booth comprising agents from all contesting parties. But at the 11th hour, the EC made an about turn and decided each candidate or party contesting can set up a 'pondok parti' in order to assist voters on polling day. This has caught the alternative parties literally with their pants down as they were unprepared and have little monetary and human and material resources to put up such 'pondoks'. One up for the BN, courtesy of the EC.

For pictures of the BN and alternative 'pondok parti', click here. See any differences?

TV stations and Malaysiakini are now reporting on further chaos caused by our very superefficient EC. A voting centre in East Malaysia was shown on TV3, where the voters are required to climb some hundred over steps before reaching the centre. The TV clip showed the older ones among the voters having to stop to rest and catch their breaths. Imagine the physically challenged ones and the handicapped ones, how will they get to vote, will the ballot boxes be brought to them, those who cannot climb those steps?

Then there is the chaos in Gombak, where at two polling stations hundreds of voters found their names missing from the electoral roll and the (EC) officers could not be located to answer questions. In Sungei Lembing the fumbling EC has the Keadilan logo for the candidate from PAS, Idris Ahmad. Apparently voting was suspended for some time but has resumed. The validity of result for this seat is anyone's guess, what will the fumbling EC do next, Watch this space which will report on further messes associated with the messy EC.

Obviously in their haste to conduct this 11th election in the shortest possible of time, the EC in its haste has forgot to do much of its homework and is dealing with problems in an adhoc and often idiotic manner. It is even willing to shift the 'tiang gol' whenever the need arises. Shame, shame EC.

| ¶ 3/21/2004 02:54:00 PM

D-Day :: Decision Day

For the past 7-8 days we have been subjected to bombing from all available media sources, the internet, the TV, the print media, radio stations and all those banners and posters fluttering in the wind and getting intertwined. And over the past few days some 500,000 out-of-station voters, inclusive of some who are in better places, have been subjected to a new form of election campaigning, the letter or Pesanan daripada Pak Lah. As to how many of the 500,000 recepients of the letter would respond to the letter, the writer of which, a few receipients have reportedly said is f a sincere, caring and concerned Pak Lah and go back home to vote is anyone's guess.

In less than 10 hours we will make our way to the various polling centres to cast our votes for a better Malaysia. Before casting your valuable vote, please consider wisely whether a government with a BIGGER mandate or a Parliament with a BIGGER opposition voice would result in all of us having a BETTER MALAYSIA. Please vote wisely and GOD bless Malaysia.

| ¶ 3/21/2004 12:10:00 AM

Saturday, March 20, 2004

Letter from the PM

Ever since i heard that the caretaker PM would be sending out direct-letters to some 500,000 voters to urge them to come out and vote on the 21st, i have been checking my mail box to see whether i was on his list. By this evening when it was obvious that i would not be getting one, at least before the 11th election, i had resigned myself to the fact that this time around there would not be a first for me. Never have i ever had a letter from a caretaker PM and the chance of receiving one was pretty good at almost 5%, but it was not to be.

If i had been a lucky recipient, i would have framed not only the letter but the envelope it came in too. What an item to show to my grandchildren in my old age. But alas, it was not to be. Would the letter be one of those with the PM Office letter head or one with the BN/UMNO Supremo Office letter head, i can only now wonder. Would the letter be sent out from the PMO (PM Office) or the BNO or even the UMNOO? Would it be in an OGS (On Government Service) envelope or would the envelope have one of those beautiful 30 sen stamp? Would there be advice and encouragement to vote early in the day after a light breakfast and when the sun is not so hot or in the early afternoon after a sumptuous lunch and the brain is less active and bright? Should one take along an umbrella, being caretaker PM and all knowing, he may warn that there could be rain in one's area? What advice and urges would be in the contents of the letter? Would advice be there regarding which party (political, of course) it would be best to vote for the good of country and all? Alas, i am never to know all these and forever those questions would be left unanswered. Unless, oh yes, unless, anyone of you, recipient of this letter, reading this blog would extend me a copy of this letter from the PM. Anyone out there, i thank thee first in great anticipation.

Just came upon this report in Bernama and here i managed a glimpse of the letter. It reported that a hotel sales manager, Rizwan Izham Mohd. Zain, and his 2 brothers, all working in Kuala Lumpur but registered to vote in home town of Alor Star, are recipients of this letter; what a coincidence. Copies of this letter have been sent out to 500,000 registered voters who are living outside the constituencies where they are registered to vote. Now i know for sure i will never be receiving the letter, for i do not fall into this category of pampered voters, read on to find out why i say this.

The Bernama reports ::

In the letter, the Prime Minister advised voters to be careful during their travels and said he prayed they would arrive safely to vote and would return home safely.
Abdullah also called on the voters to fulfill their responsibility to determine the future of the citizens and the country.
He said the Barisan Nasional wants to increase its efforts to achieve further excellence.
"I am well aware that the responsibilities of a leader will not only be judged by the rakyat but more than that, by Allah SWT (God). If I fail in these responsibilities, then it would be a very heavy burden for me to bear in the next world (akhirat)," said Abdullah.
He pledged that the nation's harmony, stability and prosperity would continue to be achieved through power sharing, increased transparency, a more efficient civil service and development without sidelining any party.
"He promised that if given the mandate to lead the government, he would take full responsibility in serving the nation and the people-- and would ensure all the people's representatives would work for the people, too," said Jamaluddin Tukimin, a manager in Kuala Lumpur who is registered to vote in Johor.

It appears that besides giving good advice to be careful when travelling, the caretaker PM also took the opportunity to do some campaigning for the BN. The caretaker PM is obviously a Pemimpin Budiman for the postage alone would have cost him some RM150k and that's excluding cost of paper, envelopes and printing charges. It is a mystery to me how our generous and concerned caretaker PM is aware of this category of voters who are registered to vote in one place but working in another. How did he managed to get all their addresses? But there were probably some foul ups too, as reportedly the recipient of a copy of the letter was a gentleman who had departed for a better place in December 1997. A point down for our ever inefficient EC and JPN.

Now it has made me wonder that if our very concerned caretaker PM could take such great trouble to urge and ensure this out-of-station voters go back to vote, why has he ignored those 'non absentee voters' who are presently overseas or even just in Sabah or Sarawak and cannot get back to the peninsular to vote. Could you, Datuk Seri, please look into their plight too and maybe grant them 'postal voter' status. And while at that, make it easier for those who are out-of-station voters, be they in the peninsular, Sabah, Sarawak or outside the boundaries, to menunai kewajipan with less hussle involved. Sekian dimaklumkan dan ribuan terima kasih.

P.S. It appears that while i was blogging, a Malaysiakini article has appeared concerning the letter and it appears that Syed Husin's late mother-in-law has also been given the honour to receive this letter. MGG has also an artide on this, click here to read.

| ¶ 3/20/2004 02:02:00 AM

Friday, March 19, 2004

The Messy EC and its Messes

Our Election Commission is supposed to be an independent body but of late it is appearing not to be so. Its main task is to organise fair elections every 4 or 5 years for us Malaysians to choose a democratic parliamentary government. After the last elections, constituencies have been redrawn and election rules changed. Have these changes resulted in a fairer election process with a level playing field for all concerned. The answer so far appears to be a resounding no.

Read this article from the Editorial Desk of e-sinchew :: Who Messed Up The Electoral System? and here is another one in Malaysiakini :: EC caught with pants down and another, here :: Malaysians In Washington Disappointed At Being Left Out Of Voting.

It looks like the EC is not sure about what it is supposed to do except to ensure that the incumbent is helped to perpetuate its rule and goal-posts and even the balls can be moved whenever necessary.

| ¶ 3/19/2004 04:25:00 PM

Thursday, March 18, 2004

THE 'battle' for TAIPING

Up till near nomination day, there was much uncertainity regarding who would be the candidates standing for the 11th election in Taiping. Taiping has an electorate of some 65,000 and has off late been represented by BN/Gerakan. What was clear was the 3-term incumbent MP, Datuk Kerk CT, was moving south. A few names like Gerakan Chang and Tan cropped up as his replacement, then out of the blue we were told that the BN candidate would be the PPP president, who even if he won would be only here for one term as the seat would go back to Gerakan in the 12th. The BN wanted to reward PPP for what it had done and went looking around for a Parliament and a State seat for the PPP. Many States were approached but none would have the PPP candidates, finally Perak decided (or was it pressured?) to give the unwanted PPP, the Taiping Parliament seat and the State seat of Pasir Bedamar. What a way to have a Parliament candidate thrusted on her, came as a shock to most Taiping folks.

Nomination day came and the candidates were revealed. Representing BN is the PPP President, one Datuk Kayveas; representing Keadilan is Annah Doral and representing the DAP is Ong Chee Keng. For the first 2 days after nomination day, Taiping was pretty quiet and it appeared that the 11th election would pass Taiping, some called it a sleepy hollow, by. What had actually happened was that the whole Gerakan election machinery had up and gone south together with home going Datuk Kerk CT to a place called Simpang Renggam, see this report :: Gerakan ‘ditches’ Kayveas in Taiping. Over the past 2 to 3 days some excitement has creeped back to Taiping and as shown in the accompanying pictures, the banner and poster war has done some justice to Taiping. The candidates have conducted a few ceramahs and had their walkabouts in the various hawker centres and main streets of Taiping.

Datuk Kayveas spoke to the press regarding his fears of a possible backlash as this time around, a non-Chinese had been fielded by the BN. In his meet the electorate sessions, many have asked why the BN has broken with tradition and not fielded a Chinese candidate. Datuk Kayveas admitted that early in his fight for Taiping, he was given the cold shoulder by some of the residents, but things are better now. Rumours had it that the Perak MB had visited Taiping and pressured the MCA and UMNO election machinery to give the PPP President a helping hand. MCA has very little to do as its candidate won the Pokok Assam seat uncontested.

The DAP candidate is local born lawyer but is presently practising in Kuala Lumpur. He has pledged to have an office in Taiping if elected. Being a local, it was easier for him to strike it off with the residents. Both he and Kayveas talk about bringing development to Taiping, bringing in more SMI's to the Kamunting Industrial Estate, developing the tourism industry further and of course getting more Chinese schools for the residents' children, the last being a matter closed to the hearts of Taipingites. Datuk Kayveas would like people to know that he has 2 daughters in a Chinese school in KL and is not anti-vernacular schools, a point his opponents having been harping and whispering on about, but it is on record that he had called for the closure of Tamil schools in the past. One's past do catch up. Looks like for now he would like more Chinese schools to be built. Datuk Kayveas and DAP Ong were featured on NTV7 news and of all things the item touched upon was the parking meters and parking system in use in Taiping. Are these candidates in tune with the hopes, wishes and aspirations of the residents?

Talking with some of the younger residents, who have registered to vote this time around, they have expressed that they would like the candidates to address the following issues ::

1. Abolishment of ISA and other inhumane laws and acts
2. 2 term max for PM, cabinet ministers, chief ministers
3. Review of New Economic Policy (reduction in bumi spoon feeding)
4. Review of University entry quota system
5. Unpegging ringgit
6. Government transparency in EVERYTHING
7. Abolishment of race based BN and make it everyone born in Malaysia eligible to join UMNO (United MALAYSIAN NationalIST Organisation)
8. Return of local council elections
9. Public transport be made PUBLIC ie semi-government owned
10. Last but not least, unchain the media. Call a spade a spade ie call the Star, MCA-STAR and NST, UMNO New Straits Times etc

Now you have heard it from the young voters, Taiping MP wannabes, Datuk Kayveas, Mr Ong and Mr Doral, lets see some actions. Local issues can be dealt with by the MPT (Majlis Perbandaran Taiping) and what better way then to have local elections again to make the MPT more accountable to the residents. MPs are meant to deal with national issues, or are you all forgetting something.

Click here, to read about a day in the campaign of a Taiping MP wannabe :: Datuk Kayveas.

| ¶ 3/18/2004 10:50:00 PM

Absentee Voters

Finally i have discovered who is an 'abstentee voter' or 'pengundi tak hadhir' via this Bernama article :: Malaysians In Washington Disappointed At Being Left Out Of Voting. For many Malaysians overseas presently it is very likely that they will not be able to take part and cats their votes this 11th election. For only Malaysians who fall into the category of 'abstentee voter' and have registered to be 'postal voters' would be allowed to vote.

So who are these so-called 'absentee voters'; he or she must either be a Malaysian government official or a Malaysian armed forces personnel on duty outside the boundaries of Peninsular Malaysia or Sabah or Sarawak or their spouses, who are living with them. Students studying full time outside the boundaries of Peninsular Malaysia or Sabah or Sarawak or their spouses, who are with them overseas are also considered in this category too.

Those 'absentee voters' who are eligible to vote are also reported to be facing difficulties. Some are finding that their names are not on the latest voter registration list. The very few of those whose names are on the list may not be able to vote either since the ballot papers have not arrived at the embassy. Ballot papers must reach Malaysia on Sunday, 21st March at 5pm. Those that arrive after that time are unlikely to be counted. For more on postal voters, click here

Malaysians who are overseas at election time and do not fall into this category of 'abstentee voter' cannot vote unless they come home and are around on polling day. How many Malaysians presently overseas can have the luxury of coming back at any time and have the monetary means to do so. In this day of computers, internet and electronic links and smart kads and smart canals and smart government; isn't it time we have a smart EC coming out with an even Smarter Voting System for our fellow Malaysians who are working overseas and are not classified 'abstentee voter' so that they can menunaikan kewajipan? Over to you EC chairman.

| ¶ 3/18/2004 07:42:00 PM

I will vote.....

Nomination day has come and gone and the stage is set for polling day of our country's 11th election which will take place on the 21st. The short campaign period, some say 7 and some say 8 days, has already run about half of its course. Many of us would have made up our minds where to mark that X come polling day. But it is said that some 20-30 % of voters are undecided. To some these are the sophisticated ones who are waiting for the candidates/parties to win them over during the campaign period. Some of these people are said to decide at the very last minute even as they are lining up to vote. Ironically, they are the ones who are really going to decide the outcome of this 11th election. And certainly not those who have already decided that their votes are for the BN or the alternatives. In the remaining 3 days left, these undecided or swing voters or fence-sitters would be wooed by all the contestants. The millions and millions of ringgit spent on posters, banners, ceramahs, caretaker government rallies, food, drinks and all other paraphernalia would really be for this pampered group. For the majority of the voters, all these spending, make little difference for their decisions have already been made, long even before the dissolution of Parliament and long before nomination day.
Some time ago i had written 2 letters to Malaysiakini and to many, i sounded schizophrenic for the first was entitled :: No meaningful democracy without effective opposition and this was follwed by :: I'm voting for BN and what followed them were letters and emails supportive of my letters and others containing brickbats. i was said to be pro-alternative or pro-opposition one day and pro-BN the next. For some of these letters see this blog :: Stronger Opposition--Guna, tak Guna.
The outcome of the 11th election is a foregone conclusion, BN will win and probably win big and Steven agrees. All the reasons why this will be so can more or less be found in that editorial. The gerrymandering, the virtual control of the media, the rules and laws of the election are virtually beyond the review of the alternative parties and voters for the moment in time. But how big a win may be within the control of some of the voters of this 11th election and to deny the government which would result after the 11th election a massive majority is something possible.
The question we need to ask ourselves on polling before casting our votes is whether the governments we have had up till now, with their massive majorities, have they made good use of our votes, have they made Malaysia a better place for us all after each election, have they live up to our hopes and aspirations and made the best use of our natural and human resources and our money. If they have not then we must do something about it.
In order to ensure that the government which has just before the dissolution of the 10th Parliament made many promises and that these promises are kept after the election, the question we must pose to ourselves is whether continuing to give it our votes and ensuring it has a bigger majority and mandate will result in better governance (that's what we are looking for, right?) or will ensuring a stronger Parliamentary opposition provide us with better check and balance and eventually better results? Being cognizant of the past abuses of the massive majorities had, one has to be wary.
Over the past many days, the caretaker PM and his caretaker ministers and other BN candidates have all being calling on the electorate to give the BN a bigger than before mandate. And just what do they plan to do with it?

i can't speak for others, before 31st Oct 2003, i was firmly going to cast my vote for the alternative. But over the past 3-4 months there were rays of hope of change for the better with the new PM. But before he could take the walk, he had called for election and doubts set in again. And now there are all these calls for a bigger mandate. A frightening prospect if it materialises considering all the abuse, corruption and bad governance of the past. The reasons given for a bigger mandate also does not hold water. More foreign investments, more development, more prosperity, more glory, more distinction, more this and more that. What about those things which i hope to find, those mentioned in I'm voting for BN.
So come the 21st, i will know which party to vote for unless there is any other sudden last moment changes as i am lining up. i am really not pro-alternative or pro-BN, what i am is i am PRO-MALAYSIA. May we all vote wisely and GOD bless Malaysia.

| ¶ 3/18/2004 01:51:00 AM

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Never Fear--Ballot Secrecy Guaranteed

Keadilan deputy president Abdul Rahman Othman expressed concern that civil servants and others feared retaliation if they voted alternative parties in the coming 11th election. He called for the EC to give an assurance that ballots were secret and that civil servants and others should not fear. A Malaysiakini reader, Reluctant Voter, has also expressed such concerns.

EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman has responded by saying that the secrecy of votes is guaranteed under election law and only the court can look at ballot papers after they are counted. He explained that the numbers were for the court's reference in case of an election petition.

Once the ballots were counted and election results determined, the ballot papers were placed back inside the ballot box and sealed with the EC tamper-proof seal. The counterfoils and list of voters who turned up at polling stations were also sealed and kept separately. These items are eventually destroyed by incineration, this is witnessed by the police, contesting candidates and their agents.

So there you have it, assuring words from the EC chairman. So those of you who are alternative inclined, never fear, the EC guarantees the secrecy of your votes.

| ¶ 3/17/2004 10:51:00 AM

Hadi a Mudslinger Wannabe

Correct me if i am wrong. What Hadi Awang said was that it was not right to deny personal attacks during election campaigns as they are allowed in Islam in order to produce quality leaders. And he did not say that mudslinging and character assassination should be allowed. Personal attacks do not necessary mean mudslinging and character assassination. In the good old days or bad old days (depends on how one sees it), of local council elections, personal attacks were often the order of the day during campaigns. And such attacks are also common in the international scene. Remember the recent California Governor campaign involving 'Terminator Arnold' and the US primaries involving Kerry. As election candidates are public figures, their character and going-ons should be subjected to scrutiny. Bringing out 'skeletons-in-the-cupboard' can help the voters to make a choice. Of course unsubstantiated attacks should not be allowed. Remember the infamous Ku Li headgear episode, can anyone remember who was responsible for that.

Now the spin is on. And it looks like it is the caretaker DPM who is taking up the torch. Earlier on he had said that personal attacks should not be used during election campaigns and now he says that it is a sin to embarrass a person in public. A few years back, many of us were embarrassed, by a certain someone, who is now a Tun, describling on the national media how a certain act was carried out. That person, who is now Tun, must have sinned big time. Did our caretaker DPM pointed out this to the then Datuk Seri then? Now why is the caretaker DPM taking all these so personally, is it a case of 'siapa makan cabai' and he has some 'skeletons' hidden away.

Would the present BN campaign and going-ons in the media accusing DAP Lim Kit Siang of working with PAS, be considered personal attacks, character asssassination or what?

| ¶ 3/17/2004 10:13:00 AM

Monday, March 15, 2004

Chinese support for Government solid, says PM

From the Star Newsdesk ::

Update from The Star Newsdesk

IPOH: The support for the Government from the Chinese community is getting better in view of the country’s improving economy, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.
"This time, the support from the Chinese is getting stronger and better," he said.
The economic indicators showed that the performance was beyond expectation, he said when asked for his assessment of the Chinese’ support for Barisan Nasional.
The Government, he said, would continue to work towards improving the economy.
Abdullah was speaking to reporters after addressing a gathering in Indera Mulia Stadium this evening.

Is the Star report saying the following ::

That according to the caretaker PM, the main concern of the Chinese community is economic in nature. And all the governement needs to do is keep the economic indicators up and the chinese support will be there. Simply said, the chinese community, in the view of the caretaker PM, only has RM signs in its eyes.
It is time to show the caretaker PM, that there is more to the chinese community, that it is also concerned with other things in life eg democratic space, fight against corruption, good governance, transparency among others.

| ¶ 3/15/2004 09:50:00 PM

The Attacks continues

After the 1999 election and PAS insistence on proceeding with its islamic state agenda, DAP broke away from PAS. Come election time and the BN and especially MCA is still harping on the issue of DAP & PAS being sleeping partners and working together hand-in-glove. Go to the links below and see for yourself and make up your own mind.

Using old photographs so misleadingly is disgusting, Yes/No?

EVERY VOTE for BN/MCA only weakens the Nation's ability to fight more of the same :: corruption, lack of transparency, lack of accountability, lack of independence of the media and the list goes on.

| ¶ 3/15/2004 09:27:00 PM

Stop 3-cornered fights Madness

3-cornered fights involving BN and 2 alternative parties Keadilan and DAP will only benefit the former. It is still not too late for the alternative parties concerned to come to their senses and sort out these 3-cornered fights. PAS president has been reported as having instructed its two candidates who planned to contest for the Taman Medan and Dengkil state seats in Selangor to make way for Keadilan to avoid a three-cornered fight. In the little time left, it is still possible for DAP and Keadilan to come to some compromise for the sake of unity against the BN. Will good sense prevail?
Alternative supporters were faced with a 3-cornered in the state seat of Aulong in the 1999 election, when BN, Keadilan and DAP contested. Soon after nomination day, the DAP candidate more or less disappeared and did little or no campaigning, DAP supporters were then told to vote Keadilan but by then it was too late as the message only reached a few and on election day the DAP candidate received some votes and BN won the seat. This time around the Aulong voters are again faced with a 3-cornered fight, one does not need to have clairvoyant powers to know who will be the eventual winner.
These 3-cornered fight madness will cause confusion among the voters who support the alternatives and are looking forward to reduce the massive majority of the BN. Good examples are the contest in the Taiping and Sungei Siput Parliamentary seats. Both are being contested by BN, DAP and Keadilan. The voters who are alternative supporters would like to see Samy Vellu and Kayveas out but they may be split between DAP and Keadilan if these 3-cornered fights are not resolved. The two alternative parties should not allow their supporters to face this dilemma. They should instead be pooling their limited resources to fight the common foe for the common good. Forcing their supporters to face such a dilemma may not only result in splitting of alternative votes but may also result in some or many turning around in anger and voting for BN. Will the alternative parties compromise, the next 24 hours or so will tell.

| ¶ 3/15/2004 09:05:00 PM

Election Advertorials

As soon as nomination day was out of the way, the advertorials are appearing. These advertorials are to be found in the mainstream papers and all are pro-BN and anti-alternatives. The DAP is a target and the oft used 'Sleeping with PAS' slogan is used. Who are the sponsors of these advertorials are not really known but can be presumably be attributed to supporters of BN. The cost of running them probably goes in to millions of ringgit. But does it count as campaign expenses? Does the EC have any say when complaints are lodged regarding the truth of these advertorals? If what has been happening in past elections is considered, the EC will probably be dumb aboout it andd not act. And with the short campaign period, the affected party will have little or no time to comppalin or counter them.
For the alternative parties, lacking in monetary means, man power and willing papers to publish their materials, they can only suffer in silence and hope that the electorate will view these advertorials objectively and see them in proper light.
Below are some samples of these stuffs.

The DAP has made complaints but will there be any response from the EC?

| ¶ 3/15/2004 03:29:00 PM

Sunday, March 14, 2004

I am not ALone

Many of you must have see this advertorial in the papers today. Take a closer look below ::

Do see see those red-beret ones. Are they part of 'the team'? Are they there to ensure that 'I am not ALone'? Are they there to ensure the rakyat are with the "I am not ALone' caretaker PM?

| ¶ 3/14/2004 09:01:00 PM

Saturday, March 13, 2004

Nomination Day in Taiping

It was past 9am before i could leave the house for the nomination centre which was located at the Municipality Hall (MPT) and District Office complex. The traffic in town was unusually heavy as the supporters were making their way to the nomination centre. Supporters of the various parties had gathered at various locations as early as 730am before proceeding to the nomination centre.
Anyway owing to the rather heavy traffic, i made my way slowly and by the time i made it near the MPT, finding a parking space was a problem but was lucky to find one.
At the nomination centre the polis presence was obvious and there were those FRU guys out there too. The supporters of the various parties were gathered orderly in the Dataran Taiping and there were plenty of PAS and BN flags and Keadilan ones. PPP and DAP flags were in smaller numbers. Quite a large number of the flag bearers appeared to be students of the upper forms, thought they were not supposed to be around, but then again this is Malaysia Boleh. As the sun was out in its glory and the supporters were out in the open, in time to come they sought shelter and the oderly lines became a little disorderly.
i was under the impression that nominations would start by 900-930am but we all had to wait till 1000am for things to get under way. The PAS crowd was almost as big as the BN one for they had their candidate for Bukit Gantang P59, Dr Lo' Lo' Mohamed Ghazali, waiting to submit her nomination papers too.
There was much flag waving as the nomination process got on the way and the usual shouting matches were played out but no untoward incidents occurred. By 12 noon after the names of the candidates were announced, it was time for the crowd to disperse and so another nomination day came to a close.

The Candidates for GE 2004

Bukit Gantang P59--one-to-one fight :: Tan Lian Hoe (BN/GERAKAN); Dr Lo' Lo' Mohamed Ghazali (PAS)

Kamunting N16--3 cornered fight :: Datuk Dr Abdul Malek Mohamed Hanafiah (BN/ UMNO); S.Simon Uthaya Kumar (IND); Mohamed Ghazali Tain (PAS)

Pokok Assam N17--Datuk Ho Cheng Wang, winner by default as the DAP nominee came without his RM5000 deposit and was rejected!

Aulong N18--3 cornered fight :: Yew Tian Hoe (DAP); Ng Chii Fa (BN/GERAKAN); Abdul Rahman Uda Mat Isa (KEADILAN)

So Taiping which was earlier appearing unwanted is now embroiled in a 3-cornered fight as well as in 2 of the State seats within it.

| ¶ 3/13/2004 09:42:00 PM

Friday, March 12, 2004

Sad State of Affairs

There is hardly 10 hours to nominations and the Keadilan-DAP tussles to challenge BN in the 11th election have not been settled. Malaysiakini reports that the seat negotiations between Keadilan and DAP have failed and both parties are expected to lock horns in more than 20 constituencies nationwide. If other news reports are taken into consideration, the number of constituencies with 3 cornered fights involving BN, Keadilan and DAP would more likely to be more than 30. Perak and Penang appear to be the 2 states where these two alternative parties cannot agree who is better to challenge the BN.
The PAS-Keadilan partnership appears to be have some problems. This is with regards to the caretaker MB of Kelantan, Nik Aziz, not endorsing the Keadilan Deputy President, Syed Husin Ali, as the candidate for Kota Bharu Parliamentary seat. He appeared to have reiterated this on Friday and said that PAS will not accept socialists as election candidates. It is not like Nik Aziz had known about Syed Husin just a couple of days ago and surely he would have anticipated that Syed Husin would contest in this election. Why the bombshell and the endorsement refusal at the 11th hour? Only Nik Aziz knows.
The caretaker MB of Terengganu had to put his foot where his mouth is by that DAP national chairman Lim Kit Siang and his deputy, Karpal Singh, are political leaders who have outlived their usefulness and whose political struggles are outdated. Calling them "expired medicine" was certainly uncalled for. He said this when commenting on press reports that Lim and Karpal Singh were disappointed with the move by Keadilan to field its own candidates in the Ipoh Timor P64 and Bukit Gelugor P51 constituencies where Lim and Karpal planned to stand.
With such 'friends' in the alternative parties, they certainly don't need enemies. Hopefully, good common sense will prevail and in the next few hours they can work out something to prevent BN form being the beneficiary in these trouble seats.
As early as 2002, soon after the 'bye-elections' for Indera Kayangan, Pendang and Anak Bukit, these back-stabbing and tussles were predicted unless the alternatives were ready to reform themselves, pull up their socks, start nursing those seats they were eyeing and acting diligently. The present state of affairs of the alternative parties is a reflection of whether advice has been heeded and leaves the BN laughing all the way to possibly a more massive majority after the curtain comes down on the 11th election.

| ¶ 3/12/2004 11:56:00 PM

PPP---the Unwanted

The PPP or People's Progressive Party has after so many years in the wilderness been given two seats to contest this 11th election. They are the Taiping P60 Parliamentary seat and the State seat of Pasir Bedamar N55, both are in Perak.
Taiping P60 is traditionally a Gerakan contested seat but the incumbent, Datuk Kerk CT, is on transfer to Simpang Renggam and for the BN this time around, Taiping will be contested by Datuk Kayveas, the President of the PPP and he will be pitted against Annah Doral of Keadilan.
Pasir Bedamar N55, incumbent is the DAP's Seah Leong Peng, who won the seat in the 1999 election with 12416 votes against Gerakan's Teiw Book Toh who received 7378 votes, a majority of 5038. Here the PPP candidate is Lee Heng, the Perak PPP chairman and PPP national vice-chairman. When told that the seat is a DAP stronghold, Lee Heng had this to say, "Our chance of winning is good. Some people said we want to commit suicide there but we know what we are doing. We will work hard to win the seat as it is the only seat we are contesting in the coming election (when he said this, Taiping was still considered Gerakan's). For the history buffs, in the 1969 election, PPP was the winner in this seat. Lee is confident that the people of Pasir Bedamar would receive and accept him and that the PPP had set up a complaints and public service bureau at its operations room in Bandar Baru Teluk Intan to address the people’s problems. Lee will have to get pass DAP's Seah Leong Peng who will be defending the seat.
Bernama has this to report with regards to how PPP ended up with 2 seats in Perak ::

Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli Ghazali said Friday he agreed to give seats to the People's Progressive Party (PPP) in the state because all other states did not want the PPP.
He said as no state was willing to accept the PPP which was said to be weak and not as strong as before, Perak offered to accept the PPP taking into account its past strength while in the opposition before joining the Barisan Nasional in 1974.

The people of Taiping and Pasir Bedamar will have to decide on 21st March, whether the PPP is really that unwanted or will the 11th election mark the start of the PPP's road to regain its former glory.
Now that the people of Taiping may possibly wake up on the 22nd and find themselves represented by none other than the PPP's president, maybe it is time to ask why and when was the party's logo changed--from a 6-pointed star to a 5-pointed one?

| ¶ 3/12/2004 05:32:00 PM

Keadilan 3's Application Rejected

The application by the Keadilan 3 to quash the decision by the EC decision to disqualify them from contesting in the 11th general election has been rejected by the High Court.
Malaysiakini reported that in rejecting their application, Justice Md Raud Sharif said the court could not overrule the EC’s decision - which was made through a letter dated March 3, 2004 - as it was just the commission’s reply to a query by the three..
So now the trio of Keadilan leaders - party vice-president Mohd Azmin Ali, Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor and Wanita deputy chief Irene Fernandez -if they should submit their nomination papers, will be dependent on the returning officers concerned in either accepting or rejecting their nomination papers.
So it looks like the Keadilan 3 will have to have Plan B ready, if they do decide to hand in their nomination papers on the 13th, the chances are high that rejection will be staring at them in their faces.

| ¶ 3/12/2004 11:21:00 AM

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