Finally Malaysia's Parliament dissolved for general election

[AniThyng]

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?fi ... sec=nation

PUTRAJAYA: The 13th General Election is on. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak confirmed that the King had consented to dissolution of Parliament on Wednesday.

"I met the Agong this morning and he consented to the dissolution of Parliament," Najib said during a live televised speech after the Cabinet meeting here Wednesday.

The Electoral Commission will now meet to set dates for nomination and polling day, which will be separated by at least 11 days.

However, elections must be held within 60 days of today, that is June 2nd.

The EC has also said that it will hold all state elections simultaneously with parliamentary elections, except for Sarawak which still has three years of its mandate left after holding polls in 2011.

More to come.

At last, an election where the opposition coalition has some chance at the grand prize in the tightest election in Malaysian history. Whee~

Ruling party
Barisan Nasional coalition ("National Front")
UMNO - Malay nationalist, 'islamic' at home, 'secular' abroad
MCA - Chinese party.
MIC - Indian party.
Other assorted minor parties (minor at national level, possibly major in the case of Sabah and Sawarak based parties)

Infer from the fact that I did not define a stand for the other 2 major parties what you will

Opposition
Pakatan Rakyat coalition ("People's Pact")
PKR - Multiracial but Malay-dominated party. Party of Anwar Ibrahim, ex-PM Mahathir's ousted Deputy PM and the man who would be Prime Minister...
DAP -Socialist party, Multiracial but Chinese dominated with strong indian presence. Generally liberal outlook. Counterbalanced by PAS
PAS -Islamic party - religion before race - but inevitably Malay dominated. Big on social justice. Big on conservative morality. Counterbalanced by DAP

Anyway, westminster system, whoever commands the confidence of lower house is invitied to form the government, by convention the various state assemblies will also be dissolved in tandem so that both federal and state elections can be held together.

Let the games begin!

[madd0ct0r]

when you say "National Front" - they're not fascists like the UK organization are they?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

when you say "National Front" - they're not fascists like the UK organization are they?

That depends on which part of Malaysian history you are talking about since UMNO has and always been racial supremacist...

[AniThyng]

when you say "National Front" - they're not fascists like the UK organization are they?

It's an unfortunate coincidence, and it's rarely actually rendered in English locally, lol. It certainly sounds more aggressive!

But as fingolfin noted, the dominant UMNO (united Malays national organization) party is Malay 'supremacist' and certainy more right wing than left wing, and might actually be amenable to these kinds of policies when mirrored to be in the favor of Malay Muslims .

[AniThyng]

So, nomination day is over, 2 weeks more till the election, and once again, based on public statements by PAS, I'm really just going to hope their allies win big and they win just enough to get Pakatan into the government.

Seriously though the more I look at it the more I feel Westminster+1st past the post+multiparty is really really flawed in terms of actually representing people.

[Simon_Jester]

The combination of first-past-post and multiparty may be the worst of it; that's probably an unstable solution. I would expect the stable outcome of first-past-post voting is a two party system. At least, unless you have something pretty weird going on in your politics like an ethnic separatist party which is stunningly popular but only in 20% of the country.

[AniThyng]

The combination of first-past-post and multiparty may be the worst of it; that's probably an unstable solution. I would expect the stable outcome of first-past-post voting is a two party system. At least, unless you have something pretty weird going on in your politics like an ethnic separatist party which is stunningly popular but only in 20% of the country.

What has happened is a perpetual opposition, since the ruling coalition is strongly entrenched and can take advantage of gerrymandering and demographics to create districts where it cannot lose without a significant voter swing, which happened to a certain extent in the 2008 elections, and which the opposition is banking on to happen again in a much bigger way this year, but that is a bit of a long shot still.

The summary I had in the OP basically outlines why victory by the oppposition is difficult - all that those 3 parties have in common is a mutual interest in toppling the BN coalition - none of them can ever hope to get enough seats on their own, and in some cases the seats they can realistically win in clash, creating multi-corner fights that only benefit the much more unified BN* - e.g. PAS and PKR compete in Malay seats, and PKR and DAP compete in mixed/chinese seats.

*The Barisan National contests in the elections under its own common party logo, while the Pakatan coalition is still only loosely bound together, with all 3 parties contesting under their own banners. Frankly I would not be surprised if in the case of a hung parliament the King appoints BN to form a minority government until enough MPs are persuaded to defect.

[PainRack]

Its not just districts gerrymandering that gives the National Front their advantage.

Even as their racial politics gets more and more untenable, UMNO and their coalition retains a key lead because they got a huge lock on the Datuk and money systems in Malaysia..

[AniThyng]

Well yeah, that too. Elites of all races will naturally favor Barisan.

[AniThyng]

Well, waiting in line for polls to open. "ini kalilah!" ("this time"), rallying cry for an opposition that has never came this close to electoral victory.

[PainRack]

So, on one hand, Malaysia election appears to be receiving huge amount of media attention, from Taiwanese talkshows, news and even entertainment shows talking about it(to discuss how Malaysian artistes are returning home to vote) to the Western media like the Economist.............


But it doesn't seem to stop certain............ strange going on. I'm waiting for a reputable news article other than the facebook and social media postings, but essentially, the Barisan Nationalists have won the election........ AFTER the media blackout which showed the Opposition TRENDING.


And of course, in the new, interconnected world, this popped up moments after polling ended.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petiti ... n/nBqKR7bm
we petition the obama administration to:

Democracy crisis in Malaysia: foreign workers were employed for fraud voting in Malaysian General Election.

Dear all,

We are the concerned citizens of Malaysia, and hereby we are writing you a letter, which we need your attention urgently and international solidarity supports.

The regime of Malaysia's National Coalition Front (Barisan Nasional), had bribed to the official recruitment agency of Bangladesh, to allow a huge number of Bangladeshi workers (estimated about 600,000 people) deported from their homeland to Malaysia for such despicable and non democratic action.

We are hereby requesting ladies and gentlemen to provide solidarity supports and necessary assistances for us, to ensure the election can be conducted in clean and fair manners. For more information and evidence, here is the news link: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-967755.

Long live democracy.

Regards,

Kuan-Ping Ang and etc

[AniThyng]

Stupid stupid stupid, don't drag America into messing with our elections. Anyway dammit. I'll comment more later. But still, dammit.

[Rogue 9]

I doubt a White House petition is going to get the United States to screw with your elections by itself. The White House petition system is intended for American citizens anyway (as an easy method to exercise the First Amendment right to petition the government), so I'm not sure it'll even get a response.

As for the election result - Why was there a media blackout to begin with? Leaving the vote trending before the blackout aside, the fact there was one is incredibly suspicious on its own. Was there any justification given for it?

[AniThyng]

If you think Fox news is partisan...wait till you see ours.

Anyway, I would not really describe it as a blackout so much as trying to supress bad news - many seats were lost, and in many of the 'blackout' seats they were only won by very narrow margins. Hence the allegations of vote stuffing etc.

But do not get taken in by some of the rhetoric and conspiracy theories - the opposition retained the state governments of 2 key states of Penang and Selangor and most of the Federal Capital's own seats, and the DAP and PKR swept urban seats.

It is the rural seats where Barisan retained its seats and make up the numbers to form the government, and I do not hesitate to state that they retained them legitimately.

In conclusion: First Past the Post + unequal seat delineation sucks.

[AniThyng]

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/mala ... he-cities/

By Jahabar Sadiq
Editor
May 06, 2013

BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak (centre) and other BN leaders raise their hands in triumphant on the coalition’s success in the general election, at the PWTC in Kuala Lumpur on May 5, 2013.MAY 6 — There are two Malaysias. One from the Malay heartland that swung back to Barisan Nasional (BN) on Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia campaign to retake Kedah and run the country despite a smaller federal majority in Election 2013.

The other is a multiracial Malaysia that gave more votes, federal and state seats to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) especially in cities and towns, reflecting the growing rural-urban divide of a fast-developing nation.

The record 80 per cent turnout from the 12.9 million voters eligible to cast their ballots in yesterday’s general election and close results in BN victories reveal hardcore support for either coalitions, firming the idea of a two-party system in Malaysia.

And the divided loyalties of the majority Malays between being grateful to BN that has developed Malaysia in its 56 years of unbroken rule or taking the promise of equity from three parties campaigning against cronyism and corruption that they blame on the ruling coalition. In the end, BN won 133 federal seats and Pakatan took 89.

“I think they were taken in by some of the undertakings given by the opposition... and that’s why there was that swing.... and a lot of sentiments there, some of them racial in nature, that were being played up in this election, which is not very healthy for this country,” Najib told reporters at the Umno headquarters early this morning, shortly after a simple majority victory cemented BN’s place in Putrajaya.

“I expected it but I did not expect it to this extent. None of us expected it to this extent. But despite the extent of the swing against us, BN did not fall,” he added.

But the 1 Malaysia campaign won Najib support among the Malays, who form a major part of the bottom 40 per cent that his administration has pledged to improve as part of a campaign for a high-income nation.

The hardworking Umno president has worked on various initiatives, including cash handouts and setting up an agency to build affordable housing for the urban poor unable to cope with rising living costs.

Najib’s appeal and the initiatives have kept BN as government at federal and state level although it only managed to get simple majorities in states like Perak and Terengganu.

But BN also suffered losses in his Umno birthplace and bastion Johor, where the centrally-planned Iskandar corridor is attracting investments as well as concern among Malays that they could lose out to foreign investors.

It was in Johor that a mini Malay swing with a major Chinese turn for PR that has help cement the coalition’s hold on major cities from as far north as George Town through Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, Malacca and now the southern state’s big towns.

“The Chinese were the biggest swing with help from the Malays, which then cut our support,” said Pulai MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, who saw his 2008 majority of 20,447 votes get cut down to just 3,200 in this year’s elections.

This has helped the DAP and PKR pick up seats for their nett increase in parliamentary representation for the next five years while PAS lost a few seats that many blame on Malay votes sticking to BN and vice-versa, say analysts.

Yet, the mainly Malay urban poor have rejected BN despite receiving its offerings of affordable housing, rebates and handouts in favour of PR’s talk of change and campaign against cronyism and corruption, they added.

As can be seen in the latest elections, where Malays and Chinese in the cities have come out in droves to support the opposition while those in the rural areas continue to vote BN.

The Malay swing for BN has also been limited as the coalition only won 275 of the 505 state seats up for grabs, leaving a substantial 230 state seats to PR.

“It isn’t a race war, it’s a class war,” said an analyst who declined to be named, adding that Kedah went back to BN more due to PAS’s incompetence than BN’s appeal to the state folks.

“The distribution of the state seats will show you that PR is getting support from a wider range of people, not just one race or one place,” he added, saying BN will have to study both federal and state results for future campaigns.

He said the steady loss of federal seats and support is a concern for BN as it would need to rebuild the coalition’s ranks to take on the incumbents in the next contest.

[weemadando]

Malaysian friends were reporting some very convenient blackouts preventing recounts and other issues. Any formal sources reporting on that?

[AniThyng]

I can only speak for myself that there is plenty of rumors and conjectures going around, but I haven't personally seen solid proof that would satisfy me, just lots of facebook posts and testimonials and convenient conjecture and timing - unless you happen to know a lot of rural malaysians, your friends are much more likely to be in my demographic - e.g. the one that lives in consituencies where the opposition broadly won.

This is all a drama that is detracting from a proper analysis of the defeat - all these dirty tricks only work if the race is very close - the focus should be on solidly winning over the electorate so that fraud is impossible.

[AniThyng]

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/mala ... 3-results/

Crying foul, Anwar disputes GE13 results

UPDATED @ 04:16:49 AM 06-05-2013

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid
May 06, 2013

PETALING JAYA, May 6 — Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he will not accept the Election 2013 result, accusing the Elections Commission (EC) of rigging the polls to give Barisan Nasional (BN) victory.

As results streamed in, the PKR de facto leader said Pakatan Rakyat will not recognise the legitimacy of the outcome, claiming that several hotly-contested seats were marred by allegations of widespread fraud.

“As of now we are not accepting the results,” the visibly upset Anwar told a press conference packed with supporters, local and international pressmen.

“Many of the seats they have announced, we are contesting (the results) and they have not responded to our allegations,” he said.

The opposition leader added that PR would only accept yesterday’s results if the EC provides a satisfactory explanation to the complaints.

Anwar had earlier declared an early victory for PR and warned against attempts to hijack the results, as results began streaming in.

The prime minister-hopeful made the declaration on his Twitter account at 7pm yesterday, just two hours after counting started at tallying centres nationwide.

PKR raised suspicion of electoral fraud following reports of the early vote counts in several key constituencies — including Lembah Pantai, Lumut and Teluk Kemang — which it alleged were overly low and “discomforting”.

In a statement here, the party’s communications bureau noted that these seats include high numbers of military voters who had cast their votes via advanced voting earlier this week on April 30.

There were also complaints against the indelible ink used in Sunday’s polls and claims that security forces were helping transport phantom voters of foreign nationalities to vote in key constituencies, including Anwar’s Permatang Pauh federal seat.

The opposition chief said his coalition had gathered a body of evidence to support its allegations, including video evidence. Two of these, which were recordings of PR workers apprehending foreign nationals near polling centres, were showed to the media.

“The EC has been very dismissive,” the PKR de facto leader said in describing his frustration with the polls regulator’s inaction despite widespread complaints of electoral fraud.

“And now we found thousands of foreign nationals, phantom voters in a matter of hours… even in my constituency,” he said.

The EC has denied the allegations while some BN leaders claimed the accusations were made up to justify PR’s plans to subvert the election outcome through street protests.

Anwar, however, said the coalition had told its supporters to remain calm but stressed that they were “loudly” protesting against the purported irregularities found in this year’s elections.

“We would not do anything that is instigative,” he said.

[PainRack]

Its...... strange though, because the BN nationalist message appears to have been hijacked by PKR to claim that they're using foreigners to buy "votes". From the old claims of Malays being displaced due to foreign investors and the "class warfare" being perpetuated by the noveau rich, aka, foreigners to vote buying.........

[PainRack]

I doubt a White House petition is going to get the United States to screw with your elections by itself. The White House petition system is intended for American citizens anyway (as an easy method to exercise the First Amendment right to petition the government), so I'm not sure it'll even get a response.

As for the election result - Why was there a media blackout to begin with? Leaving the vote trending before the blackout aside, the fact there was one is incredibly suspicious on its own. Was there any justification given for it?

I would guess unstable computer infrastructure along with a surge in hits for people interested in viewing contested results.


One should note that "social media" reported election results in both Malaysia and Singapore faster than the official counters. Hell, during the last GE here, results leaked by grassroots leaders as well as interested citizens at the polling sites hit the alternative websites and facebook ten minutes faster or more than the official pollster could announce it. If it wasn't for Yau Ah Mee, I doubt any Singaporean would had watched the official pollster on TV.

Since a good portion of those polling sites affected were rural, it might not have been an official blackout.

Claims of phantom voters might or might not be true, but it could just be sour grapes here.The local Singaporean equivalent was opposition supporters claiming vote tampering due to the huge number of votes discounted, but that was rapidly shut up when others pointed out the protest vote element.

[AniThyng]

Frankly the idea that you could manage the thousands of foreigners needed to reliably swing the vote seems absurd to me. I can buy the mysterious boxes of free votes idea but not this.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

So long as the poor remain poor, they will always support the ruling coalition that continues to buy votes and employ a divide and conquer strategy that is racist in nature.

As for why they are still poor despite all the money flung at them, I leave it to Malaysians to figure it out.

[AniThyng]

So long as the poor remain poor, they will always support the ruling coalition that continues to buy votes and employ a divide and conquer strategy that is racist in nature.

As for why they are still poor despite all the money flung at them, I leave it to Malaysians to figure it out.

Yeah. Well, with the blatant race baiting going on, this will be the first test of Malaysia 2.0. We shall see.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

So long as the poor remain poor, they will always support the ruling coalition that continues to buy votes and employ a divide and conquer strategy that is racist in nature.

As for why they are still poor despite all the money flung at them, I leave it to Malaysians to figure it out.

Yeah. Well, with the blatant race baiting going on, this will be the first test of Malaysia 2.0. We shall see.

Malaysia 2... what?

Only the deluded would think M'sia would change while BN stays in power I think.

[AniThyng]

So long as the poor remain poor, they will always support the ruling coalition that continues to buy votes and employ a divide and conquer strategy that is racist in nature.

As for why they are still poor despite all the money flung at them, I leave it to Malaysians to figure it out.

Yeah. Well, with the blatant race baiting going on, this will be the first test of Malaysia 2.0. We shall see.

Malaysia 2... what?

Only the deluded would think M'sia would change while BN stays in power I think.

I beg to differ - just 10 years ago who would have imagined that a non-BN government would be in power in Penang and Selangor? When was the last election that ANYONE thought that an opposition pact would have a ghost of chance? When Malaysia changes, BN is truly out, not the other way around.