The Malaysian Insider

Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is planning to hold a “national unity” convention to address the escalating racial tension sparked by Umno’s constant attempt to blame the non-Malay voters for Barisan Nasional’s (BN) dismal showing at in the May 5 general election.

PR secretariat member Datuk Saifuddin Nasution said his three-party coalition saw the need to organise the convention so it can work on a formula for “genuine unity” in light of Umno’s intensified race baiting that began instantly after the election results were announced.

“The convention will be held in the near future so we can discuss on a recipe, a formula for genuine unity.

“This is because we are looking at a dangerous pattern where Umno seem to be unable to move away from the sentiments of race politics,” he told a press conference after chairing PR’s secretariat meeting at PKR’s headquarters here.

The PKR secretary-general said PR is also considering suggestions that it invites its political rivals to participate in the convention, an idea that will be deliberated at tomorrow’s presidential council meeting.

“We will leave it to the leadership to decide if the invitation will be opened to all. The details will be discussed by the presidential council and an announcement will be made,” he said.

BN’s lynchpin Umno have continued to blame the coalition’s poor polls results on a “Chinese tsunami” it claimed was triggered by the DAP, a term that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had coined after the results showed BN winning with a smaller majority of 133 federal seats and ceded an additional seven seats to PR.

Since then, Umno-owned Malay paper Utusan Malaysia ran daily reports with incendiary headlines like “Apa lagi Cina mahu? (What more do the Chinese want?) And “Golongan muda Cina monopoli perhimpunan haram” (Young Chinese monopolise illegal rallies) and “DAP terus cetus provokasi” (DAP continues to incite provocation) in a continued attempt to shape the Election 2013 result as a Malay versus Chinese vote.

Other pro-Umno leaders have also joined in the growing chorus of attacks on the Chinese community with one accusing DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang of being the main protagonist to the bloody May 13 race riots in 1969 while another had blamed racial disparity on vernacular schools and demanded that it be shut down.

Leaders from both sides of the political divide have called on Najib to rein in  Umno’s right wing elements and put an end to the racial politicking, of which failing to do so would cast doubt over the prime minister’s “national reconciliation” programme.

Some PR leaders claimed the race politics played by Umno was also an attempt to divert attention from the mass fraud that purportedly took place at the May 5 ballot.

Saifuddin said the pact has agreed to continue holding rallies nationwide to protest the results following the overwhelming turn-outs it had at rallies held in Penang and Kelana Jaya last week.

“Despite the numbers, some reached 100,000, the rallies took place peacefully and without any untoward incidents.

“The rallies is good for the people to voice their dissatisfaction through the principles of the Federal Constitution,” he said.

Saifuddin also chided the police and critics of the rallies for calling the peaceful demonstrations seditious, arguing that the authorities should instead reprimand those behind the race baiting like Umno and Utusan Malaysia.

“Calling for the closure of vernacular schools is more seditious than we are doing,” he said.

Meanwhile Saifuddin said he welcomes Umno information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan’s dare that PR invites the Elections Commission (EC) for a meeting to raise its complaints of polls fraud.

Ahmad claimed yesterday that PR’s refusal to engage the EC on the matter proved that the opposition had no evidence to back its allegations.

“I agree with Ahmad Maslan to invite EC chief Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Yusof for a meeting so we can raise our complaints one by one. In case he rejects our invitation I am sure that Ahmad Maslan could assist us in arranging the meeting. I now throw the ball back to him and ask that he be ready to make this happen,” he said.

The Malaysian Insider

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim warned his political foes today that using racism to frighten Malaysians away from Pakatan Rakyat (PR) would never work, claiming nothing short of “divine intervention” would stop the groundswell of support for the federal opposition pact.

The PR de facto leader, who has vowed never to surrender until PR claims its place in Putrajaya, repeated his conviction that it had been through fraud and cheating that saw Barisan Nasional (BN) “rob” its victory.

Anwar (picture) said the recent incessant raising of racial slurs by top BN leaders and BN-controlled media was an attempt by the pact to divert the attention of Malaysians away from the allegedly fraudulent polls.

“Let the Umno corrupters be warned: the suppression of the people’s may work temporarily but like a can with a limited shelf life, it will not work forever.

“That’s because when the will of the people prevails, nothing short of divine intervention can stop it,” he wrote in a blog posting today.

“You cannot put the people to sleep forever. Sooner or later they will awaken. On 5th May, they signalled their awakening with a resounding vote for Pakatan — and no matter what Najib and Umno choose to call it, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that this is a Malaysian tsunami.

“And as Black 505 shows, it will not stop until our ends are reached,” he said, using a now often-used term to refer to the May 5 polls as a day that signifies the “death of democracy”.

Election 2013 saw BN’s over half-a-century rule continue unbroken when the ruling pact returned to power with a narrow-margin with 133 federal seats to PR’s 89 seats, just 21 seats more than the 112 needed to form a simple-majority government.

But more significantly was BN’s loss of the overall popular vote for the first time since 1969, garnering just under 48 per cent to PR’s 51 per cent, a point that the federal opposition blames on gerrymandering and vote-rigging.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in his victory speech in the early hours of May 6, said it had been a “Chinese tsunami” that caused BN to bleed more seats than it did in Election 2008, a move that triggered widespread criticisms against the prime minister for using race to characterise the vote trend.

Analysts suggested otherwise, noting that the popular vote showed that large numbers of Malay voters had opted to boot BN from Putrajaya. The trend, they added, had rather reflected an urban-rural divide and not a Malay-vs-Chinese vote.

Agreeing, Anwar said the polls numbers extrapolated from independent sources had clearly indicated an increase in the number of votes from all races for PR, apart from the consequential increase in the number of PR Malay lawmakers elected to office.

Anwar alleged that BN had ordered its “supremacist minions” to go on the warpath against the Chinese community, the Malays and all others who had not given their vote to BN.

I call on all right-minded Malaysians — be they Malay, Chinese, Indian, Dayak or Kadazan or any other ethnic group — to reject the racist Barisan Nasional because another moment longer with this evil coalition is another moment longer with a party that is doomed to bring this nation to ruin. — Anwar Ibrahim

Anwar noted that the Chinese-majority DAP has been labelled a chauvinist party, the Malay-Muslim-dominated PAS branded a traitor to race and religion and his PKR, a multiracial party with a strong Malay-Muslim presence, has been ridiculed as a proxy to the DAP.

“With me taking the grand prize of being Public Enemy No. 1 and traitor to King and country,” Anwar said.

But the former deputy prime minister, who has put his retirement plans on hold after the allegedly fraudulent Election 2013 insists his and his team’s suspicions are right, and called on Malaysians to reject BN, a party which he claimed would only lead the country to ruin.

“I call on all right-minded Malaysians — be they Malay, Chinese, Indian, Dayak or Kadazan or any other ethnic group — to reject the racist Barisan Nasional because another moment longer with this evil coalition is another moment longer with a party that is doomed to bring this nation to ruin,” he said.

In anticipation of the likely outcome of the polls, Anwar had deliberately declared a PR victory just two hours after the count began on May 5, explaining later that the move was to show Malaysians that he knew BN would make itself victors despite losing the popular vote.

Today while Team Najib is finding its footing back in the hallowed halls of Putrajaya, Anwar and his troops have been organising mammoth rallies nationwide to prove their indignation at the polls outcome is shared by a large segment of Malaysia.

They have held three such events so far — in Selangor, Penang and Perak — each one drawing ten of thousands of people, and will be moving on the Kuantan, Pahang, tomorrow and in Johor on Thursday.

Anwar urged Malaysians against being complicit to Umno and BN’s “evil” spread of racial discontent and harmony post-Election 2013, claiming it was a moral imperative to stand with PR, which he said was the “right side of history”.

“Here’s our clarion call to you: stand up and be counted. Stand up for Bangsa Malaysia,” he said as he rallied Malaysians of all creed and colours to back what he described as a multiracial PR pact.

“This indeed is a moral imperative. Pakatan leaders are committed to this creed to unify all Malaysians.

“We have come together with the people by dint of our unshakeable sense of conviction not for power or office but for the well-being and future of our beloved nation.”

Malaysia-Chronicle

Looks like the general perception among the rakyat that UMNO and its cohabiting-partners are hell bent in getting the multi-racial population to repeat May 13 of 1969, is not too far-fetched after all.

But thank God, this is 2013 and not 1969. The pervasive use of and access to the internet media probably has played its effective role in not getting the citizens all riled up and blinded by this race madness that seems to preoccupy the people aligned to ‘die’ for UMNO.

Najib led the racial slurs

The run-up to the elections was spiked with racial slurs. The outcome of the elections results was also pinned on race-divisiveness. And the leader of the pack, the in-coming Prime Minister himself screamed “Chinese tsunami” – giving the infamous main stream media further steam to peddle the damaging and most unbecoming allegation by a PM – who is supposed to be the leader for all citizens in a country.

The drivel has not slowed down neither does it seem to show any signs of stopping. It would be nightmarish to think what would have been the precipitate outcome if we did not have the internet media but only had to rely on fixed line telephones and main stream media (TV, radio and newspapers).

In all likelihood, we would have all witnessed another May 13, as staged groups plundered and fought bitter battles on the streets while getting the population at large to believe that the Chinese and Malays are killing each other.

Thank God for the internet media together with all the smart technologies we enjoy today, none of the outdated mechanisms of the Mahathir era are working. And it will not work. But the die-hards – even supposedly learned ex-judges and founders of seemingly global organizations and even academicians are not getting the drift at all, as they cling to the mantra of ‘divide the race to reign in the power’. Poor chaps, these fellows must be far, very far behind on the information revolution.

Living side by side

Fools must come to terms with reality and stop being the fools that they are. Malaysians are a very united multiracial society. They trust and work side by side; they study side by side; they recreate side by side; they celebrate side by side; they live side by side.

So do not try to divide the country’s unity along race margins. Yes you can try as you may; you can continue to do that using all the money you have to subscribe and enlist your bloggers and hackers in addition to your self-sponsored main stream media.

But Malaysians will get to the bottom of things even if you try to repeat May 13. This is an empowered society – a time unprecedented in the history of human communication. Every one person who carries a hand phone or has an account on the net is independent yet completely networked.

If the 13th general elections is being branded as fraudulent, it is also because of this empowered new media independence. In the past we only had the TV, radio and newspapers – the controlled mouth pieces of UMNO and BN. We could only swallow what is sold to us.

This is no more the reality today. As in the song by Sting & Police, “Every Breath You take”, UMNO needs to know, you are in a new world order where,

Every move you make

Every vow you break

Every smile you fake

Every claim you stake

We’ll be watching you

Every single day

Every word you say

Every game you play

Oh can’t you UMNO fellas see

We’ll be watching you.

By Anwar Ibrahim

A week has lapsed since the 13th General Elections where yet another wave of change of  Tsunamic proportions was unleashed.

But this change, which should have been a change in government, was forestalled by the systemic fraud perpetrated by Najib’s UMNO-BN which robbed Pakatan Rakyat of its rightful victory.

This is not a question of mere electoral flaws or irregularities but a far and wide-ranging scheme of deception and cheating orchestrated at the highest levels calculated and executed to ensure that UMNO’s hold on power will remain, come hell or high water.

Naturally, this travesty of the people’s right has provoked a reaction so strong — now known as Black 505 — that it has spooked the corrupters and evil plotters to seek all means possible to divert and distract the people’s focus.

Najib called the 13th GE results a ‘Chinese tsunami’ the first of a series of blows nationwide attacking the community, while at the same time endeavouring to use the rhetoric to provoke the Malay community to respond and react.

It didn’t matter that he was talking through his hat for the reality showed otherwise — the poll numbers extrapolated from independent sources clearly indicated an increase in the number of votes from the Malay, Chinese and Indian communities in favour of Pakatan Rakyat, apart from the consequential increase in the number of Pakatan Malay law makers elected to office.

Taking the cue from Najib’s initial racist rant, his prime media mouthpiece the Utusan Malaysia front paged their lead with a screamer: “What more do the Chinese want?” It didn’t matter to Najib that these are acts of cowardice and desperation because after all the cheating and the fraud and the taking of office with no legitimacy, how much lower can one go?

Yet, they cannot be taken lightly because they are aimed at deflecting attention from this new movement of protests by the people. And these racist outbursts and fear mongering circulated widely through the UMNO controlled media are intended to break the momentum of Black 505 and eventually to neutralise it.

Let the UMNO corrupters be warned: the suppression of the people’s will may work temporarily but like a can with a limited shelf life, it will not work forever. That’s because when the will of the people prevails, nothing short of divine intervention can stop it.

You cannot put the people to sleep forever. Sooner or later they will awaken. On 5th May, they signalled their awakening with a resounding vote for Pakatan – and no matter what Najib and UMNO choose to call it, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that this is a Malaysian tsunami. And as Black 505 shows, it will not stop until our ends are reached.

Yes, being in possession of the reins of power has rendered UMNO-BN the de facto government for now even if the popular vote for Pakatan exceeds 51 per cent and UMNO-BN’s is less than 47.3 per cent.

However, without the popular vote and having stolen more than 30 parliamentary seats from Pakatan, de jure, they have no legitimacy and are in fact usurpers. Which is why they are attempting to divert the focus away from the fraud by leading the time honoured foray into race baiting and incitement to hatred.

By venting out racist outbursts, Najib effectively gave the order to his supremacist minions to go on the war path against not just the Chinese community but the Malay and other communities who did not vote them. The Chinese majority DAP is labelled a chauvinist party while the Malay-Muslim dominated PAS is branded as traitor to race and religion. KEADILAN – multiracial with a strong Malay-Muslim presence – is ridiculed as a proxy for DAP with me taking the grand prize of being Public Enemy No. 1 and traitor to King and country.

In the run up to 13th GE, the incessant personal attacks against Pakatan leaders were orchestrated by the highest echelons in the media working hand in glove with the powers that be. They spun a web of lies and deceit to poison the minds of the people with the endless playback of fabricated material. But under this torrent of lowly, spurious and immoral acts of subterfuge, they swore on their mothers’ wombs that they would not play the race and religion card. Yes, they did so and with great aplomb, paraded their racist Perkasa but ‘now born again truly Malaysian’ candidates.

They kept their word for a week or two but only to break loose like a Pandora’s Box unable to hold back any more all that pent up bile and hatred. Hence, hardly a couple of hours after their self-declared victory they let loose their racist dogs of war to spew their poison on the people.

Sunday’s tirade by a former senior judge plus the hysterical declaration of a failed election candidate handpicked by Najib that the DAP is responsible for the May13th riots must surely be considered to be deliberate acts of provoking hatred against a racial group, if nothing more.

In more established democracies, such acts by deed or by word are regarded as hate crimes.  In a multicultural and multi-religious nation like ours there should be no doubt that the various communities must be prohibited by law from insulting or provoking one another either through acts or speech. What more if these crimes are perpetrated by their leaders?

The desperate but utterly reckless acts of incitement to racist hatred and religious fear are now revived with a vengeance. There’s no doubt that transgressors should be caught under the Sedition Act. Indeed, the time has come for a more specific law to be put into place to punish such hate crimes and prevent them from causing further damage to the fabric of our society.

But over and above crime and punishment through legislation is the moral imperative that the task and duty of societal cohesion and harmony falls on the shoulders of every citizen, what more on community leaders be they elected or self-appointed. When human conduct runs the risk of causing great harm, laws are necessary. But compliance for fear of legal sanctions is not fool proof. Just like fighting corruption, we must be guided by the moral imperative to do what we know is inherently right and to shun what is wrong – whether or not the eyes of the law are watching us.

So I call on all right-minded Malaysians – be they Malay, Chinese, Indian, Dayak or Kadazan or any other ethnic group – to reject the racist Barisan Nasional – because another moment longer with this evil coalition is another moment longer with a party that is doomed to bring this nation to ruin.

Why be an accessory or be complicit to evil in the spreading of racial discontent and causing disharmony when you can be on the right side of history?

This indeed is a moral imperative. The Pakatan leaders are committed to this creed to unify all Malaysians. We have come together with the people by dint of our unshakable sense of conviction not for power or office but for the well-being and future of our beloved nation. Here’s our clarion call to you: stand up and be counted. Stand up for Bangsa Malaysia.

Bangkok Post

BN under pressure to dismantle race-based policies as opposition draws more support from all sides, lifting popular vote above 50%.

History was supposed to have been made on May 5, the day Malaysians came out in record numbers to vote for a new government.

Some pundits predicted the country’s 13th general election — GE13 in the local shorthand — would be a defining moment that ended the grip on power by the Barisan Nasional (BN). Many were preparing for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to be ushered in as prime minister the next day.

The huge interest in the contest for 222 Parliamentary seats and 505 state seats was reflected in the record turnout — 84.84% or 11.25 million of the 13.2 million registered voters. Of the total, 2.3 million were new voters.

Since independence from Britain in 1957, Malaysians have known no other government than BN, a coalition of the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), MCA and Gerakan representing the Chinese, and MIC representing Indians.

The opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) comprises the new and predominantly Chinese Democratic Action Party (DAP), PAS (Parti Islam Se-Malaysia) and PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) led by Anwar.

Anwar was quick to declare victory via Twitter early on election night, five hours before the official announcement at midnight by the Election Commission. The results showed the BN returning to power, but not without bleeding more seats at both the federal and state levels compared to 2008. As well, its share of the popular vote fell to 48.7% against 51.3% for the PR.

But in Malaysia, where the government for years has been accused of skewing electoral boundaries to favour candidates in its rural heartland, losing the popular vote is no bar to winning the House.

BN won 133 federal seats, just one less than in 2008, and 274 out of the 505 state seats. PR won 89 parliamentary seats, six more than in 2008. The opposition retained control of Malaysia’s two wealthiest states — Penang and Selangor. PAS held on in Kelantan but lost Kedah to BN. Anwar’s party also caused hairline cracks in BN’s once “fixed deposit” states — Johor and Sabah.

The opposition continues to insist that it was robbed of victory, that the polls were rigged and the process marred by fraud. The poll watchdog Bersih has also refused to recognise the BN government until it verifies reports of electoral fraud.

Reports from southern Thailand, to cite just one example, said that BN was paying 400 to 500 ringgit in “travel expenses” to each voter holding Malaysian nationality to travel south to cast ballots. International observers, however, said the polling process on the whole was fair and transparent.

A group of young voters in Sabah participated in a silent walk on Tuesday to express their disappointment over the results, which they felt did not reflect the nation’s desire for a change in government.

Addressing some 60,000 supporters at a rally last Wednesday night, Anwar vowed that PR would challenge the results in at least 30 seats.

Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was sworn in on Monday, conceded that his party had some work to do to regain voters’ trust.

The clear winner among the political parties that contested the election was the DAP, which engineered what Najib ruefully called “the Chinese tsunami” of votes that abandoned the BN. That left the BN’s Chinese-based parties including MCA and Gerakan as the biggest losers.

Chinese voters increasingly are expressing their disapproval of decades of race-based development policies that favour ethnic Malays. They claim the policies have not promoted equality but have simply entrenched corruption.

However, BN’s weaker showing points to a strong wave of rejection from all Malaysians and not just from the minority Chinese. A major swing in the urban and middle-class electorate shows that Malaysia’s urban-rural rift is widening.

Experts analysing the results say there has been a political awakening in the country, which in the longer term will be beneficial. The evolution will continue, with the restlessness of the younger generation wanting to have a say in their future ensuring that the politics of race will sooner rather than later be put out to pasture.

Rather than blaming the Chinese for voting for the opposition, the BN should admit that it has failed to heed the new political reality. MCA and MIC had failed to serve the community they were created to serve and they no longer appeal to the younger voters.

Though Najib has made a lot of changes since he came to power four years ago, he has to do more. His government must continue to dismantle bumiputera policies and also introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to make Malaysia more competitive and lift it out of a middle-income trap.

As well, a total review of the education system can no longer be avoided, a social security system needs to be in place, and exorbitant higher education fees addressed. The rising crime rate is also a serious matter.

Now it is time for reconciliation, as unity is the key in diverse Malaysia. However, equality for all, regardless of gender, race or religion is a critical factor. For unity to work, Malaysians should not longer be judged based on their race.

The government has five years to undo past mistakes and bring change or else the next battle — GE14 — will be won by the party that can present a better united front.

Asia Times Online

On May 13, 1969, the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur was a living hell with vehicles, houses and the national consciousness set ablaze. Clashes between ethnic Malays and Chinese claimed 196 lives according to official police estimates. Independent foreign observers estimated the death toll as ten times higher.

Triggered by the outcome of the 1969 elections, that riot paved way for two years of emergency rule and a fundamental change in politics and society. The then ruling Alliance Party – a coalition of three communal parties representing Malays, Chinese and Indians and their regional allies in Sabah and Sarawak – found itself

Personified by the marching multi-ethnic youth clad in black, Malaysia has finally left behind the threat of ethnic riots after 44 years. Najib may believe that his party and coalition won the 2013 election, but anyone who has seen the recent rally crowds will conclude otherwise: they have lost a generation and the popular mandate to rule.

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.

The New York Times

If there was a moment after the nail-biting national election on Sunday when Malaysians could envision a respite from five years of political turmoil, it did not last long.

Within hours of the election commission’s announcement early Monday that Prime Minister Najib Razak’s governing National Front coalition had won a majority in Parliament, Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition leader, declared that the voting was rigged, said he would contest the results and called for nationwide protests.

The prime minister’s office countered that Mr. Anwar was a poor loser stirring up unrest, while the police warned that the opposition leader and dozens of other people who spoke at a protest rally in a packed soccer stadium just outside the capital, Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday night could be charged with sedition.

Such tit-for-tat exchanges between the government and the opposition were commonplace after the 2008 election and in the campaign for the vote last Sunday. But analysts say that the continuing political attacks and threats of protest this time are raising the specter of a potentially explosive showdown fueled by ethnic tensions laid bare again in the vote and longstanding animosity between Mr. Najib and Mr. Anwar.

“In a way, it’s escalated things,” said Simon Tay, the chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. “And with an escalation, you’re not sure of what the results will be.”

The election was itself something of a referendum on the ethnic-based politics that has prevailed under the National Front, which has led the country since its independence from Britain in 1957. Under that system, ethnic Malays have been given preferences in land purchases, bank loans and university admissions.

Voters were essentially given a choice between a semiauthoritarian government that has delivered economic development, albeit through ethnic-based political and economic policies, or a total change in leadership to a combative but untested opposition.

With a record 80 percent of registered voters turning out, the National Front won 133 of the 222 seats in the federal Parliament. But the tally represented a loss of seven seats compared with 2008 and, for the first time since 1969, the governing coalition took less than 50 percent of the popular vote.

While rural Malay Muslims tipped the balance to Mr. Najib, a higher-than-anticipated number of Chinese-Malaysians voted for the opposition.

Mr. Najib, 59, said at a nationally televised news conference early Monday that he was surprised by the voting pattern, which he called a “Chinese tsunami.” This was repeated in comments in Malay-language newspapers that implied that Chinese voters had betrayed Mr. Najib’s party, the United Malays National Organization, or UMNO, which many Chinese supported in the past.

Analysts said that Chinese voters were upset that the government had not made more progress in rolling back official preferences for ethnic Malays.

While Mr. Najib has urged national reconciliation and called ethnic-based campaign politics “unhealthy,” some analysts said his “tsunami” comment only magnified the ethnic debate in Malaysia and exacerbated post-election tensions.

“The political divide in Malaysia is poisonous,” said Karim Raslan, a Malaysian newspaper columnist and political observer.

The weeks before the election featured vociferous attacks in the strongly pro-government mainstream news media, in which Mr. Anwar, 65, was labeled a divisive, pro-American agent, while another senior opposition leader was rumored to be gay. (Spreading such rumors has become a not-uncommon political tactic in a country where homosexuality remains illegal.) A number of sex tapes purporting to be of opposition candidates, including Nurul Izzah Anwar, 32 — the opposition leader’s daughter, who successfully defended her seat in Parliament — were anonymously posted on the Internet.

The governing coalition “hasn’t learned anything from the voter backlash,” Ms. Nurul said. “I foresee the continuation of gutter, racist and hate politics.”

The opposition’s campaign platform included allegations that the governing coalition perpetuated widespread official corruption and would expand the state affirmative action programs that favor Malay Muslims, who account for 60 percent of Malaysia’s 29 million people. The government has rejected such claims.

The roots of the current dispute are also extremely personal and date back to 1998, when Mr. Anwar, who at the time was a senior UMNO leader and deputy prime minister, was ousted in an internal party struggle with Mahathir Mohamad, 87, the country’s prime minister at the time. Mr. Mahathir retains significant influence within the party.

Mr. Anwar was arrested and beaten while in custody and in 1999 was sentenced to more than five years in prison on corruption and sodomy charges, which he served. The charges were later dropped, but relations with Mr. Mahathir remained fraught.

“Certainly the level of dislike, disdain, of lack of respect for each other has gone up considerably in the last 10 years or so, especially since after 2008,” said Lim Teck Ghee, head of the Center for Policy Initiatives in Kuala Lumpur.

Last year, Mr. Anwar said he was “willing to forgive but not necessarily forget” his dismissal and imprisonment. Still, Mr. Lim said there remained widespread concern within UMNO that Mr. Anwar would open legal inquiries against Mr. Mahathir, Mr. Najib and other senior party officials should he ever become prime minister.

“It’s not simply concern about who is the next prime minister,” Mr. Lim said. “Mahathir’s very afraid that if Anwar and the opposition come to power, Mahathir’s place in history is going to be smeared, and I think he is fighting that very, very strongly, and this feeds into the politics of hate in the country.”

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

Malaysia-Chronicle

Utusan Malaysia has done it again. Their justification of BN’s terrible performance was racial and totally divisive which does not help the nation building process at all after GE13. By singling out a race of people who decided to choose Pakatan Rakyat(PR) instead of the incumbent UMNO/BN government they have portrayed the Chinese Malaysians as ungrateful and should be dealt with in the near future.

Why the sudden interest in Chinese only? Was it because they voted overwhelmingly for PR as though none of the other races did especially in the urban areas? Or is it because the BN caretaker government spent millions on them than the other races and hoping that the Chinese would reciprocate on polling day? Either way, it is NOT right for Utusan Malaysia or Najib to single out a particular group of Malaysians for his own failure. Yes, I say it again it is Najib’s own failure!

Popular vote won  by PR

So, what does Utusan Malaysia wants to do now? Are they planning and scheming something sinister in this country of ours? Yes Utusan, it’s either you are with us or against us. You have forgotten that it was the overwhelming Malaysians that voted for PR hence PR popular votes was much higher than BN for the first time in Malaysian history.

And you Utusan can’t seem to take it, right? After all UMNO is your political master for the last 50 plus years and YOU have been a political tool for them as well! Utusan, you have fail to grasped what Malaysian DEMANDS are! Here are a few list to start with:-

> We want a government that looks into the interest of Malaysians and not those of the Banglas, Indons, Myanmarese, Filipinos only. One day we might have a Benggali news papers in this country and you Utusan could be out of job. Yes, I hope you will face your demise as the mainstream paper of this country soon as you have not been able to bear good fruits but instead rotten ones only! That goes to the other MSM’s as well who have been spewing lies after lies to please your masters so that you and your board of directors could pamper yourself and be fed well like the cows of Bashan!

> We also want a government that is truly free from the scourge of corruption and incompetence which hinders our country from reaching our highest potential. Is it too much to ask? If yes, then go and tell your political masters they are not fit for the top job of this country in the first place.

>  We want a government that truly represent ALL Malaysians irrespective of their race, religion and lifestyle orientation. Again, is it too much to ask from a ruling government for this after 56 years in power? If yes, then I believe you have overstayed your welcome in this country. Somehow I can’t help but to feel that the government we are having now do not represent any of us except their cronies and a certain wife. Yup, reminds me of the many corrupt regimes of the 20th and the 21st century in Asia and AFrica that must be kicked out.

>  We also want a government that prides itself in promoting transparency. I’m sure Utusan has not heard of this word or pretends not to. If no, please look up in the dictionary yourself. In short we want a government that upholds free and fair election as a norm in this country instead of us struggling and fighting for it thru the streets. This is a basic need in any democracy. We also need the rule of law to be applied at every level of the government administration be it the Police, civil service and not forgetting the Election Commission (EC) as well. As of today the EC has lost all credibility of what is left of them thanks to Dr. Mahathir who started his IC Project by giving IC’s illegally to foreigners in Malaysia since 1980’s.

>  We Malaysians want Pakatan Rakyat as our federal government. Yes, UMNO/BN needs to be OUT for good. There is no shred of goodness that is left in them anymore. You are only fit to be trampled upon as UMNO/BN has lost all their usefulness! The rakyat can’t wait for the next GE and hope and pray that your demise will come sooner than later. Count your days UMNO. After all, the rakyat has finish off your BN counterparts i.e. MCA, MIC, Gerakan, PPP etc. UMNO, now it’s your turn and be rest assured that the rakyat will not missed you for a minute once you are kicked out of Putrajaya! It’s just a matter of time.
Now, you have heard what we want as citizens of this country and the list above is by no means exhaustive. But I will stop here as you Utusan are too dense to understand the new way of being a Malaysian today. Yup, the list is longer than the above and I’m sure the readers will continue to share their thoughts on this matter.

What we don’t want

Utusan, you have heard of our needs and wants as Malaysians. Now, hear out what we DO NOT WANT as Malaysians today.

- We DO NOT WANT a government that is corrupt to its core who do not know how distinguish of what is right from wrong. UMNO/BN have lost their moral compass hence the result in this GE 13 proves as such. It has nothing to do with any particular race or genetics. It has got everything to do with UMNO and their corrupt activities. Period!

- We DO NOT WANT the EC to be headed by the present leadership now who is not just corrupt but dishonest and unfair to all Malaysians. The EC has lost it and we the rakyat knows just too well that this unfair election practices will be continued if not ‘enhance’ in a more spectacular way for every other by-elections or GE in the future as long as UMNO/BN is in power.

- We DO NOT WANT the likes of Ibrahim Ali, Zulkifli Noordin and their Perkasa cohorts to be scot free in this land of ours. They have never represented Malaysian, whether the old or new Malaysia. They are the barbarians waiting at the gates ready to trampled our country. They and their spiritual advisor Dr. Mahathir are willing to go to any length to destroy this country just so to that their interest are protected and passed only to their next generation. Yes, they are only interested on their interest only. And if Najib can’t lift a finger to shut them off then Najib should join them as well when that day of reckoning comes. And Dr. Mahathir, I hope you are still around when we Malaysians crush and defeat you and your racist group whom I suspect are suffering from some sort of inferiority complex since your Malay Dilemma days.

- We also DO NOT WANT any MSM in this country to spew lies and continue to sow hatred among Malaysians. Please stop this immediately as we the rakyat are getting fed up with your cheap and unsubstantiated news to confuse all right thinking Malaysians. We also know that you are losing your market share hence affecting your bottom line the past few years. We will continue to boycott you and we hope that one day all the MSM will change for the better to hear the voice of real Malaysians instead of those Malaysians who walks in the corridors of power and are ever willingly to sell our country to the highest bidder.

- We also DO NOT WANT UMNO/BN to continue ruling our country in such a ridiculous way which would end up Malaysia as the laughing stock of the world. We will if we do not UBAH!

We are almost there, hang in there everyone!

Imagine this, historically our country has been known as Suvarnabhumi (Land of Gold) by the Indian conquerors. Even the Greeks has called this piece of land as the Golden Cherosenes and the Chinese in those days also called it as ‘Kin-Lin’ which means gold. This land is not merely a land of milk and honey but a land of GOLD! It is a land which would bring prosperity and wellness to all those who live here at whichever time period.

In fact, many past European colonizers were ready to go all out to fight tooth and nail to get a piece of this land which eventually enriched them and their country they came from. Today, those conquerors has been replaced by UMNO and their elites and cronies has started to amass the kind of wealth which most Malaysians could ever dream off.

In addition, we are being fed with crumbs from the powers that be! Yes, it is merely crumbs (sisa-sisa) and what is our rightful has been taken away and given to UMNO cronies. Instead of ‘gold’ UMNO is turning our country into a perpetual junkyard!

Because of this we too need to fight tooth and nail to ensure our country is return to us. We will never give up in this battle against the evil regime until it’s brought down to its knees and the rakyat rules again.

No matter how long it takes we will get there. Yup, we are almost there and it’s just a matter of time before Change happens. For that, we must Press On!