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Posted: 24 Apr 2013 12:32 PM PDT

As it looks, a few days past nomination day, the odds are changing to favour Pakatan, although at the time of the dissolution of Parliament, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) seemed to have the upper hand.

Kee Thuan Chye

The Opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat must be very careful between now and polling day not to make any colossal mistakes that could deny it victory at the 13th general election. I'm thinking of something about the same magnitude as or greater than the faux pas made by Tengku Razaleigh in wearing the Kadazan headgear with a cross on it on the eve of the 1990 general election.

BN appears to be in trouble now with so many of its members having abandoned the coalition to stand as independents. Umno, the biggest component party, alone suffered the defiance of 61 mutineers. This is totally unprecedented and comes as a huge blow for the party of caretaker prime minister Najib Razak. It could well mean a loss of confidence in the party.

What's more, BN must also be hurting from the defection of one of Umno's stalwarts, Muhammad Muhammad Taib, to PAS. As a former menteri besarof Selangor, he will be influencing Malay voters to help Pakatan retain the government in Selangor, much to the chagrin of Najib, who has been gunning to get it back for BN.

Pakatan, too, is faced with the plight of members standing as independents. On top of that, after nominations were over, component parties PKR and PAS found themselves competing with each other over seven seats. This might have been due to lack of coordination, but whatever the reason, the matter has been resolved, with each party taking three seats.

The seventh, which concerns the Kota Damansara seat, is more tricky because the candidate standing on the PKR platform is from PSM, a socialist party that PAS finds itself at odds with ideologically.

On the whole, the picture that emerges of Pakatan is that PKR, PAS and its third partner, the DAP, have coalesced as a united force with the required team spirit. Reinforcing this could have been the threat to the DAP's legitimacy to stand under its own symbol posed by a surprising letter sent by the Registrar of Societies (ROS) only two days before nomination day.

Thrown into a quandary, the DAP sought the help of its partners and was readily granted it, as both PKR and PAS offered to let it stand under their party symbols. In the end, it didn't turn out to be necessary, but the bond between the grateful DAP and the other two parties appears to have been strengthened.

‘SUPP’s declaration a joke’

Posted: 24 Apr 2013 12:25 PM PDT

Sarawak United People's Party's 10-point declaration to save itself in the GE13 is too little too late, considering it has been in 'power' for 30 years, says DAP.

Joseph Tawie, FMT

Local opposition parties here are laughing over Sarawak United People's Party's (SUPP) 10-point declaration which includes "fighting corruption".

It's a well-known fact here that several SUPP "seniors" are Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and his family's business cronies.

It was on this premise that opposition DAP won its 12 seats in the last state election.

Pointing out the irony of SUPP's 10-point manifesto, Stampin DAP candidate Julian Tan said it was a pledge that came a little too late in the day for SUPP.

The Barisan Nasional partner is on an uphill batte to retain its five seats. SUPP lost two seats – Bandar Kuching and Bandar Sibu – to DAP.

Tan is himself up against SUPP stalwart and incumbent Yong Khoon Seng, 73.

Said Tan: "SUPP has been in the government over the past 30 years in Sarawak and only now it comes up with this manifesto. It should have been done many years ago. It's a joke."

Anatomy of a political strategy

Posted: 24 Apr 2013 12:24 PM PDT

In Umno, the higher you go up the food chain, the wider your circle of supporters and sycophants. Umno will probably lose in the constituencies where these former senior leaders are contesting.

Zefry Dahalan, FMT

Has Najib erred in his insistence on fielding 'winnable' candidates?

Umno president Najib Tun Razak began talking about fielding "winnable candidates" as early as 2010.

The mood in Umno then was to blame Najib's predecessor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, for Umno's dramatic losses in the 12th general election. Many said he blundered in his choice of candidates by accepting the proposals of the state Umno chiefs instead of listening to the grassroots.

In most cases, the state Umno chiefs were also the chief executives of their states. It was said that at least in Selangor, Kedah, Perak and Negeri Sembilan, the state chiefs proposed only their loyalists, sidelining potential candidates who were popular at the grassroots.

This resulted in sabotage during the campaign period and at the ballot boxes by supporters of ambitious but now disappointed grassroots leaders.

So Najib decided that he would not necessarily accept every candidate proposed by the state chiefs for the 13th general election, but would listen too to Umno's divisional leaders.

This approach was soon adopted by – or perhaps imposed upon – the other parties in Barisan Nasional.

This was the genesis of the odd term "winnable candidate". Never mind that the dictionary definition of "winnable" is "something you can win" or "someone you can win over" – with money, for instance.

Somehow, Najib's hacks forgot that "winning" as an adjective would not be so double-edged.

Believers in the mystical power of words would certainly claim that this carelessness with language was at least one of the causes of the debacle of April 20, when a record number of 61 Umno members filed their nomination papers as independent candidates for the May 5 general election.

Even to the mind untouched by spiritual beliefs, the lack of precision in language use is indicative of the capabilities of Najib's planning team or lack thereof.

Umno sacked all 61 rebels immediately, virtually guaranteeing protest votes from their supporters and sympathisers.

The 61 included senior party leaders like Wanita Umno deputy head Kamilia Ibrahim, former deputy minister Mohd Shariff Omar and former Kedah executive councillor Fadzil Hanafi.

In the pits of advertising

Posted: 24 Apr 2013 12:21 PM PDT

The issue is not whether PAS and DAP will turn Johor into another Kelantan, but the audacity to make such wild claims with no researched scientific evidence to support. Besides, it will be impossible to forecast such results and it is sheer impudence to attribute them to reports from two newspapers and a news portal.

R. Nadeswaran, theSun

Political advertising ought to be stopped. It's the only really dishonest kind of advertising that's left. It's totally dishonest.
– Advertising doyen David Ogilvy

IN March last year, an MCA politician with his entourage turned up to pay their last respects to a departed friend. Seated at the same table, the politician said: "We are all worried about the hudud laws which will be implemented by PAS. They will start chopping people's hands and stoning people to death."

Tempering amusement with disbelief, the response was: "It cannot be done. Any change must have the consent of two-thirds of Parliament and the party's allies will certainly not agree to that." But he went on to say how others in the coalition will be coerced into going along.

It would have been certainly discourteous and unbecoming to debate this at a solemn occasion like a wake and hence, I kept silent.

After the politician left, I quipped to the others in humour more than despondence: "Anyway, it will be good for the people to see politicians who have stolen the people's money walking around without hands!"

Fast forward to this week: As a keen observer of advertising and marketing besides journalism and a connoisseur of tastefully-done knocking ads, I couldn't help but pay serious attention and read every word of the political advertisements of the MCA.

I must confess I have only read the ones in the English language although I am told they also appear in Chinese and Tamil newspapers.

Advertisements are the lifeline of the newspaper industry and for publishers like theSun which gets no revenue from newspaper sales, every sen counts.

But like all other publications, we too are bound by the laws of the country and in almost all instances, by the Malaysian Code of Advertising which is promulgated and enforced by Advertising Standards Authority of Malaysia (Asam).

There's nothing wrong or unethical about political advertising and the sloganeering which come with it despite the misgivings of Mr Ogilvy. A well-written advertisement espousing achievements will always be a delight to read and the message to be better understood. Even clever knocking ads make their point.

An example is the picture of long queues at the employment office with the words "Labour is not working" which was put out by the Tory party under Margaret Thatcher.

This campaign in Malaysia has now descended to the pits. Fear-mongering has taken precedence over ethical and truthful advertising bordering on the offensive and religious and racial sensitivities.

The code states that "no advertisement should contain statements or suggestions which may offend the religious, political, sentimental or racial susceptibilities of any community".

The code does not, however, seek to restrict the free expression of opinion in paid-for advertising space, whether by those engaged in commerce or by political parties, foreign governments, religious or charitable bodies, or other organisations or individuals, provided the identity of such advertisers is made clear, and the advertisements themselves are clearly distinguished from any editorial matter in conjunction with which they may appear.

More importantly, the preamble to the code reads: "All advertisements should be legal, decent, honest and truthful."

A case in point is the advertisement which asks: "Why the DAP is silent?" The copy reads: "Looking at Kelantan's track record, Johor could suffer from the rise in HIV, drug abuse, rape and contaminated cases." What honesty and truthfulness are we talking about?

If this was merely created to put fear into the people, it has failed miserably. On the contrary, people are showing odium and contempt for such a feeble attempt to pull wool over their eyes.

Asam's lack of response to a blatant breach of the code is disheartening. The irony is that its chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, was information minister and is now helming another political outfit called Ikatan.

The outburst in cyberspace reflects the anger of ordinary Malaysians who view such audacious campaigns as insulting their intelligence.

On a similar note, will the same newspapers publish an advertisement paid for by well-minded citizens which reads: "Can you trust a party which is led by a crook?"

This question can only be answered by none other than owners of publishing houses who have accepted and consented to publish those questionable and code-breaking advertisements.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Khamis, 25 April 2013

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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