Day: April 26, 2010

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid | The Malaysian Insider

APRIL 26 — It was rather anticipated that Barisan Nasional would snatch the Hulu Selangor seat yesterday from right under Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) nose and without giving too much credit to the former, two factors contributed to this somewhat predestined outcome.

First, the notoriously poor and inefficient machinery. The second is the candidate factor itself.

PKR’s Datuk Zaid Ibrahim lost to MIC information chief P. Kamalananthan by a 1,725-vote majority. The former law minister garnered 23,272 votes while his opponent, a public relations practitioner whose qualifications were subject to tactical scrutiny by Zaid and Co, bagged 24,997 votes.

Yes, there were strong intrinsic statistical factors that led to Zaid’s loss as reflected by past voting patterns. After all, the sizeable constituency of 64,500 eligible voters has been opposition-proof up until the unpopular Datuk G. Palanivel, a four-term incumbent, was dethroned in Election 2008.
Continue reading “So why did PKR lose in Hulu Selangor?”

by Dr Lim Teck Ghee

Far from being a resounding victory for the BN and a devastating loss for Pakatan Rakyat, the Hulu Selangor election result is another clear indicator that Malaysians do not see a secure future for themselves in a continuation of the BN government.

The BN leadership may be happy about the outcome and the official media may spin about the vote of confidence for Najib’s leadership but the extremely large opposition vote – against all odds – shows that many in Hulu Selangor and throughout the country (as the string of recent by-elections demonstrates) continue to embrace the “reformasi” programme of change for the country.

From the moment, Zaid was nominated to stand in Hulu Selangor, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the Paktan. This was no ordinary opponent that the PR was bringing into the fray. Thus, Zaid was a candidate that the BN had to kill off – whether by hook or by crook.

Zaid had been a Minster brought into the last Badawi cabinet to give the electorate some hope that Umno was capable of implementing a programme of change for the good of the country. He was not the usual leader who had risen to power through the opportunistic use of race and religion, and whose main agenda was aggrandizement of self and family under the guise of “untuk agama dan bangsa”.
Continue reading “BN’s pyrrhic victory in Hulu Selangor”