Change!

Seems to be the theme worldwide for 2008. Congratulations to Mr. Obama - the first Afro-American President of (used to be) most powerful country in the world. Proves that American democracy is still alive, and kicks racists in the b****!

So when is Malaysia's turn?

A New Malaysia...hopefully

Well, I guess Malaysians woke up to a shell-shocked government and Opposition - the former never expected to be hit so bad, the latter never expected to win so big. But that is the reality on 9th March 2008. The despised BN had lost their 2/3 majority, and also lost Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor to the loose coalition of DAP, PKR and PAS. While there is some sense of stability in the fact that BN would continue to form the government via a simple majority, observers and citizens are generally cautious on how the country would move on from her. Understandably, thanks to years of repeated brainwashing, the spectre of May 13 1969 weighs heavy on the thoughts of many. Do not worry. This time, we Malaysians as a whole have to much to lose to allow such senseless incident to happen. After all, history is man's greatest teacher!

Judging from the columns and reports in the mainstream media (propaganda machine of the government), the spin-doctors are scrambling to come up with credible reasons for the heavy slap in the face. Gerakan, MIC and MCA lost big-time; UMNO too lost credibility. The loss of Perak, Selangor and Perak were the least expected, though there were some rumours early last week that Kedah and Perlis might fall to the opposition. Selangor and Perak are surprising catches for the Opposition. The question is now how the Government, and foreign investors would react to the changed political landscape. Well, there will be the usual knee-jerk reaction but things would eventually stabilise.

How would I expect the Government to react? No different. It will be business as usual. They can ostracise one state like Kelantan...but to do the same to another four states, with one of them in the Malay heartland would be like digging their own political graves. I expect all projects and developments to carry on as planned, especially the NCER, lest more ammo is given to the Opposition four years down the road. Would Selangor and Perak be marginalised? Most definitely not. In my opinion, I expect even more effort be put in by the BN as well as the victorious Opposition to win the hearts of the populace in all five states - you can say we will have the best of both worlds.

The political future of Gerakan and MIC, and to a smaller extent MCA, is not so clear however. UMNO would be badly shaken up as well. They had not expected the swing in the Malay votes and had counted heavily on it to retain their 2/3 majority. Whether this would herald a more conciliatory UMNO or otherwise remains to be seen. One thing is clear for sure...there'll be big changes this year. I just hope that it is for the better.

I guess this is what you get when you treat Malaysians for fools. They keep blaming the rise in essential items, food etc. as being the cause of their loss. I opine that is not the case. It is the sheer arrogance of UMNO and timidity of its so-called comrades-in-arms that led to its defeat. It's simple: they have failed to tackle the basic problems that faced the country - corruption, crime, sheer wastage of taxpayers funds and loss of competitiveness - and instead thumbed their noses at the rakyat by acting roughshod over the BERSIH and HINDRAF gathering. Oi, Bodowi...we are not so stupid anymore! And we must of course congratulate the alternative media, such as the Internet, for the transmission of credible news! Without it, we would still be hearing and believing the lies as we had for many years!

One thing I'm very excited about though - once we Malaysians throw off the yoke of May 13, there is a possibility that the Opposition may give BN a run for their money at the next election. Once people see that Opposition gaining control of the states does not lead to chaos, BN would have lost their trump card they have used all these years. Of course this depends on how the Opposition does over the next five years - I believe they would not waste this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There is time for celebration. But they better get to work soon because there is so much work to be done.

But let's just savour this day a bit longer Malaysia...

Momentous Occasion

What a night...for the Opposition that is. At last count, they have retained Kelantan and wrested four other states: Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor!!! Such a result must be unthinkable and a pleasant surprise to many!

And they have done it: denied BN their 2/3 majority in the Parliament. UMNO, MCA and MIC lost big time - obviously MIC and MCA the worse of the three. A few cabinet ministers lost their seats; the Opposition big shots generally came out unscathed.

I certainly hope this heralds a new Malaysia. A better Malaysia for Malaysians.

Opposition Tide

There's no stopping it now. As of 11 p.m. tonight, the Opposition has taken Penang and Kedah, and retained Kelantan. A lot of big guns have fallen - including Kok Tsu Koon, Samy Vellu, Tan Chai Ho, Shahrizat and Zam Zam Alakazam... The Opposition leaders have generally won their seats.

So, now will BN listen?

Done

All it took was five minutes. The voting was done. No indelible ink. The serial number is still there...as if I care a damn. No surprises. More and more people were turning up at my polling centre - both young and old alike. But peaceful nonetheless.

Who did I vote for? I'm a young, urban, Chinese professional - that should answer the question, shouldn't it?

All Set!

The stage is set. Everybody seems to be raring to go. Today is the big day...the decision is in the hands of 10 million Malaysian voters.

Will we, the people, deny BN their 2/3 majority? Will we, the people, give enough votes to the Opposition to form the next government? Or will we, the people, cower meekly and surrender ourselves and our country to the rape and plunder of BN for another five years?

Tonight, we shall know the answer...

Shocker again!

Hot off the press!! Just a few months after declaring the use of indelible ink in Sturday's general election, comes this shocking declaration by the Election Comission: EC decides against indelible ink

If this doesn't give more ammo to the Opposition, I don't know what will! The Election Comission officials keep shooting themselves in the foot; after being praised for implementing such an action to ensure fair voting practices, retracting it citing such pathetic excuses could only damage it's already battered credibility!! After all, wasn't tax payer's money used to buy 47,000 bottles of the ink for use during the election? What are they gonna use it for? Fountain pens???

God, I wonder what is next?

Mind Boggling

God...imagine my surprise when I looked at the full page advertisement taken out by BN on the five Economic corridors...too bad I can't find a pic of it anywhere on the Net yet! Will have to go back and take it the old-fashioned way! But here's the gist of it:

IDR: RM 382b
NCER: RM 178b
ECER: RM 112b
SCORE: RM 334b
SDC: RM 105b

Hey don't need to take out your calculators...they even counted it for you: RM 1.1 trillion ringgit!! Another Malaysia Boleh! project by BN, but would most probably end up Malaysia Tak Boleh...

Finally, a little piece from a Little Bird...

Two Sides To A Story

And the BN claims that media reporting in this country is fair? Day in and day out, the mainstream media trumpets and blares the progress BN has brought and will bring, to this country. Come on, as if the discerning readers don't know that! While our country has progressed much, there is little to deny the fact that such progress has slowed to a snail's pace, if at all! So much for challenging the Tigers of Asia! Let's just make sure we don't get devoured in the increasingly competitive global savannah! Of course the Government will come out with a slew of only good news, from goodies dished out to the public to immediate approvals to requests that were denied for years - sometimes I feel the elections should be held every 2 years! Latest in this being none other than the sharp rise in GDP for 4Q 2007 - even the analysts were surprised at the strong showing! Personally I just wonder how much of it is true, and how much of it is fantasy!

So what of the opposition? Hmm, guess the only news worth reporting is bad news...maybe it's to reassure or more likely scare, the less discerning readers. The Opposition has little news space - perhaps 10% or so - the rest are all BN news. So how can the Government comment that only BN can govern this country and not the Opposition? Have they been given the opportunity? Please let all Malaysians know?

And please do not use Kelantan as an example...if BN rules Kelantan for 50 years I'm sure the development would still be marginal? Why? Because Kelantan has got no industry or natural resources!! And as much as BN wants to bring in development, they too will fail, despite their access to the country's coffers. There's this tendency to compare Kelantan and Terengganu: well there is a big difference though - Terengganu has got oil!! That makes a whole lot of difference - also let us not forget when PAS took over Terengganu briefly in 1999-2004, the government quickly denied the state government access to the petroleum royalties and denying us to see a chance of what could have been should the Opposition ruled a state! So let me ask again - who is to say that the Opposition can't rule?

Having said that, I do not believe the Opposition should attempt to topple BN this time around - they are too fragmented with their different manifestos, agendas and bickering. To deny Barisan their 2/3 majority is fine, but looks unlikely. There is just too much gerrymandering of the constituencies over the years to ensure that Barisan would retain control of the Parliament. Further more there would be the mis-use of postal votes, phantom voters etc. which the Elections Commissions is well-trained to ignore! At least no matter what they do, it is safe to say that Barisan would not repeat their performance of 2004 after an abject four years of Pak Lah rule...incidentally did he deliver on any of the promises made in his 2004 manifesto? Thye answer of course is overwhelmingly no! Perhaps the Opposition could bring the majority to 70-75% and anything less than that is a bonus!

However the Opposition's efforts are not helped much by the lack of funds and media attention; the only turf where they appear to be able to stand on their own seems to be in cyberspace. I guess you could say the increasingly only credible news is on sites such as Aliran, Harakah Daily, Malaysia Today and Malaysiakini. Seems that certain cyber-criminals have been tasked to bring down certain websites...without much success. Furthermore I believe the Opposition should not only talk about national issues, but also local issues as well - that is where the battle is and ultimately to be won. They should do their research prior to their speeches. And oh, the Opposition should also get some public-speaking consultants in to train their candidates to speak better!!

Come March 9 we will know how far the Opposition has come...but unfortunately not because of their own efforts but more of disappointment with the ruling coalition. What should happen after March 9? The three main Opposition parties should sit down and unite under a single banner; deliver on their promises, ensure that the BN do not have a free hand at amending laws/constitution as they have been doing; provide check-and-balance the disgruntled Malaysian voters want; create a shadow Cabinet (which has been conspicuously lacking for many a year) to show the Malaysian voters how they would handle the various issues compared to the government; and for Pete's sake, plan for the next election to give BN a run for their money!

I know where my vote lies this time around...I hope you know where yours are too!

Ceramah

Due to the continuous double-standards practiced by the mainstream media - come on, just open up the pages and see how much of the news is devoted to the Opposition...virtually nil, unless it paints them in bad light! - as usual they have resorted to the old tried and tested approach of ceramahs. Now this would create an opportunity for the police (aka BN henchmen) to not issue permits in the name of public safety (as they have oft done in the past)...but nowadays the hell with the police!

There was a ceramah near my place last Tuesday, coinciding with the weekly pasar malam and taking the opportunity of an increased crowd. As expected it was organised by the DAP with PKR joining in a bit later...the candidates contesting in my area (PJ Utara parliamentary seat as well as the state seats) came up and gave a few speeches. Initially the crowd was a bit hesitant and quiet...wouldn't you after seeing a few police cars around? But as the speeches wore on the atmosphere got cheerier. I guess there were no more than 200 people there at its peak but still it was a fair turnout for the organisers.

One thing though...I would have expected the DAP candidates to be more eloquent in their speeches, and also more versatile and varied in the issues. There's no point having four or five speakers but all talking about the same issues. Who knows, the crowd could have gotten bigger if more 'noise' was made!! Another thing is that these candidates do not seem to talk about the issues in the area of concern - it would have been more interesting if they had mixed the national and local issues up. And they could have made better use of the multimedia system that was made available, small as it was. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. What they put up was just a montage of soundless-pictures; hardly the attention-grabbing presentations I'd expected.

There was also some talk about Teresa Kok making an appearance, but when I left close to 10 p.m. she had not shown up. She probably didn't. And I don't think Tony Pua was there either. Which was a shame...since he is the candidate for PJ Utara!

Anyway it was my very first ceramah - so it was a good experience. Next would be the opportunity to hear the big guns speak, to experience the difference...but I wonder whether they will show up here any time soon? All in all, ceramahs being the only way to go for the Opposition, this was indeed a wasted opportunity in my opinion; they could have made a bigger impact! Perhaps they are expecting their Internet assault to come up trumps?

Elections Are More Important

I read this last night...and had to live through the incredulity of it all: Search for Sharlinie halted. I guess the whole world stops for BN and its election machinery. Even the faint hope of finding a little girl alive...

Read the part where the police personnel is redeployed for the election. I'm sure they can more or less spare a few hundred to look for the missing girl? After all, there are just so many arm chair police officers out there - giving them some exercise would probably do them some good!

Though I still believe that the house-to-house search is still ultimately in vain, to stop the search for the elections just pisses me off. I guess this is Malaysia!

You Know It's Election Time When...

Yeah, now all eyes are on the upcoming elections. Of course the mainstream media is almost entirely government controlled; so you know it's election time when they start spinning their stories around...

1. Suddenly there's various allocations to help the minority groups
2. Why all of a sudden bank employees get the raise they have been fighting for, for years?
3. Tabung Haji announcing bumper dividend this year...
4. LTAT also announcing bumper dividend this year; and I guess you know who the Defence Minister is?
5. All of a sudden our per capita income rises by 20%...
6. A lot of promises are made by politicians...just wonder what percentage comes up empty?

What's left is for the stock market to ramp up before the elections, and the honorarium for civil servants to come true...

The Polls Are Coming!!

The moment everybody has been anticipating has finally arrived! The Parliament was dissolved on February 13; nomination day has been slated for February 24, and polls on March 8. Think that most analysts and political observers have been fairly spot on when it came to predicting dissolution of the parliament and polling day.

But this is the crunch time...will Malaysians make themselves heard in the ballot boxes, or would they slink away and whimper in the comfort of their own homes? Can we afford to allow another landslide victory for BN, and give them free reign to do whatever they please? Enough is enough I say!! Our PM wants more time to allow his plans to come to fruition...perhaps, but in the last four years he probably has not made true a single one of his last election promises. Malaysians maybe be gullible...but don't take them for fools. We can make ourselves heard...

It's time...and I'm ready! Are you, Malaysia?