Anisah Shukry| May 6, 2013
Free Malaysia Today
Anisah Shukry| May
Many prominent BN leaders were positively decimated in the 2013 general election, paving the way for a fresh lineup in the cabinet.
PETALING JAYA: Despite retaining Putrajaya, Barisan Nasional yesterday suffered heavy blows when it saw several prominent leaders fall at the hands of Pakatan Rakyat.
Most notable are Federal Territories and Urban Well-being minister Raja Nong Chik Zainal, Transport minister Kong Cho Ha, and Plantation Industries and Commodities minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.
Despite his vast financial resources and position in the cabinet, Raja Nong Chik lost Lembah Pantai by 1,847 votes to incumbent MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.
Kong lost by an overwhelming 8,168 votes in Lumut to PKR’s Mohamad Imran Abd Hamid, while PKR’ newcomer Ignatius Dorell Leiking slaughtered Bernard in Penampang by a majority of 10,216 votes.
Popular deputy ministers who saw their heads roll at the ballot box were Umno’s Saifuddin Abdullah and Mohd Puad Zarkashi, Gerakan’s A Kohilan Pillay and MIC’s SK Devamany.
Former deputy education minister Saifuddin lost by a mere 1,070 votes to PAS’s Nasrudin Hassan, fuelling speculation that the BN leader was a victim of internal sabotage due to his “moderate” stance and vocal criticism of his party’s excesses.
Similarly, deputy education Mohd Puad Zarkashi lost by a mere 1,732 to PKR’s Mohd Idris Jusi in Batu Pahat, Johor.
In contrast, Kohilan was positively decimated by DAP’s Gobind Singh Deo in Puchong; the Selangor Gerakan chief cum deputy Foreign minister lost by a vast vote margin of 32,802.
MIC vice president, Devamany, meanwhile lost to PSM’s Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj by 2,793 votes in Sungai Siput, Perak.
Devamany, who was minister in the prime minister’s department, had been parachuted from the Cameron Highlands constituency where he won by 3,117 votes in 2008.
Replacing him in this election was MIC president G Palanivel, who managed to win with a meager 462 vote majority over DAP candidate M Managoran
Federal Territories and Urban Well-being minister Raja Nong Chik Zainal – End of quote
Well deserved kick in the butt!
It would be very interesting to know whose
“well-being” has he been administering all
these years!!!!!
That title itself is very misleading and cynical!!!!!
This shows what sort of government we are
having all these decades!!!!
All facade and nothing else!!!
It will take a few more such elections to free the Malays in the rural and semi-urban area from the current mind-set of clinging to a Government which had indoctrinated their mind for over a generation. Especial;y that of the Mamak who instilled the fear that the Non-Malays are taking over the nation. PR will have to spend the next 4/5 years undoing this. This mentality is not much different from that of a socialist indoctrination, unless the more enlightened Malays can wrestle this issue with the majority of their community, then all efforts may be in vain for the next thousand years!
I am very ominous of Najib initial painting of this thing as ‘Chinese Tsunami’ – yes the Chinese rejected UMNO/BN – but they vote for PAS and for Malays candidates of DAP, PKR..
Its about corruption and they know it.. If UMNO/BN makes it about Malay rights then its going to more of the same for the next few years..
Najib and UMNO/BN problem is that corruption is what they won AND lost on…
PR must realize by now that Blunt Truth sometimes hurt not the rational part of the brain but its emotional part of it. It is a lesson that huge figures given to the rural folks may mean nothing as they hardly go beyond 5 figures in their life. How do they calculate 500 million us$? From now on, PR has to start to educate them at a slower pace; show them through video disc distribution of changes that are taking place worldwide. You can hardly change them over-night after the last 30 years of indoctrination of fears. Fears that the Chinese will take over politically while we all know that this is an impossibility! All a sudden the Malays forgot that they constitute over 60% of the population! They are in-charge of every aspect of the government services! This only shows that the UMNO indoctrination to prevent them from thinking not only out of-the-box , but even rationally is a tough going. It may take PR more than one or two GEs to succeed. But this is already a start;especially in Selangor which should be set as an example to its component party like PAS which should also ask themselves if their hard stand would really serve the nation! It is obvious that even the average Malays fear some of the utterances made by its members. Remember, Malaysia is a trading nation and has to interact with its customers world-wide. In a flat world the news travel within seconds, for this matter UMNO/BN is still under the illusion that the society is at a stand-still. If PR were to start NOW! I am sure the 14th GE can achieve better results, of course do expect UMNO/BN to do like-wise unless they decide to call it a -day. DSAI/LKS have faith, I really admired both your perseverance and endurance! May the Almighty bless you all!
How did the much-loved Mohd Sabu, Husam Musa and Dr Dzulkefly lose in their seats?
The course of true politics never did run smooth.
Putrajaya Dream turned into A Midsummer Nightmare!
Did Devamany lose because he got the kiss of death from an unwelcome supporter?
At the rate things are going, by 2018, MIC (if it still exists then) will be the second largest BN component party, no, maybe by next year. No, maybe next week.
MCA should consider whether it is still relevant, or should just close shop tomorrow.
Yesterday, I overhead some Chinese voters reprimanding MCA election workers : ”Ma Wa, Si”.
This GE shows that Malaysians have put to rest the fear of May 13.
The fear of Hudud.
The vilification of the opposition also does not have the intended effect except the rebound effect on the perpetrators!
In fact, to a very large extent, Malaysians have been freed from these evil threats of the Devils’ Party!!!
”In contrast, Kohilan was positively decimated by DAP’s Gobind Singh Deo in Puchong; the Selangor Gerakan chief cum deputy Foreign minister lost by a vast vote margin of 32,802.”
That’s telling it like it is. He can spend some time now really researching African toilets for his Ph D if he is up to it. Else he can just buy one on-line.
The real issue is WHO is going to be replacing all the names that are lost? MCA and Gerakan are out of the picture, combined with these loses.
Who is going to replace the positions? Najib has important leadership decision to make and the fear is that he won’t make them. Zul Nordin, Ibrahim Ali, Mohd Ali Rustam and Puad Zarkashi may be out but Jamil Baharom, Bung Mocktar, Nazri, etc are all very much still in part of the inner circle..
The truth is Najib was INDECISIVE in his first term. THIS GE, what happened was INDECISION 2013..To expect Najib would change his stripe given what the electoral has told him would be out of character..
You see just as jib thought that the fight of his life is over, little did he realise that the real fight of his life has began.
We must begin to put in store arrangements and appropriate response strategy. Anything could happen. We must hv a PLAN B because I still cannot see any continuity beyond the “N” alphabet in RAHMAN legacy.