goin’ fishin’ (for votes? hahhaaaaaa….)

In the 3 months that this blog has been operational, I’ve gotten to share my 2sen in two by-elections, neither of which went the way I wanted them to. Never one to spare the present company even more of my dodgy opinion…

• Machap went pretty much according to plan, though it was on the short-end of the expected range. “Machap Demokrasi” was only half right… they don’t take kindly to Demokrasi in those parts, and the keris fear-factor seems to have limited (albeit tangible) shock-value . Will it soon be past it’s use-by date? It probably still packs a bit of sting in urban constituencies, but for how much longer…?
• Campaign violence – Badawi must respond urgently as a matter of national security. Things are getting out of hand.
• Ijok was bitter-sweet; Najib had to acknowledge a potential personal scandal which could serve to create disruption within UMNO, and Keadilan did gain Chinese protest votes again, like it did in Lunas. But the final outcome was not as great as we would have liked, even discounting phantom votes that BN obtained. Keadilan did not obtain as many as many of us thought they should have (and they certainly earned a victory, considering all they had to go through). Voter turnout was ‘phenomenal’. Although, I do wonder if the BN’s win was due to a combination of phantom voters and intimidated Keadilan sympathisers staying home?
• More on Ijok: If it’s true that Malaysians have very short-term memories, maybe last impressions count a lot more than first impressions… in which case maybe… just maybe… Freelunch2020’s hypothesis on how Keadilan’s overeager cadres shot the party in the foot at the last minute might have some truth to it. Entahlah… logically that should have led to spoilt votes rather than BN votes, but this is a Malaysian election, so what does logic have to do with it… I’m waiting for PKR’s analyses on the matter, which should be good given that they are armed with Borang 13 and ground intelligence. The question is… will it be in their favour to bare all ;) Maybe not…
• More on Ijok aftermath… given an apparent slight decline in Malay support (albeit still well above anything DAP might have gotten) is Keadilan’s anti-NEP position worth maintaining? Saya memang sokong, but maybe it would be better to put forth a properly packaged NEP alternative (tag in Jomo to do some of it) before dismissing the NEP so staunchly. Again… entahlah…
• Malaysiakini’s blogroll is a great way to increase your instantaneous viewership… retaining viewers, is up to you.
• The abovementioned boost in viewership may have been heavy enough to crash my MapLoco all-time-views map. I need to fix that at some point… I enjoy keeping tabs on where the Malaysian diaspora has spread.

Anywho… I have some work-related travel coming up (from the title, it’s clear I need to stick to my dayjob). I shall be out of my comfort zones for about a month, so I think I’ll just abandon this blog during that period. To Malaysian MPs and ADUNs… try not to kick the bucket while I am away, I’d hate to miss out on the excitement.

While I am away, consider all my political opinions to be represented by this party.

brb…

Voter registration: drag those lazy buggers out to pasar malam

Voter registration is dead easy. You can get it done in mere minutes at the post office, and I’ve heard there are registration booths in shopping complexes all over the place.

But even that is too much for some people.

We can sit around a bonfire and wax lyrical about how that bunch are idiots and should be shot for whinging about everything but not bothering to register their complaints come election day… but that would not achieve anything. So, what to do…?

Ijok coverage… Malaysiakini? Why not just call it Anwarkini

NOTE: I almost published this around noon on the 23rd of April, but I decided to hold-back for various reasons until after the Ijok by-election. At this point I do not know what the outcome of the by-election will be; the contents of this post have not been altered in any way since around noon, 23rd of April. ‘Cos I’m lazy to modify it :P

From Malaysiakini:

With his wit and humour, the PKR advisor has his audience eating out of his hand during his ceramah in Ijok last night.

Wtf kind of bullshit press coverage is that? Personally I would be embarassed to publish something like that even in my own party’s organ.

Ijok: A fortune of some that means less for all

I dedicate this ode to the weary Keadilan foot soldiers…

Hearts are worn in these dark ages
You’re not alone in this story’s pages
Night has fallen amongst the living and the dying
And I try to hold it in, yeah I try to hold it in

HIDS, 1997: Lim Guan Eng sentenced for “sedition” and spreading “false information”

In 1994 it was revealed that Rahim Thamby Chik, at the time Chief Minister of Melaka, UMNO Youth head, and Dr. Mahathir loyalist, had sex with a 15 year old girl, thus having committed statutory rape. A police report was made, and subsequently the victim was taken into police custody, and held incommunicado for 8 days. The legal guardian of the victim was her grandmother, who was a resident of the constituency of Kota Melaka. After being turned away by the police when trying to see her granddaughter, she took her case to her Member of Parliament, Lim Guan Eng.

Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah

One of the recurring segments I had in mind for this blog is my own take on Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah, highlighting events in our history that the mainstream media and ruling Barisan Nasional regime would rather Malaysians didn’t remember, and which are too peculiar to Malaysiana for foreign media to really be concerned about. Although it’s called Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah, I will typically put up the post the day before, so that on the day itself the post will be up all day. In light of this I thought about calling the segment Hari Esok Dalam Sejarah instead, which at first seemed pretty cool in a “Back to the Future” sort of way, but the novelty didn’t last very long… HIDS it is.

I earmarked my first HIDS post some time ago, and at first I failed to notice that the date of that black event in Malaysian history coincides with the crucial Ijok by-election, i.e. 28 April. This is a very welcome coincidence. I hope that on April 27 2008, I will have a different historical event to highlight! May the people of Ijok make history!

Without further ado, saya merasmikan segmen HIDS the Silo :) (syok sendiri :P)

28 April: Convert Guan Eng’s sacrifice to BN’s demise!

The 28th of April is an infamous day in Malaysian politics. With the excitement over Ijok, I think very few people would recall that it was on this day in 1997 that Lim Guan Eng was sentenced for spreading “false” and “seditious” information, while attempting to defend the honour of a 15 year old schoolgirl, who had suffered statutory rape at the hands of a powerful politician.

The people of Ijok have it within their power to save the 28th of April from infamy. In 2007, ten years on from 1997, let the 28th of April mark the dawning of a new chapter in Malaysian politics, with freedom, justice, and prosperity for all!

Vote Parti Keadilan Rakyat for a better future!

DAP forced to guess poll date

DAP finds itself in an awkward position. They are obliged to have party elections at the end of the year, and this is fixed by the party constitution; it cannot be postponed at all by any individual or committee. The problem is, DAP believes General Elections will be held at the end of the year. That would be a very inconvenient scheduling clash!

The party’s Central Executive Committee (the DAP equivalent of UMNO Supreme Council) will attempt to pass an ammendment to the party constitution which will grant the CEC power to postpone elections by no more than 1 year – and not simply at it’s discretion, but only under a specific circumstance related to Parliament being dissolved. Jeeze, if only our Malaysian Parliament was this thorough in making and ammending laws. Sometimes I think DAP people like pretending that they are their own little make-believe government, like this passing such strict internal “laws”. If it were UMNO, they would just let it be at the discretion of the SGla, apasal susah sangat…

This is actually a bit of a gambit. The proposed ammendment would only allow them to postpone elections for up to 1 year, and the assumption is that Badawi will call snap polls later this year. This is, of course, not cast in stone. Badawi may elect to push elections back. This puts DAP in the position of having to guess when polls will be, since they would have to schedule party elections within basically an 18 month window, which overlaps with Badawi’s snap polls window. However, I do not imagine this would be a particularly crippling problem; I can’t see anyone in the party objecting if party elections are rescheduled to make way for a General Election clash.

I find it extremely surprising that in it’s 40 year history DAP has never encountered this problem before!

The Battle of Ijok: Everybody wants a piece of the action! (Except Pak Lah)

Mahathir has endorsed the Keadilan candidate for Ijok. Apasal? Because he cares? Erm NO… it does seem rather odd, though, that he is not backing BN to win Ijok, yet is somewhat backing the man who is the big chief of BN’s campaign in Ijok (i.e. DPM Najib whom, just a few days ago, Dr.M said was supposed to be PM by now). So what’s up with that?

Does he want a loss at Ijok to discredit Pak Lah? That won’t work, because Pak Lah has, up till now, wisely stayed away from the mess unfolding there. I don’t see how the splash could possibly get on his songkok. So why is Mahathir virtually endorsing the Keadilan candidate?

Royally flushing cash away?

The occasionally progressive outbursts from the Malaysian Monarchy (e.g. the queen’s call for greater campus freedom some time ago) make me cautiously optimistic about the reformist role that the Sultanate could play. However, we also need to ensure that they… well… pull their royal weight.