YeinJee's Asian Journal

I thought it was a joke when my friend passed me the news that Zakaria Md Deros has passed away this morning, as the timing is rather bizarre just after BN’s disastrous election campaign. It’s not a joke though… Malaysiakini and Bernama have confirmed the news.

I was just about to write some stories about Zakaria (before knowing the news) about his influence in causing the BN downfall in the election… guess I will have to cut it short now.

Most of you would have known about the infamous Istana he built in 2006, and all those dubious property deals that he was involved… some quarters actually dubbed him the King of Klang for his arrogance, and for the fact that nobody could touch him even though he had been misusing his power as (ex) Klang municipal councillor for personal gain.

Although Zakaria didn’t participate much in the election, his infamous saga has played a landmark role in influencing the public thoughts, which showed that the top BN leadership was doing nothing much (or incapable) to stop corruption, and that the culprits could easily get away with some easy punishment.

People have begun to realise that Badawi and his BN co. are not going to fulfill their promise made in 2004 of making corruption-fighting their prime priority. Along with a few other cases like Rafidah’s AP issue, the people’s confidence was shaken, which in the end played a crucial role in the 12th General Election.

I don’t want to be too critical to a dead man though; the fact that thousands of people have paid their last respects to Zakaria since early morning shows that this man must had done something good in his life… rest in peace.

Malaysians have spoken.

At the time of writing, non-BN parties (let’s drop the term ‘opposition’ shall we?) have officially claimed the states of Penang, Kedah and Kelantan. Selangor and Perak are also reported to have won by non-BN alliances, albeit unofficial.

It’s just the beginning though… set aside PAS that has been governing Kelantan for years, DAP and PKR are noobs when it comes to governing a state. I am not saying that they are not capable to do so, it’s however a fact that they are facing a new challenge that they had never faced before… governance.

First thing first, they need to do their best to maintain peace. I don’t think we will have any serious riots or demos following the victories in these states, but we do need to take extra safety precautions to maintain peace.

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Final results for Malaysia’s 12th General Election…

Parliamentary seats: BN (140), BR (82: DAP-28, PAS-23, PKR-31)
States claimed by DAP-PAS-PKR alliances: Kedah, Penang, Kelantan, Perak and Selangor.

Just like many other Malaysians, I had been staying up late after the polling day to read the latest results… with waves of surprises pouring in.

Frankly, I was shocked by the outcome. I thought that the non-BN parties would have a chance to deny the 2/3 BN majority for parliamentary seats, but I didn’t really expect it to happen. The real surprise however was on BN losing 5 states, especially for Selangor… that was unexpected at all.

Regardless, for better or worst, we will be having a new Malaysia that we have never seen before… let’s hope for the best.

The Election Commission (EC) has scrapped the indelible ink plan for the March 8 general election following legal advice, its chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said. He said that the decision made at a meeting today was also to ensure security and public order.

“Police investigations reveal that there are irresponsible people who bought ink from foreign countries in order to persuade those not familiar with the procedure to have the ink applied (to a voter’s forefinger or nail) before polling day,” he told a press conference at the EC headquarters, Putrajaya. [Bernama]

Abdul Rashid also said that the use of indelible ink would not be effective as the country’s constitution allows those who refuse to have their fingernail marked with the ink to still be issued with a ballot, and that the use of the indelible ink could infringe the constitutional right of a voter to cast his vote, especially if the commission tries to bar someone from voting for having an ink marked in his finger. [Malaysiakini]

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Malaysiakini goes free for one week (March 4-10) to allow non-subscribers to read their (full) news without having to log in. Existing subscribers will be compensated with one additional week to the subscription period.

Quoted from editor-in-chief Steven Gan, “Democracy is about voters acquiring sufficient knowledge to make an informed choice. By making Malaysiakini available to all, we want to play our part in helping Malaysians exercise their democratic right.” [Malaysiakini]

Frankly, the media biasness for the past couple of weeks are really annoying. It’s a noble act from Malaysiakini to try and balance the election news and information, kudos for that.

Some 600 motorcyclists were reported accompanying Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin on their vehicles from Pasir Mas to Rantau Panjang in Kelantan during his visit to the state on Monday…

Some were not wearing their helmets… (Scanned image from TheStar)

Attention to KL motorcyclist using the Federal Highway… it has been brought to my attention that there are suspected malicious act of people putting nails on the motorcycle lane along the Federal Highway (near Carlsberg) each morning to ‘find’ victims with punctured tyres and charged them expensive fees to change their tyres.

A reader has alerted me that two of her staff were injured because of the accidents, and I believe there are more injury cases that went under the carpet. These dirty tactics are not something new, but has been happening for years; it’s pathetic to see people risking other’s life for some easy money.

If you have fell victim to this trap, do report to the police. They might ignore one or two cases, but they will take action if they received more cases… our police are not as lazy as some might believe, there are still good cops around. They might not be able to prevent these gimmicks from happening all together, but they could at least reduce the incident in short term.

I have written to TheStar about this, hopefully they could publish the alert on their paper. Meanwhile, do warn your motorcyclist friends about the trap, and be careful if you are a motorcyclist.

DAP incumbent Teresa Kok has gained the upper hand at the Seputeh parliamentary seat against her challenger MCA’s Carol Chew, following the huge blunder from Chew for using two controversial billboards to convey her message.

The controversial poster
(Image from Merdekareview)

The first version of the Chinese billboard features a caricature of Kok, clad in a skimpy red dress and matching stiletto heels, embracing ‘Mr Kinrara’ after dumping ‘Mr Seputeh’, while the second version features Kok on a rocket, flying from ‘Mr Kinrara’ to ‘Mr Seputeh’. [Malaysiakini]

The posters was meant to tease Kok who is contesting for both the Seputeh parliamentary seat and Kinrara state seat, which is actually a point worth debating… but the way the message was portrayed certainly won’t please the public, and I find it rather disgusting as well.

Kok has off course, objected strongly on the use of these degrading posters. Her objection was echoed by the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG), some other non-governmental organisations and also some fellow bloggers.

The posters have been taken down yesterday (March 3), but the damage has already been done… Chew has probably just buried her political future while doing a huge favour for Kok at the coming election, which is just days away.

I am quite amazed that Chew and her MCA team had failed to foresee the negative impact before putting up the billboards… I am not going to use the word sexist as I am not really sure what draws the borderline (of being sexist or not), but the degrading nature is obvious, and it’s a cheap tactic that people don’t want to see from a MP candidate.