Jumaat, 23 November 2012

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Will PR become the proverbial rabbit?

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 04:21 PM PST

Based on this, I think it is possible for Pakatan Rakyat to win the next general election in Malaysia, given that majority of the Chinese will vote for the opposition. What is needed is to make certain that the majority of Indian votes go to PR. Most of the Malay votes (my estimate is over 60 per cent) — the Malays form the biggest ethnic group in the country — will be for BN.

Dr Hsu Dar Ren, The Malaysian Insider

As the end of the year approaches, there is still no sign of any election being called. Now it looks like the general election (GE) will only be held after  the automatic dissolution of our Parliament in late April 2013. Another possible date is perhaps March 2013.

Malaysia's political landscape cannot be more different from that of the United States. Yet the recent presidential election there reinforces one important fact. That even if a person or a party cannot win the majority of the biggest ethnic group, the person or the party can still win the election by winning an overwhelming majority of the minorities.

President Barack Obama won because of the votes of the minorities. He carried almost 93 per cent of the African-American votes, over 70 per cent of the Asian and Hispanic votes, but got only 39 per cent of the votes of the White majority. In contrast, his opponent won the majority of the white votes at around 59 per cent but still lost the election.

Based on this, I think it is possible for Pakatan Rakyat to win the next general election in Malaysia, given that majority of the Chinese will vote for the opposition. What is needed is to make certain that the majority of Indian votes go to PR. Most of the Malay votes (my estimate is over 60 per cent) — the Malays form the biggest ethnic group in the country — will be for BN.

Bearing this in mind, I think it is politically unwise for PAS members to publicly suggest that should PR win their party president should be made the prime minister.

The support among the Chinese and Indian Malaysians for PR should not be taken for granted. One of the reasons for the level of support shown is that many of these people believe that even if PR comes into power with little government experience, it has at least a very experienced leader in Anwar Ibrahim and he can be accepted by all the ethnic groups.

While many Chinese had no qualms about voting for PAS candidates in the last election, it was because they supported a coalition in which PAS is only an equal partner and not the dominant one that would head the group. If the PAS president is to be the next PM, PAS would be perceived to be the dominant force inside the coalition, a prospect which may not be unlike that of BN having Umno as the dominant force. If that is the case, expect fewer of these people to support PAS in the next election, thus weakening the prospect of PR forming the next government. 

PKR, on the other hand, is seen to be more moderate and multiracial. As such, its leader Anwar would have much more appeal and would be better accepted by all groups.

Those PAS members reminded me of the Taiping Rebellion of China in which a rebellious group which started as a reform group against the Qing Dynasty degenerated into a group of leaders fighting more for the spoils of war rather than the cause, when that war was not even half won.

I suggest that PAS members put more effort into winning the votes rather than harping on about who should be the PM. By doing so, they are actually doing a favour for BN; a situation akin to shooting one's own foot.

I think generally PR should not be too complacent at this stage. By all indications, they have a chance to win, but the prospect is still an uphill battle, even though the uphill slope now is not as steep as before.

Remember the story of the tortoise and the rabbit. The rabbit, while on the way to victory, became too complacent and thus lost the race to the humble tortoise.

This is a lesson which PAS members as well as their president should take to their hearts if they do not want PR to become the proverbial rabbit.

 

Nothing will compare to GE13

Posted: 21 Nov 2012 02:31 PM PST

The 13th general election will be historical and a pale comparison to the 1948 Emergency, Merdeka, May 13 and even the 2008 polls.

It will be remembered not because it was the election that resulted in the defeat of Umno or any other political party, but for the fact that the "sleeping giant", that is the Malaysian public, had finally been awakened from its long slumber by the antics of a failed BN government.

CT Ali, FMT

There are not many of us left who saw the beginning of the Emergency declared in June 1948 when the Malayan Communist Party murdered those three estate managers in Perak and the end of that Emergency in 1960.

A few more of us were there with Tunku Abdul Rahman in Merdeka Stadium when he declared Merdeka on Aug 31, 1957.

Many of us remembered the 1962-1966 Konfrontasi with Indonesia for Sukarno's promise to "crush Malaysia" – it was a minor hiccup between old friends quickly settled.

May 13, 1969, however, is too recent an event for too many of us to forget. We know now that lessons learned during those terrible times have been noted by many of us but not by our government.

Then came the 12th general election just a few years ago and we thought that would have been a watershed for this Umno-led Barisan Nasional government to change and be the change that the people had demanded.

But 2012 came and we now know that this BN government will not and cannot change even if their political life depended on them doing so.

For those of us who saw the end of the Emergency, who were with the Tunku at the Merdeka Stadium, who endured Konfrontasi with Indonesia and lived through the horrors of May 13 and then saw the awakening of that sleeping giant – Malaysian public – at the 12th general election, let me tell you that none of what we witness thus far will compare to the 13th general election.

I can tell you all that all of those times will pale in comparison against what we are to witness in this 13th general election.

And many years from now, just as I am telling you all about what I have witnessed in my lifetime, you too will tell all who will listen to you that you lived through the 13th general election and you saw the people of this nation unite, became one in their desire for change and made that change happened at the 13th general election… and you lived through it all.

Living in interesting times

You saw the end of the BN government. You saw the best thing that has ever happened to our country, to our people and for the future of our children – the end of a corrupt, arrogant and irresponsible government.

These are interesting times that we live in now.

There will be some among us that will rue these last few years as the harbinger of doom for the Malays, for Islam and for a Malaysia as we know it now because the Malays deserted Umno for Pakatan Rakyat.

Deserted Umno because the Malays were seduced into believing that Pakatan could lead the Malays to a greater good by giving up Ketuanan Melayu for the privilege of being one with the other people of Malaysia.

If you hear them say so, then you must tell them that the Malays did not give up anything for that privilege – they earned that privilege themselves by voting for Pakatan, not Umno.

Umno failed the Malays in so many ways and yet the Malays were forgiving of Umno until Najib Tun Razak allowed even the prostituting of Felda – the same Felda that his late father worked so tirelessly to make a success of.

Najib used that same Felda not for the benefit of the Malays that were within Felda but for the benefits of those within Umno when he allowed the listing of Felda Global Ventures. Najib lost many Malay votes for doing so.

There will be others within Umno who will blame PAS for contributing to the decline of Islam by being in a coalition with Pakatan when PAS should have stood together with Umno to defend Islam against the infidels who preached apostate to the Muslims and seek to convert them to the ways of the Christians.

If you hear them speak in that manner, then you as a Muslim must tell them that Islam has never been stronger nor had it ever had a stronger presence within the Malays and in this nation as it had now.

Umno has shamed Islam

Islam is the religion of this nation and Islam teaches us not to be corrupt, not to be arrogant and not to pursue greed in the manner that Umno has become accustomed to.

So it is Umno, not PAS or the Malays, that has shamed Islam and caused its decline.

For most of us, this 13th general election will be remembered most for what it will do for the future of our nation.

It will be remembered not because it was the election that resulted in the defeat of Umno or any other political party, but for the fact that the "sleeping giant", that is the Malaysian public, had finally been awakened from its long slumber by the antics of a failed BN government.

Once stirred awake the Malaysian public will not rest until the BN government is made to understand that a quiet Malaysian public does not mean that it is showing respect to Umno or to its coalition partners in BN. Respect is earned.

READ MORE HERE

 

Treat every victim equally

Posted: 21 Nov 2012 11:41 AM PST

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPbyvemEiXoUJbqYZN9fOjWJ9QSWVUJi4DWEI-IJjD9aAhsehyphenhyphen1SnFs4ZeoFmp9jjehfb6s6_j54JDSTfqjtr7XTXLVB7sJgSbqIcQOHSP8RfeolH3I-xnB53F3ZuOtx7_AJe8ehNSOUw/s1600/marina+mahathir.jpg 

Do we only care when Muslims are attacked and not when people of other faiths face the same oppression? 

We should all, regardless of religion, protest at every act of aggression towards anyone because only then can we have any credibility.

Marina Mahathir 

AS conflict once again erupts in Palestine, I am confronted with questions about our responses to the conflict. Why is it that Malaysian Muslims are always quick to condemn Israeli aggression in Palestine, especially towards Gaza and slow to condemn similar aggression elsewhere?

It's a question well worth thinking about. Why have we been quick to voice loud protests about Palestine and begin fund-raising for relief work there, and so much slower to condemn the aggressors in the Syrian conflict, or in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and many other countries in the world?

Do we only care when Muslims are attacked and not when people of other faiths face the same oppression?

Palestine has perhaps a special place in the hearts of Muslims because of the position of Jerusalem as the third most important city for us after Mecca and Medina. It's also probably the longest ongoing conflict in the world and regularly features in the news.

Whether you sympathise or not, you cannot escape news about Palestine, most of which is violent and depressing.

But the most misunderstood thing about the Palestinian conflict, by both Muslims and non-Muslims, is that it is a religious war. Many people tend to forget that Palestinians are not all Muslims.

About 4% of Palestinians living mostly in the West Bank and 10% of those living in Israel are Christian. They make up about 1% of the population of Gaza.

The majority of Christian Palestinians, however, now live outside Palestine because, like their Muslim neighbours, they were forced to emigrate and into refugee camps when their lands were given to Israel in 1948. Many people do not realise for example, that Dr Hanan Ashrawy, the articulate spokesman for the late Yasser Arafat, is in fact a Christian.

That fact, that in 1948 Palestinians were forced out of their land by an exodus of Jews from Europe, is essentially what the conflict is all about. If immigrants from elsewhere take over land from people who have lived there for thousands of years, then it is bound to create conflict.

Most conflicts around the world are about land and space, rather than about faith. And when that original source of conflict is further exacerbated by more grabbing of land as well as other forms of discrimination in education, housing and jobs, then the conflict will not only continue but will escalate.

When we look at things this way, then we can see the same pattern in other parts of the world. In places like Kashmir, southern Thailand, Sri Lanka, southern Philippines, the roots of conflict are similar.

In Africa, colonial-era division of land cuts across traditional tribal lands, making people of the same tribes citizens of different countries.

The most useful way to look at these conflicts is to view them from a human rights angle. If a wrong is perpetuated on one people, then it must also hold true for all others. Therefore, if we show support for Palestinians because their land has been taken away from them, then we must surely show support for all other people whose lands have been taken away from them.

At the same time, if we show support for all other people who are subjected to violence from far superior forces, then we must surely show support for the Gazans right now, facing daily pummeling from Israeli jets and drones.

And unless we truly believe that all people should face such violence by doing absolutely nothing, then we should look with some sympathy at those who throw rocks and dispatch rockets in retaliation against much superior firepower.

The point is that there cannot be double standards on human rights. The support for Palestine from Muslims comes at least partly from a belief that nobody else cares about them. As the many demonstrations around the world show, this is not true.

There are Israelis and non-Zionist Jews who have protested against the attacks on Gaza. But we should all, regardless of religion, protest at every act of aggression towards anyone because only then can we have any credibility.

Thus while we might protest about American drones killing civilians in Afghanistan, we should also protest at the attempted murder of a teenage Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai, for simply wanting to go to school.

What is more, we should be offering solutions for lasting peace, instead of complaining and shouting slogans that we know ultimately will do little beyond making us feel good.

How does it help the Gazans if we go and burn a few foreign flags and then go off to gossip about local politics at the nearest nasi lemak stall?

 

Who's going to be our alternative PM?

Posted: 20 Nov 2012 08:38 PM PST

Under the Westminster-style political system, different political parties can forge an alliance and form the government, but then such an alliance must have an explicit shadow prime minister and a set of mutually agreed policies, which must be laid bare in front of the voters before the election.

Tay Tian Yan, Sin Chew Daily

Before a voter casts his ballot, he has to first find out what will happen after he drops the paper into the ballot box.

No one is willing to cast his vote without a clear picture in his head, and then surrenders his fate to the Almighty.

For example, if he is inclined to vote for Pakatan, he has to find out who will the Pakatan administration's prime minister be, if the opposition pact were to win the general election. Will he be Anwar Ibrahim or Hadi Awang?

He also wants to know what Pakatan's core policies are. Is it going to go ahead with the hudud law?

Unfortunately, Pakatan's leaders do not seem to visualise this.

The PAS congress wanted Hadi to be the prime minister. Hadi said, "It doesn't really matter whether I am the prime minister or a fisherman."

He somewhat changed his tone the following day, "The proposal is welcome. It's going to be awesome becoming the PM!"

Whether he prefers to be a fisherman or PM, Hadi has to get his mind set. Well, to be a fisherman, Hadi has the whole boundless sea to himself but to be a PM, he will have the destiny of 28 million Malaysians tied to him, not a job that he should consider based on his mood or the 'feel good" factor.

Lim Guan Eng meanwhile responded to the proposal: "DAP is not agreeable to the proposal. We want Anwar to be our PM."

And then Anwar said, "I have no problem having Hadi as our PM."

Someone concluded, "Let the leader of the party winning the most seats be the PM." So, DAP has the chance!

Theoretically, a party that clinches more than 38 seats will easily become the biggest component in the Pakatan government.

The choice of PM is not a small matter that anyone can trifle with. It will very much spell the destination of the voters' ballots, and most probably the future of Pakatan Rakyat.

Anwar Ibrahim, Hadi Awang or Lim Kit Siang. To different voters, this couldn't have been a more difficult choice.

If Anwar is chosen as the PM-in-waiting but then it is Hadi that later takes the helm, the consequences could be grave.

In a similar manner, the implementation or non-implementation of hudud law could also be galaxies away for conservative Muslims, liberal Muslims and non-Muslims.

Calls for hudud law resonated in the recent PAS congress. Hadi said, "The hudud law is never stalled. Everything will go according to democratic procedures."

DAP rushed to put out the fire: "Stay calm! This is not going to happen!"

This puts the voters in a dilemma. Hudud or no hudud, get the thing straight! It's better to get the true picture before the election than swallowing the consequences later.

Moreover, with more and more non-Muslims now lending their support to the hudud law, there is no need for such secretiveness.

For the sake of Pakatan Rakyat so that its alternative administration line-up would win the faith of voters, it is absolutely necessary for the opposition pact to get two things clear: Who is your choice of PM? Are your policies consistent and persistent?

On top of that, Pakatan has to also make sure that it really has in place a comprehensive and binding mechanism to choose a capable and acceptable prime minister to implement open and moderate policies.

Under the Westminster-style political system, different political parties can forge an alliance and form the government, but then such an alliance must have an explicit shadow prime minister and a set of mutually agreed policies, which must be laid bare in front of the voters before the election.

This is the most fundamental obligation political parties or alliances have towards the voters.

 

Too big for its britches

Posted: 20 Nov 2012 11:24 AM PST

http://imageshack.us/a/img5/8418/muktamarpas58.jpg 

In observing the mood of the PAS delegates at the recent general assembly, one can't help but feel that if PAS were to do well in the polls, it would indeed demand for Hadi Awang to become the prime minister. And as I mentioned earlier, I suspect this is not something most supporters of PR, especially the non-Muslims and the progressive Muslims, would be comfortable with. 

Oon Yeoh, The Sun

I'VE OFTEN said that Barisan Nasional is its own worst enemy. Time and again, it has shown a remarkable deftness in shooting own goals. But BN has no monopoly on damaging itself. Like BN, Pakatan Rakyat is often its own worst enemy. The issue that consistently trips it up is hudud.

The scenario is familiar. Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would challenge PAS on the issue of hudud. PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz would declare it's the party's goal to implement hudud. DAP chairman Karpal Singh would say, "Over my dead body" or something to that effect. Meanwhile, PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim would dither and say something that's neither here nor there.

The way this plays out over and over again, like a broken record, is farcical. And so, I expected to see another round of it during the 58th PAS Muktamar in Kota Baru. Surely, hudud is going to be the hot topic.

But I was wrong. The big news is that PAS wants its president Hadi Awang to become the prime minister should Pakatan Rakyat win the general election. This caught everyone off guard because until then, nobody had ever mooted that notion.

All along, it was generally assumed that PR's prime-minister-in-waiting was Anwar. This latest development could be cause for concern for non-Muslims and moderate Muslims alike, who until now threw their support behind PR because they assumed it would be led by Anwar.

Would those same people vote for PR if the prospective prime minister is Hadi Awang? I've got no surveys to back me up on this but I'm pretty sure if Anwar was not available, such voters would much rather have Lim Guan Eng as prime minister.

The thing is, DAP is not pushing for Lim to become the prime minister. Lim himself has said that he is "not qualified" to become prime minister, despite the fact that DAP has the biggest number of MPs in Parliament and that Lim is widely admired for his stewardship of Penang.

If DAP is not pushing for its leader to helm the top spot in a PR government, why is PAS doing so?

If the argument is that PAS is an absolutely critical component of PR, and that the coalition cannot possibly capture Putrajaya without it, the same can also be said of DAP and PKR. The truth is, all three parties need each other if they hope to take over the federal government.

The answer quite simply, is that PAS has a tendency to become too big for its britches. It exhibited such behaviour after the 1999 General Election, where it did quite well, and now it's exhibiting such tendencies again.

In observing the mood of the PAS delegates at the recent general assembly, one can't help but feel that if PAS were to do well in the polls, it would indeed demand for Hadi Awang to become the prime minister. And as I mentioned earlier, I suspect this is not something most supporters of PR, especially the non-Muslims and the progressive Muslims, would be comfortable with.

In a scenario where PR wins the general election, the best configuration would be to have a similar kind of win ratio that the three parties currently have. That is, a situation where DAP has the most number of MPs, followed by PKR in second place and PAS third.

That way, DAP, as the numerically-dominant party, can give way to PKR and support Anwar as the leader of the coalition (as it does now). Meanwhile, PAS, in third place, would not be in a position to insist that it should have everything its way.

What about PKR as the dominant party, with DAP second and PAS third? That's still a better configuration than having PAS in the top position, but it would allow PKR to become overly dominant in much the way that Umno is dominant in the BN. Look at what has become of MCA and MIC in such a scenario.

So, if PR were to win power, it should be with roughly the same ratio of MPs as is the case now otherwise those who voted for PR could be in for a rude shock. 

 

Divided PAS spells trouble for Pakatan

Posted: 19 Nov 2012 02:29 PM PST

PAS has been 'penetrated' by elements with 'foreign' ideologies while its only 'national' policy is the implementation of hudud in Malaysia. 

Which ever way Pakatan is heading, there is one obvious element: the loose coalition is experiencing the hardships of building and creating a true "rainbow" union. And this is probably due to the resistance within the Pakatan coalition itself, while the Barisan National hard-hitting "pro-Malay" campaigns could be an added disincentive.

Ali Cordoba, FMT

Is PAS in a riddle? Or has it turned into a "maze-runner", lost in a battlefield where survival is only for the fittest?

The fact remains that rise of the "extremist" voices within PAS is a negative element for Pakatan Rakyat.

These are only two of the major woes of the Pakatan opposition, which is on a historic march to conquer Putrajaya. However, this path is rigged with troubles, which Pakatan is expected to quash well before the next general election.

Which ever way Pakatan is heading, there is one obvious element: the loose coalition is experiencing the hardships of building and creating a true "rainbow" union. And this is probably due to the resistance within the Pakatan coalition itself, while the Barisan National hard-hitting "pro-Malay" campaigns could be an added disincentive.

The hardships faced by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim to build a "rainbow" coalition will surely haunt the new regime in Putrajaya, but once victory is achieved, it is certain Pakatan will overcome these woes and impose itself.

While the division within PAS reflects the division among the Malay-Muslim majority in Malaysia, the DAP is enjoying the support of a large majority of the Chinese community. This is creating an imbalance that has given more room to the BN to feel cozy in its "Malay First" diatribes.

And this is a significant observation since Pakatan needs a majority of the Malay community to win the 13th general election, but it has an agenda that does not satisfy half of PAS.

And by extension this agenda does not satisfy a section of the Malays altogether, but it has cemented the second largest community's – the Chinese community – support for Pakatan.

A divided PAS

PAS today is an embarrassment with the divided leadership and this shows how PAS is a divided party from the top to its grassroots level. The division within the PAS reflects a "maligned" situation that clashes with the agenda set by Pakatan, that is, a fair, just and equitable Malaysia.

Does PAS really have to bring the support of the "extreme" right Malays to impose its views in Pakatan or is the party going to be more comfortable within the BN, divided as it is?

It is clear that PAS is plagued by the fact that it is a "state-based party" (jaguh kampung) with a largely divided leadership on both political and religious issues. PAS has also been "penetrated" by elements with "foreign" ideologies while its only "national" policy is the implementation of Islamic laws in Malaysia.

Its clashes with Pakatan's agenda for concrete changes in Malaysia can be a turn-off to a fringe of the "non-Muslim" voters if the issue is pressed upon by the "divided" PAS leadership.

It is clear at this stage that the Pakatan leadership does not want to get involved in the morass created by the "Malay" supremacy claims, which is apparently getting some support from pro-Umno PAS leaders.

Would it be to Pakatan's advantage to deal a direct blow to the group of "ultras" within its ranks? Or should Pakatan wait until the election is over to impose its will?

The fear of losing may have bogged down the Pakatan leadership in its decision-making process, with regard to the sensitivity of Malay-Muslim voters. This hesitation to decide on the "ultras" will have a negative effect on Pakatan.

It will cause a large number of the voters on the fence to either decide to continue voting for the BN or to abstain in the election.

PAS will have to take the blame for this failure to win the hearts and minds of the fence-sitters. The vote bank of the fence-sitting Malaysians will be crucial to win more seats for Pakatan and defeat the BN.

It will be a double jeopardy to Pakatan in the end since a divided PAS leadership, giving the wrong signal to the population, is not the only problem it is facing while a hesitant Pakatan will not convince the undecided voters.

READ MORE HERE

 

To PAS: Whither your direction?

Posted: 19 Nov 2012 01:58 PM PST

http://imageshack.us/a/img5/8418/muktamarpas58.jpg 

Kim Quek 

 

The just ended PAS annual general conference (Muktamar) has landed Pakatan Rakyat into trouble waters again. What started off on the right footing with Hadi Awang's presidential address that reflects PAS as a matured partner in solidarity and harmony with Pakatan Rakyat in hot pursuit of Putrajaya has ended in near disaster.

 

On the first day of the main conference on Friday,Nov 16, Hadi gave much cheers to the entire Pakatan Rakyat alliance and its supporters with a speech that hammers on common agenda and and centered on issues conducive to winning the electoral battle ahead. Even delegates debating Hadi's speech largely skirted the controversial issues of Hudud and Islamic State that could potentially disrupt unity within the Pakatan alliance.

 

However, this politically pragmatic approach has caused unease with the conservatives, who were disturbed by the lack of mention of implementing Hudud and other Islamic agenda, and construed such trend as deviation from PAS' original struggle which was to realize an Islamic state.

 

Spearheaded by the Ulamas and the Youth wing, the conservatives mounted a fight back that culminated in delegates vowing to work towards a resounding electoral success that would allow PAS to assume the leading role in the Pakatan Alliance with Hadi as prime minister. Such clamour eventually won the apparent approval of the assembly with Hadi tacitly going along with such ideas.

 

Little did the delegates at that hour of jubilation realize that such an ending to the Muktamar has sent a shock wave through the Chinese community, with which I am in close contact.

 

The first thoughts that come to their minds are notions of a PAS-dominated government with Hadi as prime minister in the post-Barisan Nasional era.

 

What follow are uneasy thoughts associated with a country veering towards Islamisation, things like restriction to alcohol and pork consumption and entertainment, and general conformity to Islamic practices such as gender segregation, dress codes in public places, etc. Above all these is the implementation of the much feared but little understood Hudud and the Islamic legal system, with all its vague implications. In short, such a new Pakatan rule is envisaged to adversely alter their present way of life.

 

Accuracy aside, these are common perceptions and initial reflexes of many in the Chinese community.

 

Needless to say, the electoral backlash to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in general and to PAS in particular is predictable.

 

Many a common Chinese PR-supporters must have been jolted into reflection and self-doubts:

 

• Am I in the right track in voting PR to power?

• What if PAS really becomes the dominant political force with its leader as Prime Minister?

• What if the country is transforming into an Islamic state?

 

These thoughts and doubts, if allowed to nurture and no doubt inflamed by relentless BN propaganda, will culminate in the ultimate question:

 

To take risk with PR which may lead to Islamisation of our way of life

 

OR

 

To keep the status quo, which no doubt is unpalatable with all its evils of racialism, corruption and abuse of power, but undeniably familiar or even comfortable (to some), having been ruled by such a political power for ages?

 

My bet is that a sizable portion of this electorate will prefer to remain in the comfort zone which is ruled by "the devil we know".

 

But of course, those well informed of current politics will remain steadfast in their determination to support PR, knowing that the chances of Islamisation in the foreseeable future are slim. This is because the Pakatan alliance works on consensus, and DAP and PKR would continue to want Anwar Ibrahim to take the premiership in a triumvirate, where PAS is

unlikely to predominate.

 

And yet, there is the third camp of current Chinese PR-supporters, who would take the cautious approach of continuing to support PR, but will vote in such a way that PAS will not become dominant. This would mean that these voters, while continuing to vote for PKR and DAP, will refrain from voting for a PAS candidate to avoid PAS becoming dominant.

 

Thus PAS will become the first casualty in such an electoral backlash triggered by the Muktamar. Many PAS candidates, who may otherwise be able to squeeze through due to

overwhelming Chinese support, would now be felled by BN.

 

Under this scenario, PKR and DAP may not suffer as much as PAS, but their hopes of reaching Putrajaya will be similarly dashed, as any electoral set-back of this size to any of the partners will prove to be fatal to the alliance's chances of winning a simple majority in such a tight race.

 

My estimation is that three quarter of Chinese are currently supporting PR, discounting the adverse impact of the Muktamar. On this level of Chinese support, PR will win in the next poll, unless electoral frauds far exceed those of the last election in 2008.

 

My sincere advice to all those who yearn to see real changes taking place in this country is to recognize the reality that this is a multi-racial country with Malays forming ony slightly above 50% of the population. It is hence totally unrealistic to force Islamisation on such a country without multi-racial consent.

 

There is only one future for this country, and that is the government and the people's full acceptance of multi-culturalism and happy co-existence of religions under a governance that practices universal values of justice and equality.

 

To those exuberant Muktamar delegates who champion PAS as the new ruler with its leader as PM, I urge them to give serious thoughts to the hard truth that they can only have ONE of the following two options:

 

EITHER to rule the country in equal and equitable partnership with PKR and DAP on the currently agreed common agenda

 

OR

 

To continue to force the pace of Islamisation without the expressed consent of other races, in which case, all the three partners of PR will continue to remain in the opposition for God knows how long.

 

The clock for the next election is ticking, and it is now up to the wisdom of the leaders of Pakatan Rakyat to undo the damage in the shortest possible time.

 

 

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

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