The Malaysian Insider

PKR is investigating the results of 27 federal seats that Barisan Nasional (BN) won with a razor-thin margin in Election 2013 and where electoral fraud has been reported in most of the seats, Rafizi Ramli said today.

The PKR strategy director noted that the party’s #siasatPRU13 team, which he is leading, has received 237 reports from the public on vote-rigging like voters not being allowed to cast their ballots because others had already done so in their name, vote-buying, unidentified voters registered at certain house addresses, flawed indelible ink, foreigners suspected of being given ICs and subsequently voting, as well as Election Commission (EC) officials signing the Borang 14 before vote-counting or not providing copies of Borang 14 to counting agents.

“From our analysis, 27 federal seats will be investigated: Bentong, Kuala Selangor, Baram, Sungai Besar, Pasir Gudang, Labis, Machang, Ketereh, Titiwangsa, Tebrau, Bagan Serai, Kota Marudu, Beaufort, Setiawangsa, Segamat, Ledang, Balik Pulau, Kulim Bandar Bharu, Pulai, Kuala Kangsar, Muar, Pendang, Hulu Selangor, Sabak Bernam, Merbok, Pensiangan and Saratok,” Rafizi (picture) told reporters at the PKR headquarters here.

“Except for Hulu Selangor and Machang, all other seats have got reports,” he added, referring to reports of electoral fraud.

BN retained power in the May 5 general election with just 133 federal seats, 21 more than the 112 required to win a simple majority.

Rafizi said his team shortlisted the 27 parliamentary seats based on four criteria: a margin of victory of less than 5 per cent, spoilt votes exceeding the margin of victory, postal votes and early votes exceeding the margin of victory based on normal votes, and reports of vote-rigging.

He pointed out that in Balik Pulau, for example, his team has received photographic evidence of BN agents providing voters vouchers that could be exchanged for cash.

Rafizi said 19 of the 27 disputed seats were contested by PKR, pointing out that those hotly-contested seats were mixed seats with Malays forming between 60 and 70 per cent of the electorate.

He noted that vote-rigging would have the biggest impact in seats with slim margins of victory, saying: “Fraud can only bring in maximum 2,000, 3,000 votes.”

Rafizi said his team has 67 volunteers, comprising mostly lawyers and accountants, who will record evidence from complainants this week.

“Once we go through the whole process, we’ll bring up our case to the People’s Tribunal,” he said, referring to the tribunal set up by polls watchdog Bersih to examine evidence on electoral irregularities.

Rafizi added that election petitions would be filed by the end of the month, but said he did not expect favourable verdicts.

“The main problem is the existence of phantom voters. But as long as one has an IC and his name is in the roll, he’s a legitimate voter,” he said.

“What is important is creating the momentum, awareness and disgust among the people on how various methods of cheating by BN were used to skew the results,” he added.

Thousands of Malaysians from various races and ages flooded recent PR rallies in Petaling Jaya, Penang and Ipoh to protest against alleged vote-rigging in Election 2013 and the legitimacy of the BN government.

Rafizi also noted today that electoral fraud was detected in federal seats won by PR like Pandan, which he himself had won, Lembah Pantai and Selayang.

The Malaysian Insider

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim vowed last night never to surrender Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) fight to ensure the pact claims its rightful place in Putrajaya, maintaining his stance that Barisan Nasional (BN) had cheated its way to victory on May 5.

The de facto PR leader, looking energetic and full of gumption as he addressed thousands of black-clad supporters at PR’s third post-Election 2013 rally in Ipoh, acknowledged that it has been a week since the polls results were formally announced.

But he insisted that although Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been sworn in as prime minister and it appears to be business as usual for the ruling pact in Putrajaya, the BN chairman and Umno president was not the actual person chosen for the job.

“Umno leaders would say, ‘we have the mandate so you shut up’. But I say — ‘No way’. We have the mandate and we will… lawan tetap lawan (keep on fighting),” he thundered, urging the crowd to sound PR’s often-used rallying cry along with him.

“Najib has been endorsed as having won… and he has been sworn in. What should we do?

“So that is why we say…. in Kelana Jaya, we amassed hundreds of thousands of people with just two days’ notice… In Penang, hundreds of thousands turned up in Batu Kawan… the people’s uprising.

“Why? Because the voice of the people is sacred,” the prime minister hopeful continued, unabated.

“On Tuesday, we gather in Kuantan. On Wednesday in Johor. And we will not stop until justice is served in this country.

“We will not stop until the valid results are announced. Yes. We will continue and we will never surrender,” he added, according to a live streaming of the event last night.

Anwar and his team in PR have insisted that the just-concluded May 5 polls were rigged, citing irregular voting patterns, suspicious handling of ballot boxes and other issues.

Claiming to have gathered sufficient evidence to back their claims, lawyers from both the DAP and PAS are mulling filing election petitions to contest the results.

PR officials say they are disputing up to 29 election results and the rallies, which began in Selangor last Wednesday, moved on to Penang on Saturday and Perak last night, will continue in Kuantan on Tuesday, followed by Johor on Wednesday.

The ruling BN pact soared to a narrow victory on May 5 with just 133 federal seats to PR’s 89, significantly lower than the 140 seats it won in Election 2008.

But even more daunting for BN was that it lost the overall popular vote, garnering just under 48 per cent of the votes cast, a significant three-percentage point lower than PR’s 51 per cent.

In Perak, BN fared even worse, polling just 507,123 or 45.25 per cent of the votes cast, trailing behind PR’s 613,490 votes or 54.75 per cent, despite sailing to an overall victory in the silver state with 31 seats in the 59-seat assembly.

Perak PR leaders have cried foul over the results, insisting that administrative power over the state should be theirs as the majority of Perak folk had voted against BN.

In his speech earlier, Anwar also slammed senior Umno leader Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz for claiming that the Chinese community who voted against BN had been misled into thinking that a government led by PR would lead to the abolishment of Bumiputera and Malay rights.

The Permatang Pauh MP denied this, pointing to a signed agreement between all three PR parties — the DAP, PKR and PAS — which formally endorsed all provisions in the Federal Constitution, including Article 153, which touches on the special privileges of the country’s dominant ethnic group.

Malaysiakini

Following successful Black 505 mega-rallies in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, large crowds gathered tonight in Medan Istana, Ipoh for a similar mourning against alleged electoral fraud.

Eyewitnesses contacted by Malaysiakini told of a crowd size up to 30,000, many of whom were dressed in the trademark black.

“Speeches are now ongoing on stage and the crowd is about 30,000. It is peaceful andsemangat (in high spirits),” said one of the rally’s participants Sandrea Ng when contacted at about 9pm.

Previous events in Kelana Jaya, Kuala Lumpur and Batu Kawan,Penang had drawn crowds of about 120,000 each, while another event is slated for Tuesday and Wednesday in Kuantan, Pahang and Johor Bahru, Johor respectively.

The rallies are protesting against alleged fraud and misconduct in last Sunday’s general election.

Among the speakers slated to speak at today’s event, which started at about 8pm, include PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and former Perak Menteri Besar Nizar Jamaluddin.

The venue tonight is also just outside the PKR Perak headquarters and near the state secretariat building.

Although the police said they have not approved the rally, organisers said the authorities were not interfering with the event.

“There are police personnel around, but so far they are not giving any problems,” said Teja assemblyperson Chang Lih Kang when contacted.

Former appeal court judge Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah’s racist speech puts the Klu Klux Klan to shame and makes Hitler proud.

How long more are we to tolerate such hate mongering and race baiting from the illegitimate Najib government?

While UMNO sows the seeds of hatred and discord, we in Pakatan Rakyat will shower this nation with goodwill and mutual respect, and in doing so foster peace and understanding in our society.

Let’s all stand shoulder to shoulder and remain united. To Malaysians – thank you for coming out tonight in Ipoh and showing these zealots what being Anak Malaysia means.

ANWAR IBRAHIM

The Malaysian Insider

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim appeared to have backed his confidant Azmin Ali in calling for a consultation process for the Selangor mentri besar post after the latter claimed Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim’s candidacy had bypassed the democratic process.

The PKR advisor also appeared to have suggested that the party were considering removing Abdul Khalid when he told Sinar Harian that the consultation should include discussions on other possible candidates for the job.

“I have no problem with Tan Sri Khalid. But the problem is… there is no problem but there should be consultation. Are there other names? New faces? Do we continue?” Sinar Harian quoted him as saying.

Anwar (picture), however, added that they will solve the debacle within these few days.

The tussle over the mentri besar post has pushed PKR into a leadership crisis with its deputy president now openly accusing the party of “nepotism” when he alleged it had bypassed the consultation process in picking Abdul Khalid for the job.

Azmin also appeared to question Abdul Khalid’s leadership at a press conference yesterday, and said he was seeking a meeting with PKR’s national leaders for a consensus decision to be made on who gets to be the new Selangor MB.

The debacle has sparked talk that Azmin, who is also said to be vying for the position, would leave PKR following the party’s supposed endorsement of Abdul Khalid’s governance.

Azmin dismissed the speculation at yesterday’s press conference where he was flanked by some of the party’s Selangor line-up in what appeared to be a sign of protest against Abdul Khalid’s likely reappointment as the state’s chief executive.

Although the Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman was evasive when bombarded by questions for his view on the candidacy for the post, the PKR deputy president made several insinuations that leaders from the party’s Selangor chapter were against Abdul Khalid’s reappointment.

However, a majority of Selangor PKR lawmakers and division chiefs want Abdul Khalid to be reappointed as the state’s mentri besar, party sources have said, amid protests by a faction led by Azmin.

The Malaysian Insider understands the endorsement was made at a closed-door “gathering” held at Empire Hotel in Subang Jaya on Monday where most of the 14 state assemblymen, 16 division chiefs and a few federal MPs who attended felt that Abdul Khalid should be allowed to lead the PR Selangor government for a second term.

The two other Pakatan Rakyat component parties, the DAP and PAS, have also backed Abdul Khalid for the job despite winning more seats than PKR in Selangor.

The DAP and PAS each won 15 seats in Selangor at the May 5 general election, with PKR netting 14.

Malaysiakini

In the past week, two Malay newspapers Utusan Malaysia and Kosmo! chose to have as their headlines controversial statements that could be considered incendiary in reference to the Chinese having rejected Barisan Nasional in favour of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat, following the results of the 13th general elections held almost a week ago.

Both former and current Prime Ministers Dr Mahathir Mohamed and Najib Abdul Razak (right) have said as much, creating the public perception that this election marked out the stark difference in voting patterns between the Malays and Chinese, especially in the latter’s reference to a ‘Chinese Tsunami’.

Malaysians have to caution against this ethnic positioning as an easy blame game, for several reasons.

First, it is more accurate to state that the results saw a split between urban and rural voters, hence a spatial and class, rather than an ethnic, divide.

Pakatan strengthened its incumbent position by winning two-third majorities in Selangor and Penang, the two most industrialised and urban states, which together contribute to the almost 60 percent of the country’s GDP.

In Selangor, the only parliamentary seats won by Barisan were in the more rural or semi-urban areas such as Sabak Bernam, Sungai Besar and Tanjong Karang.

In Seremban, DAP candidate Anthony Loke would not have won with more than a 12,000 majority (and a 16,501 swing) had it not been for Malay support, where Malays constitute 44 percent of the seat’s population.

Flawed argument gets nailed

The argument that opposition gains were only due to Chinese swing is also not fully accurate, since Malay-majority seats such as Kuala Terengganu (89 percent Malay, 10 percent Chinese) were wrested by Pakatan with a 10,785 majority (and a 11,413 swing). Both are urban seats.

It is ,therefore, too simplistic to attribute the opposition’s gains to racial polarisation, since one must equally examine class and geographical differences.

Second, the allegations of electoral fraud make it difficult for accurate analysis to take place.

Pakatan has accused the electoral system of being rigged through a number of ways, such as providing identity cards for foreigners to vote, flying them into the peninsula en masse from East Malaysia, and Malaysians having their names either removed from the voter roll or registered without their knowledge, ‘indelible ink’ that was very easily removed, and vote-buying, among other discrepancies.

If the fraud is indeed as widespread as alleged, then this raises serious concerns as to the legitimacy of the election results, which has a direct effect on our reading of voter sentiment.

Out of the 24 parliamentary seats with a majority of less than 1,500, 17 of them were eventually won by Barisan – including Bentong and Kuala Selangor, where initial results saw the Pakatan candidates leading.

In many cases, the number of spoilt votes exceeded the majority, and the majority was less than 4 percent of the total number of votes, the latter of which would have required a recount although this was denied in Kuala Selangor.

Game of statistics stripped

Barisan is now the federal government because it bagged 133 seats out of the 222 in total, giving it a majority of 22 seats.

However, a series of questions must be asked: Could the Barisan win at the federal level be attributed to the wins in these marginal seats, some of which had their results changed after the recounts?

If so, should the Election Commission not investigate the alleged fraud cases that could have affected the outcomes of the razor-thin wins of such seats, which in turn would have led to a very different result?

Finally, statistics are emerging that demonstrate the effects of malapportionment on the election results. Pakatan’s 89 seats had an average of 63,191 votes cast, compared with Barisan’s 133 seats which had an average of 39,381.

Simply put, Pakatan won in the seats with larger constituencies, while Barisan won in the smaller ones.

This explains the Barisan win, despite Pakatan having won the popular vote with 51.4 percent of the population’s support and Barisan with 48.6 percent.

Moving forward, both political coalitions – together with civil society – will have to reflect deeply upon what actions are needed to address these issues, as well as their mid to long-term implications.

Time to look at naked truth

There is an urgent need for Pakatan to craft messages that better target the low-income, rural and Malay voters, assuring them that their lifelines would not be cut off without Umno around.

Barisan has to take a good look at its coalition model, since its component parties MCA and Gerakan are effectively depleted.

It will also have to examine the reasons for which urban, middle-class voters rejected their offerings so resoundingly.

In order for the alleged electoral fraud to be taken seriously, cases have to be systematically compiled and recorded.

Bersih 2.0 has stated it would organise a People’s Tribunal to this end, while PKR has appointed newly elected Member of Parliament Rafizi Ramli for its compilation purposes.

This will be in addition to the election petitions expected to be filed by Pakatan parties in 20 constituencies or so, in which the winning margin was less than 5 percent.

It is hoped that the lawsuits, which must be filed within 21 days after the results are gazetted, would be an effective recourse sought by Pakatan in seeking justice for what it considers an unfair elections.

Even if these efforts, accompanied by hard evidence, fail to ultimately impact upon the election results, they would still be crucial for the court of public opinion in the coming months, for historical record as well as valuable lessons learnt in order to better prepare for the 14th general election.

Why GE13 should be toasted

Finally, it is clear that without genuine electoral reform, even an election which is the most fundamental form of democracy would not be conducted fairly, nor its citizens’ votes respected.

In a system where parliamentary seats are not fairly weighted nor apportioned, the party with minority support emerges the victor.

This is an unfortunate consequence of the way constituencies are demarcated at present, which can only be amended with a two-third majority support in Parliament.

Before political analysts deduce that this was an election that divided Malaysia racially, one must be cognisant that if not for these irregularities, a very different result would have emerged.

Coming to a conclusion based on the election results at merely face value would not be entirely accurate.

If anything, it must be pointed out that young urban-dwellers voted across ethnic lines for the opposition against a corrupt regime, a trend that will only continue given that urbanisation is expected to exceed 70 percent by 2020.

It is this that should instead be celebrated and not conveniently ignored, in the desperate need to explain the worst election performance in Barisan’s history as entirely due to the racial divide.

In the journey towards a more open, transparent and democratic Malaysia, the 13th general election has raised even more questions on electoral processes, which if not corrected, will have a permanent mark on all future elections.

Malaysiakini

Why did rural Sarawakians and Sabahans stay with BN, while their urban counterparts voted overwhelmingly for change?

BN’s strategy of harping on ethnic insecurities made no impact in Borneo, yet BN won 48 of 57 parliamentary seats in Sabah, Labuan and Sarawak.

In Sarawak, even allowing for electoral fraud, it was clear that the “urban tsunami” stopped at the coastal towns of Kuching, Sarikei, Sibu and Miri.

Rural Sarawakians have been denigrated as “squatters” on their own land.

Many have had their native customary rights (NCR) land stolen,their NCR defenders assaulted with machetes, their daughtersraped, their air and rivers polluted, and their lawyers detainedwithout charge.

Some political commentators insist that rural Sarawakians and Sabahans are “stupid” – and proclaim their own stupidity, with disarming honesty.

They forget that Malaysians of various ethnic groups, urban and rural alike, handed Abdullah Ahmad Badawi a triumphant success in 2004, with BN winning 90 percent of parliamentary seats and 64 percent of the popular vote.

Indeed, all the seven additional MPs gained by Pakatan in 2013 were delivered by urban Sabahan and Sarawakian voters.

Still, it is impossible to counteract BN’s winning formula in rural seats, if we do not first try to understand it.

One component is undoubtedly poverty, and consequently, constant exposure to our distorted mainstream media. Another factor is an skewed electoral process.

A third is the logistical advantage of BN, using the state civil service facilities for campaigning.

A fourth is the shoddy organisation of Pakatan component parties outside urban areas. And there is a fifth reason: most rural communities live in a pre-industrial era, untouched by the democratic awakening we have have witnessed in urban Malaysia.

Sarawak and Sabah are crisscrossed by mountain ranges. Most tiny rural communities live in valleys carved by rivers from the rugged landscape.

They practice subsistence farming, and many households earn a monthly income far below the poverty line, RM830 in Sarawak or RM960 in Sabah.

Travelling to a town by river takes days. Even if villagers can scrape together enough cash for a seat on a commercial four-wheel-drive truck, the gravel roads are forbidding.

MASwings operates a twin-propeller service, once or twice weekly to a handful of villages, but fares are prohibitive for rural families. Mobile telephone or internet coverage is extremely sparse.

Political vision is limited by the terrain, and the historical and geographical isolation of these communities.

Big ideas, whether of democracy, good governance, anti-corruption or anti-racism movements, political Islam or liberation theology, 1Malaysia or the welfare state, Marxism or monetarism, have not drifted through these valleys.

Stunted form of democracy 

Democracy has not died here. Democracy – as understood by urban Malaysians, including free and fair competition for government, universal suffrage, civil liberties, a system of checks and balance, and an independent press – has not truly been born in rural Sarawak.

Some rural Sarawakians, such as the Iban and the Penan, certainly have an adat or custom of electing their leaders, and a tradition of self-determination, collective decision-making, and egalitarianism.

But Sarawakians from other ethnic groups, including Malays, Bidayuh, Chinese and Orang Ulu, practise feudalism to some degree.

BN has systematically undermined any existing adat of self-determination, by appointing leaders, from the village chief to the penghulu and pemanca or temenggong, and by sacking independent-minded village heads.

BN’s patronage has crippled these communities’ independence. BN has forged its dacing brand as “apai indai” (parents) to rural communities.

Many rural communities are angered by the loss of their neighbours’ land to dams or oil palm estates, but remain afraid to vote against the BN.

BN routinely threatens to deprive them of fuel subsidies, schools, medical care, even disability allowances.

Radio Free Sarawak broadcasts, as well as word of mouth from rural Dayaks and Malays working in towns along the coast or in peninsular Malaysia, have alerted many rural communities to the threats to their NCR land.

Even so, many NCR landowners are as yet unaffected by land grabs, and succumb to the “not in my back yard” sentiment.

They hope that their own land will somehow be spared, by some miracle, from BN’s deformed, top-down “development”.

Several communities have turned to PKR lawyers to fight for NCR land in court, but ironically, vote for BN in elections.

Many sell their votes readily for small bribes of cash, food or beer. Others are intimidated by BN’s threats.

In contrast, urban Malaysians’ fear of authority, and of the ethnic “other”, is fading fast, thanks to urban class conflict, the Bersih rallies, Pakatan’s increasing cohesion, and, ironically, premier Najib’s frantic and misguided efforts to use racist invective to save his own skin, ahead of Umno’s general assembly this year.

Low incomes, low education, low turnouts

“I am very convinced now that the abject poverty of our natives’ folks placed them in a very vulnerable situation, allowing money politics to remain supreme in elections. Rights, idealism and even spiritual principles take a back seat,” Sarawak PKR chairperson BaruBian wrote, after Pakatan failed to win a single rural parliamentary seat on polling day.

“In my area, Limbang, for example, voters were paid RM20, RM30, RM100, RM150, and RM300 depending on the strength of support. Other constituencies were paid RM100 as first payment and RM500 can be claimed after winning the (general election).”

Baru Bian’s (right) observation of vote-buying is not simply an old excuse. BN banked heavily on rural votes, and their outlay clearly paid off in GE13.

Gerrymanderinghas also been honed by BN over decades.

The second smallest parliamentary constituency in Sarawak, Tanjong Manis, has 19,215 registered voters, a quarter of the 84,732 voters in the largest, Stampin (wrested from BN by the DAP with an enormous 18,670 majority).

The smaller rural populations dilute the effects of urban dissent, and make it easier to manipulate and buy voters.

Tanjong Manis had a low turnout of 75 percent. The BN candidate, Norah Abdul Rahman, is chief minister Taib Mahmud’s cousin.

Her two sisters, and business partners, had played an unwitting starring role in a recent Global Witness video exposé.

Despite her sisters’ shameful insults against rural Sarawakians, Norah won 87 percent of votes cast.

Her victory suggests many of her constituents had never seen the video, thanks to BN’s leash on the mainstream media.

The largest constituency, Hulu Rajang, is comparable in size to Pahang, but has only 21,686 names on the roll, and one of the lowest turnout rates nationwide, 68 percent. Low turnouts favour the incumbent.

Lacking supervison, corpses vote?

Baram was expected to go to PKR’s Roland Engan. An independent spoiler, Patrick Sibat, after failing in his bid to be PKR candidate, took 363 votes away from PKR. BN’s Anyi Ngau squeaked through by a margin of 194. Turnout here, 64 percent, was even lower than Hulu Rajang.

In these enormous constituencies, polls monitors and counting agents are scarce, while voting irregularities are common: cash distribution for votes, electoral roll discrepancies, double voting, and ballot box stuffing.

Intriguingly, there were 351 voters over 90 years old (or 1.87 percent of all voters) in Baram, and 182 (or 1.23 percent) in Hulu Rajang.

These numbers, in closely contested seats, were far higher than the corresponding rates of 0.56 percent in Sarawak overall, 0.77 percent in Sabah, 0.19 percent in Selangor, and 0.23 percent in Pahang.

Did nonagenarians display remarkable stamina in two of the poorest areas in Sabah and Sarawak, two of the poorest states? Or were phantom voters using ICs of deceased voters?

In between elections, BN has been investing little into the impoverished rural communities – keeping them insecure, poor, uneducated and easy to control – while extracting too much from Sarawak’s rural populace. BN’s rural chokehold is unsustainable.

KENYATAAN AKHBAR

SETIAUSAHA AGUNG PARTI KEADILAN RAKYAT

KEJAYAAN MEMPERTAHANKAN KERAJAAN PAKATAN RAKYAT  SELANGOR DAN PERLANTIKAN MENTERI BESAR SELANGOR

Parti KEADILAN Rakyat memanjatkan rasa syukur kami ke hadrat Allah SWT di atas kejayaan Pakatan Rakyat mempertahankan negeri Selangor dalam Pilihanraya Umum ke-13 baru-baru ini. Kami juga ingin merakamkan ucapan terima kasih dan penghargaan kami dan rakan-rakan sekutu dalam Pakatan Rakyat terhadap para pengundi khususnya dan rakyat negeri Selangor amnya kerana telah memberikan kepercayaan mereka kepada Pakatan Rakyat untuk menerajui kerajaan negeri Selangor buat penggal yang kedua.

Bagi pihak KEADILAN, saya juga ingin merakamkan penghargaan kami kepada pimpinan Pakatan Rakyat negeri Selangor, juga kepada jentera ketiga-tiga Parti KEADILAN, PAS dan DAP yang telah bertungkus lumus dan penuh komited dalam amanah yang dipikul untuk memastikan kepercayaan rakyat Selangor terus diberi kepada Pakatan Rakyat.

Kejayaan ini juga disambut dengan penuh rasa tawaddhu’ dan rendah diri, terutama dalam proses untuk menamakan seorang Menteri Besar bagi memimpin kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat Selangor dalam pentadbiran negeri. KEADILAN sesungguhnya amat berbesar hati dan menghormati sokongan oleh PAS dan DAP yang telah bersetuju supaya jawatan Menteri Besar Selangor dinamakan dari Parti KEADILAN Rakyat.

Berteraskan kepada prinsip konsensus dan rundingan serta semangat kesetiakawanan dan kerjasama yang selama ini telah tersemai dalam Pakatan Rakyat, KEADILAN telah mengangkat dua (2) nama dari kalangan Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri KEADILAN yang berjaya memenangi kerusi mereka dalam pilihanraya umum Negeri Selangor baru-baru ini kepada pimpinan PAS dan DAP untuk dibincang secara bersama dengan KEADILAN bagi memilih salah seorang daripada mereka untuk dinamakan sebagai Menteri Besar Selangor.

PAS dan DAP, menerusi Presidennya Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Tuan Guru Haji Abdul Hadi Awang dan Setiausaha Agungnya Yang Amat Berhormat Tuan Lim Guan Eng masing-masing telah bersetuju supaya Yang Berhormat Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Abdul Khalid bin Ibrahim, Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri Pelabuhan Klang untuk  diangkat sebagai Menteri Besar Selangor dan meneruskan khidmat cemerlang beliau menerajui pentadbiran kerajaan Negeri Selangor sebelum ini.

KEADILAN dengan ini menyeru supaya keseluruhan rakyat Negeri Selangor khususnya dan rakyat Malaysia amnya untuk terus menggembeling semangat kerjasama dan setiakawan antara satu sama lain tanpa mengira agama, bangsa dan warna kulit yang telah selama ini ditunjukkan, bagi terus memastikan agenda perubahan rakyat  dapat diteruskan bersama-sama dengan Pakatan Rakyat.

Sekian, terima kasih.

SAIFUDDIN NASUTION ISMAIL

SETIAUSAHA AGUNG

PARTI KEADILAN RAKYAT

10 MEI 2013

Reuters UK

The White House on Wednesday congratulated Malaysia’s prime minister on his coalition’s election victory but urged the government to address concerns about election irregularities.

“We note concerns regarding reported irregularities in the conduct of the election, and believe it is important that Malaysian authorities address concerns that have been raised,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement. “We look forward to the outcome of their investigations.”

Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Barisan Nasional coalition extended its 56-year rule but recorded its worst-ever election performance in Sunday’s election. His party won 133 seats in Malaysia’s 222-member parliament, seven fewer than in 2008 and short of the two-thirds majority it had hoped for.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s People’s Alliance won 89 seats, a big increase from seven in 2008. Anwar has said the result was tainted by electoral fraud and scheduled a large rally in Kuala Lumpur to press for electoral reforms.

The Malaysian government rejected charges of electoral fraud and has accused Anwar of seeing to cause unrest with the rally.

The election was one of the most closely contested in Malaysia in years and Najib is expected to face a party leadership challenge that may cost him his leadership by the end of the year because of the weak showing.

He had hoped to strengthen the ruling coalition’s majority in parliament with the help of a strong economy, reforms to roll back race-based policies and $2.6 billion in spending programs benefiting poor families.

Najib is now seeing as having a difficult time in persuading his allies to press ahead with economic reforms and the phasing out of policies favouring ethnic Malays over other groups.

Malaysiakini

While BN basks in the good news that it has ‘won’ the 13th general election, I’m delighted to see how much bad news this crooked, lying regime has to face in its moment of ‘triumph’.

In other words, though my hopes have been dashed that some kind of miracle might occur to rid Malaysia of this chronic curse this time around, I’m absolutely elated at the fact that it was such a pyrrhic victory for Najib Abdul Razak and his gang of nasties.

Survival with seven fewer federal seats than Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (left) achieved in 2008 is absolutely pathetic considering the fraudulence of the electoral system, the countless billions thrown around in pork-barreling and bribery, and the combined might of the mendacious mainstream media.

And way beyond pathetic is Najib’s immediate blaming of the Chinese Malaysian community for his failure to steal back the two-thirds majority he and his accomplices so desperately craved.

In achieving over 50 percent of the vote, Pakatan Rakyat clearly attracted a great deal of support from Malaysians of every race and creed, especially in most of the relatively enlightened and prosperous urban centres.

Paradoxically, it was the very people who BN has systematically contrived to keep poor, ignorant and thus grateful for peanuts in handouts who voted them back into office.

That portion of the population still innocent or ignorant enough to believe that selling their votes for cash is some kind of entrepreneurial coup, and that the pack of lies they’re fed by BN’s ‘mainstream’ media could possibly be true.

While, no thanks to BN but rather over its dead body, urban Malaysians now have access to genuine news online, it is an absolute disgrace to the regime’s claims of progress that there are millions of Malaysians to whom the Net is still just the thing you sleep under to keep thenyamuk from biting you in the night.

No wonder such deliberately-disadvantaged people neither know nor care that for decades they’ve been fed false promises and pacified with chicken-feed while BN has systematically looted the nation’s treasury and resources and destroyed its civil institutions.

What’s great news for the rest of us, however, and very bad news for BN, is that urban Malaysians are abandoning the regime in overwhelming numbers,.

Thus rendering Najib’s ‘victory’ as hollow possible by depriving him of the prizes he so dearly, indeed desperately wanted. Selangor, for a start, where BN has been even more comprehensively slaughtered this time than back in 2008, and Penang where the regime has suffered a similar fate.

Well deserved wipeouts

Then there are all the triumphs that Pakatan scored on an individual level. It was fantastic to see Nurul Izzah Anwar prevail despite the regime’s throwing everything at her; to see Lim Kit Siang not only win but achieve a landslide in a seat in Johor; and to witness the well deserved wipeouts of the Malacca chief minister Mohd Ali Rustam and the candidates fielded by Perkasa.

And speaking of wipeouts, it was an absolute joy to witness the eagerly anticipated near-annihilation of Umno’s ever-compliant partners in the BN crime syndicate, the MCA, MIC and Gerakan.

While these parties have at least thus far been quite humble or at least fatalistic in defeat, Mohd Ali(left) has been loudly lamenting the ingratitude of the voters who deserted him in such droves.

According to BN ‘news’ agency Bernama, he “lamented” that “voters, especially the Chinese, did not appreciate all the services and efforts undertaken by the BN government in developing the state and safeguarding the welfare of the rakyat”.

What Mohd Ali failed to mention, of course, was the possibility that the voters, both Chinese and otherwise, had doubtlessly recalled how little they appreciated the arrogant contempt he demonstrated for their welfare on the occasion of his elder son’s marriage some months ago.

As you’ll recall, and as the voters of Malacca surely did, Mohd Ali invited so many guests that he claimed it was a Malaysian if not world record for a wedding crowd, and had the bills for the entire affair sent to the state government.

Another sore loser for whom it is hard to feel a shred of sympathy is Johor BN chairperson Abdul Ghani Othman (right).

Smarting from his crushing 14,762-vote defeat in Gelang Patah parliamentary seat by Lim, he blamed people who had “cast their votes based on their emotions”.

How the voters are expected to remain unemotional in the face of one massive BN scandal after another, he didn’t attempt to explain. But whatever, emotions are still running very high indeed among Pakatan members and supporters at the outrageous illegalities committed by the regime before and during the general election, and blithely condoned by the crooked Election Commission.

Blatant gerrymandering has delivered BN about 60 percent of parliamentary seats with less than 50 percent of the popular vote. And even this minority of votes for BN was achieved with a blend of alleged bribery, fraud and rigging of the electoral rolls and postal votes.

What Malaysians can or will do about being thus robbed of the change of government they so clearly craved is anybody’s guess. Challenge the result in the BN-biased courts? Stage Bersih-style public rallies in support of demands for a re-run, in defiance of the BN-biased police?

Meanwhile, we all wait to hear the possible ultimate bad news for Najib, if not BN in general, from the eternal and ever-malicious PM-behind-the-scenes Dr Mahathir Mohamad (left).

As gratified as he surely must be by the success of son Mukhriz in the general election, and as relieved to be spared facing justice at the hands of a Pakatan government, he’s likely to be very unimpressed indeed by Najib’s abject failure to win back BN’s cherished two-thirds majority.

So BN and its supporters had better enjoy the good news while it lasts, because they have so much bad news coming to them, from both inside and outside their ranks, that they’ll wonder why they ever bothered engineering this fake ‘win’ – and may even come to regret it.

The Malaysian Insider

Undi popular dalam Pilihan Raya 2013 menceritakan tentang generasi Bangsa Malaysia mengundi buat pertama kali dan melangkaui batas kaum akan tetapi bagi Barisan Nasional (BN), lebih menyenangkan untuk menyalahkan pengundi Cina daripada memastikan perpaduan dan mengakui strategi mereka gagal.

Hampir 13.3 juta pengundi membuang undi buat pertama kali pada pilihan raya hujung minggu lalu dan lebih cenderung untuk musuh BN, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) yang berikrar untuk menamatkan kronisme, perbelanjaan berlebihan dan rasuah.

Pengundi kali pertama ini, kebanyakkannya di bawah 30 tahun, membesar di zaman pemerintahan Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, di mana bekas perdana menteri paling lama berkhidmat itu melancarkan Wawasan 2020 pada 1991 dan bercakap soal Bangsa Malaysia yang bersaing melalui meritokrasi dalam negara membangun.

Mereka menyebabkan BN hilang tujuh lagi kerusi Parlimen berbanding Pilihan Raya 2008,133 daripada 222. Di peringkat Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) lebih teruk lagi — BN mendapat 275 berbanding PR 230 daripada 505 kerusi DUN yang dipertandingkan.

“Mereka abaikan Bangsa Malaysia. Dan sekarang kamu lihat bagaimana generasi muda mengundi,” kata wartawan dan editor veteran Datuk A Kadir Jasin kepada The Malaysian Insider, merujuk kepada BN.

Beliau menulis di blognya mengenai keputusan pilihan raya umum 5 Mei, mengatakan kelemahan prestasi BN menunjukkan penolakkan dari semua rakyat Malaysia dan bukan sahaja dari minoriti Cina.

“Adakah tidak mungkin bahawa ini bukan tsunami Cina atau cauvinisme kaum, tetapi tsunami Malaysia yang berpaksikan aspirasi dan realiti baru, khasnya di kalangan pengundi muda?” kata bekas ketua pengarang kumpulan New Straits Times Press semasa era pentadbiran Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dalam tulisan di blognya yang bertajuk, “Keputusan PRU13-Tsunami Cina atau Tsunami Malaysia?”.

Penganalisis dan ahli politik juga menolak teori “tsunami Cina”, mengatakan peningkatkan undi popular terhadap PR adalah berbilang kaum secara semula jadi dan disebabkan oleh peralihan dari pengundi bandar dan kelas menengah yang menyaksikan jurang bandar-luar bandar Malaysia semakin meluas.

Mereka juga mengatakan tajuk utama Utusan Malaysia yang dimiliki Umno dan BN ”Apa lagi Cina mahu?” adalah petunjuk jelas BN mencari momok luar dan memesongkan perhatian daripada pemimpin-pemimpin parti dan kegagalan strategi dalam Pilihan Raya 2013.

Pengerusi BN dan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak mencadangkan “tsunami Cina” menyebabkan kekalahan BN dibanyak kerusi pada awal pagi Isnin, disambung oleh Presiden MCA Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek dan kemudiannya diperkukuhkan oleh pemimpin MIC Datuk M. Saravanan semalam.

Dr Mahathir juga menyalahkan kekalahan itu kepada “Cina yang tidak bersyukur” dan “Melayu tamak”, selain dari mempersolkan ahli strategi BN di mana idea mereka gagal.

Akan tetapi pengkritik membangkitkan, Dr Mahathir secara aktif berkempen untuk BN, terutamanya dua calon Perkasa — Datuk Ibrahim Ali di Pasir Mas dan Datuk Zulkifli Noordin di Shah Alam, yang telah mencetuskan kemarahan bukan Melayu kerana kenyataan berbaur perkauman selama ini.

Kedua-dua pemimpin ini bertanding di kerusi Parlimen yang majoritinya Melayu akan tetapi kalah, bukti BN salah tentang Cina adalah punca utama kekalahan mereka.

Dr Mahathir, bagaimanapun, tepat mengenai ahli strategi BN, sesetengahnya yang mencadangkan serangan peribadi kepada pemimpin pembangkang, menakut-nakutkan dan memperlekehkan manifesto PR menggunakan pelbagai saluran media dan mendominasi ruang iklan.

“Menyalahkan DAP kerana mengelirukan pengundi mereka boleh mengubah kerajaan hanya menunjukkan bagaimana pintarnya ahli strategi DAP berbanding BN,” kata pakar hubungan awam, yang enggan untuk dinamakan.

“Ahli strategi BN ini hanya mahu menyembunyikan fakta mereka tersilap baca mengenai anak muda Bangsa Malaysia, jadi salahkan sahaja Cina yang tidak mengundi mereka,” tambah beliau.

Sumber dari “bilik perang” BN mengatakan tinjauan dalaman gabungan itu menunjukkan prestasi mereka akan lebih buruk dari Pilihan raya 2008, apabila mereka menang 140 kerusi. “Kami sentiasa sedar untuk mendapat di bawah 140 jadi 133 bukanlah sesuatu yang mengejutkan,” katanya.

“Adalah mudah untuk menyalahkan pengundi dan parti lain untuk kekalahan tetapi faktanya jentera pilihan raya kita gagal di sesetengah tempat sementara PR adalah lebih baik,” tambah beliau.

“Jentera PR adalah mengagumkan dan mereka bercakap tentang isu-isu dan hubungan kaum. Itu banyak membantu mereka,” kata pegawai bilik perang BN itu.

Buat masa sekarang, katanya adalah mudah bagi BN yang kecewa untuk menyalahkan DAP dan Cina, kuat menyokong mereka dalam pilihan raya 1999 selepas Dr Mahathir memecat Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim kerana dikatakan meliwat dan tuduhan rasuah menyebabkan protes selama berbulan-bulan.

Cina adalah 28 peratus dari 29 juta populasi Malaysia, dan kurang daripada separuh mendaftar sebagai pengundi. Di sebalik jumlah pengundi yang rendah, Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) mengatakan peratusan keluar mengundi memecahkan rekod apabila mencecah 84.84 peratus.

Daripada jumlah pengundi itu, BN mendapat 5,237,699 undi untuk 222 kerusi Parlimen berbanding parti Pakatan Rakyat yang mengumpulkan 5,623,984 undi.

Gabungan tiga parti PKR, PAS dan DAP itu juga mengalahkan BN dalam undi di Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) apabila mendapat 4,879,699 undi berbanding gabungan 13 parti itu yang mendapat 4,513,977 undi.