Posted on

In Kit Siang, Pakatan gets unexpected boost to leap over Johor’s Malay wall

BY DEBRA CHONG, ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR | APRIL 21, 2013
The Malaysian Insider

JOHOR BARU, April 21 — As Lim Kit Siang captured the imagination of Johor’s Chinese at last night’s rally here, it was also clear that he meant to help warm the Umno birthplace’s Malay population towards Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in Election 2013.

Unlike some states to the north, the opposition parties have been repeatedly thwarted from gaining more than a toehold in Malaysia’s southernmost state.

“The Malay parties in the opposition have a tougher time trying to get support from the Malay community in Johor, so Kit Siang’s presence in southern Johor especially has tilted the situation,” said Ibrahim Suffian, the executive director of political research house Merdeka Center.

Johor’s resistance towards PAS and PKR, Ibrahim said, was historical. The highly-independent state had been used to running things its own way for a long time as it was among the last to be incorporated into colonial British rule.

It had built up a strong religious wall that did not give room for PR’s Islamist partner, PAS, to grow since Johor’s Islamic schools are well-funded and are state-run. In addition, PAS was seen as a northern influence, Ibrahim said.

But in the five years since Election 2008, a perceptible change has been felt in Johor.
Continue reading “In Kit Siang, Pakatan gets unexpected boost to leap over Johor’s Malay wall”

Posted on

Pengundi-pengundi perlu berhati-hati dengan kempen fitnah cybertroopers pro-UMNO/BN yang memburukkan DAP dan Pakatan Rakyat

Pengundi-pengundi perlu berhati-hati dengan kempen fitnah cybertroopers pro-UMNO/BN yang memburukkan DAP dan Pakatan Rakyat. Ini adalah kerana kempen rasmi pilihanraya umum ke-13 sudah pun bermula. DAP bersama PAS dan PKR yang membentuk Pakatan Rakyat telah memulakan kempen secara bersih, adil dan telus. Ini adalah prinsip bersama kami ke arah membentuk Malaysia baru yang bebas dari rasuah, salah guna kuasa dan penyelewengan.

Saya sedar ada kempen-kempen kotor yang terus dilakukan oleh pihak-pihak tertentu, terutamanya oleh cybertroopers pro-UMNO/BN, yang menyebarkan fitnah dan pembohongan. Ini adalah kempen yang tidak sihat dan bersifat hasutan.

Namun, walaupun golongan ini terus memfitnah dan menyebarkan berta palsu, saya bersama DAP dan Pakatan Rakyat tidak akan putus asa untuk terus berkempen dengan cara yang baik dan terhormat sebagaimana yang kami telah lakukan sejak beberapa dekad yang lalu.

Saya harap rakyat Malaysia, terutamanya orang Melayu, tidak mudah terpengaruh dengan fitnah dan pembohongan, sama ada yang disebarkan melalui internet atau melalui ceramah. Fitnah amat berbahaya kerana ia boleh menimbulkan ketegangan antara kaum di negara ini.

DAP telah difitnah sebagai perti perkauman, parti cauvinis, parti anti-Islam dan sebagainya. Semua ini tidak benar dan bohong belaka. DAP adalah parti politik yang sah yang menghormati Perlembagaan Persekutuan. DAP menolak segala bentuk politik perkauman dan diskriminasi kaum, agama dan gender.
Continue reading “Pengundi-pengundi perlu berhati-hati dengan kempen fitnah cybertroopers pro-UMNO/BN yang memburukkan DAP dan Pakatan Rakyat”

Posted on

14 Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day – My chances in Gelang Patah have risen as a result of use of Rocket symbol but still an adverse 45:55 in favour of Ghani

The 13GE has proved to be the most historic of all general elections in the nation’s history, chalking up several new records on Nomination Day yesterday in including:

  • No parliamentary or state seat returned unopposed – first time in history;

  • A total of 1,900 candidates contesting parliamentary and state seats, highest ever;

  • 270 independents contesting, highest in history;

  • 132 parliamentary and 320 state seats see straight fights;

  • 90-multi-cornered fights for parliamentary seats and 185 for state seats;

  • A seven-cornered fight in a parliamentary and state state seat; and

  • There are 1,732 male and 168 female candidates contesting.

But the most historic dimension of the 13GE is that for the first time in the nation’s 56-year history, there could be a democratic transition of power with the establishment of a new Pakatan Rakyat federal government in Putrajaya, ending the 56-year rule of Umno/BN with Datuk Sdri Najib Razak as the last Umno/BN Prime Minister as predicted by the RAHMAN prophecy.

The first day of the 13GE has also highlighted certain political realities in Malaysian politics of 2013: Continue reading “14 Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day – My chances in Gelang Patah have risen as a result of use of Rocket symbol but still an adverse 45:55 in favour of Ghani”

Posted on

Kit Siang wants to keep it clean

Terence Fernandez, Malay Mail
8:22AM Apr 21, 2013

“Ghani has brought a lot of achievement for Johor in the 18 years that he has been MB.”

That is not the kind of endorsement one would expect from a political rival on nomination day, but that was one of the first things Lim Kit Siang said at his first press conference yesterday as the official DAP candidate for the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat.

But it also set the tone of his ‘gentleman’s’ campaign in the next 15 days.

“No personal attacks and no dirty politics based on race and money,” he told The Malay Mail later when met at his ops centre here.

Lim said he had invited Ghani to form an accord that they will stick to the facts and avoid gutter politics. He’s still waiting for Ghani’s response.

“We just want to thrash out the facts, and I meant what I said that (his challenger) Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman had brought much progress to Johor.

So how is he supposed to expect voters to pick him over a proven candidate?
Continue reading “Kit Siang wants to keep it clean”

Posted on

Crossing the lines – BN’s early strategic mistakes

Bridget Welsh | 1:35PM Apr 19, 2013
Malaysiakini

In assessing any electoral campaign, it is essential to review the assumptions and implications of different strategic moves.

Three decisions on the part of BN in the last two weeks are leading to tectonic shifts within the electorate, and thus strengthen the opposition’s position nationally.

These are:

  1. The use of sex videos against PAS and possibly other opposition politicians.

  2. The fielding of Perkasa leader Zulkifli Noordin in Shah Alam.

  3. The action by the Registrar of Societies (ROS) in not recognising DAP’s central executive committee (CEC).

The combined effect of these moves have strengthened the opposition coalition and negatively impact the BN’s position with the electorate in the lead up to the May 5 general election.

Let’s take each of these in turn:

1. Smut videos Continue reading “Crossing the lines – BN’s early strategic mistakes”

Posted on

DAP’s Johor campaign begins, with loud cheers from Chinese for PAS

By Leslie Lau
The Malaysian Insider
April 21, 2013

JOHOR BARU, April 21 — That 72-year-old DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang was feted like a rock star by thousands of people cheering and blowing on air horns last night on the first day of campaigning here for Election 2013 was no surprise.

What was striking at a rally here for the Gelang Patah parliamentary constituency was the sight of the predominantly Chinese crowd holding aloft PAS flags along with those bearing DAP’s rocket logo.

And Kit Siang captured the mood of the thousands gathered here and perhaps that of the Chinese electorate throughout the country over the perceived fear of the Islamic agenda of PAS.

“They say a vote for DAP is a vote for PAS. Is that true? Yes it is. That is because a vote for DAP is a vote for PAS, PKR and Pakatan Rakyat.

“I say here tonight. This is the battle between the past and the future,” he said as the Chinese crowd cheered enthusiastically. Continue reading “DAP’s Johor campaign begins, with loud cheers from Chinese for PAS”

Posted on

15-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day – 13GE: A battle between the future as represented by PR and the past as represented by BN

The 13th General Elections has shaped up to be a historic battle for Malaysia at the crossroads.

It is a battle between the future as represented by Pakatan Rakyat and the past as represented by Barisan Nasional.

All DAP leaders, members and supporters are relieved that today’s Nomination Day went off smoothly as far as the DAP’s Rocket symbol is concerned, with 51 DAP parliamentary and 103 State Assembly candidates filing their nomination papers and being permitted to use the Rocket symbol during the 13GE polling day on May 5.

The crisis over the use of the Rocket symbol which erupted less than 48 hours before Nomination Day, which completely derailed the DAP’s final preparations for the 13GE in the last 48 hours to Nomination Day, should not have happened at all.

Clearly, political forces were at work behind the Registrar of Societies’ letter refusing to recognise the DAP Central Executive Committee after the CEC had been elected for close to four months and over a complaint which had never been communicated to the DAP, whether internally by the so-called complainants or by the Registrar of Societies himself.

Be that as it may, there is always a silver lining to every crisis.

The crisis over the use of Rocket in the 13GE has highlighted the unity, cohesion and solidarity of Pakatan Rakyat five years after its formation. Continue reading “15-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day – 13GE: A battle between the future as represented by PR and the past as represented by BN”

Posted on

DAP harassed and hounded unjustly

P Ramakrishnan on 19 April 2013  
Aliran

Lim Kit Siang is rightly troubled that the DAP may not be able to contest in GE13 using the party logo – the rocket – because the Registrar of Societies (ROS) has issued a letter freezing the posts of all elected DAP leaders.

This sudden turn of events has very unfairly rendered the DAP secretary general incapable of issuing letters authorising selected DAP candidates to stand on the DAP platform using the party symbol.

This is clearly aimed at sabotaging DAP’s chances of scoring victories in the elections. Continue reading “DAP harassed and hounded unjustly”

Posted on

16-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day: DAP use of PAS and PKR symbols in 13GE – a disaster in-the-making or a game changer that will propel Pakatan Rakyat to Putrajaya?

April 18, 2013 had been the most heart-rending day in my life, the day when the Registrar of Societies dispatched a letter to the DAP to knock out the Rocket symbol from the 13GE, with the Nomination Day less than 48 hours away, completely without any legal basis or plausible ground.

I was not the only one to shed tears yesterday as all over the country, many DAP stalwarts and supporters who are Malaysian patriots whose home and sole object of loyalty is Malaysia and do not know or recognize another country as their motherland, also cried at the injustice, oppression and iniquity of the ROS action , clearly at the behest of the political masters in UMNO/Barisan Nasional.

For 47 years, DAP had waged a patriotic, nationalistic but uphill battle to build a united, multiracial, just and democratic Malaysian nation with many leaders like Dr. Chen Man Hin, Ahmad Nor, P. Patto, Ibrahim Singgeh, Fadzlan Yahya, Peter Dason, Lau Dak Kee, Lim Cho Hock, V. David, Karpal Singh, Datuk Chian Heng Kai, Chan Kok Kit, Dr Tan Seng Giaw, Lim Guan Eng, Tan Kok Wai, Teresa Kok, paying a heavy personal price in their love, patriotism and loyalty to Malaysia, including losing their personal liberties enduring detention under the Internal Security Act, imprisonment and disqualification as MP and disenfranchisement of their civil rights such as the right to vote and to stand for elections for a period of time.
Continue reading “16-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day: DAP use of PAS and PKR symbols in 13GE – a disaster in-the-making or a game changer that will propel Pakatan Rakyat to Putrajaya?”

Posted on

The story of Zul and Khalid

— The Malaysian Insider
April 18, 2013

APRIL 18 — Oh dear, how the roles are being reversed?

The political party that gave us the voices of reason and moderation of Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Dr Ismail is now succumbing to more shrill tones and providing cover for divisive characters.

And on the flip side, the political party that once struck fear in the hearts of non-Malays for its fire and brimstone tone and narrow world view is now being increasingly seen as the centrist party, home to some of the country’s most inclusive politicians.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Shah Alam, where incumbent Khalid Samad of PAS is pitted against Zulkifli Noordin of Barisan Nasional.

Nowhere is this change of scenario clearer than on the campaign trail from Masai in Johor to Baling in Kedah where PAS politicians talk about non-Muslims as brothers and not ungrateful, demanding Malaysians.

Nowhere was this more evident than when Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently played the race card and raised the possibility of racial clashes if Lim Kit Siang won in Gelang Patah, and PAS’s Mahfuz Omar offered Malaysians the protection of his party if violence erupted. Continue reading “The story of Zul and Khalid”

Posted on

RoS move pushing DAP to ditch rocket logo, affect Chinese votes

By Jahabar Sadiq
The Malaysian Insider
April 18, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 – The Registrar of Societies’ (RoS) decision not to recognise the DAP’s office bearers means one thing, no one can authorise its candidates to use the party’s recognisable Rocket logo and force them to run under allies PAS’s full moon or PKR’s eye logos.

This ruling is likely to affect DAP candidates’ chances in the 49 federal seats and slightly more than 100 state seats in the May 5 general elections as most of the contests are in Chinese-majority areas where the Rocket is popular but not the other logos.

“The RoS decisions means that no party officials is recognised as officials by the authorities. So, they can’t authorise the candidates to use party symbols,” a DAP official told The Malaysian Insider. Continue reading “RoS move pushing DAP to ditch rocket logo, affect Chinese votes”

Posted on

DAP says will use PAS, PKR logos if RoS letter not revoked

By Boo Su-Lyn
The Malaysian Insider
April 18, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 – The DAP demanded the Registrar of Societies (ROS) today to retract its letter by tomorrow on not recognising the party’s office-bearers, failing which the opposition party would run under PKR and PAS logos in Election 2013.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said that the Bernama report, which quoted ROS director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman today as saying that the DAP could still use its Rocket symbol for the May 5 polls, was “not good enough”.

“The DAP CEC in its meeting tonight decided that RoS must revoke its letter not recognising the office-bearers in the CEC by 3pm tomorrow on Friday,” Lim told reporters at the DAP headquarters here today, referring to the party’s central executive committee.

“Failure to do so will result in the DAP directing its 53 parliamentary candidates and 103 state candidates throughout the country to contest in the next general elections under the PAS symbol in peninsular Malaysia and the PKR symbol in Sabah and Sarawak,” he added.

Lim lambasted the ROS’ move in issuing the letter dated April 17, 2013, just two days before nomination day, saying it intended to “kill off DAP’s electoral prospects by forcing all DAP candidates to be independent.” Continue reading “DAP says will use PAS, PKR logos if RoS letter not revoked”

Posted on

Battle royale brewing in Gelang Patah, Putrajaya hot seats

The Sun Daily
Posted on 17 April 2013

KUALA LUMPUR (April 17, 2013): As political parties tie up the loose ends to their candidate line-ups for the 13th general election on May 5, the political battle taking shape in hot seats — Gelang Patah, Putrajaya and Lembah Pantai — are being keenly watched.

Billed the “battle royale” or “clash of the Titans”, the tussle for Gelang Patah (broken bracelet) parliamentary seat is a battle between political bigwigs — Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman and DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang –who is out to create a “political tsunami” in Johor, an Umno bastion.

Kit Siang, a political veteran, was reported to have said in Penang recently that he would not withdraw from contesting in Gelang Patah as he wanted the “political tsunami” created in the 2008 general election to be felt nationwide.

Prof Datuk Dr Mohamed Mustafa Ishak, who heads the Political, Security and International Affairs Cluster of the National Council of Professors, says Ghani’s service track record as the menteri besar and the people’s elected representative is a “good benchmark” to gauge the “best choice” for the rapidly-developing suburban seat.

“Ghani is the supremo and the architect of Johor’s impressive progress. He is also very popular among the electorate vis-a-vis Kit Siang, a relatively newcomer to Johor’s political scene.

“By far and large, the voters, including the Chinese community, appreciate what Ghani has done for Johor. Ghani is instrumental in developing Nusajaya and the Iskandar Malaysia economic corridor, besides being the person very familiar with Johor’s “nooks and corners” as opposed to Kit Siang,” he told Bernama.

Nusajaya, the Johor state government’s new administrative centre, encompasses the Southern Industrial and Logistics Clusters, medical hub and EduCity.

The BN’s Tan Ah Heng from MCA won the Gelang Patah seat in the 2008 general election by a comfortable 8,851-vote majority, trouncing Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) aspirant Zaliha Mustafa.

Mohamed Mustafa says Ghani’s prospects of retaining Gelang Patah for BN was bright albeit the keen tussle for the predominantly Chinese-majority seat. Fifty-four per cent of the electorate are Chinese. Continue reading “Battle royale brewing in Gelang Patah, Putrajaya hot seats”

Posted on

Dr M should campaign honourably

― Ravinder Singh
The Malaysian Insider
April 13, 2013

APRIL 13 ― Dr Mahathir Mohamad is obviously very unhappy that Lim Kit Siang is contesting in Gelang Patah. That is his right: to be unhappy and say so.

In his recent write up on this, he says “when Kit Siang wins Gelang Patah” ― here, he is acknowledging that this candidate is going to win.

What is regretted is that Dr Mahathir then goes on to say that this candidate’s win would result in racial confrontation and “even if there will not be violent clashes as seen in many countries where people are divided by race or religion, but confrontation between the three major races in Malaysia will be disruptive and will not be conducive to the development of Malaysia.”

Instead of making such irresponsible statements that can give wrong ideas to some people, he should take the honourable way of neutralising this candidate’s chances of victory. Continue reading “Dr M should campaign honourably”

Posted on

Lim’s return to Johor emboldens the Chinese

From Sakmongkol AK47
Free Malaysia Today
April 12, 2013

The return of Lim Kit Siang to Johor should not matter to Umno and BN. Why should it cause worry? Isn’t it mathematically impossible for PR to go from 1 seat to 15 parliamentary seats? The Johor Chinese are different. They have an unshakeable allegiance to the state. So the Johor Chinese are by definition, naturally indifferent to what is happening around in the country.

The Chinese are a very practical people, says Chua Soi Lek. He must of course be referring to their apparent indifference to his sexual escapades. By that reasoning, the Chinese must also be indifferent to whatever stories are said of Anwar Ibrahim and they should be indifferent to Najib’s overextended and boring self-praising assessment of his Alphabet Soup vision. Ah Jib Gor does what Ah Jib Gor does best – tell tall stories mostly about himself.

Being practical they want to know, whether we can establish a good government. One that will practise good governance, consists of good, selfless and dedicated people. They want to go about making wealth under a government that upholds the rule of law. Which in turn require that the institutions that safeguard the rule and implementation of law be strong and independent and are established on principles of integrity. The Chinese want to live peacefully with the other major races in Malaysia. These are hallmarks of practical people.

I don’t think being practical means, they accept corruption, wheeling and dealing with the powers that be, accepting hegemony from others. If they are like that – that’s not being practical but being sly and acting like hustlers. The things that made the Chinese practical is economic independence. So being practical as in economically independent, the Chinese can exercise wider choices. They will chose to side with Pakatan Rakyat. That’s practical and acknowledging reality. Continue reading “Lim’s return to Johor emboldens the Chinese”

Posted on

23-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day – Dr M in his post-PM decade has emerged as the greatest enemy of his own Bangsa Malaysia concept in Vision 2020 and the single greatest threat to Malaysian nation building

Tun Mahathir had no qualms in breaking his pledge to leave politics “completely” when he stepped down ten years ago as the country’s longest Prime Minister for 22 years, and despite his brief departure from the UMNO Baru which he had formed, Mahathir is now so firmly ensconced in the corridors of power that he is undoubtedly the most feared man by all UMNO/Barisan Nasional politicians.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak fear him most as Mahathir has proven that he could make and unmake Umno Prime Ministers, and the last thing Najib wants is to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Tun Abdullah of being toppled as Prime Minister after failing to secure an acceptable winning majority in Parliament in the 13GE.

But the saddest and most tragic aspect of the second rise of Mahathir in the UMNO/BN corridors of power is his baleful and baneful influence on Malaysian politics and nation-building, as he has emerged in his post-PM decade as the greatest enemy of his own Bangsa Malaysia concept in Vision 2020 and the single greatest threat to Malaysian nation building.

In the past week, Mahathir provided two examples of the baleful and baneful influence as the arch-enemy of Bangsa Malaysia and the greatest threat to Malaysian nation building.

Firstly, Mahathir’s sky-high praises for the Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali, elevating the patron of the Malay supremacist group as a “saviour” of the nation and leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind that Ibrahim Ali would be the ideal candidate for Mahathir to be Prime Minister of Malaysia!

Secondly, his utterly racist blog yesterday warning of a “race confrontation” if I win in Gelang Patah in the 13GE. Continue reading “23-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day – Dr M in his post-PM decade has emerged as the greatest enemy of his own Bangsa Malaysia concept in Vision 2020 and the single greatest threat to Malaysian nation building”

Posted on

Silly conjectures

The Malaysian Insider
April 11, 2013

APRIL 11 – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad must not be feeling confident of a Barisan Nasional (BN) victory in Gelang Patah.

The former BN chief wrote today that a Lim Kit Siang win in Gelang Patah will result in racial confrontation, arguing that Chinese-Malay economic partnership will be ruined.

“Kit Siang is going to bring about conflict and antagonism between the races, to wage the Chinese to dislike and hate the Malays,” Dr Mahathir wrote in his chedet.cc blog.

“When Kit Siang decided to contest in Chinese majority Gelang Patah it is because he wanted the Chinese there and in Johor to reject working together and sharing with the Malays.

“An unhealthy racial confrontation would replace Sino-Malay cooperation which has made Malaysia stable and prosperous.”

How ridiculous is this conjecture? That an opposition win will cause racial conflict.

Is this how to scare voters to support the BN? Through fear not respect or popularity.

Is this what Dr Mahathir has to fall back to get BN to win Gelang Patah, no matter whether MCA or Umno gets to stand there? Continue reading “Silly conjectures”

Posted on

Dr M: Race confrontation if Kit Siang wins Gelang Patah

By Debra Chong
The Malaysian Insider
April 11, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, April 11 – A Lim Kit Siang win in Gelang Patah will result in racial confrontation, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today, arguing that Chinese-Malay economic partnership will be ruined.

With weeks left to Election 2013, the former prime minister continued his doomsday prediction by hammering on the opposition leader with his warning that Lim’s victory in the southern state would trigger racial clashes that would replace the existing cooperation between the Malay majority and Chinese community.

“Kit Siang is going to bring about conflict and antagonism between the races, to wage the Chinese to dislike and hate the Malays,” Dr Mahathir wrote in his chedet.cc blog.

The 87-year-old Dr Mahathir has become a de facto campaigner-in-chief for the Barisan Nasional (BN), going on the stump with the vigour of a much younger man as the 13-party coalition faces what is seen as its stiffest challenge ever from the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact.

The Johor-born Lim has been bearing the brunt of Dr Mahathir’s attacks ever since announcing his plan to battle BN on its home turf – the birthplace of its anchor party Umno and the last standing home of Chinese partner, MCA.

Dr Mahathir has been relentless in chipping away at the predominantly Chinese DAP’s credentials to share power with its political allies, whether the Islamist PAS or the urban-based PKR led by his former deputy, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Continue reading “Dr M: Race confrontation if Kit Siang wins Gelang Patah”