Post GE13 exclusive: Anwar's work not yet done

At least 32 killed in Bangladesh uproar over 'blasphemous blogging' (PHOTOS)

Thirty two people were killed and hundreds injured as a rally in the capital of Bangladesh turned violent. Police used tear gas to disperse thousands of Islamist protesters in the streets of Dhaka who demanded execution for “blasphemous” blogging.
The protesters are reportedly the activists from the Hefajat-e-Islam group, which blames some Internet users for blasphemy; accusing people of using their blogs to spread atheism and apparent lies about Islam.

"One point, One demand: Atheists must be hanged", chanted the demonstrators as they marched along at least six highways, blocking transport between Dhaka and other cities and towns.
The demonstrators gathered in the capital’s Motijheel commercial district, amounting to between 150,000 to 200,000 people according to AFP. On their way, they set shops and vehicles on fire, according to police accounts.

Islamist protestors run as Bangladeshi police fire rubber bullets towards demonstrators during clashes with Islamists in Dhaka on May 5, 2013. (AFP Photo/Munir uz Zaman)

Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the protesters after they reportedly set off homemade explosives and threw stones at security. Local authorities had to deploy more than 15,000 security forces to the area.
The members of the radical Islamist group demanded the death penalty for those who they think defame Islam. The 13-point list of demands also included a ban on the right of women to work outside the household and the prohibition for women to mix with men. The Islamists also demanded the release of those accused of war crimes during country’s liberation war in 1971, which established the sovereign nation of Bangladesh.

Civilian people carry an injured Islamist protestor during clashes with police in Dhaka on May 5, 2013. (AFP Photo/Munir uz Zaman)

The government of Bangladesh has declined the group’s demands to enact an anti-blasphemy law saying that the country lives by secular liberal laws. The leaders of Hefajat-e-Islam promised to launch a campaign to dethrone the government unless their demands are met.
The radical Islamist group was formed in 2010 to protest the government's secular policies in education and politics. Last month it organized a general strike as well as a gathering attended by hundreds of thousands of activists, during three people died and more than 50 were injured.

Bangladeshi police baton charge Islamists during clashes in Dhaka on May 5, 2013. (AFP Photo/Munir uz Zaman)

Islamists march in the street in Dhaka during a protest in Dhaka on May 5, 2013. (AFP Photo/Munir uz Zaman)

Bangladeshi police fire rubber bullets towards demonstrators during clashes with Islamists in Dhaka on May 5, 2013. (AFP Photo/Munir uz Zaman)

Civilian people carry an injured Islamist protestor during clashes with police in Dhaka on May 5, 2013. (AFP Photo/Munir uz Zaman)

Bangladeshi police fire rubber bullets towards demonstrators during clashes with Islamists in Dhaka on May 5, 2013. (AFP Photo/Munir uz Zaman)

My work is not done yet, says Anwar

INTERVIEW PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has said that he is not contemplating retirement from politics yet, as he believes that his work “is not done” in the Malaysian political arena after Pakatan Rakyat’s defeat in yesterday’s disputed polls.

Anwar (right), who has said that he does not accept the Election Commission's (EC) results for the general election, where Pakatan managed to win 89 parliamentary seats but fell short of forming the federal government, said that he will need to “settle all the issues” regarding the polls results before evaluating his options.

He had previously said that he would consider retiring to a teaching job in Europe if Pakatan fails to attain power this elections.

“These elections have been stolen from us by Umno-BN. As far as I am concerned, we have won this election,” he told Malaysiakini during an interview at PKR headquarters today.

Anwar said that he and the other coalition party leaders from DAP and PAS will decide on the next course of action, which will probably involve petitions to the court to re-look into the results of some disputed seats.
“I have said that the issue of legitimacy (of the elections) is in question. There is evidence of clear fraud. There are constituencies where we have a case. We will not accept the results of these seats- about 30 to 40 of them. We are working on it,” said Anwar.

Dressed in a dappled black shirt and a black coat, Anwar appeared mellow and slightly downbeat, and even admitted that he and his family did enjoy his time teaching in the US.

“When I was teaching in the US, those were the best times for me, Wan Azizah (Wan Ismail, his wife) and the family,” he said.

Anwar noted that he was confident that he was robbed of winning this election because of the groundswell momentum that he had observed during the last leg of his campaign.

“I know about the sentiments, because I have been campaigning my whole life,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“It saddens me (the result). I can still visualise the frustration that the people had during my ceramah nationwide,” he added.

During the closing days of campaigning, Pakatan ceramahs nationwide drew in bumper crowds ranging from 20,000 to 100,000 participants almost on a daily basis.

Postal votes don’t reflect groundswell sentiments

He also said that apart from allegations about phantom and foreign voters along with reports of controversial final counts which favoured BN, early votes and postal votes did not reflect the groundswell sentiments.

“Early votes and postal votes - are you telling me that Pakatan only got 12 percent of these votes? Are the army and police cut off from the rest of Malaysia? They don’t have relatives that they communicate with?” he asked.

He, however, appeared to be slightly sceptical about getting any form of response from the EC regarding the alleged discrepancies in the polling process.

“Of course they (EC) never took us seriously. They are unrepentant and are in a state of denial. They must be stupid to say that the indelible ink can’t be washed off when thousands of people complained about the same thing,” he further added.

“But we have not tried yet, we will give them a chance to respond to us,” he added, before saying that his party “cannot accept the process”.

“It has become so pervasive, the extent of fraud, that this is maybe the worst-conducted elections we ever had.”

Anwar, 65, was stripped of his deputy prime minister’s post and subsequently jailed for corruption in 1998 in a highly publicised rift with then-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He spent six years in jail prior to his release in 2004, and also formed Parti Keadilan Nasional, which later became Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)

This election was the first time he had led an opposition pact heading into the polls- his wife Wan Azizah was still the opposition leader during the 2008 elections because Anwar was still banned from contesting.

Going by results alone, this is still the best ever performance for an opposition pact  in the country’s history - with 89 parliamentary seats obtained.

Pakatan have won seven more seats than the 82 it won in 2008, and also won the popular vote nationwide at about 51 percent.

However, Anwar might be pushing 70 by the time Malaysia heads into the 14th general election, and it remains to be seen if a man who has has made an unlikely comeback in politics would be able to muster one last push to unseat BN, and assume the prime minister’s post.

Nik Aziz to step down?

Current deputy MB Ahmad Yakob is set to take over the post after Nik Aziz's rule for 23 years.

PETALING JAYA: PAS’ Mursyidul Am Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat is all set to let go the Kelantan Menteri Besar seat, a post he had held for the last 23 years.

Party sources revealed that the 81-year-old leader will not take oath as the state’s Menteri Besar following PAS’ return to power in the state in the general election yesterday, and the party is in the midst of looking for a suitable successor.

However, Kamaruddin Jaafar, the former Tumpat member of parliament and ex-PAS secretary general said the speculation about Nik Aziz has been going on since 2004.

“This is news to me…lets wait and see,” he told FMT when contacted.

Sources also revealed that the new Kelantan Menteri Besar would be sworn in at Istana Negeri Kubang Kerian.

The new Kelantan Menteri Besar, sources revealed would be Ahmad Yakob, the PAS state assemblyman for Pasir Pekan, who won the seat with a 5,644 vote majority yesterday.

Ahmad, 63, a retired teacher with 11 children is the Deputy Menteri Besar. He is also the state exco.

Local favourite Husam Musa – a PAS vice president and state exco member in the outgoing state cabinet – who was tipped to replace Nik Aziz has been dropped, said the sources.

In the just concluded polls, Nik Aziz retained his Chempaka state seat with a 6,500 vote majority.

The Muslim ulama became the state’s Menteri Besar in 1990. He joined PAS in 1967 and contested and won the Kelantan Hilir parliamentary seat in a by-election the same year.

He held the seat, later renamed Pengkalan Chepa, until 1986.

In 1982, he was part of a movement by young members to bring change to the party leadership. PAS had lost the Kelantan state elections in 1978 and, as PAS state commissioner, Nik Aziz began to question president Asri Muda’s leadership.

Finally, in the PAS Muktamar that year, Asri was forced to resign.

After stepping aside from federal politics, Nik Aziz won a seat in the Kelantan state assembly in the 1986 general election.

In 1990, PAS managed to wrest control of Kelantan back from Barisan Nasional.

In his capacity as party leader in the state, Nik Aziz became Kelantan Menteri Besar. He succeeded Yusof Rawa as spiritual leader of PAS in 1991.

His administration in Kelantan frequently clashed on the role of Islam in Malaysia with the former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. In contrast with the racially-exclusive ruling party Umno, he openly rejects communal politics.

Nik Aziz has been known to command support from non-Muslims in Malaysia and has played a leading role during PAS’ increase in popularity among non-Muslims.

Najib takes oath as prime minister

His next step is to pick his cabinet members.

KUALA LUMPUR: Najib Tun Razak took the oath of office as prime minister before the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah at Balai Rong Seri, Istana Negara at 4.07pm today.

Also present was Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Hajah Haminah.

Najib, 59, accompanied by wife, Rosmah Mansor, repeated history when took the oath before the same king who witnessed the oath taking by his father, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, in 1970 as the second prime minister of Malaysia.

In yesterday’s general election, Barisan Nasional (BN) was returned to power when it won 133 of the 222 parliamentary seats to form the new federal government.

Also present at the ceremony were former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and leaders of BN component parties.

His next step would be to pick his cabinet members.

Pakatan the rightful winner, says Guan Eng

The DAP chief blasts Najib for attributing BN’s losses to a ‘Chinese tsunami’.

GEORGE TOWN: Just a day after one of the most bitterly fought general elections in Malaysia, DAP leader Lim Guan Eng has fired a fresh salvo at Barisan Nasional, questioning the legitimacy of the coalition’s victory.

Speaking to newsmen at Wisma DAP here, he said Pakatan Rakyat, with the 3.9 million votes it got against BN’s 3.3 million, was the legitimate government for Malaysia.

He lamented that the number of seats Pakatan won did not reflect its popularity with voters.

“How can you win 51.4% of the votes and still not get the majority of the seats?” he said. “We got only seven extra parliament seats compared with 2008. It’s very disappointing.”

In Penang, Pakatan won 30 of the 40 state seats and 66% of the votes, a rise from 63% in 2008.

Lim disagreed with observers who, using BN chief Najib Tun Razak’s words, have said the election result reflected a “Chinese tsunami”.

“Yes, we have strong Chinese support,” he said, “but the Chinese only make up of 24% of the Malaysian electorate and population.

“We won by 51.4%. So where did the rest come from? Of course, it came from legitimate Malaysians.

“This means we do have the support of the Malays, the Indians and the Bumiputera of Sabah and Sarawak.”

The Malay-majority parliament seats that Pakatan won include Kuala Terengganu (89% Malay), Dungun (96% Malay), Alor Setar (61% Malay), Lumut (51% Malay), Sepang (57% Malay) and Penampang (66% Sabah Bumiputera).

In state contests too, Pakatan won several Malay-majority seats, including Seberang Jaya in Penang, Tanjung Lumpur (Pahang), Parit Yaani (Johor) and Puteri Wangsa (Johor).

In Sabah, Pakatan won a number of Bumiputera-majority seats, including Matunggong, Kadamaian, Tamparuli, Inanam and Moyog.

Lim said it was BN’s racist politics that had cost it in popular votes.

Mocking Najib for implying that DAP did not win Malay votes because it was racist, he said: “When a Chinese BN candidate wins, it’s not racist politics, but when a Chinese Pakatan candidate wins, it’s racist.”

Lim will be sworn in as the Penang Chief Minister for a second term at the state governor’s residence at 11.30am tomorrow.

Bersih 2.0 refuse to acknowledge poll results until irregularities are addressed

Anwar said Pakatan would challenge the results of seats in which its candidates lost by thin margins of 1,000 to 2,000 votes.

(The Star) - Bersih 2.0 has refused to recognise the newly elected government, until reports of irregularities and violations in the election process are addressed.

Bersih co-chair Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan told reporters that the coalition and its observer group Pemantau had found numerous instances of fraud, phantom voters and other irregularities during the casting and counting of ballots.

"Hence we are questioning the legitimacy of some of the results during the general elections and are withholding our recognition of the government until the reports are addressed," she said.

Ambiga also blasted the Election Commission over its use of indelible ink.

"They failed miserably during the election. Their explanation of why the indelible ink could be easily washed off totally defies logic. It also raises questions of why so much money, RM10 million actually, was spent on ink that doesn't stay on the finger," she said.

Ambiga called on supporters to wear an article of black clothing for a month as a symbolic response to the cries of election fraud.

"I also call for a boycott of media organisations that had aided and abetted the uneven playing field" she said.

Five Pemantau observers were arrested in Wangsa Maju for "wrongful restrain" and were allegedly refused access to lawyers.

Another two were arrested in Ayer Keroh, Malacca.

It said that observers were also chased out of polling centres in Pekan, Temerloh and Danau Kota, by groups they claim were Barisan supporters.

Barisan won GE13 yesterday by a simple majority of 133 parliamentary seats to Pakatan's 89.

Pakatan leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim however refused to accept the results, citing alleged instances of irregularities in the voting process, like advance and postal votes, the presence of foreigners in the electoral toll and delays by the EC in announcing results in certain key areas.

Anwar said Pakatan would challenge the results of seats in which its candidates lost by thin margins of 1,000 to 2,000 votes.

Netizens have also cried foul over the GE13 results, with photos and videos of alleged foreign phantom voters and claims of blackouts that swung narrow calls circulating on social media.

Analysis: Malaysia - It was Never About the Election

Anwar: Let's think this through...

It was always about what would happen afterwards
It is extremely difficult to find any real winners in the results which dripped out from Malaysia's Electoral Commission late Sunday night and early Monday morning - although, somewhat surprisingly, one could be Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, who ran ahead of his party and who managed to preserve majorities in Negeri Sembilan, Terengganu and Pahang against an opposition onslaught, and to win back Kedah through the clever tactic of sending Mukhriz Mahathir, the son of the long-serving Prime Minister into the fray as a candidate for the chief ministership.

The United Malays National Organization, the biggest ethic party in the Barisan, needs reform and there is no one in sight who can drive it. Failing to reform will lead UMNO to inevitable extinction within two general elections. The biggest problem is that the party may not want to reform itself. It is evident that Najib over the last few years hasn't been able to firmly steer UMNO into the directions he wanted to go, and his agenda has been hijacked by the likes of the Malay nationalist NGO Perkasa, doing great damage. For these reasons perhaps he should not take total blame.

In this light, Najib could be saved from a sudden political death, as there is really nobody within close range to the current leadership who has the necessary charisma, innovation and goodwill to make the necessary reforms. Going against all pundits, Najib may survive. Toppling him now for his deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin, could lead to very costly rifts in UMNO, which the party may not be able to afford. Any change in the current leadership would most probably signal that UMNO will steer to the conservative right, counterintuitive to what the electorate might be saying. It was UMNO moderates such as Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahrir Samad who profited in the election.

Federally, the opposition gained a net seven seats, with the new Parliament comprising 133 Barisan Nasional to 89 Pakatan Rakyat seats. However at the same time Pakatan lost ground, losing federal seats in the northern state of Kedah, as well as the state government.

Notably Parti Islam se-Malaysia Vice President Mohamad Sabu, considered to be a modernizer for PAS, lost the Pendatang parliamentary seat in Kedah. Pakatan Rakyat also failed to make any gains in neighboring Perlis, even though it believed it had a chance of doing so. The opposition coalition narrowly failed to regain the Perak state government which it lost through defections in 2009, with the Barisan winning 31 to Pakatan 28 seats. In addition the opposition just failed to win the state government in Terengganu where many commentators believed that Pakatan would have to win if it had any chance of winning the Federal government. Pakatan Rakyat also failed to wrest Negri Sembilan from the BN, with PAS losing all of the 10 seats it contested.

The Barisan had a number of casualties. DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang trounced Johor Chief Minister Abdul Ghani Othman in Johor, and the Melaka Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam, trying to move to the federal parliament was defeated. Federal Territories Minister Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin failed in his bid to win the urban seat of Lembah Pantai in Kuala Lumpur from the PKR incumbent Nurual Izzah Anwar. A cabinet minister in Sabah Bernard Dompok, and VK Liew in Sandakan both lost. Yong Koon Seng in Sarawak also lost his seat of Stampin. This has given Pakatan Rakyata a new front in East Malaysia where they now hold three parliamentary seats and 11 state seats in Sabah, and picked up six parliamentary seats in Sarawak.

The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) went from 15 seats to 6 federally, and to only 10 state seats, although they contested 37 parliamentary and 90 state seats. Gerakan now only has one seat in the parliament. The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) won only four out the nine seats it contested. The Barisan is effectively a bumiputera government with little Chinese or Indian representation.

The two ultra Malay Perkasa candidates, Ibrahim Ali in Pasir Mas Kelantan and Zulkifli Noordin in Shah Alam, Selangor both lost to Pakatan Rakyat candidates, indicating that the electorate is not in favor of extreme politics.

The Democratic Action Party (DAP) is probably the exception. It has made massive gains both state and federally, making great inroads and winning many seats in the urban areas of Penang, Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, Melaka and in Johor. It has consolidated its position in holding Penang, and is now the biggest party in the opposition with 38 seats. This is in contrast to both PAS and PKR, which both lost federal seats.

From the Pakatan perspective, winning government from the 2008 base was probably too ambitious. Rarely can any opposition in a Westminster system make such gains in one election, and it is easy to forget the dissatisfactions back in 2008 with the Barisan that led to that result. Therefore making further electoral gains was not going to be easy, except perhaps in areas like Johor, Sabah, and Sarawak, which hadn't been focused upon before.

From this reasoning perhaps Pakatan lost the election back in 2008 by not choosing to consolidate what it had won, and to pursue gaining government so vigorously. Where Pakatan ran effective and efficient governments they gained, in Kedah, where internal problems were perceived, the state was lost, just as Pakatan lost Terengganu back in 1999.

In retrospect Pakatan's strategy of running a continuous election campaign since 2008 may not have been the wisest. Pakatan's dealing with all the corruption issues arising during the last five years within the Barisan government did little to win over the voters they needed. The issues of good governance and corruption appeal to the middle class urban constituency, but the rural constituency has little interest in those issues.

And this is a problem for the Barisan. This traditional constituency, which has voted according to their prosperity and sense of stability, is shrinking. The demographics of Malaysia are rapidly changing where the rural/urban ratio has turned 180 degrees from being 70/30 to 30/70 over the last three election periods although because of malapportionment rural votes are effectively double the value of urban ones.

Therefore for Pakatan to rule, it must win the hearts and minds of the rural constituency, and for the Barisan it must determine how it can win the hearts and minds of the urban constituency.

This is the basic dilemma facing both fronts, providing different and specific challenges to each.

The Barisan has to make a deeply considered decision about whether it will continue posing its extreme ethnic rhetoric or go back to its traditional philosophy of ethnic consensus, which the electorate appears to want, judging by early analysis of the results. However, much of UMNO is still dominated by an old guard who understand this way of politics. UMNO now has a vacuum in young talent, which in the opposition Pakatan is plentiful. Any change in leadership is not likely to change UMNO's philosophy as it's embedded within the structure of the party.

The Barisan also faces another challenge in that it has become distinctly three segments. Sabah and Sarawak now have an enormous amount of independence and are facing their own problems. In addition to the cities, the traditional support base for Barisan Sarawak under Chief Minister Taib Mahmud is slowly eroding in the Iban heartlands. The clock is ticking. The divide and conquer politics of Sabah are not easy to control and can easily turn.

However one thing both Sabah and Sarawak aspire to is more autonomy in decision-making from Putrajaya. And with the changing political landscape of the peninsula, with three states in the hands of the non-Barisan, there will be great pressure to redefine how federal-state relationships operate in Malaysia. If economic growth and development is to continue unhindered, some form of new cooperative formula is needed. Federalism in Malaysia could be the big winner of this election.

The loss of Kedah by Pakatan, just like the loss of Terengganu some years ago, indicates this side of politics hasn't got their act together yet. Rural Malaysia wants accountability when a party is elected to government. They have stricter standards for new incumbents than they had for the Barisan, and high expectations. With Mukhriz about to become chief minister, this is a lesson to Pakatan about the formidability of UMNO in the rural areas and the need to get the right message to the people.

Consequently one must question the likes of Harun Din, deputy spiritual leader of PAS bringing up issues of hudud (religious) laws during an election campaign and Amin Hadi's comments about PSM, suggesting disagreement among the parties comprising Pakatan.

This indicates that the electorate in rural Malaysia wants both harmony and moderation, and the concepts of 1Malaysia and Islam Hadhari are ironically appealing. If this is the case, then Pakatan Rakyat still has a lot of work to do in defining what they as a front really stand for.

Pakatan's strategy to take Putrajaya didn't work. Although in many areas they gained ground, they also lost it. This will require an enormous amount of thinking and strategizing for the next general election in five years time.

This leads to the structure of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Anwar's party, itself. As a one-cause movement to free Anwar back in the late 1990s, it has grown into a multiracial party with a young and ambitious membership. Many feel that it's now the time that PKR shed itself of the possibility of becoming a dynasty, and that the value of the 65-year-old Anwar Ibrahim's direct stewardship should come to an end. This is the Achilles heel and will determine whether it grows into a formidable party that may one day share federal government or just fade away like others before it. PKR has over the last five years had great difficulty in covering up the friction and power struggles going on within it. Maybe within the party it is time to get the next generation prepared to be the vanguard for the next election.

This next five years may see the passing of the guard to a younger generation. It is likely that this may well be the last term for many household names in Malaysian politics. PAS in Kelantan has to work on succession from Nik Aziz Nik Mat, long time Chief Minister of the state. The DAP may have to progress past its evergreen heroes Lim Kit Siang, and Karpal Singh. The DAP has many bright young up and coming stars. All the components of the Barisan if they are to survive need to look towards their youth. If this transition is not made, then PKR with the DAP will be the parties that have the potential to fill the electoral vacuum.

Malaysia can't afford another five-year campaign. The people have spoken and it's time for the parties to reflect and change according to the new electoral realities that now exist. Most independents were passed over electorally, which indicates that it's strong parties the voters want. People want to know about the future of their country.

Yes there is electoral gerrymandering, dubious people on electoral roles, foreigners voting in the election, and other dirty tricks going on, but crying about the system will not change the result, however unjust many think the result was. No electoral system is perfect and Malaysia's still has a long way to go. The role of the opposition is to keep the pressure on the government. This they have been successful in, abate in a slow manner. But the electoral system is only one of the issues, it's the parties themselves that have to ensure they are close to the pulse of the electorate they seek to serve. The 13th General Election was a lesson to all.

(Murray Hunter is an Australian academic teaching in a Malaysian university)

DAP backs Anwar as opposition leader, says Kit Siang

Anwar speaks during a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, May 6, 2013. — Reuters pic
KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 ― The DAP is endorsing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as Opposition Leader despite winning more seats than PKR in Election 2013, party advisor Lim Kit Siang said today.

The DAP won 38 federal seats in the country’s tightest election in history, making it the second-largest party in Parliament; PKR and PAS took 30 and 21 seats respectively.

“We supported him as prime minister for a Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government, which was supposed to be formed on the fifth of May,” Lim told reporters at the DAP headquarters here today.

“But since this didn’t come about, the preparation and commitment for Pakatan Rakyat remains. That’s why we propose that Anwar continues as parliamentary opposition leader and shadow prime minister,” added the DAP advisor.

Lim also said the results in some constituencies could be challenged due to alleged electoral fraud.

“Pakatan Rakyat will look into these constituencies where fraudulent practices were committed and take the necessary steps to uphold the integrity of the electoral process,” said the newly-elected Gelang Patah MP.

DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke pointed out that the DAP lost the Bentong, Cameron Highlands and Labis federal seats by fewer than 400 votes each.

“Many of these seats didn’t provide ‘Borang 14,’” said Loke, who was also at the press conference, referring to the form recording the total number of votes at each polling stream that must be provided to counting agents.

Anwar said earlier today that he would gather mass support to question the legitimacy of the newly-elected BN government, stressing that the “worst electoral fraud in history” had kept the coalition in federal government.

Election watchdog Bersih also said it would not recognise the BN government until it verified reports of vote-rigging.

BN won the 13th general election with a smaller majority, losing an additional seven federal seats to PR, besides failing to retake Selangor and Penang, the two most industrialised states in Malaysia.

BN and PR took 133 and 89 federal seats respectively, while the latter also significantly increased its number of state seats from 197 in Election 2008 to 230 in yesterday’s polls.

Lim pointed out today that PR won the popular vote as well.

“It was a ‘Malaysian tsunami’ and not a ‘Chinese tsunami’,” said Lim, dismissing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s statement yesterday that attributed BN’s losses to a Chinese swing.

“In many parts of the country, Pakatan won seats in areas that were previously considered as BN strongholds and took down many big BN guns in Malay-majority areas,” he added, highlighting the Kuala Terengganu, Alor Setar, Lumut and Sepang federal constituencies.

BN’s losses in major cities and towns from George Town to Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, Malacca and big towns in Johor show a rising discontent among the middle-class and urban working-class, who are concerned with issues like corruption, increasing cost of living and crime.

DAP publicity chief Tony Pua, who was also at the press conference, similarly pointed out that PR’s improved performance in Selangor, particularly the semi-rural areas, were won with a “massive increase in Malay support”.

GE13: Election Commission - Ink or no ink, it’s impossible to vote twice

The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Despite the indelible ink being washed off in some cases, voters could not vote a second time as their names were struck off from the list after they had voted, Election Commission deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said.

“It is impossible for them to vote again even if they tried. Their names would only appear at a particular stream and those who attempt to vote again at a different stream will not be able to do so.

“Even if they scrub their fingers and come back to vote at the same stream, they would still not be able to do so as their names had been marked off,” he said after visiting the polling centre at SK Bukit Bandaraya here yesterday.

Wan Ahmad said the ink should remain if instructions were properly followed and the bottles shaken as required.

The ink has to be fully coated on the finger and more than one coat applied.

When used properly, the ink would take between five and seven days to wash off.

In Kuantan, a voter lodged a police report alleging that the indelible ink had washed off easily.

Soo Wai Lun, 45, said in his report that he had washed his finger with water and dish washing liquid 30 minutes after it was marked at the polling centre in SK (P) Methodist.

“I wanted to test whether what the EC said about the indelible ink is true. It turns out that the ink could really be washed off,” he said.

In Ipoh, police received 14 reports from voters on the same matter.

Perak police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Shukri Dahlan said the complainants reported that the ink could either be completely or partially washed off easily.

In Kangar, PAS deputy spiritual leader Datuk Dr Haron Din also lodged a police report.

He claimed that the indelible ink on his left index finger was washed away with soap within an hour after voting at SJK (C) Simpang Empat.

In Kemaman, two PAS members also lodged police reports over the indelible ink.

Kemaman PAS chief Ismail Harun claimed that he could wash the ink off his finger with just tap water.

“As you can see, most of it is gone. I left a bit on the side of the nail to show that I had cast my vote.

“The police should investigate whether the ink is genuine or imitation,” he said, adding that so much money had been spent to buy the indelible ink.

It was a M'sian tsunami, Kit Siang tells Najib

DAP’s newly-crowned Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang has condemned BN head Najib Abdul Razak for attributing the coalition’s worst showing in a general election to a “Chinese tsunami”.

Lim said it was a “Malaysian tsunami”, and that Pakatan Rakyat could not have achieved its results without the backing of Malaysians of all races.

“In many parts of the country, Pakatan won seats in areas that were previously considered as BN strongholds and took down many big BN guns in Malay-majority areas,” he told a press conference today.

To back his claims, Lim (right) listed several Malay or bumiputera-majority seats that Pakatan had won, or retained with an increased majority.

These include Kuala Terengganu, Alor Setar, Lumut, Sepang, and Penampang.

“The fact that Pakatan managed to increase its share of parliamentary and state seats is commendable, given that hundreds of millions of ringgit were spent by BN on free dinners, goodies, and to print lies and falsehoods in the mainstream press in order to propagate a disgusting and morally reprehensible (form of) politics based on fear,” he said.

Lim reiterated his condemnation of MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek, for saying yesterday that the election results have left Malaysia with a "two-race system".

On another issue, he said that DAP is backing PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim as the parliamentary opposition leader.

'Anwar leads Pakatan Rakyat'

This is in spite of PKR winning only 30 seats in Parliament, compared to DAP’s 38 seats.
       
“This is in keeping with the commitment that if we have formed the federal government, we would ensure that Anwar would be the prime minister.

“So this is in keeping with the commitment that he leads the Pakatan Rakyat government, whether in-waiting or in Putrajaya,” he added.

Lim also questioned the legitimacy of the BN government since it won with less of the popular vote in the election.

Pakatan Rakyat parties garnered 50.1 percent of the popular vote yesterday, compared to BN’s 46.7. However, the latter won the election with 133 parliamentary seats compared to Pakatan Rakyat’s 89 seats due to the way the constituencies are delineated.

Since this is BN’s worst ever performance in a general election, Lim called upon former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad (above) to answer whether Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should step down like his predecessor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Mahathir had said that Najib should step down if the coalition fares badly in the election, but did not name a suitable replacement.

Govt To Initiate Efforts Towards National Reconciliation - Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the government will make efforts for national reconciliation so that any form of extremism and racism that is unhealthy for Malaysia is tackled.

The prime minister said the government would continue to promote moderation among multiracial Malaysians.

"The Barisan government places great importance on racial harmony and national unity," he wrote on his Facebook account.

His comments came on the heels of Sunday's general election which saw Barisan Nasional (BN) being returned to power when it won 133 of the 222 parliamentary seats to form the new federal government.

Najib took the oath of office as prime minister before the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah at Istana Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Monday.

In his Twitter message shortly after taking his oath of office as prime minister, Najib said this was the responsibility of each and every Malaysian.

Najib also received a congratulatory tweet from his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong.

"Congrats Najib Razak on your GE (general election) victory! Looking forward to continuing our excellent partnership," Lee said.

A similar message was conveyed by British High Commissioner to Malaysia Simon Featherstone whose tweet read: "Congratulations to Barisan Nasional on securing a majority in parliament."

Najib's Twitter account was also awash with congratulatory messages from local celebrities such as Datuk Aznil Hj Nawawi, Thanuja Ananthan, Wardina Safiyyah and Nurul Syuhada Nurul Ain.

PR has to understand rural world view

Blog contact Kok Keong has come up with his take of the results:

While I agree with Khoo’s point about PR needing to build up a strong base in the rural areas in states like Pahang, Trengganu, Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Kedah–something that is well known even before yesterday’s election–I think therein lies PR’s dilemma.

What I mean is, for PR to build the rural base, PR members have to be stationed there, meet people there, talked to them there, and be seen there. Their presence has to be felt by folk there. Yesterday’s election showed it won’t work for a candidate to be dropped into an area and expect to win votes by having ceramahs with the rural folk only from nomination day to the eve of polling day. Unless you are Lim Kit Siang.

Many rural folk believe you more if they can see you or even face to face communicate with you before the election campaigning. This is not to say they don’t use the internet and other advanced technologies of communication. But it will take more time for them to rely more on the internet for political information and discourse.

Furthermore, I don’t think many rural folk are so interested in the more abstract issues of rights, fair play and justice, until of course they are directly affected by them. Bread and butter issues are more real, urgent to many of them. I don’t think I am being elitist or snobbish here. I think the rural world needs to be understood more adequately on its own terms and not be seen through urban eyes.

And so, PR members must be seen regularly to station in rural areas to make inroads. Thing is, PR members are typically in their 30s and 40s, and they are professionals or technocrats. I think many of them will not find rural areas attractive to their career and lifestyle. How can they see themselves stationing in these areas?

In this past electioneering, the online news portals carried a good deal of news on basically issues or candidates in the urban areas of Selangor, Penang and Johor. The huge ceramahs PR managed to get were no doubt impressive and made good photos. Again, all these were decidedly urban issues or events and they swept many PR supporters to think they were national issues or events. Hardly any significant coverage of the electioneering in Trengganu, Kelantan, Pahang, Kedah (except for Mukhriz and Mahathir there), Negri Sembilan, Malacca. I am not blaming the news portals for neglecting those areas in their coverage. I see absence of the coverage as a reflection of the overall weakness with PR. True, they had to fight hard to hang on to Selangor and Penang because BN made it all too clear those were still their coveted states. But BN could spend more resources–monetary and manpower, not to mention crooked ways and means–on them knowing they had a strong grip of the rural areas in the other states. But PR just did not have resources, especially the manpower, to counter BN in the hinterland.

It is also rather puzzling why PR would focus on Johor instead of Perak. They knew very well from the beginning they had no chance of taking over Johor from BN whereas Perak was well within their reach. It was good for Lim Kit Siang that he managed to knock out Ghani. But I can’t help but wonder why not focus on Perak instead and let his presence there create a larger impact for PR to make sure they win Perak instead?

With Perak back to BN again, PR’s tremendously solid gains in Selangor and Penang over the 2008 election only further cements it as an urban party. When are they going to get serious with their rural game in order to take over Putrajaya? Can they find their members who are bright and talented professionals or technocrats to commit their presence to the rural areas?