Post 13th General Elections: Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat

Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Beyond GE13

By Ding Jo-Ann | 13 May 2013 |

AND so the Barisan Nasional (BN) is still in power. Those hoping for a change in government are still coming to terms with the results of the 13th general election since our independence (GE13). The Nut Graph asks political scientist Wong Chin Huat how the BN won, why it would racialise the poll results, and what needs to happen next.

TNG: So, the BN is still in power. How did that happen, considering that there was such an upsurge in support for the Pakatan Rakyat (PR), as reflected in the increase in popular vote for the PR?

The PR’s vote share has risen from 36% in 2008 to 51% in 2013, but its seat share merely increased from 36% to 40% and the BN continues to rule despite more voters rejecting it than supporting it. This is the outcome of malapportionment where constituencies are of unequal electorate sizes, and of gerrymandering – manipulating constituency boundaries to benefit certain parties.

An overview (Source: Facebook)

This results in an over-representation of the BN. In other words, if a vote were compared to a bank note of RM1, a vote for the BN is overvalued, allowing it to buy RM1.27 worth of seats; while a vote for the PR is so undervalued that it can only buy RM0.78 worth of seats.

This violation of the one-person-one-vote principle is an old issue but it has been overlooked. In 2004, when the BN was so popular with Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s ascendancy, a vote for the BN was worth about three votes for the DAP, eight votes for PAS and 26 votes for PKR.

Malapportionment and gerrymandering get much less attention because procedural cheating through impersonation by phantom voters, multiple voting and ballot stuffing is much easier to understand. I hope the concern over a minority government’s lack of legitimacy in terms of votes leads to two things: firstly, high public interest in the constituency re-delineation process which the Election Commission says will be done at year end. And secondly, to a change of the electoral system being put on the electoral reform agenda.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has described his losses as the result of a “Chinese tsunami“. Subsequently, Utusan Malaysia ran a front-page headline “Apa lagi Cina mahu?” which the prime minister defended. Why would Najib and an Umno-owned daily resort to racial polarisation at a time like this? And what impact do you think it will have on Malaysia?

For Utusan Malaysia or Umno politicians to ask questions like “What more do the Chinese want?” is really nothing new. This is the standard operating procedure whenever the BN is rejected by Chinese Malaysian voters. Never mind that Umno was rejected by Malay Malaysians in southern Johor, Selangor, Terengganu and pockets of Pahang and Malacca, or that there was also a moderate Kadazandusun swing.

Subconsciously for Umno, Chinese Malaysian voters are “guests” whose rights depend on Umno’s mercy rather than citizens with constitutional rights. Hence, the Chinese may negotiate with the BN on their demands, but their role in the elections is really as voting machines, at least one third of whom are meant to support the BN.

The rejection of Umno-BN by Chinese Malaysian voters is seen as a rejection of Malay Malaysians. In 1969, that and the MCA’s subsequent withdrawal from the new cabinet were seen as a sign of the Chinese challenging the Malays’ political dominance. This triggered the 13 May tragedy.

Najib’s attempt to ethnicise this election and his defence of Utusan Malaysia’s provocation means he has decided to throw his 1Malaysia brand out the window in a desperate move to seek the return of Malay Malaysian votes. He must have hoped that the Chinese could again be the convenient bogey, as in 1969 when that enabled his father, Tun Abdul Razak, to take power away from Tunku Abdul Rahman for himself.

Unfortunately, for Najib, this is 2013, not 1969. The threat of violence – from the dodgy bombing a few days before polling to the call for another 13 May by some quarters such as pro-Umno blogger Papagomo – has not worked.

On 8 May, reportedly 120,000 Malaysians – including teenagers – flooded the Kelana Jaya stadium to register their protest against election fraud. The mood was jovial and carnival-like. While Najib may think he has won the election, he may also have lost a generation. When youngsters start going to opposition political rallies as if they were going to dance parties, the BN government has been abandoned by the future.

Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has said his work is not done and held the 8 May rally at the Kelana Jaya Stadium to dispute the election results because of electoral fraud. The evidence shows that it is not a level playing field for the opposition and much electoral reform is still needed. However, would you say there is “electoral fraud”? And is holding another mass rally especially when there are rising racial tensions appropriate?

Fraud has clearly happened. The “reform” of postal votes left a substantial number of police and military voters on the postal ballot. It also added a substantial number of election workers as well as journalists as postal voters. Unlike advance voting, postal voting is completely non-transparent, which opens up the possibility of fraud.

A section of the turnout at Kelana Jaya Stadium. (Pic courtesy of Alexis Wong)

Then, the indelible ink, which the EC was said to have spent some RM10 million to purchase, turned out to be washable, making it impossible to prevent multiple voting or impersonation by police and security voters. Finally, the counting and tallying processes are questionable. Opposition polling and counting agents in certain constituencies were harassed or threatened, and, most importantly, denied the signed Form 14 which officially records the outcome of counting in a polling stream, also known as a saluran.

Without all these flaws, plus the rampant vote-buying through handouts, treating and outright bribery, before and during polling day, the BN could have won even less than 47% of the popular vote.

I think protest rallies are necessary to send a message that the people do not recognise the federal government’s legitimacy. Without such protests to make more people aware of the flaws and to pressure the BN to clean up the electoral system, history will repeat itself come GE14. As shown by the turnout on 8 May, the protest was national and representative of all walks of life. Those who tried to paint it as an ethnic issue must feel that they have been slapped by the peaceful protesters there.

What needs to happen next with regard to electoral reforms? How likely is that to happen?

We will need to reconsider changing the electoral system. If the seats are allocated in proportion to vote share, cheating by ways of impersonation and double voting will be much less attractive to the election criminals. Why? To increase one seat (0.45% of the size of Parliament) may require some 50,000 phantoms, which is clearly cost-inefficient.

More than ever before, Malaysians are now interested in revisiting the electoral system. If you leave electoral reform to the politicians, they will only pursue it when they are weak enough to worry about being a victim of the system, or when they are strong enough to mobilise public support to push for change. In the 1980s and 1990s for example, the opposition was simply too weak that they just dismissed the flaws in the system rather than advocate for change.

For electoral reforms to take place before GE14, we will need more citizens to speak up and force it on the agenda, at least on the PR’s agenda. Otherwise, GE14 would be the same story again. 

WITH its strong showing in the 13th general election since our independence (GE13), should the opposition leader come from the DAP? Will PAS continue with its calls for an Islamic state and hudud? And why didn’t Sabah and Sarawak deliver much-needed votes to the Pakatan Rakyat (PR)? Wong Chin Huat explains.

What does it mean that the DAP is now the strongest party in the opposition coalition? Should the opposition leader in Parliament then be somebody from the DAP?

Although the PR did not get to register itself formally as a coalition, it ran its GE13 campaign in that way. It should, therefore, act as one. The parliamentary opposition leader in the Westminster system is the prime-minister-in-waiting. Since the PR agreed that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim would be prime minister when it takes over, the opposition leader position should also go to Anwar.

There is also no reason to particularly fear the rise of a particular party. While the DAP is the largest party in the PR by parliamentary seats, its 38 seats is less than half of the PR’s 89 seats.

With PAS’s performance in GE13, what does this mean for the hardliners who want to establish an Islamic state and implement hudud?

PAS’s next congress or muktamar must indeed be watched. With the defeat of the party’s mainstreamers/moderates like Mohamad Sabu, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, Salahuddin Ayub and Datuk Husam Musa, the puritans/hardliners would likely push for the party to return to its advocacy of an Islamic state rather than a welfare state.

Umno will certainly exploit this to lure PAS’s hardliners in the name of religious unity. In 1974, Najib’s father managed to bring PAS into the BN. But within four years, PAS left with bitterness when it realised that Umno had been undermining its power base in Kelantan. Many PAS old-timers, including spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, will never allow PAS to rejoin the BN.

Why didn’t Sabah and Sarawak deliver the votes that were needed to help the PR secure Putrajaya?

For those who want change, the election outcome in Sabah and Sarawak was indeed disappointing. Despite the PR’s gains in seats particularly in Sarawak, it picked up only those seats from cities and towns, where the DAP performed tremendously well in the 2011 state elections. Unlike Sabah where at least one bumiputera-dominated seat changed hands, the opposition has failed to make any inroads into inland Sarawak.

Why didn’t Sabah and Sarawak voters vote against the BN despite the fiasco of the Sulu invasion of Lahad Datu, and the Global Witness expose of the land sale scandal involving Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud’s family and cronies? Poverty has made inland voters susceptible to vote-buying. Lack of resources further clipped the opposition’s campaign in these large states, where some constituencies are the size of a West Malaysian state. 

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Wong Chin Huat  is a political scientist by training and was a journalism lecturer prior to joining the Penang Institute, a Penang government think tank. If readers have questions and issues they would like Wong to respond to, they are welcome to e-mail editor@thenutgraph.com for our consideration.

13th General Elections- Malaysia's continued flawed democracy? It is right to fight on.

SARAWAK REPORT

Quite Right To Fight!

11 May 2013

Symbol of BN’s GE13 election ‘win’?

BN should not expect Pakatan Rakyat to take their version of GE13 lying down.

After all Pakatan represent the majority of the voters by a very substantial and convincing margin!

Even after all the jiggery pokery with the electoral register, the bus loads of phantom voters, the mysterious additional ballot boxes that arrived during re-counts, the double voting that excluded numerous rightful voters from being able to cast their ballots, Pakatan gained almost 8% more of the votes in Peninsular Malaysia.

53.29% compared to just 45.74% for BN .

Even when the despot votes from Taib and Musa Aman were chucked in from East Malaysia Najib roundly lost with only 46.8% compared to 50.8% of the electorate.

Malaysiakini’s figures from the Election Commission

So, it is quite preposterous for any police chief to suggest that they might arrest Pakatan leaders for ‘sedition’ for pointing this out.

Any such an arrest would in fact constitute the seditious act, as it would plainly undermine the wish of the popular majority of the state.

People have been threatened with ‘monitoring’ for wearing black!

Likewise, it is surely seditious for police to attempt to harass people for wearing black in protest over jerrymandering by an Electoral Commission, which was stripped of its independence by BN and now sits in the PM’s own offices with a primary duty to make sure BN wins for ever and ever and ever?

What a load of outrageous nonsense to start talking of arrests!

Protest is a democratic right

If BN want to make an expensive public show of running a civilised democracy with elections (and GE13 cost billions, if mainly in bribes) then they must needs put up with the other key trappings of democracy.

These include public demonstrations, protests, banners, free speech on public platforms and the right to wear black, yellow or what ever other form of apparel expresses the inner views of the individual.

People don’t usually give up their Saturday afternoons, unless there is something extremely important that they are concerned about, and governments are duty bound to listen if they do.

In return, the people are required to act in a restrained and non-disruptive manner that does not upset any of the rights of other fellow citizens. The orderly rally in a stadium on May 8th was a perfect example of just such a gathering.

Keep it up – BN could never get a crowd like this to support them!

There should be many more such public expressions of dissatisfaction to remind BN that they lost their legitimacy in this election and that reform of their gerrymandering devices is required immediately.  Contested seats should also be properly adjudicated.

Waste of energy?

People who are saying that more rallies and protests are a waste of time tend to be jaded observers of Malaysia’s recent past and the corruption of the country by Mahathir Mohamed.  They feel there is no point, since everything is a sham.

However, in practice they are asking people to give up on demanding their rights. And if the people do not stand up for themselves now, BN will move swiftly to oblige and with a huge sigh of relief.

If marchers stop turning out, their energy sapped by bleak cynicism, the losers in this election will go as far as they dare to try and ban any expression of the popular will by calling rallies ‘seditious’ or ‘unruly’ or whatever they like.  Some are already doing it.

Instead, BN should just get used to persistent if polite marches and rallies until they put their house in order and conduct clean and fair elections.

BN have lost their confidence, don’t let them regain it undeservedly

This decades old coalition has rightfully lost its confidence as a result of this election drubbing and the people should not permit BN to regain it or to tell themselves that they won the election after all.

BN did not win the election, they lost it fair and square and in the full glare of international publicity.

Some have fallen lamely back on talk of the US in 2000 being won by a minority vote, but that is nonsense too.  In 2000 it was sufficiently contentious that Bush was able to claim victory with .5% less of the popular vote.

In Malaysia in 2013 Najib gained 4% less of the popular vote than Anwar (after cheating) and 7.5% in Peninsular Malaysia.

Time moves on

So, giving up is not an option.

It is easy for people to become stuck in the past and to imagine that what happened before must always be.  In Europe the Berlin Wall was treated by many like a fact of life, as if it had always been there instead of just a few decades, like BN.

But in truth all empires collapse, everyone dies and nothing stays the same.  Therefore it is right that Malaysia’s young people should be active in determining a better future, rather than resigning themselves to more corruption and despotism.

Progress does happen when enough people put some effort into it.

And no one should under-estimate the sea-change that did take place in GE13, when a massive turnout swept away all BN’s efforts to manufacture the sort of wins they got away with in the past.

BN lost their legitimacy on May 5th

BN employed the full apparatus of the state into trying to ensure their win.  The media talked up their ‘victory’ unceasingly and refused to publicise Pakatan wins until they were ‘over-turned’ by numerous dubious re-counts.

The police were dragooned into escorting buses loaded with foreigners to election booths and state employees were bullied and pressured into voting for BN.

Yet, even so, to justify the figures the ballot box stuffers of the Election Commission were forced to announce an extraordinary and record breaking 80% turn out on the night, which next day they had to revise up to 85% to explain the numbers of votes that had apparently been forced into the various re-counts.

How could the turnout suddenly bounce up AFTER the election had been announced and yet other figures stay the same?

Think about it.  An 85% turnout in Malaysia?  This means that the extensively rural country with large numbers of very poor voters and around a million of its better off citizens unavailable abroad produced one of the highest turnouts in global election history!

42 seats more for BN, despite the less votes

Not even that explains the jiggery pokery behind the election commission’s figures, because even now their own figures still don’t tally.

The over all election vote, according to their separate figures was 27,403 more than the tally.

Does this mean 27,403 ‘spoilt votes’ on top of all the other outrageous jiggery poker?

Figures revised after the event!

27,403 spoilt votes is a very large number.  Especially when you look at the narrow margin of so many of BN’s wins, a good number of which over-turned original Pakatan wins after a recount.

According to our calculations, 5,827 votes represent the total majority of BN’s 10 most narrow wins!

20,067 represents the total BN majority in the most marginal 20 seats.  Another 3 seats come to 6,303 total majority, meaning that the number of spoilt votes alone exceeds the margin by which BN ‘won’ the election.

Individually, there has already been considerable evidence that in numerous seats the ‘spoiled votes’ outnumbered the BN majority by a considerable amount.

Analysis of BN’s election ‘win’ has only just begun, but the more that comes out the greater the smell

All this is virtually impossible for the shamed and embarrassed BN hierarchy to defend.  Who would want to be in their shoes day after day during the next Parliament when the majority leader (Anwar Ibrahim) challenges them on all these points and requires them to give way?

The problem BN faces is that time HAS ALREADY moved on and the crude practices that the likes of Mahathir could get away with as he sucked his country dry are no longer effective in a world of fast communications, video recorders and the internet all employed by an educated young population.

BN are already a museum piece, like North Korea.

Don’t let them re-group

Open secret – ‘hard man’ Muhyiddin has been waiting in the wings, to let the more popular Najib lead BN in the elections and then take over after blaming him for BN’s losses

The worst thing would be to allow the dreadful old has-beens of BN from the Mahathir era to think they can turn back the tide of that history and that all that is needed is a ‘crack-down’ under some kind of ‘hard chap’, like Muyhiddin Yassin.

There are people who think that by reversing what reforms have taken place in past years they can restore past ‘glories’.

Such small brains forget that the reforms were conceded under pressure in the first place and they imagine that Malaysia can return to be a backward museum of sham democracy where people like them can continue to enjoy ruling the roost.

But they need to realise that what small state dictators got away with in the Cold War era, when the eyes of the electronic age had yet to be switched on, is no longer possible.

In their hearts they admitted it when they accepted that they needed to keep the more moderate and tolerable Najib as their leader during the election, since only a small angry minority of voters prefer the aggressive Mr Muhyiddin.

The UMNO extremist hope now is to replace their front man, Najib, with their hard man Muhyiddin and then defy anyone to say they didn’t win the election fair and square!

‘Has been’ without dignity – past politicians should go and do something else useful and not try to keep meddling.

This is too crude, too public and too playground ridiculous to wash on the world stage.

This weekend the British PM meets the Russian PM to decide on how to collaborate on sorting out Syria.

This is no longer the Cold War era and no government wants to be seen openly supporting a thug and BN cannot reverse this election with a crackdown and expect it to pass unnoticed as before.

BN have got to find a more dignified way out of this mess they are in and concessions, reform and gracious acceptance of the present popular opinion is the only route forward.

It may mean they will soon be out of power for some years.  But, it gives them the chance to come back.  If they ‘crack down’, go backwards, fight and oppress the majority then they will write themselves out of Malaysia’s future and blacken their names forever in Malaysia’s history.

My Appeal , this 13th Malaysian General Elections / Rayuan Saya untuk Pilihanraya Umum Ke-13 Malaysia (Part 4 / 5)

[English version after Malay version]

Warga Malaysia yang dikasihi, 5 Mei 2013, hari di mana semua pengundi Malaysia akan menentukan pimpinan negara yang seterusnya. Terdapatnya 5 perkara yang kita semua patut teliti dengan sepenuh minda dan hati yang murni apabila kita mengundi pada 5 Mei (505).

Bahagian 4: Harmoni, tolenrasi dan kepercayaan diantara semua rakyat Malaysia tanpa mengira kaum dan agama

Seorang pemimpin yang inginkan kuasa untuk penyelewangan akan memecah-belahkan rakyat dan seorang pemimpin yang inginkan kuasa untuk berkhidmat akan menyatukan rakyat. Sejak kebelakangan ini rakyat Malaysia telah dibubuh pemikiran cetek untuk memainkan perasaan ekstrem kebencian, tidak harmoni diantara kaum dan agama. Malaysia adalah sebuah Negara berbilang kaum dengan melayu-islam menjadi majority lebih daripada 60% di kalangan rakyat Malaysia. Pemimpin yang bermasalah, demi untuk mengekalkan kuasa telah menggunakan strategi “pecah dan perintah” dikalangan rakyat Malaysia.

…di samping menyemaikan ketidakpercayaan dan syak-wasangka diantara masyarakat dan agama. Parti komponen yang berbeza dalam barisan yang sama telah memainkan isu kebencian diantara masyarakat dengan parti MCA dalam Barisan Nasional yang terus menghina undang undang Islam dan nilai-nilai Negara berkebajikan yang berlandaskan Islam yang diperjuangkan oleh PAS (satu ahli dalam Pakatan Rakyat) di kalangan kaum cina. Sementara pada waktu yang sama, parti UMNO dan rakan seperjuangan PERKASA dalam Barisan Nasional menaburkan sentiment ekstrem dan penghinaan pada bangsa dan agama lain di kalangan kaum melayu  jika masyarakat melayu menyokong  ahli Pakatan Rakyat yang lain seperti DAP dan PKR.

Protest terhadap pembinaan kuil Hindu di Shah Alam oleh Kerajaan Selangor Pakatan Rakyat. (Protest against the building of an Hindu temple in Shah Alam by Pakatan Rakyat Selangor State Government)

Protest terhadap pemimpin DAP Lim Kit Siang dan Lim Guan Eng yang juga merupakan Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang (Protest against DAP leaders Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng who is also the Chief Minister of the Penang State Government)

Protest terhadap pemimpin BERSIH Ambiga Sreenevasan yang memperjuangkan pilihan raya yang bersih dan adil. (Protest against BERSIH leader Ambiga Sreenevasan who fight for clean and fair elections in Malaysia)

Protest dan kencing atas gambar pemimpin Islam PAS (Protest by urinating on the potrait of PAS Muslim leader and spiritual leader)

Bahan kempen pilihanraya yang menyamakan pemimpin PAS Nik Aziz seperti babi (Election campaign material that equates PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz as swine)

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My fellow Malaysian brothers and sisters,  5th May 2013, a day when all Malaysian voters determine the next leadership of our nation. There are 5 issues that we can all ponder on with our mind, heart and conscience when casting our votes this 5th May (505).

Part 4: Harmony, tolerance and trust between all Malaysians regardless of race and religion

A leader who wants power to abuse will divide the people and a leader who wants power to serve will unite the people. Malaysians of late have been sowed with seeds of hatred, racial disharmony and fed with extreme racial and religious sentiments. Malaysia is multiracial nation with muslim-malay made up a majority of over 60% of the country’s population.  It seemed that tainted leaders who are on the brink losing power continue to resort to “divide and conquer” strategy.

…sowing mistrust between communities and religions.  Different parties in the same coalition incite hatred between communities with one party (namely MCA) in Barisan Nasional insulting Islamic laws and Islamic view of welfare/benevolent  state as suggested by PAS  (a member of Pakatan Rakyat) among chinese communities while another party (namely UMNO and ally Perkasa) in Barisan Nasional inciting distrust and insults on other religions among muslim-malay communities if they support other Pakatan Rakyat members of DAP and PKR.

Amaran terhadap mengundi (PAS) Pakatan Rakyat yang akan merosakkan bangsa dengan sembahyang di gereja, sekaligus menghina agama Kristian yang akan menghancurkan negara. (Warning against voting for (PAS) Pakatan Rakyat which will destroy the nation, religion and race by seeing future generations praying in churches, thus insulting the Christian faith of destroying the country)

Amaran terhadap mengundi (DAP) Pakatan Rakyat yang  akan  mengadai hak bukan  bukan-Islam di Johor seperti di Kelantan, dimana MCA/ BN menuduh rakyat Kelantan yang 95% terdiri Melayu memilih kerajaan negeri diterajui PAS untuk menindas orang bukan Islam sekaligus menghina nilai-nilai Islam. (Warning against voting for (DAP) Pakatan Rakyat which will turn Johor into another Kelantan, where MCA/BN accuse the people of Kelatan whom 95% are muslim-Malay of electing a state government led by PAS to oppress the non-muslim there, thus insulting Islamic values in the state.

_________________________________________________________________

Undillah untuk MENOLAK parti satu kaum UMNO, MCA, MIC dan kawan-ekstrem PERKASA (Barisan Nasional) yang memecah-belahkan rakyat Malaysia.(Vote against a race-based party of UMNO, MCA, MIC and ally-extremist PERKASA (Barisan Nasional) who divides the races and conquer Malaysians)

Undilah untuk parti DAP, PAS dan PKR (Pakatan Rakyat) yang berbilang kaum.

(Vote for a multi-racial party of DAP, PAS and PKR (Pakatan Rakyat) who unites all Malaysians)

Undi untuk Ubah

Vote for change

Joshua

Vote for Pakatan Rakyat where its ethnic-chinese leader asks Malaysians to fulfill the dreams of a great Malay leader, Dato Onn Jaffar who once dream on a multi-racial political party. Where Malaysians from different background will proudly called themselves Malaysian first and last.

[Malay] 2006, Najib kata: Hentikan budaya "hulur"/ "handout" jika mahu masyarakat yang cemerlang

Stop handout culture if you want community to excel, Najib says

Petikan daripada The Star pada 21 Ogos 2006

TANGKAK: “Orang Melayu perlu menghentikan budaya hulur jikalau mereka inginkan masyarakat mereka menjadi berjaya dan dihormati” kata, Timbalan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Kalau sesiapa yang mengamalkan budaya sebegini menjadi pemimpin dalam parti, ini akan mengakibatkan UMNO yang lemah, beliau memberitahu delegasi di mesyuarat cawangan UMNO Ledang semalam.

Najib berkata demikian merujukkan kepada tanggapan popular bahawa memberi bayaran adalah satu cara untuk mendapatkan sokongan.

“Budaya hulur, sebagai cara untuk meraih sokongan, tidak akan menolong Melayu menjadi satu masyarakat yang berwibawa”, kata Najib.

-----------------------------------------------

Monday 21 August 2006

TANGKAK: The Malays have to stop the hulur (handout) culture if they want their community to be one that is excellent and respectable, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

If those who practise such culture become leaders in the party, it would lead to a weak Umno, he told delegates at the Ledang Umno division meeting here yesterday.

Najib said this in reference to a popular notion that a way to lobby for support is to give below-the-counter payments.

“The hulur culture, as a means to lobby for favours, will not help the Malays become an excellent community,” said Najib.

“Our political struggles in Umno are far from over. We must continue the struggles for the sake of the Malays, the nation and Islam,” he said.

Najib said Umno did not struggle for the Malays to become mat rempit (illegal street racers) or to have HIV but to excel in politics, economy, education and other fields.

On Malaysian forces serving in Lebanon, Najib, who is Defence Minister, said they would carry out their duties according to the United Nations mission and directives.

“We have sent troops before to serve under the UN such as in Bosnia and we will do as directed by the UN,” he added.

At another function, Najib said due importance to knowledge and technology would make the Malays a successful and powerful race.

“Times have changed. Wealth and riches no longer come with having land grants,” he said when opening the Muar Umno delegates conference.

Citing Bill Gates as an example, Najib said he became the world’s richest man and powerful because of technology.

“He is so powerful that he can invite the president of China to visit his house in the United States.

“He uses his brain and mind to develop the information technology needed for the computer system,” he added.

Najib, who is Umno deputy president, said the Govern- ment’s policy was for every child to be given at least 11 years of education but there were still those who dropped out from school in Year Four or Year Five.

He said education was important and the Malays should continue their quest for greater knowledge, including in technology.

“We in Umno cannot just shout the words Hidup Melayu or Hidup Umno to become strong as they are only slogans.”

source: The Star Online

Who do you vote for in the 13GE in Malaysia?

The 13th General Elections of Malaysia is about 7 days away. What are the main issues concerning the voters? Is it local issues like the road conditions, drainage system, community events...etc OR national issues like corruption, leakages, national development policies, economic management...etc? There are three groups of voters:

1. To some voters that I spoke to, they believe that the current incumbent Barisan Nasional (BN) government has brought development like businesses and schools in their area and those reasons are enough to provide BN another mandate of 5 years on top of 55 years being in power despite the grand abuse of public fund like the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) Cow-Condominium scandal, Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal...etc. These group of voters believe that physical development, job opportunities and direct cash handout to the low-income earners surpasses the gross corrupt scandals involved. In other words, as long as the government give them something, it doesn't matter how much public fund was used to buy those things, then they will keep voting for that kind of government.
2. To other voters that I spoke to, they believe that any government mandated by the people should bring development that is sustainable (to nature and future generations), accountable (involving public feedback and extensive impact assessment on the socio-economic perspective), transparent (open tender, public accessible information relating to usage of public fund)...etc.These group of voters are usually exposed to alternative information like the online news portal or social network apart to what is provided by the main-stream media.
3. And interestingly, there is still a substantial amount of voters believe that as long as an elected representative whether as Member of Parliament or State Assemblymen can ensure proper drainage, proper rubbish collection and disposal, ability to direct local councils, smooth road pavement on major roads and school will be re-elected regardless of national issues involving the ruling coalition that the he/she represents. In other words, they don't mind what their elected representatives do or speak at the Parliament and State Assembly as long as they can direct the local councils to fix their road and unclog their drain.

So which voter group do you belong to?

You want a Member of Parliament that can bring local development regardless of possible abuse of public fund and cronyism?

OR a Member of Parliament that can bring sustainable, accountable and meaningful development and speak up for you in National Policies and Economic Management at National level?

OR a Member of Parliament that ensure proper drainage, road pavement and rubbish disposal in your area regardless of what other thing she/he does for you in the Parliament at National level?

Ubah Sekarang! Bersihkan Malaysia!

Joshua

[Malay] 2008- BN: Pakatan Rakyat akan bangkrapkan Selangor jika ber air percuma, sekarang 2013, sudahkah Selangor bangkrap?

Barisan Nasional menuduh bahawa dasar air percuma 20m3 akan membankrapkan Selangor. Tetapi selepas 5 tahun dengan pemberian subsidi sebanyak RM650 juta kepada rakyat, Selangor bukan sahaja tidak bankrap, kewangan negeri telah menjadi lebih dan peningkatan ketara berbanding kerajaan dulu di bawah UMNO Barisan Nasional BN menyeleweng wang rakyat semasa pemerintahanya. Pakatan memulangkan hasil kekayaan negeri kepada rakyat.

Anda pilih siapa?

Kerajaan Selangor mampu memberikan subsidi sebanyak RM130 juta setiap tahun kepada rakyat Selangor tanpa membebankan kewangan kerajaan. Malah, kerajaan Selangor telah mencapai rekod lebihan bajet sebanyak RM180 juta pada tahun 2012.

Pencapaian cemerlang ini hanya terjadi kerana pimpinan Pakatan yang jujur dan telus. Projek kerajaan dibuat secara tender terbuka, projek yang membazirkan dibatalkan dan hutang kroni dikutip sepenuhnya.

Selain daripada air percuma, Selangor juga melaksanakan Skim Mesra Usia Emas, peruntukan tetap untuk sekolah-sekolah yang dipinggirkan oleh kerajaan pusat, Tabung Warisan Anak Selangor, Hadiah Anak Masuk Universiti, Skim Mikrokredit dan lain-lain program kemasyarakatan dan kebajikan. Skim-skim ini merupakan skim baru membantu rakyat Selangor yang tidak pernah dijalankan oleh kerajaan BN.

Kerajaan Pakatan telah membuktikan kemantapan pentadbiran dan pengurusan kewangan negeri, dan menunjukkan bahawa rakyat akan bermanfaat besar jika kerajaan tidak rasuah dan bazir seperti zaman BN.

Ubah Sekarang, Bersihkan Malaysia!

UNDI UNTUK "UBAH"

UNDI PAKATAN RAKYAT

Barisan Nasional's Janji Ditepati 2.0.7- An overprice policy using public fund

Di bawah pemerintahan Barisan Nasional, kita kena bayar lebih untuk segala-galanya! Kita ada penyelewengan dalam pembelian skru yang berharga RM32 dibeli dengan harga mencecah RM224 dan jack kereta yang bernilai RM50 dibeli pada harga RM5,700. Menurut laporan audit Negara, pada tahun 2011 , jabatan taman laut telah membeli teropong yang harga sebenar tidak melebihi RM1,940, tetapi telah dibeli dengan harga yang melebihi harga pasaran sebanyak 28 kali ganda iaitu RM56,350. Bukan itu sahaja, malah jabatan juga membeli barangan kegunaan jabatan seperti komputer riba, mesin pencetak,LCD TV, DVD yang harganya mencecah RM192,694 walaupun kesemua barang ini boleh didapati dengan harga yang tidak melebihi RM20,193. 

Tambahan pula, pegawai penyelia yang terlibat dalam kes ini hanya diberi surat teguran sahaja sebelum kes ini ditutup. Kesemua ini merupakan satu kelemahan dalam proses perolehan dan ia seharusnya tidak berlaku jika mengikut piawaian yang betul seperti tender terbuka. 

Ubah Sekarang, Bersihkan Malaysia!