Day: May 10, 2013

By Ida Lim
The Malaysian Insider
May 10, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 ― Pakatan Rakyat (PR) may consider working together with the Barisan Nasional (BN) to form a coalition government if the former’s election manifesto is endorsed by its rival, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang today said.

Stressing that this proposal was merely his personal opinion, Lim said there would only be “basis for discussion” with BN if the ruling coalition “endorses” PR’s common policy framework and manifesto for the 13th general election.

“On that, we made it very clear, it’s my personal view, because this is something which can only be officially responded by the Pakatan Rakyat leadership,” said the veteran leader from DAP, one of three parties in the PR pact.

Think-tank ASLI had on Wednesday proposed a broad-based BN-PR coalition government, a suggestion that comes on the back of BN’s reduced support in the national polls on Sunday. Continue reading “Kit Siang says would weigh coalition rule if BN embraces Pakatan manifesto”

I got into Petaling Jaya at about 3 am this morning after the phenomenon of “ocean of black” both from the capacity and roaring crowd at the thank-voters DAP Ipoh ceramah at Chin Woo Hall and the equally-matched crowd, both in numbers and commitment to vision for a new Malaysia, outside Chin Woo last night.

But I woke up after a few hours of sleep to the shock of my life, as I was told that I have been the target of attacks on the social media, particularly facebook, for betraying the people, DAP and Pakatan Rakyat in wanting to form a coalition government with Barisan Nasional.

Because of prolonged lack of sleep, both during the 15-day 13GE election campaign as well as the four hectic days after Sunday’s Polling Day, it took me awhile to fully grasp what was happening – as I had done nothing in the past four days since outcome of the 13GE results to justify any notion that I had betrayed the people, DAP and PR in wanting to form a coalition government with Barisan Nasional.

This morning, hard-core DAP loyalists were first the target of attacks because of newspaper headlines quoting me as saying as if I had agreed with the idea of forming a coalition government with BN – of wanting to replace MCA in BN! As one DAP loyalists described his experience on fb, viz:

早上到巴剎,

一片罵聲,而且句句對準行動黨,

林吉祥更是慘被”PKHKC”,
Continue reading “Shock of my life when I woke up this morning and told that I am target of attacks on facebook for betraying the people, DAP and PR in wanting to form coalition government with BN”

Parliamentary reforms should be top agenda of the 13th Parliament.

Some proposals:

Firstly, the Parliamentary Opposition Leader should be given Ministerial status as a major commitment to promote and advance parliamentary democracy in Malaysia.

The allowance of the Parliamentary Opposition Leader should be comparable to that of a Cabinet Minister together with all the perks and privileges, including being provided with an official car.

Even more important, the Parliamentary Opposition Leader should be provided with adequate staff to carry out his duties – at least two political secretaries, one private secretary and three research assistants.

The Parliamentary Opposition Leader should be accorded full respect in Parliament, whether in debates or question time, and should be fully consulted in the arrangement of parliamentary business.
Continue reading “Parliamentary Reforms should be top agenda of 13th Parliament”

By Boo Su-Lyn
The Malaysian Insider
May 10, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 — Election 2013 was not simply a “Chinese tsunami” as it showed a major swing among the multiracial urban and middle-class electorate against Barisan Nasional (BN), independent pollster Merdeka Center said yesterday.

Sinar Harian Online reported Merdeka Center executive director Ibrahim Suffian today as saying that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s reading of the May 5 general election as a “Chinese tsunami” was inaccurate as urban Malays had also voted for Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

“There were differences between the low-income and the middle-income areas, as well as between the urban and rural areas,” Ibrahim was quoted as saying.

Analysts have noted that BN’s historic losses in Election 2013 were the result of a middle-class and urban exodus from the coalition that further widened the urban-rural rift in the country. Continue reading “GE13 not a ‘Chinese tsunami’, says Merdeka Center”

by Dr. Lim Teck Ghee

Finally the general election is over. For politicians and analysts, the work of number crunching, deciphering the results and trying to understand the choices made by voters is just beginning.

Some conclusions are easy to arrive at. Firstly, despite a skewed electoral playing ground and the rolling out of more than RM2.6 billion worth of financial and other incentives to voters, the BN could not improve on its 2008 performance. Although it regained power in one state and has a comfortable majority at parliamentary level, its share of state and parliamentary seats has been substantially reduced. Had a fair election prevailed, it would have been consigned to the opposition benches. In fact BN lost the popular vote count by a substantial margin nation-wide. In most if not all electoral systems found in the world, it would have been booted out of office. In our case, it came dangerously close to it. Continue reading “The 2013 Election Results: Back to the Drawing Board for Both Coalitions”

BY CLARA CHOOI AND MD IZWAN
The Malaysian Insider
May 09, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 — Election 2013 has laid bare the declining influence of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as a political force, an analysis of where and how he campaigned has shown.

The former prime minister campaigned incessantly but Barisan Nasional (BN) candidates whom he backed or shared his ideals – such as the controversial Zulkifli Noordin and Ibrahim Ali – all lost.

In Kedah – where his son Mukhriz is now Mentri Besar on the back of a BN victory – local politicians and observers have pointed out that voters gave PAS the boot because of poor governance by the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) party.

Brand Mahathir did not win Kedah for BN, but it was rather a case of PAS losing the state, one senior Umno politician in Kedah told The Malaysian Insider.

Dr Mahathir’s attempt at painting the battle for Gelang Patah in Johor as a Malay versus Chinese battle also failed miserably.

Many analysts and BN politicians have said that his incessant playing of the race card for the Election 2013 campaign saw support for him deplete. Continue reading “Election 2013 results expose Dr M’s decline as a force”