Indians, too, backed Pakatan in GE13

ANALYSIS In the recently concluded GE13, we have witnessed quite an obvious trend of the Chinese predominantly voting for the federal opposition Pakatan Rakyat. The Malays on the other hand had been generally supportive of the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN), barring a few states like Selangor, Kelantan and Terengganu.

There has been very little mentioned about the Indian voting trend. Therefore this article is intended to shed some light into how the Indians voted, taking into account the local demographics of the various constituencies.

During the build up towards GE13, there had been a lot of chest thumping by Barisan Nasional, particularly by the MIC leadership, that the Indian support had returned to pre-2008 levels. It had been speculated that the community’s anger towards the BN government following the Hindraf-instigated 2007 protest and the subsequent ISA crackdown of its key leaders had subsided following the overtures made by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The community had also felt letdown by some Pakatan Rakyat state governments - particularly noted was the disillusionment towards the PAS-led Kedah state government for failing to honour its promise to declare Thaipusam a state holiday, along with the failure of its state executive councillor S Manikumar (left) in managing a lot of issues concerning the Indian community residing mainly in the southern tip of the rice bowl state.

The community was however noted to be generally very pleased with the performance of the DAP-led Penang and PKR-led Selangor state governments - particularly in relation to the land issues plaguing the temples and Tamil schools, and state employment opportunities for the Indians.

BN is effectively a minority government

COMMENT In assessing the results of the long-awaited 13th general elections, it is imperative that one considers the actual conditions under which the elections were conducted.

Uninformed observers, particularly from overseas, assume that because Malaysia has a Westminister-style parliamentary democracy, our elections are conducted freely, fairly and in the spirit of fair play.

The reality is that our elections are never held as they are in mature democracies like the United Kingdom, India or Australia.

They are rather akin to another Commonwealth country, Zimbabwe, where Robert Mugabe has been in power for some 33 years, and where the ruling party always wins because it thinks it has a divine right to rule, and will cheat to remain in power. Institutions intended to be independent and impartial have never acted independently and impartially.

First, the Election Commission (EC). It does not even give the semblance of being an independent umpire in a contest between two coalitions.

Instead, the EC has been most partisan, always favouring the ruling BN. Bridget Welsh, a well-respected and independent scholar, highlighted in Malaysiakini, the impact of the increased numbers in the electoral roll which were out of line with historical patterns of voter registration.

Gross distortions in Malaysia's voting system

COMMENT The recently completed May 5 general election (GE13) revealed some interesting facts and figures based on the results as published by the Election Commission.

There have been, for a long time, much criticism of the ‘first past the post' (FPTP) election system we practise in Malaysia, because of what is inherent in this antiquated system.

The FPTP is one of the legacies of the British rule in Malaya and was based on giving all segments of the populace a voice in Parliament. Hence, constituency boundaries were drawn based on this segmental need for representation.

The original intention was noble indeed, that people in Sungai Buloh should have a voice in Parliament, just as those from Shah Alam, even though the Shah Alam constituency may have a population five times larger.

To prevent abuse and disproportional representation, certain limits were set when our founding fathers drew up the federal constitution. One important feature was that there should not be a population variance greater than 20 percent between the smallest and largest constituencies.

This safeguard was gradually eroded by successive ruling governments, since they enjoyed two-thirds majority Parliament to amend the country's laws, until this sanity check on societal representation was totally removed.

As a result of this, today we have 26,000 voters in Putrajaya, Igan (18,000) and Lubok Antu (19,000) commanding the same parliamentary voice as those in Kapar (144,000), Serdang (133,000) and Gombak (123,000).

Indians voters didn't really return to BN in GE13

The mainstream media seem to be peddling the notion that the Indian votes have returned to the BN. Several political pundits and analysts also supported this notion even before polling and after polling.

Let's study the general elections results on a state by state basis to ascertain if indeed Indians have returned to support the BN.

In Selangor, Pakatan maintained its hold on this richest state with a bigger seat majority. This bigger majority and popular vote could have come only from support from all three races, not just the Chinese voters alone.

In many Parliament seats with high Indian populations like Kota Raja, Kapar, Klang and Shah Alam and state seats like Seri Andalas, Kota Alam Shah and Sementa were all won by Pakatan with comfortable majorities.

P Kamalanathan of MIC is the only one to win in Hulu Selangor.

In Perak the same trend can be observed. In Buntong, the state seat with the largest number of Indian voters was won by DAP.

Indian votes would have helped Dr Micheal Jeyakumar of PSM, M Kulasegaran (DAP) and V Sivakumar (DAP) to win their respective Sg Siput, Ipoh Barat and Batu Gajah Parliament seats.

M Saravanan of MIC won in Tapah - the only Indian from BN.

In Penang, Prof Ramasamy of the DAP won in Prai while Kasturi Rani Patto won in the Batu Kawan Parliament seat, with both of them defeating BN Indian candidates.

Indian votes would certainly have helped the multi-racial DAP candidates like Chow Kon Yeow, Zairil Khir Johari, Karpal Singh, A Tanasekharan and RSN Rayer to attain wins and bigger majorities in seats throughout Penang.

In Kedah, prominent human rights lawyer N Surendran won the Padang Serai Parliament seat, which has a significant Indian voter base.

It must be noted that MIC also lost in Bukit Selambau and Lunas state seats to their Pakatan counterparts. Both have significant Indian voters.

In Pahang, Pakatan managed to wrest the Sabai state seat which has been a MIC traditional seat. MIC president G Palanivel won the Cameron Highlands Parliament seat.

In Negri Sembilan, MIC failed in its bid to win the Teluk Kemang Parliament seat but was victorious in the state seat of Jeram Padang.

In Johor, MIC's Dr S Subramaniam retained the Segamat Parliament seat.

There are more Indian MPs and assemblypersons in Pakatan, who won with support of all races including the Indians.

It can be concluded that at least two-thirds of Indian voters voted for Pakatan.


Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/229515

Nik Aziz has set high standards for politicians

COMMENT Many Kelantanese only know Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat as a menteri besar and his departure on Monday as head of the state government, after 22 years, may have caught many by surprise. However, it has been an expected move on his part.

The frail-looking Nik Aziz has been in and out of hospital of late, but his contest in the state seat of Chempaka, which he successfully defended with an increased majority of 6,500 votes, stems from his pacifying the Kelantanese that he will remain in power. His statements before the election reflect this.

Nik Aziz himself, and many PAS leaders as well, know that if he were to step down before the general election, PAS may have a problem retaining the state, for the Kelantanese would stay with PAS because the party represented their spiritual leader.

Now, with his former deputy Ahmad Yaakob taking over as menteri besar, the people have time to evaluate Ahmad's capability, and to decide whether PAS should be allowed to continue leading the state after the next general election, which will not be due until 2018.

The people of Kelantan hold Nik Aziz dearly. A very simple man, in person and in the way he lived. When he first became menteri besar, he chose not to stay in the official residence of the state government head but in own kampung house in Pulau Melaka, where he continued to lead his humble life.

Mahabharata – Bahagian 31

Pasangan kembar Hussain dan Hassan terus tekun mendengar kisah-kisah daripada epik Mahabharata yang diceritakan oleh datuk. Halaman demi halaman buku Razmnameh versi Parsi diselak sambil datuk bercerita kepada kedua-dua cucunya.

“Apakah Putera Vichitravirya akan mengahwini ketiga-tiga puteri itu?” Hassan bertanya dengan tidak sabar.

“Atau adakah Putera Salva dari Kerajaan Saubala akan berjaya membawa pulang Puteri Amba iaitu kekasihnya?” Hussain pula bertanya.

“Jangan terburu-buru. Biar kita sama-sama mengikuti kisah yang berlaku selepas Salva menahan Bhisma serta kereta kuda khas yang membawa Amba, Ambika dan Ambalika iaitu puteri kepada Raja Kaasi,” kata datuk sebelum meneruskan cerita.

Mahabharata – Bahagian 30

“Saya memilih ketiga-tiga puteri.”

Balasan yang diberikan oleh Bhisma bergema dalam gegendang telinga ketiga-tiga puteri Raja Kaasi. Amba, Ambika dan Ambalika tertanya-tanya siapakah di antara mereka bertiga yang terpaksa menjadi isteri kepada putera Kerajaan Kuru dari Hastinapua itu.

“Tidak bolehkah kau memilih salah seorang sahaja daripada puteri beta?”

Demikian Raja Kaasi telah bertanya sebentar tadi tetapi Bhisma yang rambutnya sudah beruban tetap dengan pendiriannya. Malah, dia juga masih merahsiakan realiti bahawa dia sebenarnya menyertai swayamvaram (sayembara) itu sebagai proksi kepada adik tirinya, Vichitravirya.

“Tidak. Saya tetap dengan pendirian mahu membawa pulang ketiga-tiga puteri ini ke istana di Hastinapura,” tegasnya.

Para pembesar yang berkumpul di perkarangan istana Raja Kaasi terus terpinga-pinga. Tidak ada sesiapa yang berani mempersoalkan atau mempertikaikan keputusan dan pendirian Bhisma. Jika mereka membantah, mungkin mereka menjadi mangsa pedangnya.