Suddenly, UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders are describing Malaysia virtually as “heaven on earth” despite the glaring failures of 1Malaysia Policy and various Transformation Programmes, because UMNO/BN leaders are very conscious that they can lose Putrajaya in the 13th General Elections which is very likely to be held by end of March.

Conveniently ignored are:

• the worst racial and religious polarisation in the nation’s history;

• the most irresponsible politics of hatred, conflict, lies and falsehoods perpetrated by the ruling coalition and its mainstream media (MSM) since Merdeka in 1957;

• the Transparency International Corruption Perception Indices which showed that corruption under the four-year Najib premiership was worse than under all the previous Prime Ministers;

• the latest Global Finance Integrity report which showed that on a per capita basis Malaysia is No. 1 in the world on illicit and corruption money outflow (whether in terms of black money siphoned out of the country for 2010 which is RM196.8 billion or for the past decade 2000 – 2010 which is RM871 billion); or

• the TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) 2011 on the two critical subjects of mathematics and science which showed that Malaysia is providing an inferior education system whether compared to other countries or with our own past.

Even Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who distanced himself from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia policy declaring that he is “Malay first, Malaysian second”, is in the forefront singing praises for Malaysia – claiming that Malaysia has now become the “darling of investors” because of the various Transformation Programmes.

All these sudden hymns of superlative praises by UMNO/BN leaders about the successes of the various Najib transformation programmes, claims that Najib had halted the “political tsunami” of 2008 and that UMNO/BN are poised to wrest back 20 parliamentary seats from Pakatan Rakyat and regain two-thirds parliamentary majority in the 13GE, cannot hide the fact that UMNO/BN leaders are worried that they could be evicted out of Putrajaya in the next general elections.

This best testimony of this was provided by the Johore Mentri Besar, Datuk Abdul Ghani Osman who spoke to Kulai Chinese organisations on Tuesday and conceded that Pakatan Rakyat could win Putrajaya in the 13GE, although he warned that the most the Pakatan Rakyat could win would be a slim majority of 5% to 10% of the parliamentary seats, which he said would lead to economic instability.

Pakatan Rakyat winning a slim 5% to 10% parliamentary majority would range from PR winning 117 seats to BN’s 105 seats with a 12-seat majority (i.e. 5.5% majority) to PR winning 122 seats to BN’s 100 seats with a majority of 22 seats (i.e. 10% majority).

Malaysians who want to see fundamental changes to emanate from the 13GE must work hard to ensure that Pakatan Rakyat can win more than 5% to 10% of the parliamentary majority, i.e. winning more than more than 122 parliamentary seats.

This is why last month, I had issued a call to arms to all Malaysians to fully support the “Hundred Days to Putrajaya” campaign for a Pakatan Rakyat government in Putrajaya with 125 parliamentary seats in Parliament, with a distribution of 45:40:40 seats respectively for PKR, PAS and DAP.

I had also said that the secret to the PR success in the 13GE will hinge on our ability to win over the four million middle ground voters by focussing on the national issues of overriding importance, including PR’s ability

• to manage and reduce corruption in the country;

• to show a new path towards genuine national unity and inter-racial harmony;

• to govern more equitably with social justice and economic efficiency;

• to reduce poverty among the native population in Sabah and Sarawak and bring more sustainable development to both of these states; and

• to usher in a new era of governance where democracy is developed and deepened.

Today, on the 91-Day Countdown to 13GE, let me say that I expect Parliament to be dissolved in February and the 13GE held by the end of March – considering that the Negri Sembilan State Assembly will stand automatically dissolved on 26th March 2013 as it was the first state assembly to meet after the 308 general elections in 2008, i.e. on 27th March 2008.