Malaysia's Elections 2008 (Before, During & After)

[Adrian Wong]

Shock losses for BN
By Carolyn Hong, Malaysia Bureau Chief

BARISAN LEADERS Datuk Seri Abdullah and deputy Najib Razak at a news conference early this morning.

MALAYSIA'S ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition was left reeling yesterday from shock defeats following a general election in which it appeared to have lost control of several states, including Penang and Kedah. Selangor and Perak were also lost, according to estimates by the opposition. BN also failed to recapture Kelantan from the Islamist Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).

The results, if confirmed, would be the worst showing for the ruling coalition since 1969, when it lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament and also two states - Penang and Kelantan.

The result later led to riots in the country.

'It looks like a revolution. The message to the government is, enough is enough. It is not a green or black or red wave, it is colour-blind,' PAS vice-president Husam Musa declared.

At 2.45am press time, counting was continuing, but the Election Commission had announced that the BN had won 127 seats, enough to form the next government.

Up to 222 parliamentary seats were at stake in the election and 112 were needed for a simple majority to form a government.

BN had also secured control of five states - Malacca, Perlis, Terengganu, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang.

The loss of five states to the opposition, if confirmed, would be the worst showing in history for the BN, which also saw a number of its top leaders being dumped at the ballot box.

BN top leaders, including Malaysian Indian Congress president S. Samy Vellu, Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon and Umno Cabinet minister Shahrizat Jalil fell like ninepins in shock defeats against greenhorns or lightweights.

Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin and deputy ministers M. Kayveas and Tan Chai Ho also lost.

In a statement, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi yesterday said he accepted defeat in certain areas, as this was how democracy worked.

He urged the people to remain calm, and not to celebrate in the streets.

He, however, had not met reporters for the traditional press conference as at presstime. This is usually held when the BN forms a government with a simple majority.

Police chief Musa Hassan said the police had banned victory parades in an effort to avoid tension, and went on television to warn against spreading rumours.

He said Malaysia remained calm and secure.

Datuk Seri Abdullah won his own seat in Kepala Batas in Penang by an 11,000-vote margin.

Deputy Premier Najib Razak retained his seat in Pekan, Pahang, with a majority of about 26,000.

BN's performance this time is possibly its worst showing since 1969, when two states - Penang and Kelantan - fell to the opposition.

At that time, it won only 65 per cent of the seats in Parliament and 48 per cent of the popular vote.

This may also be the first time that Kedah, Selangor and Perak have fallen to the opposition.

The defeats nationwide have been described as a political tsunami cutting across race barriers.

Malaysians of all races swung to the opposition in numbers that were unanticipated.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim called it a vindication for the support of the opposition.

'Going forward, Malays, Indians and Chinese all have to work together and make us a formidable force,' he told reporters yesterday.

The results were a dramatic reversal of 2004, when BN registered an unprecedented mandate.

Under PM Abdullah's fresh leadership then, BN swept 91 per cent of the seats, but it now seems clear that the good will has steadily dissipated since.

Race relations have taken a serious dip, while anger over his economic management and public security has spread across the ethnic divide.

The swing against the BN among the Chinese and Indian voters was anticipated, going by earlier polls, but the significant shift of Malay votes was unanticipated.

Mr Ibrahim Suffian, Merdeka Centre research firm's pollster, said anecdotal evidence suggested that as many as 80 per cent of Chinese and Malay voters had turned against the BN.

He said the Malay vote swung by as much as 18 per cent, especially in the northern Malay belt, only a few days ago, according to latest surveys.

[Adrian Wong]

Woohooooooooo!!! Stupid MIC leaders all slaughtered. They deserved it!!!

MIC in shambles with no leader in the wings

SATURDAY'S Tamil Nesan had a massive pullout for birthday boy Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu with back-to-back coverage and full-page live-size photographs of him taken out by all 28 Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) candidates, hailing their chief as the greatest man ever born.
The surreal coverage was in stark contrast to the ugly mood among Indians who had already 'told' Mr Samy Vellu that his time was up - through the Nov 25 protest and the boycott of Batu Caves during Thaipusam - and were waiting to say it again through the ballot box.

It was Mr Samy Vellu's final swan song. Except for Dr S. Subramaniam , S. Saravanan and K. Devamani, the other MIC candidates were all wiped out in an unprecedented wave of anger, opening up a new era in politics for Indians.

With most of the MIC bigwigs wiped out, the internal power equation in the party has gone haywire and only time will tell how it is going to unravel.

After such a beating it is also inconceivable that Mr Samy Vellu should continue as party president. Sadly, he does not have a winner in a number two or three to hand over the party to.

The vice-presidents, until press time, appear to have been defeated as well, leaving the MIC leadership in shambles. It will take a long time for the mess to be sorted out.

The MIC representation in the Cabinet and the administration is also in question now that Samy Vellu, the sole Indian minister for 29 years, has been defeated. Who is the winner or loser? Who will to take his place in the Cabinet?

Indian voters form significant numbers in at least 67 parliamentary and 141 state assembly seats where they comprise between 9 per cent and 46 per cent of the electorate.

The results across the country indicate they had used their numbers to vote Opposition and helped change the direction of politics in the country.

They were the deciding factor in constituencies where Malay and Chinese votes divided. Indians who traditionally backed the Government made their small numbers count.

Twenty-two Indians contested in 18 parliamentary seats and 53 Indians contested in 40 seats. They comprised about 8 per cent of contestants.

MIC fielded nine for Parliament and 19 for the state assemblies. The DAP had seven Indians for Parliament and 17 for state while PKR fielded 19 Indians.

In Parliament and the state assemblies, there will be about 20 Indians from the DAP and PKR and all will be sitting on the opposition bench. Previously, in the entire country there were only two Indian MPs - Karpal Singh and M. Kulasegaran - holding the fort.

It is going to be a lively Parliament and Opposition Indian MPs are going to fall over each other to voice Indian woes.

The results are a victory for Makkal Shakti, the force unleashed by Hindraf leader P. Uthayakumar on Nov 25, which ballooned into a formidable Indian movement to carry away so many MIC leaders.

The larger question is of course Indian representation in the government, which would be lesser with so many casualties. The government will have to find new ways to fill the vacancies and not just promote losers into senators and then ministers.

Because of the defeat in some states, Indian representation is nil, making it a challenging task for the Barisan Nasional power-sharing formula to work. -- The Star/ANN.

[Adrian Wong]

PETALING JAYA: Police last night cordoned off the Selangor state secretariat building, preventing anyone other than the state secretary himself or his representatives from entering the building.

State chief police officer Deputy Comm Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said police had to cordon off the building as supporters from the previous administration and the incoming team had gathered outside.

“We took charge of the building, as it belongs to or is under the jurisdiction of the state secretary, who is also the caretaker of the state.

“No one other than him or his deputy or appointed officials, is allowed to enter,” he said when asked about officials from the previous administration trying to force their way into the building.

In Alor Star, PAS supporters blocked the entrance to Wisma Darulaman, the state secretariat building, after the party succeeded in forming the new state government.

Kedah police chief DCP Datuk Syed Ismail Syed Azizan said the situation at Wisma Darulaman was under control as police had cordoned off the area to prevent unauthorised personnel from entering the building.

(The Star Online)

I hope they keep the papers safe!! We will need them as evidence!!!

[Adrian Wong]

I think Dr. Mahathir must be really happy. We have all given Badawi such a tight slap!!

Malaysia's BN suffers worst upset in national polls

MALAYSIA'S ruling party faced its biggest electoral debacle on Sunday, as the opposition won five of 13 states, putting a dark cloud on the prime minister's political future.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's multi-racial National Front coalition managed to win just a simple majority in parliament and will form the government at the federal level.

But it lost a crucial two-thirds parliamentary majority it has held for most of its 50-year-long rule, the election body said. That level is needed to change the constitution.

Mr Abdullah dismissed suggestions by a reporter that he would now face pressure from party members to step down.

'I don't know who would pressure me. There is nothing at this time,' he said. 'We suffered a lot of losses tonight,' Mr Abdullah's son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin told reporters. 'But we are going to fight on. We are not going to quit. It is not the end of the world and we are going to get through this.'

The leftist Chinese-backed Democratic Action Party (DAP) won Penang state, which houses many multinational firms.

The opposition Islamist party PAS scored shock victories in the northern heartland states of Kedah and Perak and easily retained power in its stronghold in northeastern Kelantan state.

DAP and PAS also joined the People's Justice Party, or Parti Keadilan, to take control of the industrial state of Selangor and almost all the seats in capital Kuala Lumpur.

'Tomorrow we will start building a brighter future,' opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim, whose wife heads Parti Keadilan, told reporters. 'This is a new dawn for Malaysia.'

The shock defeat in Penang stirred memories of the last time the ruling coalition failed to win a two-thirds majority, in 1969, when deadly race riots erupted between majority ethnic Malays and minority Chinese.

'This is the biggest defeat ever since our (party's) founding 40 years ago,' Penang Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon said.

'I feel sad and surprised. I urge all National Front members to stay calm and not to take any action that could jeopardise peace and security in the state.'

Police vowed to use tough internal security laws against anyone spreading rumours and banned victory processions, one of which had triggered the 1969 violence.

Results from the elections commission as of 2100 GMT showed the National Front with 137 seats in the 222-seat parliament versus 82 for the opposition, with 3 seats still being tallied.

Referendum on Abdullah
'This looks like a revolution,' PAS Vice-President Husam Musa said. 'The people have risen and are united. The message to government is, 'Enough is enough.'' The poll, called before it was due in May 2009, was widely seen as a referendum on Abdullah's rule, and Malaysians took the opportunity to administer a stinging rebuke over price rises, religious disputes and concerns over corruption .

'I think the PM will potentially have to resign,' said Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia specialist at Johns Hopkins University in the United States. 'This is unprecedented. The only other time this happened was in 1969 and that's why everybody is very nervous now because of the uncertainty.'

Works Minister Samy Vellu, chief of the Malaysian Indian Congress, one of the National Front parties, lost the seat he had held for nearly 30 years, because many Indians thought he was out of touch with their concerns.

Two other cabinet ministers, both ethnic Malays, also lost.

Detained ethnic Indian activist and lawyer M. Manoharan delivered another slap in the face of the government, winning a parliamentary seat despite being held under internal security laws for organising a major anti-government protest last year.

Chinese and Indians account for a third of the population of 26 million and many complain the government discriminates in favour of Malays when it comes to education, jobs, business and religious policy.

About 70 per cent of Malaysia's 10.9 million eligible voters had cast ballots, the country's top poll official said.

Opposition rallies drew big crowds, especially Chinese and Indian voters unhappy with Mr Abdullah's Malay-dominated coalition.

'This clearly shows Malaysians want an alternative. Going forward Malays, Indians and Chinese all have to work together and make a formidable pact,' Mr Anwar said.

The National Front held 90 per cent of the seats in the outgoing federal parliament. Political experts had predicted Mr Abdullah's continued leadership could be in jeopardy if his majority fell back below 80 per cent, or around 178 seats, in the new 222-seat parliament.

The economy grew 6 per cent last year but inflation and a likely US economic slowdown have fueled worries. -- REUTERS, AP

[Adrian Wong]

Malaysian politics turned upside down

MALAYSIANS awoke on Sunday to a vastly altered political landscape after voters suddenly and unexpectedly questioned five decades of political status quo and decided it was time for a change.

Malaysians from across the country's deep racial divide deserted the ruling coalition in droves at general elections, handing control of its north to Islamists and its industrial hub to leftists.

The result from Saturday's elections were still being counted on Sunday morning, but the protest vote looked to hand an unprecedented five state assemblies to the opposition and cut the coalition's majority in federal parliament to a record low.

'It's bad,' said a source close to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, attributing the massive protest vote to a raft of concerns focusing on rising prices and religious tensions.

'It's a perfect storm.' The result has raised security fears: the last time the multi-racial Barisan Nasional (National Front) suffered a big setback, in 1969, race riots and a state of emergency ensued.

'The only other time this happened was in 1969 and that's why everybody is very nervous now because of the uncertainty,' said Bridget Welsh, political analyst with Johns Hopkins University.

Malaysia's streets were largely quiet, and political experts said they doubted there would be racial violence this time, noting that all of Malaysia's major ethnic communities - Malays, Chinese and Indians - had deserted the government.

In 1969, the majority Malay community had stayed loyal to Barisan while the Chinese backed the opposition, setting the stage for racial clashes.

About 200 people were killed, according to the official tally, but unofficial estimates were much higher.

Barisan and the opposition both appealed for calm on Sunday.

But peace on the streets is unlikely to totally erase investor concerns as they survey the surprising new political landscape.

'This is probably not good news for the equity market or the ringgit,' said Tim Condon, Singapore-based head of Asia research for investment bank ING.

Islamists fan out
Islamist party Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), whose platform calls for stonings and amputations of Muslim thiefs and adulterers, looks set to win control of three northern states, stretching along Malaysia's border with Thailand.

PAS has already run Kelantan state, in the northeast, for 18 years and has banned gambling and hotels from serving alcohol.

It claimed victory on Sunday in the neighbouring states of Kedah and Perak, the latter having a large population of Chinese.

PAS leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat tried to broaden the party's appeal in the election campaign - even nominating a non-Muslim candidate in one seat - but the predominantly Buddhist Chinese community has always held deep suspicions about it.

Instead, the Chinese turned to the leftist Democratic Action Party (DAP), which won control of Prime Minister Abdullah's home state of Penang, the hub for Malaysia's electronics industry, which accounts for about half of the country's exports.

Central Selangor state also tilted towards the opposition in counting on Sunday, suggesting an unprecedented five state assemblies could fall to opposition parties.

Mr Abdullah spoke on Sunday as though none of this had happened, telling reporters he would go ahead and form the next government and giving no hint of his own future, which looks bleak. He has to survive his own internal party elections later this year.

He held hands aloft with his deputy and most likely challenger, Najib Razak, in a hollow victory salute, but the real winner sounded like another ambitious Malay politician, Anwar Ibrahim, who heads the opposition Keadilan (Justice) party.

'This is a new dawn,' said Mr Anwar, a former deputy prime minister who is styling himself as the one leader who can galvanise Malaysia's ideologically divided opposition parties and appeal to all of the main ethnic communities.

Unable to stand in Saturday's polls because of his criminal record, he is expected soon to take over his old parliamentary seat from his wife, who kept it warm while he was in prison.

'Tomorrow we will start building a brighter future,' he said. -- REUTERS

[Adrian Wong]

Results leave Penang in a daze

ANALYSIS BY JOCELINE TAN

The superstitious would say that the darkened skies and torrential downpour in Penang about an hour before the close of polling was an omen of things to come.

Like elsewhere, the poor voter turnout had Barisan Nasional politicians really worried.

At about 7pm, the calls started coming in. It was not good news for Barisan, whose candidates in the Chinese seats were trailing their DAP and PKR opponents in a string of seats. It was the sort of news that induces goose pimples.

As the night progressed, it looked like the opposition wind in Penang had turned into a roaring typhoon.

The three opposition parties - DAP, PKR and PAS - had won a clear majority to form the state government.

Gerakan, MCA and MIC candidates had not made it in any of the parliamentary or state seats they had contested. Gerakan lost all 13 state and four parliamentary seats, MCA lost 10 state and four parliamentary seats and the MIC, two state seats.

PKR had also made inroads into Umno and Gerakan seats, taking four parliamentary and nine state seats.

One Barisan politician described it as 'a political tsunami with few survivors'.

Perhaps the most shocking news was the defeat of outgoing Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon in the Batu Kawan parliamentary seat. Just hours earlier, his operations centre staff had confidently predicted a 7,000-vote majority for him.

In fact, the national Gerakan leadership had been defeated. Apart from acting Gerakan president Dr Koh, the other casualties were vice-president Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan, secretary-general Datuk Seri Chia Kwang Chye and its top central committee member Datuk Lee Kah Choon.

These were stunning results that no one, not even those in the Opposition, had expected or imagined.

It is possible the DAP, which had made Penang its frontline state, was in as much shock as Barisan about the results.

The Chinese had translated their political disenchantment into votes and Malay votes had swung in a number of parts to PKR.

It was well known that the Chinese were not happy, but the Malay vote swing towards the opposition was not something that Umno leaders had expected.

There had been rumblings on the Malay ground because they are greatly affected by cost-of-living issues but few thought they would cast their votes elsewhere.

Dr Koh, who will probably have to do the bulk of explaining in the aftermath, had admitted a few days ago that Barisan could lose between 10 and 15 seats.

For several days before polling, Gerakan leaders had been talking about the ground being too quiet for comfort. They were disconcerted by the silence and their view was that people had decided whom they were voting for.

Some of them even felt that voters had 'switched off' and were no longer listening because they had made up their minds.

'When we go on the ground, they don't say much. They don't want to listen anymore. I think they are just waiting for the day,' Gerakan's Chia had said a few days before polling.

They did suspect that the silence may not be good for them but, as always, politicians are hopeful about their chances.

There was a sense of denial on the Barisan side about interpreting the silent ground and some politicians did not like it when the media wrote about it.

Reporters on the ground had already sensed that the rumblings about a variety of national and local issues were developing into a wind of sorts.

The last time something like this had happened was in 1969 when the then Alliance state government fell to Gerakan, then an opposition party led by Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu.

There will be a lot of soul-searching ahead for Barisan leaders in the state.

They will have to seriously examine the causes of the Chinese vote swing and the shift of Malay votes. -- The Star/ANN.

[Adrian Wong]

Urban Revolt

By Carolyn Hong, Malaysia Bureau Chief

BN EMPTY STAGE ALL READY in Kuala Lumpur for BN victory celebrations that were not to be as the urban seats of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor fell to the opposition in spectacular fashion.

THE opposition yesterday made a dramatic sweep of the urban seats of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor - Malaysia's most developed areas - reflecting a trend nationwide as urbanites showed their anger with the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN).

As vote-counting continued, unofficial estimates gave the opposition a majority in the 56-seat state legislature in Selangor, one of the most industrialised states in the country.

The Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP) retained the four KL seats which it held and added 10 seats in KL and Selangor.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) won 11 seats and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) nine.

The Selangor seat of Petaling Jaya North - which has 76 per cent Chinese voters - fell to the DAP in a stunning reversal. The BN had a grip on it by 15,000 votes.

The DAP's Oxford-educated candidate Tony Pua, 35, beat the two-term incumbent Chew Mei Fun, 44, of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) by about 19,000 votes.

Petaling Jaya North, which borders Kuala Lumpur and has a large professional and educated population, set the tone for the rest of the capital city and Selangor state.

Ms Nurul Izzah Anwar, the 27-year-old daughter of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, defeated three-term BN veteran Shahrizat Abdul Aziz in the Malay-majority Lembah Pantai seat by a significant margin, according to a PKR spokesman.

Deputy Home Affairs Minister Datuk Tan Chai Ho fell in a surprise defeat when PKR's Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim ousted him by 2,515 votes in the Bandar Tun Razak seat.

Former DAP leader Wee Choo Keong won the Wangsa Maju parliament seat for PKR by 500 votes, marking the return of the fiery lawyer to Parliament.

Popular DAP politician Teresa Kok retained her Seputeh seat with an astounding 36,492-vote majority.

The outcome would not have been a surprise for BN's Chinese partners, MCA and Gerakan, as the urban sentiment was largely anti-establishment.

BN had tried hard to convince the Chinese that it would be foolish to risk their representation in government by casting a protest vote.

But despite the 13-day campaign, the ruling coalition could not dispel the anger over what minority voters perceive as increasing Islamisation and economic marginalisation. This sentiment was the strongest among urban voters.

Seats with a large Indian voter population, such as Kuala Selangor, Kota Raja and Kapar, also fell to the opposition.

The BN has found it hard to get the Indian vote after the government failed to appease the community's grouses about economic marginalisation.

[Falcone]

Latest news Sammy Vellu is leaving MIC to form a new party named Persatuan Untuk Kaum India Malaysia

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by Falcone

Latest news Sammy Vellu is leaving MIC to form a new party named Persatuan Untuk Kaum India Malaysia

ROTFL!! That's hilarious!!!