The poor and chaotic situations in Sabah are collective ‘efforts’ for both the federal and state governments for more than three decades.

The illegal immigration issue in Sabah is widespread, it’s a shame that the government are not doing much to coup with this… but is it fair for Badawi and Umno to shoulder all the blames? What were the likes of Yong Teck Lee doing all these years (including his Chief Minister terms) to deal with this issue?

Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang, Nik Aziz, and all the Kadazan-Dusun chieftains… what have they done for the past decade or two for the Sabahans? Nik Aziz never care, LKS only knows how to complain, and Anwar only started to care because he can become a PM. All these people (including some Sabahan leaders) are just as idiotic as everyone else when it comes to issues in Sabah, none of them are any better than Badawi when it comes to social welfare for Sabahans.

If the federal government is not doing well enough to help the state, by all means kick their ass… the only question is, why wait until now? The ass should have been kicked long time ago. So, if the BN government had won big again this term, SAPP and YTL would still remain silent and enjoy their honeymoon isn’t it?

Don’t just blame it on the federal leaders my fellow Malaysians, have a look at your local politicians as well. And if you think Badawi is idiot, think what Mahathir, Anwar and the local leaders had done for you.

According to Lim Kit Siang, the appointment has caused shock and consternation to DAP leaders, members and supporters; and that the appointment has not received the mandate of DAP Central Executive Committee.

The decision to appoint a PAS MB is not going to be popular among the Chinese, despite the fact that a PAS MB is not equivalent of a PAS state government. I believe the younger generation would have little problem with it, but it’s not an easy task to convince the older generation to ease their prejudice on PAS.

The rumours that PAS is ready to implement Islamic law in Kedah must have raised further concern, and DAP is obviously trying to please the majority Chinese supporters by drawing a line here. It’s irony that most Chinese are hoping for a fair Malaysia for all Malaysians regardless of race and religion, and here they are… being discriminative after all.

The main question is however… why voicing it now DAP? Why NOW?

Like it or not, the whole nation was already anticipating the appointment of Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin for the past few days… if DAP has any problems with it, they should have strongly objected it before the appointment is made. DAP should have made it clear to the Sultan (or Regent) and the public that they would not tolerate a PAS MB… and not like what they did with the whole “all decisions would be respected” hoo-haa.

BN’s arrogance and ignorance has cost them clearly in the election… is DAP falling into the trap so soon? I mean, how stupid or ignorant could DAP be for not anticipating the appointment prior to the official announcement? And exactly how arrogant is DAP to defy the Sultan’s decision and to make such an immature fuss.

It’s a shame DAP, it’s a shame.

I applaud the protesters’ spirit to convey their thoughts;
I condemn police’s action to use tear gas and water cannons on the protesters;
I hope that the Election Commission (EC) could be more independent;
I wish that the flaws in our electoral system could be minimized.

So why am I still not a supporter of the BERSIH rally?

EC is not our main concern

EC might be favouring our BN government in policies and having double standards when implementing certain things, but I still believe that we have a decent electoral system.

I doubt that there is any election in the world that is 100% clean, and I believe that our election is not that bad.

The main reason for BN’s dominance in the 2004 election is not the unfairness in election or the flaws in EC… it’s because we don’t have a strong enough opposition party (or alliance).

The opposition parties need to buck up their reputation, attract more quality members, and think of a way to form a strong alliance against the current BN government.

One thing that the BN government managed to do well all these years is to keep their alliances intact… it shows that Malaysians can work together regardless of occasional controversies. That is something that the oppositions are far from emulating.

The BERSIH march is a good lead to show bonding among opposition parties… work on it.

The involvement of political parties

It’s irony that both the success and failure of the rally are caused by the involvement of political parties.

Without them BERSIH would not have attracted such a large crowd; but their participation has made the rally a political driven protest instead of independent voices.

We may argue that BERSIH is formed by just 5 political parties and dozens of other NGOs… but fact is the political parties’ involvement will always grab the attention instead.

Read this, the headlines from Reuters’ reports…

Malaysia police move to foil opposition rally
Malaysia police use water cannon at Anwar rally

And here is an excerpt from AFP…

“Some 30,000 protesters eventually massed outside Malaysia’s royal palace, led by opposition leaders including dissident former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, as they faced off against hundreds of riot police.”

We don’t need our biased local press to mislead the mass; even the independent news source would perceive that it’s an opposition rally… and I’m afraid that most bystanders would think of the same thing too.

It’s ok if the political parties take part in this kind of rally, but their leaders need to back off from taking the spotlight. Let the NGOs handle the case instead, it shows more credibility ahead of political agenda.

Just a simple challenge to BERSIH supporters… name me 3 non political organizations that took part in the BERSIH rally. I apologize in advance if you managed to name it straight away without references… I doubt that I would need to apologize to most of the protesters though.

Would BERSIH boycott the election?

Would BERSIH move on to boycott the election if their demands are not granted?

If they chose not to boycott the coming election… it shows that BERSIH still have faith with our electoral system ain’t so? If that’s the case, why started the rally at the first place?

The 52-page budget was presented by party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and his economic advisor Tony Pua at the Parliament building. Several DAP MPs, including Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, were also present. [Malaysiakini]

You can read some of the excerpts via Wengsan or download the full report here (download link no longer available).

I respect Jeff Ooi for pioneering the socio-political blogging in Malaysia, but frankly I am not a big fan of him… I have doubts about his character and political correctness sometimes.

Politics101 has branded Jeff’s joining as “probably the biggest catch in living memory’ for DAP, and that it is ‘is a historic day for the country”… I don’t think so.

Jeff Ooi might be famous to bloggers, but for those who don’t blog or rarely read news online… they don’t know Jeff Ooi. If I ask my friends about Jeff Ooi, chances are 9 out of 10 won’t know who the heck he is.

You may argue that those friends of mine have been living in caves, but fact is there are lots and lots of Malaysians like them that never bother much about happenings online.

Besides, the high profile ‘welcoming’ of Jeff Ooi is set to backfire in certain way… I have friends that work for DAP for years and I don’t think they ever received the attention that Jeff Ooi is having at the moment… I am not sure if everyone in DAP would be that generous and welcome Jeff with open arms like Lim Kit Siang did.

If Jeff Ooi wants to become a successful politician, he needs to jump out of the NET and do more ground work to spread his ideology. He needs to expand his circle of influence… and starting a new blog won’t help much, as it would be the same group of people from his current blog that are going to read it.