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Permatang Pasir by-election result – devastating blow for Najib’s 144 days as Prime Minister

The strong and decisive victory and majority of the PAS and Pakatan Rakyat candidate Mohd Salleh Man in the Permatang Pasir by-election in Penang yesterday is a devastating blow to Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his 144 days as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

It is a powerful reaffirmation of the support of the voters of Permatang Pasir for the Pakatan Rakyat partnership by DAP, PKR and PAS and endorsement of the Pakatan Rakyat government in Penang despite desperate and dangerous attempts by Umno/Barisan Nasional in unscrupulously playing racial and religious cards in their old game of “divide-and rule”.

Umno/Barisan Nasional leaders had tried their utmost to turn Permatang Pasir by-election into another Manek Urai where they can claim “victory in defeat” but yesterday’s by-election has proven Manek Urai as an aberration from the momentum for national change set off 18 months ago by the political tsunami of the March 8 general elections last year which saw Umno/Barisan Nasional trounced 7-0 in all the by-elections held in Peninsular Malaysia.

Umno/BN attempts to break Pakatan Rakyat support from all the ethnic groups in the constituency had proved a failure, with Malay voter support remaining intact while Chinese voter support even increased by some 5 per cent, as illustrated by the Kampong Cross Street polling station which has 79.59 % of Chinese voters and saw PAS popular vote increasing from 70.56% in the last general election to 75.77% yesterday – an increase of 5.21% in total votes cast.

The Permatang Pasir by-election result should be serious food for thought for both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat.

For Barisan Nasional, are its leaders prepared to admit that its seventh consecutive by-election defeat in Peninsular Malaysia since the last general election is the result of triple flaws – a flawed candidate, a flawed campaign strategy headed by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and a flawed 1Malaysia policy proclaimed by Najib on becoming Prime Minister.

Permatang Pasir by-election is the first electoral outing where Umno/Barisan Nasional campaigned on Najib’s 1Malaysia’s slogan. However, the sea of 1Malaysia billboards, buntings and posters which flooded the constituency could not camouflage or overcome the hollowness and hypocrisy of the theme with Umno/BN leaders competing with each other to divide and polarize the voters according to race and religion.

The Permatang Pasir by-election should be a contest and competition as to which coalition best stood for a 1Malaysia objective.

But there was no real contest – as it was Pakatan Rakyat comprising DAP, PKR and PAS which by words and actions represented 1Malaysia while Umno/BN symbolized the very opposite with their desperado politics of race and religion!

But there are also lessons to be learnt by the Pakatan Rakyat – how the strengths of the multi-racial multi-religious alternative to the Barisan Nasional could be further leveraged while the weaknesses and strains removed or minimized.

The greatest challenge for the Pakatan Rakyat parties is its ability and capacity to build on the Permatang Pasir by-election victory in the march to Putrajaya in the next general elections.

34 Replies to “Permatang Pasir by-election result – devastating blow for Najib’s 144 days as Prime Minister”

  3. DAP also has a big job to explain the anti-graft investigator Mohd Anuar Ismail’s allegation that Teoh and his boss, first-term Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong, had received kickbacks totalling thousands of ringgit from several private companies.

  4. Whilst I agree that Permatang Pasir reaffirms Pakatan Rakyat (PR) partnership by DAP, PKR and PAS, I beg to differ that it necessarily promotes multi-racial multi-religious 1 Malaysia! Permatang Pasir is the only seat PAS has in Penang. The victor Mohd Salleh is now set to be appointed the next president of the Penang Islamic Religious Affairs Council. Will he not push for more moral policing, in advancement of PAS’s theocratic state agenda? In what way will he be different from (say) PAS Selangor state PAS commissioner (Hassan Ali) who before the dust has barely settled over his call to ban the sale of beer in Muslim majority areas is now empowering mosque officials to arrest Muslims caught drinking or even selling alcohol (unilaterally without PKR/DAP consent at state exco level)? It is convenient to dismiss Hassan Ali as PR “sabotager” sent by BN so as to reconcile with PR commitment to 1 Malaysia but is there any evidence other than wishful rationalisation???

    Fresh in the wake of Permatang Pasir victory celebration, PAS deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa has come out and rejected the Bar Council’s idea to do away with caning in a brewing controversy over Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno’s punishment for drinking beer – see The MalaysianInsider report of 26th Aug. Does the DAP or PKR agree with Nasharudin ? Even ruling BN is in quandary over the case.
    Whilst Kartika is willing to so through the punishment (probably thinking that whipping is perfunctory tickling experience), the BN government is however worried as evinced by Shahrizat’s satisfaction with the sentence being deferred and PM Najib’s request to Kartika to appeal. The ruling coalition in competition with PAS as to who is more Islamic could not just refuse to acknowledge that syariah decision. On the other hand they need women’s votes, and Najib had just commemorated 47th Women’s Day celebration promising commitment to CEDAW and to preventing women from being “victims”. But if syariah were upheld, and at same time, men and women are equal by article 8 of ‘secular’ Constitution, how is it not OK for women to be whipped but OK for men when it comes to syariah enforcement? That’s another problem! BN has shown its uneasiness with this syariah enforcement. What is PR’s stand? Only silence!

    20 + years of aggressive state sponsored Islamisation during Mahathir’s administration (assisted by Anwar) has spawned innumerable officials sympathetic to PAS’s agenda in the civil service bureaucracy, educational establishments and law enforcement agencies. Whilst the ruling coalition could not stop this trend, PAS accelerates it riding on the back of PR’s victories and positioning its ideologues in key positions in PR controlled states to reactivate dormant syariah laws that UMNO’s officials have not aggressively enforced. PAS strategy is to make marginal advancements (piecemeal). Not at one go which shocks but slowly in a creeping fashion until their objective of theocracy is fiat accompli.

    And It is getting way from it because both PKR & DAP needs PAS for electoral victory and will play 2nd fiddle to its initiatives. The champions of civil liberties and constitutional guarantees within PR fold are silent less their open dissension will undermine the PR’s electoral partnership in which PR is both ideologically and organizationally stronger! Non Malay/Muslim constituencies, fed up with BN’s corruption and abuse of power are sanguine about PAS’s moves comforting themselves that these moves affect Muslims only and not them – forgetful that what is at stake is the civil liberties and constitutional guarantees of all Malaysians – whether Muslims or Non Muslims.

    PAS will never, like a leopard, change its spot. This is because civil liberties are not important since they are product of Western and secular philosophical traditions. Even the Federal Constitution – its only man make laws whereas PAS is engaged in making reality the laws and the state of the Almighty to which everything else is of relative unimportance.

    PAS strategy is to make marginal advancements (piecemeal). Not at one go which shocks but slowly in a creeping fashion until their objective of theocracy is fiat accompli.

    And it will succeed because the alternative BN espousing state interventionist capitalism tampered by NEP is widely perceived as an excuse for enriching the ruling clique and associates, and since BN fails to reinvent, theocracy will inevitably triumph as viable substitute in muslim majority country.

  7. Please don’t read too much about this so-called victory
    It was gifted to PR by NR n MY when they approved such a pariah Umno candidate
    A pathological liar and cheat
    The just concluded buy election also showed to the world how useless, suppressed, and no-principle the partners-in-crime (MCA, Gerakan, MIC, etc) of Umno
    Campaigned for a confirmed liar and cheat
    No conscience n no sense of right and wrong
    People like OTK and KTK, as if “no comments on the candidate” would absolve them of wrongdoing
    Sold their souls to the devils just to hang on to their pitiful posts, so pathetic
    Their children and relatives MUST be so ashamed of them

    PR, please lah don’t gloat over this win
    Put an ass as a candidate would have also won one

    A devastating, fatal blow to NR and MY will ONLY materialise when PR win a by election of a seat previously won by BN in East or West M’sia

    Meanwhile, more importantly, has PR got their acts together to serve the rakyat?
    Are PR MPs and state assemblymen clean, efficient, and caring?
    Do they care for all people/Malaysians rather than forcing others to follow their own narrow principles?

  8. Umno has misread the minds of the majority of the voters. The 6 losses Umno has suffered in the hands of PR show the people in Malaysia want a truly united nation and they are saying No to racial politics. But Umno/BN think they are still dealing with voters like a few carrots and those they met in the 60’s. They still think dangling a few carrots and using the scared tactics will swing the non-malay votes their way. They are stuck in the mud, not realizing the mentality of the people has evolved. It is obvious Umno/BN are at a loss, they do not have a clue as to how to address this new mentality of the modern voters. It is about time such parties, parties which is out of touch with the people and with this world, be allowed to go extinct.

    Umno/BN’s swan song will be the GE13, no one will regret its passing on, except maybe the Umnoputras!

  9. Actually, we must not say too much about this win
    We must not tell NR n MY NOT to field such no standard candidate
    In fact, we should encourage them to continue to field Rohaizat Othman and other crony liars and cheats as candidates in future elections, esp in East M’sia
    The we might have a chance to vote BN out

  10. LKS will never change his nonsense political rhetoric. What trouncing? People just do not want a nonsense man as their ADUN. Also, this is a PR strong hold. Since when has PR really trashed BN at all in by-elections? Remember Manek Urai, how close it was? Remember Batang Air, PR could not even scratch it?

    All such rhetoric is called ARROGANCE. When will politicians be humble and just serve.

    PP by election has proven nothing about the PR loose coalition. Today is called BACK TO BUSINESS day, let’s see what business PAS and PKR will be up to.

    There are still tons of problems within PR, you have potential defectors, you have crazy PAS Youth who wants to ban MLTR, you have issues now TBH (does not look like its such an easy MACC-Killed-Him case) and more …

    LKS … please wake up. Its time for DAP to leave BN alone and focus on building the base. PR has not gained any ground on VOTERS. You cannot take over the nation without NEW VOTERS!

  11. “Will Chua SL, the BN “Coordinator” for PR-ruled states, get the sack for failing to deliver the non-Malay votes in Permatang Pasir?” (k1980)

    Don’t worry too much about his possibly being sacked by Najib! Najib will still find that he is useful — at least he can supply efficaciate and inexpensive (probably FOC) Viagra to the Umnoputras!

  13. “The victor Mohd Salleh is now set to be appointed the next president of the Penang Islamic Religious Affairs Council. Will he not push for more moral policing, in advancement of PAS’s theocratic state agenda? In what way will he be different from (say) PAS Selangor state PAS commissioner (Hassan Ali) who before the dust has barely settled over his call to ban the sale of beer in Muslim majority areas is now empowering mosque officials to arrest Muslims caught drinking or even selling alcohol (unilaterally without PKR/DAP consent at state exco level)?” (Jeffrey)

    Jeffrey,
    There is a way to put check on the implementation of moral policing policy by Pakatan Rakyat. It is is to get PAS leader of State Islamic Regious Affairs Council to approve translation and publication of Al-Quran in Malay or English. If the only text which is allowed for Al-Quran is the Arabic, then not much people in Malaysia can really get a good hold on what Islam is all about. Liberation of the language restriction is the good start to liberalise the religion!

  14. Hi guys, Umno/BN being in power continueously losing six by elections despite using all its facilities,might/power and money is indeed an indicator ,pointing a clear trend that the wind of change is true.Umno/Bn have done enough damages already and from now on whatever amends they try to implement,the voters would not trust them anymore.I think BN after the permantang pasir defeat,must have been thinking to hold a snap general election soon to avoid further damages .The possibility of BN members defecting to PR this time could be real.Hence PR should get things done as if tomorrow is the general election.

  16. PR should not gloat over its success in Permatang Pasir. At best, it should be seen to be a mere superficial victory.

    The constituency is a PR stronghold so a victory was quite expected and it was only the margin of victory that was important. BN expected to trim the majority sharply but the die-hards PR supporters came out to ensure this did not happen. Fortunately the BN candidate was also a liability, so do not read too much into the victory.

    The question is what next?

    Looking at the developments in PAS, lets face it. They still want Islamic principles in government and in everyday life, for every one. And they are pushing for it. Life in Selangor, the “developed state”, is changing for the worse and there seems to be nothing the DAP and PKR, its supposedly partners, can do. All three parties are at odds with each other and are also facing problems externally. How long can it last? Not long, I fear. It only needs a spark before the government collapses.

    And PKR is really a joke. See what happens when you have weak personalities everywhere, in Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor, everywhere. This party, if you can call it a party, is really a joke party. It is amazing it lasted so long. What does it really stand for if not for partying?

    And now we hear there will most likely be another by-election or two very soon.

    PR must select good and upright candidates and reject opportunists and those with dubious backgrounds and designs. And they must be in good health too.

    And while there is still time, amend the State Constitutions to ensure no repeat of the Perak debacle.

  17. Congratulations to PAS for big win but before we get too excited let’s ponder what all this means. Two big questions need to be asked?

    1) The opposition put up a candidate that was disbarred and a host of other accusations
    hurled at him, yet he still managed to get almost 35% of the votes. How did he manage
    to get so many votes? Does it mean it does not matter what sort of candidate a party puts up, the people will vote for the party not the person. So moral of the story, if you
    want to become a politician all you have to do is go a constituency and put yourself up as
    a candidate for the strong party in that constituency and you will have a damn good
    chance of winning regardless of your past history, or character.

    2) Why did BN put up such a dubious candidate.? Would they have done better with a cleaner candidate, I doubt it. What does this imply? I think the answer is just like the above. The moral of the story – you can still win even if you are not clean.

    It is so obvious that people vote for the party, you can put up a Monkey as a candidate and the Monkey will win if the Monkey represents the right party. Of course the party must have the right policies and promises.

    There are also obviously a certain % of voters in each constituency that are untouchable. They will only vote one party for the rest of their lives.

    My conclusion is that the party candidate itself is not very significant. It it is, PAS should have got at least 90% of the votes. They got only 65% of the votes against the worst contender that BN could put up.

  18. The big problem with Malaysia is that it has horrible and mad leaders like the Mammak for so long and it has UMNO to plunder the nation’s wealth all these years. The foundation of a failed nation is set and Malaysia is very much already going down the slippery slope. I am so sad for my Malay bethren who are being used by the racist in UMNO. There never should have been any fear of minority groups in Malaysia upsetting the racial balance or Malay political dominance. The Chinese especially the more mobile and highly educated ones are living in droves. Emigration has been taking place for generations but UMNO has intensified the drain by providing the extra push. The minority groups see no future or role in the country for them. Why actually would they need to stay in Malaysia and become a 2nd or 3rd class citizen when they could easily go over to Singapore, Australia, UK or US and get better treatment. These countries treat their guests or PR better then Malaysia treat their minority groups. The Chinese are going to dwindle to less than 20% in the next few years. In 10 years time they should be less than 15% of them left and in twenty barely 10%. What will Malaysia be then without the industrious minority groups. Remember when they leave they do not just leave, they go over the other side and become your d irect competitior. Malaysia is done for. Many amongst the minority are planning and thinking where to place their young ones because staying on in Malaysia is a dead end. My cousins and friends’ children who top in their respective schools are already on their way to Singapore where opportunities are plenty and life so much better. The rot has started in Malaysia. Very soon the ringgit will drop to 3 ringgit 1S$. UMNO is making sure that it continues to do the necessary to see to that. They can bash, bully, threaten but in the end it will be the Malays who suffer. This is because the majority are not prepare for the globalise world and their leaders in UMNO are there only to rob them and their future. My condolences.

  19. I may be having wishful thinking here. The majority of Malays’ support for PAS could also be like non Malays in the sense that they detest the ineptness and the corruption within BN. In other words, they support PAS but not necessarily because they want Islamic or theocratic state. Right now we can never know for sure all these loud noises made within PAS are the work of some of their fundamentalists or they indeed represent the will of the members. If PAS has insisted its way, I think it is not wrong for other parties within PR to take the issue directly to the people. I think the longer PR keep this issue unresolved, the more protracted the problem will become. I think many Malaysians, Muslims and non Muslims would not want to exchange an inept government with a theocratic state which to me would be equally inept as manifested in other parts of the world. They are forever intrusive because they are essentially archaic.

  21. Waaah dia capak gitu ker? Mau kaum pendatang sokong sama dia tu mesti bina kuil Cina besar, duduk sama orang Cina makan bersama dan yang penting selaki … jika sudah tau ada ‘man-main’ dengan duit orang lain atau anak perempuan orang lain jangan nafi-nafi la … penafian tu sebenarnya penipuan la …

  22. Doesnt he know? Chinese are all for change. Chinese are not afraid of change. Chinese look upon change as a challenge and as a great opportunity for a better future. Chinese are one bunch of gamblers!

    And now malays too, esp city folks, are taking on the same outlook. They too are not afraid of waking up in the morning with umno not in sight.

    And to make matter worse for the idiots, the MV UMNO is now sinking as a result of their own doing. Look at badawi’s time. There was still some semblance of order in government. And there was no major errors like pkfz, beng hock’s murder, illegal power grab, collapsed stadium roof etc etc. Badawi was unfortunate because (a) he has a vociferous one man opponent – the son of kutty and (b) he was unable to deliver on his promises. And najib? In one word. He is buried deep in sh*t. Like badawi during his final months, najib does not appear to be in control at all. His onemalaysia was basically ignored by all in umno and ridiculed by people. At the moment the real beneficiaries of his onemalaysia slogan are people in advertising. No doubt they are umnoputra-owned advertising agencies.

    For the rest of us, lets raise our clench fist and stick out our middle finger and then yell “Nah. Onemalaysia.”

  24. UMNO knew that they can never win the Permatang Pasir seat. They have used up the no-contest once and they cannot repeat. The defeated candidate was selected because of his notorious past, not despite it. UMNO leaders wanted to test how their supporters feel about UMNOputras enriching themselves in the name of Malay interests. An absolutely useless candidate would remove all his personal drawings, and the votes for UMNO were votes for the party despite the candidate. UMNO gets 0.89% more votes than 2004 by a reduced turn out of 11%. It shows that UMNO voters would continue voting UMNO even when they continue their old ways. Malay votes are divided as in 2004, and non-Malays might look into the quality of PKR candidates come next election.

  25. Loh – Isn’t your analysis hampered by the fact that the voters only had a choice of two? Do we know how many voters vote for UMNO as a protest against PR or a rejection of the candidate’s party or the candidate himself? We don’t usually argue against the idea that people vote PR as a protest against UMNO – what about the opposite?

    I realise refining the analysis along these lines is academic, given the focus on unseating BN in a general election, but I think it would be as well to bear in mind that a 2-party system with 10 million voters may not provide a perfect match of choices to ideals.

    I wish there were some proper newspapers in Malaysia who could conduct credible straw polls in different constituencies so we could better understand why people vote the way they do.

  26. a news portal report that he and eight other Terengganu Umno state assemblypersons proposed to join PKR. – Malaysiakini

    ________

    Will PKR accept them if this is true? These are UMNO kataks and they will bring in the UMNO disease into the PR and will spawn further headaches for PKR.

    If PKR is sincere about having quality people and not to make up the numbers, then they should outright close the doors on them – finito.

    Anwar, the ball is now in your court!

  27. It is an interesting point that people might vote UMNO as a protest against PR. Yes, but how likely?

    If PR has been in power for longer than a term, and if they are involved in the same corrupt practices as UMNO, then it is equally likely that people want PR out of power.

    PR might not be able to deliver at state level, and voters would factor in the obstacles placed against them by the federal government. Some PR elected representatives proved to be opportunists, and they cannot hope to win if they stand again again under BN. It is unlikely that voters would punish the parties that wrongly fielded all those toads; they will be disappointed no doubt. In the Pematang Pasir case, it is still too early to see substantial protest votes against PR; there might be isolated cases in protest of the candidates personally.

  28. I was actually thinking of people who might be persuaded by UMNO’s “reasons not to vote for PR”. If some people take them at face value (there is no dissenting voice if you don’t happen to read LKS’ blog, or bump into monsterball at the mechanic’s), then perhaps UMNO’s propaganda might outweigh niggling doubts that a country could be better led.

    Specifically, how many people would vote against PR (PAS) because it’s a sock puppet for DAP? Because it’s a vote for a Jewish sodomite traitor (if I’ve got that correct)? Because PR can’t stop arguing? Because PR will abolish religion and make everybody’s wives and daughters wear hot-pants? That was the kind of ‘tactical’ vote I was imagining.

    Are those rock-solid UMNO votes rock-solid for UMNO, or rock-solid against some aspect of PR? If they’re for UMNO, then there’s hardly any point in chasing them. If they’re against some aspect of PR, maybe their fears could be allayed.

    And what of the 10% growth in registered voter numbers – who also didn’t vote? What was that? Any idea?

  29. Hello ! Uncle Lim,

    Permatang Pasir by election confirms that the Malays swing towards Pakatan Rakyat, especially for PAS, is still very strong. The Chinese and Indian votes, political analysts will soon discover, is solidly for PR, even if the candidate is from PAS.In fact, Chinese votes for the Opposition may have even strengthened and they have rejected MCA puppet party of UMNO for past 52 years.

    In those old days, the big bully UMNO/BN could put a stupid coconut like Tom, Dick and Hary to run and its BN candidate would still win. It was claimed that the BN’s chances of winning a by-election was simply too easy. Perhaps, the UMNO/BN believed too much in its own arrogant myths.

    UMNO played racist card on the Bangkit Melayu (rise up Malays) rhetoric was just too shrill. How are we to regard ourselves as 1Malaysia when nearly half the country is thought of as “Enemies” of the Malays”?

    To the Malay voters in Permatang Pasir, whether Umno is in power or not, their lives are not affected. Even the offer of making the constituency “anak mas” (golden child) smacked of bribery.
    What does it mean for other constituencies? Are they all “anak tiri” (stepchildren)?

    If there is one sharp lesson that we can draw from this latest by-election is that Umno is no longer synonymous with “Malay”. Malays now have new champions in PAS, DAP and PKR.

    As Utusan Malaysia editorial hits out that UMNO/BN is reluctant to learn, dont want to learn and lazy to learn from the past and present.

    It is a doomday for BN in next 13GE soon! The Makkal Sakti, People Power from PR will rise up to champion the Rakyat for justice, democracy, fairness and equal rights of 1Malaysian Malaysia Boleh.

    The answer, it seems simple, is blowing in the winds of change for all Malaysians.

  30. Najib and his DPM…are singing the same song….giving reasons..why they loose the by-election.
    Most idiotic is by saying it is Anwar’s stronghold.
    If so…why waste money to contest.
    Then said..maybe wrong candidate.
    NEVER once..say…..”1 Malaysia” is not working…..only good for fooling children and youngsters…hoping parents are sucked into the mind game.
    No surprises….parrots are talking that too.
    Can anyone identify any parrot here?
    I guess so….and rightfully ignored..even fitted with loud speakers.
    I guess all are so contented that the message is delivered to UMNO…why bother to argue or debate with loosers.
    MCA President…Ong Tee Keat.. divert attention…not to comment…. by sacking Chua Soi Lek..on old story…the sex scandal.
    Best reason…bring bad reputation to MCA.
    I guess all MCA buggers do not have sex with prostitutes….mistresses …free and easy willing some.
    Everyone knows Chua was framed.
    Now…in the holy month of Ramadan…..and time for MCA to prove… how holy they are.
    UMNO did it by jailing Anwar falsely.
    I sincerely hope Chua will join PAS or keDAILan..not DAP..to as both parties do accept non Malays..not like those crooked hypocrites..UMNO..MCA and MIC.
    The problem is Chua is a die hard MCA man…and can he be trusted not to change to a big frog?
    Risk is too great……reject his application is best.

  33. The PM and DPM are paid by the rakyat to do something, at least they got do something that is to push the theme for 2009 as “1Malaysia” after 52 years they realized we need 1Malaysia, so after independent we are more than 1Malaysia? it is a strange theme but as the matter of facts why we still require race? all race should be treated equally, but chinese and Indian are not, they are been treated worst than Indonesian.

  34. Actually, BN has always being pushing for 1Malaysia, a Malay Malaysia. The rest are pendatangs.

    JBozz, you just migrated to Malaysia? Welcome to the Pendatang Club, we are imported goods. The Gucci and Ferrari of Malaysia, LOL.

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