Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
| Only Malaysians can validate GE13 results Posted: 24 May 2013 01:36 PM PDT
For Kalla, Anwar broke a pre-polls treaty with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to respect the results. The Malaysian Insider Former Indonesian vice-president Jusuf Kalla is unhappy that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his colleagues are protesting the Election 2013 results. For Kalla, Anwar broke a pre-polls treaty with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to respect the results. Let's get this clear. Kalla should not interfere in Malaysian affairs just as much as Malaysia does not poke its nose in other countries' affairs, especially when it comes to polls results. Whether the May 5 general election results are acceptable or not will be decided by Malaysians themselves ― not Barack Obama, Lee Hsien Loong, Julia Gillard, David Cameron or even Kalla. According to the Wall Street Journal that broke the story today, the treaty ― that both sides refrain from personal attacks during campaigns and to accept the outcome of the polls — was made in April, a month before the polls. Well, it is quite clear that both sides had broken that key condition of no personal attacks during the campaign. The campaigning was vicious and personal, be it online or offline in print, television and on the stump. And the results speak for themselves. Malaysia is divided by fractious politics ― a government unhappy with its wins and an opposition unhappy with the conduct of the polls. But diplomats have also been urging Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to end the "Black 505" rallies, due to concerns about stability and their countries' investments here. Respectfully, if these countries cannot compel or impress the government of the day on alleged electoral fraud and their diplomats are keen to go back to their days on the cocktail circuit, they also should stay silent. The election court will take care of the petitions filed by either Barisan Nasional (BN) or PR, notwithstanding the rallies. And the court of public opinion will ultimately decide whether Election 2013 was held in a clean and fair manner, and tell both the government and the opposition to get down to work for a better Malaysia.
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| Sabah an ‘expensive’ but useful lesson for Pakatan Posted: 24 May 2013 01:27 PM PDT
Opposition forms shadow cabinets in Sabah and Sarawak, begins readying itself for state polls in 2016 and next GE14. Free Malaysia Today Smug from having won just over 51% of the popular votes in the recent general election, Pakatan Rakyat is re-aligning its strategy and focusing on Borneo. Sabah DAP's Junz Wong, who is also the national youth (DAPSY) wing publicity secretary said last night among its strategies was the early registration of young voters. "We are not waiting till the last minute. Our targeted youth are between 17 and 21 years old because they will reach the eligible voting age of 21 years in four to five years time. "There will be at least another three million more unregistered but eligible voters who missed their chance to vote in GE13. "What we are looking at is another new six million voters in GE14. "These group of voters will determine whether there will be a change of government in GE14," said Wong, who is also Likas state assemblyman. Wong's comments backs party advisor Lim Kit Siang's latest statement that the coalition had learnt an expensive lesson in Sabah in GE13 and would re-strategize its battle plans to win more seats in Sabah and Sarawak in GE14. In the recent May 5 polls, although Pakatan only won three parliamentary seats, it did remarkably well in winning 11 state seats in Sabah. This despite the months of puerile spewing by its leaders, internal sabotage and widely felt inconsistency with PKR and DAP's stands in the months preceding the polls. What is acknowledged here is that Pakatan surfed the "Inikali lah" wave triggered by a former party vice-president – now Sabah State Reform Party chief – Jeffrey Kitingan. Jeffrey 's two-year long ground breaking campaign to inform Sabahans about the 20 points and Malaysia Agreement while rekindling an 'old flame' within the KDMs failed to follow through in terms of structure and strategy –vital in any war. In the end the Borneo Agenda gave Pakatan a leverage into state politics which in all honesty it did not really have to begin with. All Pakatan partner PKR did was to add "tukar" to the "inikali lah" and allowed its de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim's charismatic persona do the work. And before long Sabah was awash with "tukar, ini kali lah" drowning STAR. To counter if not contain its bickering Sabah-based party 'warlords' Anwar brought in Lajim Ukin and Wilfred Bumburing and propped them up despite widespread discontent which divided the party. Anwar handed over 10 parliamentary seats to Lajim's PPPS and Bumburing's APS movements. Both movements' candidates stood under the PKR banner but failed to win a single seat. In the end only Lajim and Bumburing won their Klias and Tamparuli seats respectively. The investment did not pay off in seats but it did help with the branding Pakatan and its partners. Sabah PKR and DAP took a leap securing 11 state seats from one in 2008 general elections. Good job in Borneo Across the border, earlier in the Sarawak state polls in 2011, both parties won 15 seats – DAP (12) and PKR (3). It was a good job, considering both Sabah and Sarawak are decades behind West Malaysia in terms of socio-political and economic empowerment. One must remember that West Malaysia's political reformation was seeded in the 1990s and spilled over in 2008 when the opposition wrested five states from BN. Sabah and Sarawak were jolted out of their slumber only in 2008, when to quote PACO's Anne Lasimbang "we realized we could shake Kuala Lumpur (Putrajaya). "When PBS toppled Berjaya, we were young, ready to fight. But after winning the battle ( PBS took over the government) , we only then realized the power was with (the) federal (leaders). The rest is history as you know it," she told FMT days before the GE13. Now that the heat of anger and denial over an alleged fraudulent GE13, acceptance is setting in with the Pakatan camp. DAP and PAS at least are showing signs of moving on. In Sarawak, the coalition is in the midst of forming its own shadow cabinet to stalk the performance of state ministers. In Sabah Lajim said they would do the same. Sarawak is due for state election in 2016 at the latest. Pakatan is aiming to up its score from 15 to at least 25 in the next state elections. If 2011 was tough, the next polls will be an even tougher one for the opposition in Sarawak.
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