Malaysia Votes Tomorrow

In about 9 hours, Malaysians will be going out to vote in the 14th General Election (GE14). Many say this might be a historic defining moment that may see Barisan Nasional (BN) become the Opposition Party in Parliament.

This time, Tun Mahathir is leading the charge at 92 of age. He could be enjoying life but has chosen to stand with the Opposition to challenge BN to Putrajaya.

This was never in anyone’s wildest dreams. With Anwar locked away, Tun M was a natural choice. And banding together PKR, Bersatu, DAP and Amanah, and yes, standing under the PKR logo only, Tun M is also making history of sorts.

It is left to be seen if voters for the Opposition can overcome the gerrymandering, the flippant decisions of Election Commission (EC), the incredulous promises made by Najib, the various tricks to prevent a big turnout, Malaysians must come out to vote.

Whatever results that may appear tomorrow should be seen as clean and fair in the eyes of all Malaysians and the world.

Will it be more of Najib’s offers or will it be a fresh and just new government? Even Umno doesn’t believe they can change.

Culture, especially a bad one, cannot be slowly nursed to be good. It must take the shock therapy of serious soul searching and humility, neither is found in Umno.

In light of the constant denials of wrongdoings, there is really nobody who dares to pry into all allegations anymore with Najib having consolidated his powers.

GE14 is about what the people say, if it is at least enough to turn the tide or Najib will have outfoxed his one-time mentor?

Will Malaysians see a new tomorrow or more of the same?

We shall know by early Thursday morning.

So, go vote, fellow Malaysians. Do your duty. Stay safe!

Pakatan Rakyat is Resolved on Selangor MB

The Pakatan Rakyat leadership just made a press statement on this matter. It was a clear statement to give face to PAS and Hadi who had earlier the day decided to stay with Pakatan Rakyat and also nominated Azmin as an additional candidate for the MB post. That move was veiled as a step to allow Hadi to save face for coming out to defend Khalid openly and then Khalid got the sack thereby making Hadi’s position totally untenable.

Tonight, PR press statement thanks PAS for the support and acknowledge their endorsement of Azmin. In a twist of face saving move, it also states that Azmin remains steadfast to the PKR decision to name Wan Azizah as the new MB of Selangor.

PAS Oversteps Pakatan Rakyat Boundary

PAS decided this morning that they will stay in Pakatan Rakyat in solidarity of the coalition but surprised everyone to recommend not only Wan Azizah but included Azmin as well. How can a coalition party member who agreed that the MB post should go to PKR recommend other candidates? PAS will never accept it if DAP or PKR had nominated somebody else for the MB of Kelantan but they would do this to PKR. Such is an uncalled for position for an equal coalition partner. Seriously undermining PKR leadership, PAS dug another hole after climbing out of one today.

MB Khalid Last Stand

MB Khalid has been sacked from PKR. PAS must decide their position on the Selangor MB. DAP has decided to stand with PKR. Khalid met with HRH Sultan of Selangor to confirm his MB position. Khalid challenges his Exco to quit if they cannot work with him. DPM Muhyiddin says BN stands with Khalid as MB.

Anwar is scheduled to meet with Hadi later this week on this matter. Hadi had earlier made public his support for Khalid before he was sacked. Anwar believes he can resolve this delicate matter given Khalid is no longer a Pakatan Rakyat member.

Khalid has painted himself into a corner where he cannot stand down. His overinflated ego has destroyed his political career completely. Any party taking him in will be purely for political expedience. Once this MB episode finds its equilibrium, Khalid will be of no use. He has lost the public interest and support.

Make or Break for Pakatan in Selangor

MB Khalid has been hauled up to appear before the PKR disciplinary committee and it does not look like he will oblige. Sunday will be a date to reckon for Pakatan Rakyat as PKR and DAP and possibly PAS will meet within their leadership committees. The PAS syura already decided to back a decision to retain Khalid as MB. Will the PAS leadership concur?

Obviously, this episode is particularly interesting to all Malaysians, not just Selangorians. How Pakatan Rakyat as a coalition resolves this thorny issue will have significant impact on the future of Malaysia politics. How will PAS unravel itself without creating a split amongst its ranks? How will Anwar fix this while his Sodomy 2 appeal is rushed for hearing? This is a case for political magic by Anwar and the Pakatan Rakyat leadership. Will they stay for common goals or will they split for individual expedience?

MB Khalid argues that he cannot be questioned for his actions as MB for various executive decisions for things like Kidex, the water restructuring, etc. Apparently, MB Khalid forgot that he is not in private management any longer. He is appointed by PKR and supported by PAS and DAP. A political appointment. So he needs to answer to PKR and also the Selangor voters. So far, he has not attempted to do either.

His loan restructuring has become a very suspicious arrangement with Umno. A too good to be true deal always turns heads and theories.

Selangor Dilemma

The open move to replace Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim with Wan Azizah does not appear smooth at all. The Selangor Sultan has made open his thoughts and getting his approval may be a hurdle. The MB Khalid is not budging and insist that he will stay until the end of his term. PAS President Hadi Awang voiced his view of status quo although the PAS leadership seems to endorse the change together with DAP.

It is the latest expose of the PAS central committee Whatsapp screenshot of a very sensitive conversation now released on the Internet has stirred serious emotions. The contents of the conversation points to the Operations Director Dr Zuhdi suggesting for PAS to leave Pakatan Rakyat and join forces with Umno to retain control and to suggest that the year end delineation can strengthen Malay candidates to ensure that the minority voters cannot raise their issues effectively. Dr Zuhdi did not dispute the authenticity but rather defended that this was merely his analysis as requested by the central party members. He felt that he is being wrongly accused, according to his facebook posting.

Umno Plans 50 Election Petitions, More Than PR

Najib dropped a major bombshell that Umno is planning to file at least 50 election petitions for parliamentary and state seats with another 37 under consideration (read here). This will beat Pakatan Rakyat’s 31 petitions being planned – PKR 20, PAS 8 and DAP 3. Filing petitions is an expensive affair and almost all the time, these petitions are thrown out because of technicality without considering their merits.

It is quite understandable for PR to want to file the petitions because they claim that they have been cheated of the results. It will be really awkward if they didn’t file enough petitions to demonstrate they can win at least 112 seats for a simple majority. Hence, the plan for 31 petitions. The #Black505 rallies have been conducted to expound on the displeasure of losing because of irregularities, foul play and gerrymandering which consequently had demanded for the dismissal of the SPR’s Chairman and Deputy and to restructure SPR to be placed under the jurisdiction of the Parliament, the original place in the Federal Constitution prior to the many amendments made over the years.

Now, for Umno and not even BN to file petitions will be surprising. To top it all, Najib said that Umno will file at least 50 petitions while having 37 more under consideration. This is the surprise of surprise. Just what is Umno displeased about the GE13 which they have never raised since the results were announced on the early morning of 6 May. They contended that everything was clean and fair and that all must accept the results and Najib called for a national reconciliation (besides blaming a Chinese Tsunami for losses of seats).

The question on everybody’s shocked minds is what points will Umno be raising for the Election Petition of a GE13 which they kept claiming was free and fair. Very strange indeed. Will Umno actually file those petitions or if this is just a Public Relations gimmick will be left for Malaysians to wonder for now. By 12 June, all parties must file their petitions with the High Court.

Malaysia At A Standstill

The PM has been sworn in. So did the Cabinet except for 5 individuals who should not have joined in at the time as they were not made Senators yet. The new term begins with a fiasco yet to be rectified. There has been rallies by PR and NGOs showing anger at alleged fraud and also directed at the Election Commission (EC) demanding reforms and for the heads to step down.

Obviously, none of the rallies and demands will be met because the Govt will not want to bow down to such pressure. In turn, they started to arrest PR leaders and activists but ignore pro-Umno bloggers and Utusan Malaysia and even Perkasa. The show of power to silence the Opposition is back.

Such is the beginnings of Najib’s new term. Uncertainty, draconian acts, selective prosecutions, all being the continuation of his previous term. No reforms are evident although Najib has reiterated that he will want to do so. While spewing such promises, the Sedition Act is used again. And arrests made to show power and strike fear into Malaysians.

What can we expect AFTER GE13?

With the GE13 date set for May 5, we will see the culmination of Malaysia’s longest campaign period in our history. Although the formal campaign period is 15 days from Nomination Day, the unofficial campaigning started since PM Najib took over the reins from Pak Lah. For the past 4 years, Malaysians have gotten all kinds of goodies shoved at them with little economic fundamental progress. Whether they be budgets, programs, policies or expenditures, they are all short term designed to create the impression of strategy but with the intent to make the people feel good about Najib.

Well, the time will soon come for the day of reckoning if all that is said by BN and PR are well understood by Malaysians to translate into real votes for either of these political alignments.

Every political party is on the campaign road knowing full well nobody will stop them anymore regardless of the fact that the official campaigning period is not yet here. Everyday on TV, we will see how Najib pronounce the fact that BN is the savior of Malaysia and everybody else is rubbish.

Then, again, no Govt linked media will ever say anything bad about the ruling parties so that Malaysians will believe anything the media says and BN can do no wrong and there is everything wrong with the Opposition.

Thanks to the Internet and the alternate media, Malaysians can now assess for themselves both sides of the story. It appears that the Opposition has made significant inroads to the Internet savvy voters but those who are not so savvy may be missed out. More work to be done, obviously.

Fast forward to after GE13 and *&^%#$ has won the elections and now the Federal Govt.

We have two very distinct eventualities to consider. Many people are unaware that both BN and PR offers Malaysians two different destinies. Their manifestos may be incomplete but their general sense of direction are diverging. Furthermore, there are many intentions of both BN and PR that are not mentioned in their manifestos.

BN Destiny

Who will be the next PM?

As much as questions fielded to Pakatan Rakyat as to who will be their choice for the PM position in the event they win the GE13, the same question should also be asked of Barisan Nasional as if current PM Najib will continue to be one if they win with a lesser majority than during ex-PM Abdullah Badawi in 2008.

Tun M has voiced out his opinion that Najib is weak and if a lesser majority is obtained by him, Tun M believes Najib should be replaced. Of course, he gave a caveat that it was to be the decision the of Umno Supreme Council. The observation of most political analysts actually concurs with Tun M and if Badawi had to go for historical poorest performance, so should Najib in following the precedent. Read here for an analysis that BN will not get a 2/3 majority in the GE13.

BN has been trying to shake the PR tree playing up a strawman that Anwar may not be the PR choice for PM because of objections from PAS. At the same time, BN is playing ignoramus regarding Najib’s position as PM and Najib knows it all too well.

That is why the GE13 will now be held at the very last possible moment that Najib can call. It is very clear by now he has missed all the best timing over the past 3 years and has placed Malaysia in a state of flux guessing the GE13. The expected date will now be mid-April for dissolving Parliament and EC shall call for the GE in mid-May with a possible 10 days of campaigning. Otherwise, Najib’s term automatically expires on 30th April and the constitution will take over from there onwards.

What is clear will be as follows: