Pakatan are talking as if all the Malaysians would like a new govenment, but fact is they are still the oppositions because half of the Malaysians were not voting in their favour. There are lots of calls for Badawi to step down, including from within Umno itself… but that doesn’t mean that these people would want a new government or to have Anwar as the new Prime Minister.

Anwar has been campaigning like crazy for the past three months in hope of becoming the new PM. I don’t want to question whether he is genuine in building Malaysia or more of a personal agenda… but what he did for the past 100 days are hampering the country’s stability. What is the use of a GE if the opposition would continue plotting to take over the government after an election?

Imagine if PR takes over the government with Anwar’s crossover talk being materialised; the PR government would only have a minor majority by then, and what would happen if the BN (as opposition) starting to plot their own crossover plans to take back the government instead? The country will be in a never-ending political turmoil… and that’s why, the results of the GE should be respected and never be exploited in any other ways, regardless of who is doing it.

The people have spoken, you all have spoken, and the BN continue to rules. So be it, and let them rule for another 4-5 years and show what they can do (or not)… we’ll settle the score again in the next election.

Besides, while having BN under the radar, do mind that the Pakatan Rakyat state governments are being watched too. They are given the chances to rule as well; instead of all the political agendas, how about focusing on showing what they can really do at governmental levels and win the next GE fair and square?

Malaysiakini has apologised regarding this matter… [Malaysiakini]

On election night, we were informed by PKR candidate Badrul Hisham Shaharin that he was told by an EC official that there would be a recount.

Our story on that night reflected this. In addition, on March 11 Badrul repeated that there was a recount at a press conference and this was reported by not only Malaysiakini but also a number of other newspapers.

However, we have come to know now that such a recount did not take place. As such, we would like to apologise to Khairy Jamaluddin for publishing that assertion in our subsequent stories.

I wonder if Badrul is ready to apologise regarding this mistake too.

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.

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.

They need to form their state government ASAP. DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng has been announced as the next Penang Chief Minister, and will form the state government with allianced parties. Kelantan will obviously lead by PAS… I am not so sure about Kedah though, PAS and PKR will have to sort that out ASAP.

Selangor might be giving the real headache… if the non-BN parties do win the majority seats, PKR is the most likely party to lead the state government. Thing is, DAP has won more seats (unofficially) than PKR, but I think they should be able to sort it out rather peacefully as DAP has already have Penang in hand (maybe Perak as well).

So, what’s next? Time to fulfill their promises. All these parties have promised an awful lots of things… not only that they need to fulfill those, they also need to avoid doing things that they have been criticising the BN government of.

The first case that comes into my mind is the Motorola saga; the previous BN government was reported to have offered them a RM1 billion project so that they will stay in Penang… and the non-BN parties have strongly oppose to it. Thing is, if Motorola is deciding to leave just after the new government is formed, how would they respond to it?

Facing the risk of losing thousands of job opportunities (mind that the downstream industry might be affected too), the new DAP & PKR government might have to resort to something similar as well, which on short term is actually a right thing to do… but they can’t do that obviously, as they would be breaking the rare trust that the people have given them.

There are lots of other issues to think of… Penang Bridge, the Rapid buses, environmental issues, the sharing of wealth, and other social issues… and I am still not starting on Kedah and Selangor yet.

It’s going to be a long story, to cut it short… there’s a huge challenge ahead; and a precious opportunity on the other hand for the non-BN parties to show the people what they can do… not just for their supporters, but also showing to all Malaysians that it’s not really a bad thing to change.

For better or worse… we will be seeing a new Malaysia when we wake up the next morning.

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.

“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]

The last minute reversal is not well received by the opposition parties and the public. DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and PKR’s deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali have both criticised the cancellation of indelible ink of favouring the ruling party’s cheating and abuses in the election.

Frankly, I can see the point of cancelling the use of inedible link… I have thought of some possible downside for using the ink, for example some ladies might not know about the plan somehow and have applied nail polish and not allowed to vote etc… it could create unexpected chaos.

Questions are however… why using it at the first place? The indelible ink has cost the country million of dollars, shouldn’t the EC think twice before deciding to use it initially?

I have never thought of the violation of constitutional rights for using the ink, stupid me… but I am just a common citizen after all. However, what’s the excuse for EC for not considering about the constitutional factor back then? Shouldn’t they be thinking of the legal issues before spending millions for the ink?

Now, what will happen to the ink? Shouldn’t someone be held responsible for the earlier decision? Should we continue to allow incompetent people like Abdul Rashid to continue leading the commission? And what’s next… cancelling the use of transparent ballot box because it violates privacy? How about cancelling the poll all together?

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.

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.

BN (Pdf file) ll DAP (Jpeg image) ll PKR ll PAS (need to download)

BN got a head start as expected, winning seven of the 222 parliamentary seats and two of the 505 state seats without contest.

The surprise of the day probably belongs to PAS’s Wan Ubaidah Omar, who retained the Kijang state seat (Kelantan) after BN’s challenger was disqualified for bankruptcy… a rare unopposed win for non-BN parties.

While the DAP and Fong’s supporters are singing their joy… I have different opinion about this; this is simply a huge joke from my point of view. I don’t like people who flip-flop with their decisions, and I believe I am not the only one.

People might argue that Po Kuan actually shows that she is willing to listen to the plea of her supporters, which should be respectable… but shouldn’t she be gathering the opinions BEFORE she made the decision to quit?

Her decision to u-turn might be a good thing for DAP and the people, but if there were actually rooms for her to change her mind, shouldn’t she be thinking extra carefully before making the first call?

Did she chat with the party leaders before calling it quits? Was it the last or only option she had back then? Whom had she consulted before making the call? Did she even had a good reason to quit at the first place?

If you are working in a corporate, and one of your colleague decided to quit and then retracted his/her call… you would know that this kind of gimmick is not generally popular. Most people would still give a “welcome back” greeting, but only a few really meant it.

Political field should see no exception… what she did was simply immature. She did apologised for this, but damage has already been done, for both Fong Po Kuan and DAP. Questions are, how bad the damage is, and how forgiving Batu Gajah’s voters are?