Archive for category Najib Razak
Return of Mahathirism triumphant
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Last week, Tun Mahathir asked why I hated him so much. Yesterday, he asked why I am so afraid of him.
It is neither. As I had said on Saturday, “like three former Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Hussein and Tun Abdullah and the majority of Malaysians in 2012, I am opposed to Mahathirism and its return to Malaysian politics in the 13th general election”.
Mahathir is in his cynical best.
Tongue-in-cheek, he made the grandiloquent announcement that “Mahathirism” is dead, that it “died” when Tun Abdullah took over from him as Prime Minister in 2003.
In actual fact, “Mahathirism” is not only alive and thriving, the return of Mahathirism is enjoying its most triumphant phase since the unceremonious exit of Abdullah as Prime Minister and his replacement by Datuk Seri Najib Razak 39 months ago. Read the rest of this entry »
Applying people power to public choice
Posted by Kit in Elections, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Sunday, 8 July 2012
— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian insider
Jul 07, 2012
JULY 7 — We are familiar with the seasonal bargain sales whenever we approach the days of cultural and religious festivities. Even before Hari Raya (the Muslim religious festivities after a month long of fasting), the public is flooded with all sorts of bargain sales.
A popular clothing merchant has launched its pre-Hari Raya sales of fine textiles. Other merchants have also launched their own bargain sales.
These bargain sales, however, pale in comparison with the bargain sales offered by the chief snake-oil peddler in Malaysia — the PM.
By means of logrolling bargains, he dishes out economic morsels large enough to secure the votes from the public. Logrolling is a term used commonly in the US to refer to the granting of fevers by politicians seeking re-election to selected groups in exchange for their support and votes.
Najib’s grant of an advance of RM 15,000 to Felda settlers is a logrolling act. Now, Felda settlers realize they have been short-changed. The 15,000 is a sweetener to lessen the anger at receiving 810 units of share amounting to around RM 600 gross value in profit. Settlers have been used and piggybacked by rent seekers to make a killing at the stock market. Read the rest of this entry »
I do not hate Mahathir at all but like three former Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Hussein, Tun Abdullah and majority of Malaysians in 2012, I am opposed to Mahathirism and its return to Malaysian politics in 13GE
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Elections, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Saturday, 7 July 2012
I have just returned from a four-day visit to Myanmar and I am most intrigued by the statement by former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad saying he did not know why I hated him so much.
Let me assure Mahathir that I do not hate him at all but like three former Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Hussein and Tun Abdullah and the majority of Malaysians in 2012, I am opposed to Mahathirism and its return to Malaysian politics in 13th general election.
Mahathir cannot be more wrong when he claimed that Abdullah was rejected by voters for “mistreating” him, asserting:
“Last time when Abdullah wasn’t good to me, the people did not support BN. So some people still have some sympathy for me.”
The reason why Abdullah suffered the worst UMNO/BN electoral defeat in the 2008 general election is because he failed to live up to his promise in the landslide 2004 general election victory to begin the serious task to dismantle the Mahathirish legacy of corruption, cronyism and abuses of power. Read the rest of this entry »
If you want to break anything, give the job to Umno
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Elections, Mahathir, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, UMNO on Saturday, 7 July 2012
— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Jul 06, 2012
6 JULAI — Terlalu banyak spekulasi tentang pilihanraya umum yang telah tertangguh sebegitu lama. Najib akhirnya merupakan satu-satunya PM dalam sejarah negara yang tidak memanggil pilihanraya untuk mendapatkan mandat dan ‘endorsement’ tentang kepimpinannya. Sekali gus Najib merupakan seorang PM yang paling lemah dalam sejarah negara merdeka kita.
Selemah-lemah Pak Lah, beliau berani memanggil pilihanraya dalam tempoh lima bulan untuk mendapatkan ‘endorsement’ rakyat dan beliau telah mendapat meraih 90% sokongan dalam Dewan Legislatif semasa pilihanraya yang ke11 yang lalu. Peratusan itu hampir sama dengan pilihanraya 1955 dalam mana Perikatan hanya kalah satu kerusi di Pulau Pinang yang ditandingi oleh Sulaiman Palestin.
Mandat yang ada pada hari ini merupakan mandat Pak Lah. Baik buruknya Pak Lah mempunyai kredibiliti yang lebih baik dari Najib sekarang ini. Pak Lah seorang yang berani memanggil pilihanraya walau pun beliau dalam ‘tidur’. Setidak-tidaknya Pak Lah dapat mempertahankan kuasa BN walaupun kehilangan kemenangan tradisi 2/3 di Dewan Parlimen. Read the rest of this entry »
Under Najib, Malaysia is not only more corrupt than under the two previous Prime Ministers but is heading towards the dubious honour of being the only Asian-Pacific country to slip in both TI CPI ranking and score since 1995
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak on Monday, 2 July 2012
The CIMB Group chief, Datuk Seri Nazir Razak and younger brother to the Prime Minister hit the nail on the head when he told Financial Times that Malaysia must overcome corruption if it is to move up from being a middle-income economy.
In fact, Nazir could be faulted for erring on the side of caution and holding his punches for Malaysia, under Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s premiership for 39 months, is not only more corrupt than under the two previous Prime Ministers Tun Dr. Mahathir and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, but is heading towards the dubious honour of being the only Asian-Pacific country to slip in both Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index(CPI) ranking and score since the introduction of the annual assessment 17 years ago in 1995.
In the first TI CPI in 1995, Malaysia was ranked No. 23 out of 41 countries or the 6th highest-ranked nation in the Asia-Pacific after New Zealand -1, Singapore – 3, Australia – 7, Hong Kong – 17 and Japan – 20, with a CPI score of 5.28. (10 stands for “highly clean” and 0 for “highly corrupt”)
Seventeen years later, after numerous anti-corruption campaigns, two major anti-corruption legislation, the “elevation” of the former Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) into Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the National Integrity Plan, the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme with massive infusion of public funds and increase of staffing, Malaysia has now fallen to the lowest TI CPI ranking in 17 years in 2011, viz: No. 60 with the lowest CPI score of 4.3. Read the rest of this entry »
Felda listing: A ‘house of lies’
Posted by Kit in Felda, Najib Razak on Monday, 2 July 2012
Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | July 2, 2012
Free Malaysia Today
Felda Global Venture is a rush job and has all the hallmarks of becoming a minefield for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.
COMMENT
With a bottomless pit of scandals and irregularities, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak must be off his rockers when he says he will win 14-0 in the next election.
But I know, the only time he has to say something like that, is when he knows the chips are down.
We know when Najib says he will win 14-0, it means Umno and Barisan Nasional are finished. Otherwise, with a score of 14-0, Najib should have declared election yesterday.
Let’s talk about the Felda Global Venture (FGV) which was listed on June 28.
Najib wants to rake in RM6 billion to pay his way through the next general election.
But did you know that know that only 20% of Felda top management supported the idea of FGV’s initial public offering (IPO)? Some 65% of the FGV staff thought FGV simply isn’t ready to list. Read the rest of this entry »
Utusan Malaysia living up to its reputation as “lies-paper” when its Awang Selamat alleged that “LKS adalah antara orang kepercayaan Kuan Yew ketika dalam PAP” and that I was Kuan Yew’s press secretary
Posted by Kit in Elections, Mahathir, Media, Najib Razak on Sunday, 1 July 2012
Utusan Malaysia is living up to its reputation as “lies-paper” when its Awang Selamat in Mingguan Malaysia today alleged “Lim Kit Siang adalah antara orang kepercayaan Kuan Yew ketika dalam PAP. Beliau juga adalah bekas Setiausaha Akhbar Kuan Yew sewaktu zaman muda nya.”
These are downright lies, as I was never ever involved in PAP during my years as a reporter in Singapore from 1961-1964, although I was active in Singapore National Union of Journalists, serving as its Secretary-General 1962-1963.
Furthermore, I was never press secretary to Kuan Yew although I worked for a period in the press section of the Ministry of Culture.
But more pertinent than Utusan Malaysia again proving itself to be a “lies-paper” instead of being “newspaper” is the intensification of the unscrupulous and unprincipled campaign of lies, falsehoods and demonization against DAP and Pakatan Rakyat leaders, especially with the realization by the UMNO leaders and strategists that UMNO/Barisan Nasional are not as confident of facing the 13th general election as they had once thought despite the recent boast by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak of a “14-0” BN thrashing for PR!
This has resulted in Najib further putting off the 13th general election date because of his worry that the “RAHMAN” political prophecy might come true – that RAHMAN stands for the first six UMNO Prime Ministers, namely Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Mahathir, Tun Abdullah and “N” for Najib also signifying the last and “the end” of the UMNO line of Prime Ministers. Read the rest of this entry »
Should we continue paying taxes?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Good Governance, Najib Razak on Sunday, 1 July 2012
— Lucius Goon
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 30, 2012
JUNE 30 — My wife and I pay our taxes on time and we are assessed at the highest tax bracket. We never avoided or evaded taxes and viewed it as a moral duty.
But let me put in a caveat. I believe the time has come for us taxpayers (and this excludes 90 per cent of civil servants, Umno politicians and their nominees as well as rent-seekers) to consider a campaign of civil disobedience against paying taxes until the government of the day can show that it can utilise this revenue in a responsible way.
I am not talking about the world record holidays/trips abroad taken by the prime minister and the first family or his cabinet ministers. I am referring to the over-the-top spending by the Barisan Nasional government to stay in power.
It seems like every day is Christmas for this prime minister. Tyres for taxi drivers, cash for Malaysians, a few million for this group and another few million for that group. Read the rest of this entry »
Why the electoral arithmetic in Malaysia does not allow the Chinese voters to be “kingmakers” in 13GE
Posted by Kit in Elections, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Saturday, 30 June 2012
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad seems to have reverted to his early years in politics when, to use his own words, he was fighting for the Malay cause per se when he was young and his thoughts were that of an inexperienced politician.
Mahathir made this open admission in a dialogue with the Malaysian Student Executive Council of the United Kingdom in September 1995, when making the case for a Malaysian rather than a Malay approach, arguing that to realize the goal of Bangsa Malaysia, Malaysians should start accepting each other as they are regardless of race or religion.
This was the fourth year of his promulgation of Vision 2020 and Bangsa Malaysia in February 1991.
Now Mahathir seemed to have gone full circle, repudiating not only Bangsa Malaysia and Vision 2020, but fighting only for Malay rather than Malaysian cause.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak called on Barisan Nasional members not to make statements that will hurt the feelings of other races or BN component parties.
But how many in UMNO will listen to Najib? Read the rest of this entry »
PM’s elegant silence on BN sniping
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Bersih, Najib Razak on Saturday, 30 June 2012
— Jaleel Hameed
The Malaysian Insider
JUNE 30 — Mr Prime Minister, sir, where is your sense of fair play and Malaysian-ness?
Why are you, sir, so limp-wristed in giving a rap on the knuckles of your Barisan Nasional colleagues who think they can say anything and get away with it?
Is this a sense of entitlement, sir? Because your government has been our only government since Merdeka?
Sir, I am referring to your wishy-washy, lukewarm comment asking BN people not to hurt other races. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib out-flip flops Abdullah with window for July GE closed after scuttling of polls date by Bersih 3.0 rally despite the bravado confidence of “14-0” BN thrashing for PR
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Elections, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Saturday, 30 June 2012
Confirmed!
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has out-flip flopped his predecessor Tun Abdullah Badawi.
The window for July for the 13th General Election has closed as Najib’s earlier plans for June or July to get his own mandate as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia has been completely scuttled by the disastrous government misjudgment and mishandling of the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28.
In fact, public alienation over the government’s misjudgment and mishandling of the Bersih 3.0 had intensified and aggravated over time with the series of irresponsible and insensitive developments post-Bersih 3.0, including:
• Najib’s wild and baseless allegation that the Bersih 3.0 rally was an opposition coup attempt to topple the government;
• the ridiculous and unacceptable establishment of a purported “independent advisory panel” headed by former Inspector-General of Police Tun Hanif Omar who had publicly expressed his prejudicial views to find out what went wrong on April 28 when a peaceful gathering of hundreds of thousands of Malaysians regardless of race, religion, class, region, age or gender for a common national cause for a clean election could be marred by incidents of violence and brutality after 3 p.m that day;
• the shocking statement by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz in Parliament that “salt and plastic mineral water bottles” – which were all that some of the Bersih 3.0 protestors were “armed” with to defend themselves from reckless police firing of teargas and chemically-laced water cannon – could topple the Najib government; and
• the continued targeting, victimization and demonization of Bersih 3.0 organisers and Pakatan Rakyat leaders, in particular the Bersih co-chairperson Datuk Ambiga Sreenivasan – even to the extent of the demand in Parliament that Ambiga be “hanged” as a traitor when what had motivated her, the Bersih 3.0 organisers, the Pakatan Rakyat leaders and the hundreds of thousands of Malaysians who responded to the Bersih 3.0 rally were the highest and noblest sense of love and patriotism for Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Kingmakers in GE13 are not the Chinese voters but all Malaysian voters, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans to unite and bring about peaceful transition of federal power to end corruption, cronyism and abuses of power
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Elections, Mahathir, Najib Razak, nation building, Pakatan Rakyat, UMNO on Friday, 29 June 2012
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is up to his past mischief yesterday when he played the race card to create racial suspicion, mistrust and fear in his effort to save UMNO and Barisan Nasional from being voted out of Federal power in the 13th general election and replaced by Pakatan Rakyat.
Saying that the Chinese voters are the kingmakers for the 13th general election, Mahathir said the Chinese voters will decide who forms the government after the general election as the Malays are divided among three parties.
He claimed that “the Malay majority has split itself into three and become the minority” and the opposition PKR, PAS as well as UMNO have “to cede to Chinese demands”.
As a result, “these three small Malay parties need the support of the Chinese in order to win the elections”.
He said: “Whichever party gets the support of the Chinese will win the elections.
“The fact is today all three Malay parties are trying to butter the Chinese electorate. So they become racial and cater to racial demands.”
What Mahathir said yesterday must rank as among his most irresponsible and mischievous statements, making nonsense of his Vision 2020 and concept of Bangsa Malaysia which envisioned Malaysians “ethnically and territorially integrated, living in harmony and full and fair partnership” by 2020. Read the rest of this entry »
No more damning admission of double failures – Mahathir’s Bangsa Malaysia in Vision 2020 and Najib’s 1Malaysia policy
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Bersih, Elections, Mahathir, Najib Razak, nation building, Pakatan Rakyat on Thursday, 28 June 2012
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad today chalked up a new record of sorts when his speech at a forum on business and politics could not be a more damning admission of double failures – firstly of his concept of Bangsa Malaysia in his Vision 2020 announced 21 years ago in 1991 and the current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia policy proclaimed just more than three years ago.
In Vision 2020, Mahathir envisioned having only one “Bangsa Malaysia” in 2020 with the people “ethnically and territorially integrated, living in harmony and full and fair partnership” while Najib’s 1Malaysia envisaged a Malaysian nation where every Malaysian regards himself or herself as Malaysian first and his or her race, religion, region or socio-economic status second.
Both visions and objectives have been smashed into smithereens when Mahathir said that the next general elections, the second last to be held before the expiry of the 30-year Vision 2020, will centre on race as “Malaysia has become more racial than ever”.
Mahathir said:
“In this country, we are very racist, even more than before. The next election is going to be about race. Who gives what, who gets what based on race.”
Ever since the political tsunami of the 2008 general election, UMNO leaders and strategists have increasingly become more and more blatant and unscrupulous in playing the race and religious cards to try to wrest back political power, making a total mockery of the Vision 2020 concept of “Bangsa Malaysia” and Najib’s 1Malaysia objective. Read the rest of this entry »
The Malay middle ground: Pakatan has most to gain
Posted by Kit in Elections, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, UMNO on Thursday, 28 June 2012
— Liew Chin Tong
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 27, 2012
JUNE 27 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is writing Barisan Nasional’s political obituary by focusing on micro electoral targets while refusing to confront macro policy matters.
The window to call election before the month of Ramadan has come and gone. The next possible window, which starts from September, is small and very much constrained by the Hari Raya Haji celebration on October 26, Deepavali festival on November 14, and the subsequent annual year-end floods.
Having sounded the war drums for at least two years since 2010 and making it very loud since late last year, Najib was visibly scared to pull the trigger at last, to the chagrin of many Umno leaders who want to get over it and done with.
As Najib calibrates his perfect moments, which I believe have long gone and will never return again, the nation was left in a lurch with numerous policy paralyses, flip-flops, and stalemates. Read the rest of this entry »
What Malaysians want in 13GE is not a revolution but a normal democracy where peaceful transition of power at national level is accepted by Najib, UMNO and all stakeholders
Posted by Kit in Elections, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Yesterday, former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad questioned the “clamour by some quarters to push for a revolution to topple the government when the latter was already giving a lot of priority to the people’s interests”.
In a forum entitled “Discussions with a statesman – The commitment of graduates will be a catalyst for national progress” at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Mahathir said there was no necessity for Malaysians to act outside of the law to topple the government as Malaysia had a democratic system that was much better than many countries affected by the “Arab Spring”.
Mahathir is in his classic and irresponsible self spouting perverse illogic, deliberately and mischievously couching the present phase of the democratic battle in Malaysia in misleading and tendentious context by invoking the images of bloodshed, chaos, violence and riots by referring to “a push for a revolution to topple the government”.
Only very recently, there was the monstrous lies about the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28 as a “coup attempt by the Opposition to topple the government” when hundreds of thousands of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, class, region, age or gender gathered peacefully in a common national cause for a clean election for a clean Malaysia, armed at most with salt and water mineral bottles to defend themselves against irresponsible police firing of tear gas and chemically-laced water cannons.
But whether on April 28 or in the run-up to the next general election, there is no “push for a revolution” in Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Is Najib prepared to declare that those who regard Chinese and Indians as “kaum pendatang” are lunatic, anti-national, must be condemned by all patriotic Malaysians and will have no place in Malaysian politics or public service?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, nation building on Monday, 25 June 2012
In trying to downplay the “pendatang” (immigrants) slur oft made against non-Malay Malaysians, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is admitting to two things:
• Firstly, the failure of his 1Malaysia Policy which he announced when he became Prime Minister 39 months ago with the objective to create a Malaysia where every Malaysian regard himself or herself as Malaysian first and race, religion, region and socio-economic status second;
• Secondly, his inability and impotence to do anything to counter and wipe out this divisive and insidious mindset which perpetuates a false, mischievous and anti-national division of Malaysians, which is particularly ludicrous when the first-generation local born of one community could call on a fourth, fifth or sixth-generation local born of another community to “balik China” or “balik India”!
In his dialogue with Chinese youths at University Malaya yesterday, Najib urged the Chinese community not to be offended by people who call them pendatang (immigrants) because such remarks are made by a handful of “lunatics” with “loose screws”.
He said those who utter such remarks intentionally say so to hurt the feelings of the Chinese community and that his administration does not share such views.
He said: “I hope we are not too hurt by one or two comments. In every community, there are always one or two individuals whose heads are not quite right.”
Najib’s answer would be most assuring if it is true that it is only “one or two lunatics” with “loose screws” who made such offensive, insidious and anti-national remarks.
However, this is not the case. Read the rest of this entry »
Civil servant or politician, Mr Ali Hamsa
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, public service on Sunday, 24 June 2012
— Gomen Man
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 24, 2012
JUNE 24 — I get it, Ali Hamsa. You are so thankful to Najib Razak for jumping over the queue of more senior civil servants to become the Chief Secretary that today you did something unprofessional: you urged your subordinates who are supposed to be non-partisan to become supporters of Barisan Nasional.
By doing so, you have forgotten about the great tradition of the Malaysian Civil Service, that great body which once upon a time produced stellar gentlemen as Abdullah Ayub, Malek Marican, Bhupinder Singh. Civil servants who understood that their loyalty was to King and country and the taxpayers.
That is why they were so careful with how government funds were used and why they fought off any attempts to turn the civil servants into puppets for politicians. Read the rest of this entry »
Mahathir’s remarks cause for concern
Posted by Kit in Elections, Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Friday, 22 June 2012
— Lim Sue Goan
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 22, 2012
JUNE 22 — Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has made many shocking statements after leaving office. In January 2010, he claimed that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were staged by the US government.
In a recent speech, he openly criticised Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s liberalisation policy. He said that the government was too soft in handling the Bersih rally and warned that too much freedom risked stirring an ethnic hornet’s nest. He later implied that he was not impressed by the government’s gesture to revive a Chinese independent school in Kuantan, believing that the vernacular school system has divided the country.
We should not overly discuss Mahathir’s remarks since he is no longer in office. However, it is worrying that his remarks might trigger the nerves of the party’s hawks and conservatives, resulting in more obstacles to the work of reviving the Chinese independent school in Kuantan. Read the rest of this entry »
Is Najib saying he is not prepared to accept the verdict of the electorate or ensure a peaceful transition of government if PR wins the next general election?
Posted by Kit in Elections, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Threats! Threats! More Threats!
Is this all that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak could think of to ensure that UMNO/Barisan Nasional wins the next general election with him firmly in the saddle as the Prime Minister?
Najib’s speech when opening the Associated Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCIM) 66th annual general meeting this morning reminds Malaysians of his infamous “fire and brimstone” presidential address at the UMNO General Assembly in October 2010.
When Najib warned the Chinese business community this morning that their assets and wealth may “evaporate” unless there is “political certainty and stability”, Malaysians are immediately reminded of his “crushed bodies, lives lost” speech at the UMNO General Assembly in October 2010 vowing that Umno would defend power at any cost in Putrajaya.
Let Najib fully explain himself – is he threatening that if UMNO/Barisan Nasional loses Putrajaya in the next general election, the “assets and wealth” of the Chinese business community could “decline and even evaporate” and is this because of his “crushed bodies, lives lost” vow that UMNO would defend power at any cost in Putrajaya? Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s next general election shaping up to be a battle of the coalitions
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Elections, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, Sabah, Sarawak on Tuesday, 19 June 2012
— Greg Lopez
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 19, 2012
JUNE 19 — Malaysia’s 13th general election, which must be held by April 2013, has been the most anticipated in Malaysian history, given the megatrends that are occurring in the country and the ability of the two main contenders to manage them.
Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) are the main contestants. BN — currently the longest-ruling coalition in the world — is a 13-party coalition based mainly around ethnic and regional interests. Umno is the single most important political party in the ruling coalition, dominating not only the coalition, but all major institutions in Malaysia except in the state of Sarawak. Najib Razak, son of Malaysia’s second prime minister, has led the coalition since becoming Umno president through an interparty compromise.
PR, in turn, is a new and informal coalition, set up in the euphoria of the opposition’s historical performance at the March 2008 12th general election. None of its three component parties has a clear majority, and all understand that their success is predicated on their ability to work together. PKR’s unelected leader Anwar Ibrahim leads the coalition by virtue of his ability to hold together three disparate groups — the Chinese-dominated DAP, the Islamists party PAS and his own band of largely ex-BN/Umno members. Read the rest of this entry »
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