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DAP MP: Gerrymandering protected Umno, not Malays

By Zurairi AR
The Malay Mail Online
November 28, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 — After an admission of gerrymandering by a former Election Commission (EC) chief, a DAP MP today claimed that past re-delineation exercises were only aimed at protecting the interests of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) rather than the Malay community.

According to Serdang MP Dr Ong Kian Ming, the EC would have added more seats in Malay-majority states Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu if it really was protecting the Malay interest as claimed by Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman earlier this week.

“If Tan Sri Abdul Rashid wanted to maintain Malay political dominance, why was it that no parliamentary seats were added to the Malay majority states of Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu in the 2003 delineation exercise?,” Ong said in a statement here.

“The reason for the non-addition of parliament seats in these three states is simple …The BN was fearful that if more seats were added in these states, it would benefit the opposition, specifically PAS.” Continue reading “DAP MP: Gerrymandering protected Umno, not Malays”

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Sanggupkah Pakatan Rakyat bangkit untuk menyahut cabaran bagi menentukan masa depan bukan saja Sabah dan Sarawak, malah Malaysia secara keseluruhan dalam PRU14?

Dalam kenyataan media yang dikeluarkan sepanjang tiga hari lalu, saya telah mengemukakan hujah, disertakan dengan fakta dan angka, bahawa ketiga-tiga parti Pakatan Rakyat, iaitu DAP, PKR, dan PAS, telah mencapai keputusan terbaik di peringkat parlimen dan negeri dalam pilihanraya umum tahun 1999, 2008, dan 2013, menerusi kerjasama mereka.

Kerjasama itu bukan saja membuahkan kejayaan untuk Pakatan Rakyat di Semenanjung Malaysia (kenyataan saya sepanjang tiga hari lalu memberikan tumpuan pada Semenanjung), malah juga di Sabah dan Sarawak. Ini menunjukkan dengan jelas faedah kerjasama di kalangan parti-parti Pakatan Rakyat.

Pakatan Rakyat berdepan dengan dua cabaran unik di Sabah dan Sarawak.

Cabaran pertama ialah untuk berdepan dengan tuduhan bahawa parti-parti komponen Pakatan Rakyat DAP, PKR, dan PAS, bukan parti ‘tempatan’ tetapi hanya meruapakan kepanjangan bagi parti-parti ‘utama’ yang berpangkalan di Semenanjung Malaysia dan cenderung hanya pada kepentingan Semenanjung. Justeru itu, parti-parti ini dianggap tidak mampu menjaga kepentingan Sabah dan Sarawak.

Cabaran kedua melibatkan sejarah kerjasama di kalangan parti-parti pembangkang, termasuk DAP, PKR, dan PAS, di kedua-dua negeri.

Kedua-dua cabaran ini belum dapat diatasi sepenuhnya, namun usaha mengukuhkan kerjasama di kalangan parti-parti Pakatan Rakyat telah berjaya merungkai sebahagian isu dan perkara ini tercermin pada keputusan pilihanraya.
Continue reading “Sanggupkah Pakatan Rakyat bangkit untuk menyahut cabaran bagi menentukan masa depan bukan saja Sabah dan Sarawak, malah Malaysia secara keseluruhan dalam PRU14?”

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Ex-EC chief’s arrogance in violating the Constitution

– Ravinder Singh
The Malaysian Insider
November 28, 2013

Former Election Commission chief Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman’s bold admission that the three redelineation exercises he did were done in such a way to ensure Malays retained political power and that he did so “in a proper way, not illegally”, is not a surprise at all. He is very proud of what he did, despite the fact that he had breached Schedule 13 of the Federal Constitution which states that the number of voters in state and parliamentary seats must be approximately equal.

He questions how Barisan Nasional could have lost in Kelantan, Penang and Selangor if the redelineation was done to favour the BN.

This is a cheap question. Either he must be a fool not to realise why the BN lost these states, or he is trying to make a fool of those who question gerrymandering.

Why BN lost these states is because the EC did not dream that such a huge percentage of voters in these states would go against the tide. From previous elections, it must have drawn graphs showing a certain percentage of voters voting against the ruling party at each election. Continue reading “Ex-EC chief’s arrogance in violating the Constitution”

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Impian Sabah – seperti Impian Sarawak – adalah sebahagian daripada komitmen DAP untuk mengejar Impian Malaysia bagi membentuk negara Malaysia untuk semua warga Malaysia

Dalam Pilihanraya Umum ke-13, Pakatan Rakyat telah mensasarkan 33 kerusi dari 3 negeri “deposit tetap” Umno/BN, iaitu Johor, Sabah dan Sarawak. Kita telah gagal mencapai sasaran dan hanya memenangi 14 kerusi di negeri-negeri berkenaan, dengan 3 daripadanya kerusi parlimen di Sabah – Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan dan Penampang.

Bagaimanapun, kita telah berjaya “menghancurkan” label “deposit tetap” pada Johor dan Sarawak menerusi peningkatan besar jumlah undi keseluruhan. Di Johor, undi popular Pakatan Rakyat meningkat sebanyak 10%, iaitu kepada 45%, manakala di Sarawak peningkatan sebanyak 8.9%, iaitu kepada 37.3%.

Bagaimanapun, undi popular Pakatan di Sabah hanya meningkat sebanyak 3.4%, iaitu kepada 35.9%.

Maka, tidak syak lagi bahawa Pakatan Rakyat perlu berusaha sedaya-upaya untuk meningkatkan sokongan di negeri yang mempunyai 26 kerusi parlimen ini (termasuk Labuan).

Sabah secara logiknya adalah negeri paling bersedia untuk menerima perubahan kerana negeri itu berdepan dengan banyak masalah, termasuk tahap korupsi, salah urus, dan kemiskinan yang tinggi di sana, selain kekurangan peluang kerja dan kebanjiran pendatang haram yang dikaitkan dengan masalah sosial dan keselamatan.
Continue reading “Impian Sabah – seperti Impian Sarawak – adalah sebahagian daripada komitmen DAP untuk mengejar Impian Malaysia bagi membentuk negara Malaysia untuk semua warga Malaysia”

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Can Pakatan Rakyat rise to the occasion to decide the political future not only of Sabah and Sarawak but the whole of Malaysia in the 14GE?

In my media statements in the past three days, I have argued the case, backed with facts and figures, that the three Pakatan Rakyat parties of DAP, PKR and PAS achieved their best parliamentary and state assembly results during their tripartite co-operation in the 1999, 2008 and 2013 General Elections.

This is not only the case for the Pakatan Rakyat parties in Peninsular Malaysia (which was the focus of my statements in the past three days), the same effect applies also in Sabah and Sarawak underlining the benefits of such co-operation among the Pakatan Rakyat parties.

Pakatan Raykat faces two unique challenges in Sabah and Sarawak.

The first is the accusation that the component parties, DAP, PKR and PAS are not ‘local’ parties but are merely extensions of the ‘main’ parties which are based in Peninsular Malaysia and are guilty of being peninsular-centric. As such, they cannot adequately represent the interests of Sabah and Sarawak.

The second is the much shorter history of cooperation among opposition parties, including between DAP, PKR and PAS in both states. Continue reading “Can Pakatan Rakyat rise to the occasion to decide the political future not only of Sabah and Sarawak but the whole of Malaysia in the 14GE?”