Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Nurul Izzah needs to work on her Malay voters
- Controversial cousins conquer and divide in Perak
- With just a week to go, candidates are raising the ante
- PAS treading a political tightrope
| Nurul Izzah needs to work on her Malay voters Posted: 27 Apr 2013 10:48 PM PDT Why am I am stressing on the Malay voters? Well, frankly it's because they make up 55.1% of the constituency and are the ones I wonder about. When I recently asked Nurul Izzah about Malay turnout at her ceramah, she replied that it was surprisingly good. While I concur with her answer, I am somewhat sceptical about whether they are all voters in the constituency. ONE week of campaigning has passed, and Lembah Pantai continues to attract a lot of attention because of two individuals – Nurul Izzah Anwar and Datuk Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin. Both are well known, and touted as the candidates for the hot seat even before the dissolution of Parliament. Everyone knew the two politicians were set to face each other. And this was confirmed on nomination day, although there was also a little surprise in the form of independent candidate Rusli Baba. Now, with a week to go to polling day, how are the candidates faring in terms of response from their constituents? I will focus on Nurul Izzah, who is defending her seat. Having been following her from even before nomination day, and now during the campaigning period, I can say that the PKR vice-president has the Chinese votes in the bag. She is also within reach of securing the majority of the Indian votes. Her ceramah kelompok (group talks) are a great attraction for many non-Malays, especially the middle-class. They follow her talks closely and understand the national issues that she talks about. They are also impressed by her accomplishments, such as proposing five private bills including on restoring democracy, speaking up against abuse of public property, and raising more than 200 questions in Parliament – on matters concerning Lembah Pantai but also, of course, about national issues. But, is this what all the constituents of Lembah Pantai want? Do all these efforts resonate well with the vast majority of voters, especially the Malays? Why am I am stressing on the Malay voters? Well, frankly it's because they make up 55.1% of the constituency and are the ones I wonder about. When I recently asked Nurul Izzah about Malay turnout at her ceramah, she replied that it was surprisingly good. While I concur with her answer, I am somewhat sceptical about whether they are all voters in the constituency. Last Friday, as I sat down in the surau of PPR Pantai Permai, attending an event of Nurul Izzah's to welcome PAS spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, I looked around me and studied the people attending the event. Yes, the majority were Malays, but most of them were PAS supporters with a handful of Universiti Malaya students. My scepticism grew as Nurul Izzah started to talk. "We, with full commitment, will fight to the finish for justice for Kelantan that has been denied RM800 million in annual oil royalty. It doesn't matter that I'm an orang Pulau Pinang. "I come to Lembah Pantai, I don't understand the Kelantanese lingo, but I can guarantee you that we will defend Kelantan to remain in PAS' hands, and ensure that if and when Pakatan Rakyat rules at the Putrajaya level, we will return the rights of the Kelantan people. and that of the people of other states," she said. She spoke about issues that are not directly related to her constituency. It could be because it was not her ceramah per se, but a Nik Aziz event. He was there to launch the circulation of an open letter from a famous Islamic scholar, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, to the Malaysian people. Still, I wonder what happened to all the many pakcik and makcik that I talked to prior to nomination day. They are residents of the Program Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) units – there are thousands of them in the area. Where were they, the Malay voters of Lembah Pantai? This raises the question of whether ceramah and walkabouts are sufficient in wooing voters. Nurul Izzah needs more Malay support, not just from PAS supporters and UM students who may not even be voters in the constituency. Will the presence of Nik Aziz boost Malay supports for her? Will Yusuf al-Qaradawi's open letter sway them? She is facing an uphill battle. She is facing the might and machinery of Barisan Nasional. More importantly, she is facing an opponent who has done considerable groundwork – improving flats, helping relocate people, doing rounds in pasar malam almost every week, and making house to house visits. An opponent who has wormed his way into the hearts of people in the PPR flats, into the hearts of Malays. Like one makcik told me, Raja Nong Chik could be found walking around the area almost every week, especially at the pasar malam, and this started well before elections were called. If not for Nurul Izzah's considerable efforts these last few months, I would say RNC already has the Lembah Pantai seat in the bag. Now, we are almost at the last stretch, before the calm sets in and the people's voice will be heard. One week left for Nurul Izzah to woo the Malay voters, to garner a bigger majority and make a difference. As I see it, Nurul Izzah has done quite well to attract Chinese and Indian votes but she really needs to work on her Malay voters.
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| Controversial cousins conquer and divide in Perak Posted: 27 Apr 2013 10:43 PM PDT
THE most powerful opposition party in Perak state is headed by two cousins. Mr Ngeh Koo Ham (left), chairman of Perak's Democratic Action Party (DAP) and his cousin Nga Kor Ming (right), secretary of Perak's DAP, have denied allegations that they run the state chapter of their party like their own little fiefdom. By Tan Hui Yee, ST Both are lawyers by training. Both have sizeable grassroots support. And both are dogged by allegations that they run the state chapter of their party like their own little fiefdom. Mr Ngeh Koo Ham, 51, is the Perak chairman of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), which won 18 of the 31 state seats that went to the opposition in the 2008 general election. His cousin, Mr Nga Kor Ming, 48, is its secretary. The two men have risen in prominence of late now that DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has left his Ipoh Timur stronghold for Johor in a high-stakes gamble to win federal power. Not that they were low profile to begin with. When the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance took control of the state assembly in the 2008 polls, Mr Ngeh would have been a shoo-in for chief minister, if not for the fact that the post had to go to a Malay Muslim. In the end, it went to Parti Islam Semalaysia's Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin. The opposition lost Perak in 2009 following the defection of three PR assemblymen. As PR parties jostled publicly for seats in the run-up to nomination day on April 20, news - as well as speculation - of the cousins' alleged power-grabbing moves fed the perception of disunity within opposition ranks. Over supper after a recent rally, Mr Ngeh tackled the allegations, dismissing the "dictator" label as pure fabrication by mainstream Malaysian media controlled by the government. "First, they try to find fault by seeing whether there is any scandal," he tells The Straits Times. "If they cannot find any scandal, maybe there is corruption, or anything that is against the law. "Or they see if you are lazy, or if you are incapable. "When they cannot find fault with you, they create jealousy by saying you are powerful." No one has ever accused the pair of being ineffective or lazy, he stresses. Yet Mr Ngeh and his cousin have been blamed for the departure of parliamentarian Fong Po Kuan, one of the DAP's brightest young talents when she burst onto the scene in 1999 but quit politics this year. They were also accused of using their choice of election candidates to sideline their opponents within the party. Even former DAP state assemblyman Hee Yit Foong, whose defection helped trigger the collapse of the opposition-run state government in 2009, has pinned the blame on the cousins' behaviour. Mr Ngeh brushes aside all this talk as just part and parcel of them having to take tough decisions on behalf of the party. Besides, he and his cousin have been put in their posts by a regular popular vote - and a secret ballot at that, he says. "They can reject us anytime." Being a leader means taking all speculation in one's stride instead of rushing to rebut every falsehood, he says. "Any word we utter could only aggravate the situation, so we'd rather become victims of unfair criticism than injure a fellow comrade." Mr Ngeh adds that he bears no grudges against Ms Fong, who had also wanted to quit in 2008 but was persuaded to stay. She has cited personal reasons for leaving and Mr Ngeh stresses he and his cousin had no part in it. "But if we had to go and tell why she resigned, it won't be very pleasant." He adopts the same stance when asked about their long simmering rivalry with another senior DAP Perak leader, Mr M. Kulasegaran, which resulted in a spat that spilled onto social media last month through the latter's angry Twitter messages. For that, Mr Ngeh would only say: "There will be differences in any political party… But for internal party matters, we will resolve it internally." With all the ugly talk swirling around, he takes comfort that he retains solid support in the state seat of Sitiawan, where he is the elected assemblyman on top of his work as a parliamentarian. In 2004, he won twice as many votes as his Malaysian Chinese Association opponent, and he improved on that number four years later by garnering three times more than his rival. The talk, he says, will never touch him in Sitiawan. "The people know me, who I am. You cannot cheat them." |
| With just a week to go, candidates are raising the ante Posted: 27 Apr 2013 02:09 PM PDT
Regina Lee and Florence A. Samy, The Star Tempers are becoming frayed. Weariness has set in after more than a week of verbal assaults from both sides while their more extreme supporters have resorted to physical attacks. Despite the fatigue, candidates are stepping up their wooing of voters. Welcome to the second leg of the campaigning when the battle for influence is certain to heat up. The MCA for one is about to get more aggressive as it works overtime to counter opposition claims. "The opposition is always attacking Barisan Nasional on all sorts of issues, even resorting to character assassination. "So we have to keep on fighting back, explaining and exposing them," said party Youth chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong, who is defending his Ayer Hitam parliamentary seat. On what kind of issues would MCA be bringing up, he said: "Just wait and see." "We know there are pertinent issues haunting Pakatan Rakyat, especially DAP and PAS, that they are trying to avoid. "We will expose them using facts." Dr Wee said he would continue with his hectic pace. "I try to campaign all over Johor and Malacca, but I always make it a point to come back to my constituency on the same day. "We now have to be careful and watch out for any last-minute explosive statement from the opposition." Meanwhile, DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua, who has been criss-crossing the country, said he would be returning to his Petaling Jaya constituency more often and campaigning in other parts of Selangor. As a national leader in the party, he said, he had to help his party colleagues shore up support. "There is no point in me winning and others (in the party) losing," he added. A survey showed campaigning had intensified with supporters going door-to-door to distribute leaflets. There have also been more frequent ceramah and walkabouts by contestants and party leaders who have turned up at various constituencies to support their candidates. Flags and banners have increased sharply in numbers. Selangor Barisan has turned its campaigning up a notch by sending recorded messages from its candidates to voters via phone calls. It has also been sending out more SMSes. Voter Stacy Lim was surprised when she received a call yesterday from a number in Shah Alam only to hear a recorded message from Ampang Barisan candidate Datuk Dr Rodziah Talib. "The lady identified herself and urged voters to be with Barisan," the 45-year-old housewife said. Both Barisan and Pakatan have been busier than ever distributing brochures, listing their achievements and the failures of the enemy. The intense campaigning has seen a spike in untoward incidents with over 1,160 cases reported.
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| PAS treading a political tightrope Posted: 27 Apr 2013 01:39 PM PDT
Formed in 1951, PAS is one of the oldest political parties in Malaysia. The size of its critical ethnic Malay support base is second only to that of Umno, the senior partner in the ruling Barisan Nasional government. Over the years, PAS has undergone several transformations, uncanny for a "fundamentalist" Islamic party. HAVING made major inroads at the 2008 Malaysian election, the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition believes that it is now within a hair's breadth of victory. While the stakes are undoubtedly high for all three of Pakatan's component parties, they are arguably highest for the Islamic opposition party, Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS). This is because in toeing the Pakatan line, no party has compromised - or risked - as much as PAS, with so little clarity on the road ahead. The result of the election will determine whether the progressives in the party, who have firmly nailed their colours to the Pakatan mast, get to shape the future for the party. If the party does not do well, PAS' evolution towards a more inclusivist register could come to a screeching halt. Formed in 1951, PAS is one of the oldest political parties in Malaysia. The size of its critical ethnic Malay support base is second only to that of Umno, the senior partner in the ruling Barisan Nasional government. Over the years, PAS has undergone several transformations, uncanny for a "fundamentalist" Islamic party. PAS was formed as an Islamic socialist party that was sympathetic to Indonesian president Sukarno's brand of nationalism in the 1960s, only to morph into a staunchly ethno-nationalist Malay party in the 1970s. The latter transformation culminated in its ill-fated entry into the Barisan Nasional and unceremonious exit four years later. Caught up in the throes of Islamic revivalism and the Iranian revolution in the early 1980s, PAS traded its ethno-nationalist credentials for religion. Under clerical rule, the party became a strong proponent of the implementation of an Islamic state in Malaysia. Led by the late Fadzil Noor, however, PAS was revitalised by the reformasi movement of the late 1990s. Since then, a strongly reformist and progressive faction has gained a foothold and flourished. This faction, which today finds itself significantly represented in the Central Working Committee, the vice-presidencies and deputy presidency, has been active in expressing the Islamic party's commitment to the Pakatan Rakyat. Still, the path to multi-ethnic cooperation has been riddled with potholes for PAS, many of which continue to pose significant challenges for the party leadership. The first signs of strain were evident immediately after the 2008 elections, when PAS was approached by a weakened Umno to explore cooperation in the name of Malay-Muslim unity. What followed was two tedious years of confusion and tension within the party. The more conservative elements were prepared to embrace the logic of Malay-Muslim unity as they harboured reservations about their new allies in the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). The opportunists were seduced by Umno's offer of Cabinet posts. But the progressives managed to hold firm even as they struggled to reinforce the party's commitment to Pakatan. They were able to do this because both conservatives and opportunists eventually toned down their own rhetoric for reasons of political expediency as Pakatan's fortunes gradually improved. Perhaps the greatest test of PAS' resolve came in 2010, when the party was forced to take a stand on a Malaysian court ruling to allow non-Muslims the right to use the term "Allah". After intense discussions within the party leadership, the shura council, and the dewan ulama, PAS ended up standing alongside their Pakatan counterparts to endorse the ruling. The decision, however, was a difficult one for PAS, and threatened to split the party. It also caused consternation among the rank and file, resulting in the loss of all four by-elections that PAS contested following the "Allah" controversy, in Galas (Kelantan), Tenang (Johor), Merlimau (Malacca), and Kerdau (Pahang). This fact was certainly not lost on party strategists. The controversy was reignited late last year during a Christmas speech made by DAP leader Lim Guan Eng, and PAS was forced to clarify its position yet again. In the event, PAS responded by muddying the waters. It now takes the position that while non-Muslims can use the term orally, the use of "Allah" as a translation of "God" or "Lord" is forbidden. PAS' recent equivocal take on the issue surely factored in ground sentiments, where numerous surveys by independent firms showed that the majority of Malay-Muslim respondents believed the use of the term should be the exclusive prerogative of Muslims. At the same time, the party is also cognizant of the fact that its own rank and file harbours deep concern that the party's ideological pendulum has swung too far towards the ecumenical views of the Pakatan. Some within PAS also continue to be suspicious of their Pakatan allies. Concerning this, two observations need to be made. First, conservative elements in the party leadership have only grudgingly endorsed Mr Anwar Ibrahim as the opposition's choice of prime minister. There is certainly no love lost between Mr Anwar and the PAS old guard who crossed swords with him on numerous occasions before he was ignominiously removed from power. He was, after all, Dr Mahathir Mohamad's weapon of choice against the religious credentials of the PAS clerics. In many respects, that tension still lingers. To make a point, PAS has occasionally put forward its president Abdul Hadi Awang as an alternative to Mr Anwar as prime minister. As recently as two weeks ago, attempts by Mr Anwar to meet privately with Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat were apparently rebuffed by the PAS spiritual leader. Second, apprehension towards the DAP runs deep in some quarters. Several prominent DAP leaders continue to be referred to privately in PAS circles as "anti-Islamic". The party's rank and file also remains keenly aware of DAP's staunch opposition to the Islamic state. If the Pakatan's electoral fortunes falter, conservative segments in PAS will likely reassess the party's commitment to the opposition coalition as the dividends for its compromises fail to materialise. But even if the opposition coalition wins the election, PAS will find itself at a difficult fork in the road. The party is already in danger of bringing up the Pakatan rear. In several seats, PAS is in the unfamiliar position of having to rely on non-Muslim votes to turn things in its favour. When the party undertakes its election post-mortem, this will surely be a hotly debated issue. But even if its performance pales in comparison to DAP or PKR, by virtue of being on the winning side, PAS could see itself in the role of kingmaker. This would surely prompt a rethink in some quarters of PAS about the party's core purpose, and the best avenues through which it can be furthered. The progressives in PAS are unwavering in their commitment to Pakatan. But the fact of the matter is that theirs is not the only voice in the party. |
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