Archive for category PKR

Final appeal for a one-to-one electoral contest between Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional in Sarawak general elections as the Sarawak polls on May 7 is a battle for Malaysia

Monday is the nomination day for the 11th Sarawak state general election.

I want to make final appeal for a one-to-one electoral contest between Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional in Sarawak general elections as the Sarawak polls on May 7 is not just a battle for Sarawak, but a battle for Malaysia.

DAP and PKR leaders have actually reached an electoral understanding for a one-to-one contest in the Sarawak state general election with Barisan Nasional, which had involved difficult give-and-take, and it is most unfortunate if this electoral understanding reached by DAP and PKR leaders are broken resulting in a multi-cornered electoral contest involving the BN on the one part, and the DAP and PKR on the other.

I hope that in the interests of the political future, not only of Sarawak but of Malaysia, Pakatan Harapan parties can face the challenges of the 11th Sarawak state general elections as one team.

DAP leaders are prepared to campaign for PKR in state constituencies contested by PKR candidates, and PKR leaders are welcome to campaign in areas contested by DAP candidates so that se can send out a message, loud and clear, of Pakatan Harapan’s solidarity, cohesion and commitment to bring about political change not only in Sarawak but also in Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »

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Time to find new allies, opposition tells Muhyiddin

by Mayuri Mei Lin
Malay Mail Online
February 27, 2016

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 — Left without a position, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should seriously consider how successful he can be in pushing for institutional government reforms from within Umno, his political foes said today.

Lawmakers from DAP and PKR added that they are willing to ally with the suspended Umno deputy president and work towards a common goal if he leaves the country’s largest political party.

“Muhyiddin should ask himself whether Umno is the right platform for him.

“If Muhyiddin truly believes in serving Malaysians, then he has to look for an alternative platform,” Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari said in a text message to Malay Mail Online.

He added DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang has extended an olive branch to other sidelined Umno members to join forces and form a “new political realignment”.

“I believe Kit Siang has said we are open to working with anyone who wants to save Malaysia from corruption and the narrow politics of race and religion,” Zairil said.

Last January 3, Lim sought to reach out to disaffected Umno leaders, saying that his party and the new federal opposition alliance Pakatan Harapan is willing to call for a “new political realignment” to restore Malaysia’s internationally battered image for the country’s future. Read the rest of this entry »

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In search of hope for Pakatan Harapan

Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
22 Dec 2015

COMMENT Today marks the three-month anniversary of Pakatan Harapan – the revamped opposition coalition that is having difficulty getting off the ground. It is supposed to bring about hope, to galvanise like-minded Malaysians in the spirit of reform and cooperation to offer an electoral alternative. It is failing badly. As the year end approaches, it is valuable to examine why.

Legacy issues

The fact that Harapan was formed out of disappointment with Pakatan Rakyat has marked the new coalition. Attention still centres on who was responsible for Pakatan Rakyat’s collapse, with the blame game a persistent dynamic. At the same time, there is denial that Pakatan Rakyat is over, with some individuals and parties unwilling to let go of the past.

These legacies of the past are debilitating Harapan. Rather than look forward, opposition parties in Harapan are continually focused on old wounds and battles. Fighting old friends now enemies is the norm, as old wounds are still raw. DAP attacks PAS. PKR insists that it can work with everyone (while in effect it is working with none as it stymies its supposed partners). Read the rest of this entry »

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PAS loses shine with campus students

by Zulkifli Sulong
The Malaysian Insider
14 December 2015

Groomed by PAS in university for a future in politics, four close friends who lived and studied together, and were part of the Islamist party’s campus network, have decided to abandon the party and affiliate themselves with other political parties instead.

In events that mirror developments at the national level after PAS progressives left to form Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), the four friends, Khairul Najib Hashim, Mohammad Amar Atan, Fahmi Zainol dan Adam Fistival Wilfrid, said they found PAS to be stifling.

The Universiti Malaya (UM) student activists said the PAS network, also known as “jemaah” (congregation) on campus was controlling and restrictive. Read the rest of this entry »

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Is Pandikar’s agreement with Azalina’s privileges motion against Nurul Izzah the Speaker’s quid pro quo for the earlier agreement of Minister in PM’s Office to the Speaker’s proposal to suspend me from Parliament for six months?

The UMNO/BN coalition should stop abusing its simple majority in Parliament and withdraw the privileges motion against Nurul Izzah Anwar unless it could accept an amendment to also refer the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to the Committee of Privileges for the photograph which appeared in the social media last month of Najib’s handshake with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the United Nations.

Clearly, after suspending me from Parliament for six months, the UMNO/BN coalition is now targetting a second victim for eviction from Parliament – the PKR Vice President and Lembah Pantai MP, Nurul Izzah.

Why did the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia agree with the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Azalina Othman Said and gave her special exemption of not having to give seven days’ notice for her privileges motion against Nurul?

This is against all parliamentary tradition, convention and practices – as well as violate Standing Order 27 (3) which states:

“Except as provided in Standing Order 43 and in paragraph (5) of Standing Order 86 and 26(1), not less than fourteen days’ notice of any motion shall be given unless it is in the name of a Minister, in which case seven days’ notice or, if Tuan Yang di-Pertua is satisfied upon representation to him by a Minister that the public interest requires that a motion should be debated as soon as possible, one day’s notice shall be sufficient.”

Azalina’s motion clearly requires the requisite seven days’ notice stipulated for motions in the name of a Minister.

Can the Speaker Pandikar explain what is the “public interest” that Azalina had pleaded to justify her motion being exempted from the requisite seven-day notice for Ministerial motions or is it just Pandikar’s quid pro quo to Azalina, agreeing to Azalina’s privileges motion against Nurul Izzah in return for Azalina’s earlier agreement as Minister in PM’s Office to the Speaker’s proposal to suspend me from Parliament for six months? Read the rest of this entry »

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Azalina’s motion against Nurul a gross abuse of parliamentary majority and will open the floodgates for majoritarian oppression of the minority in Parliament which should not have been allowed by the Speaker in the first place

It is shocking and outrageous that a motion in the name of the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Azalina Othman Said against the PKR MP for Lembah Pantai Nurul Izzah Anwar has appeared in today’s Dewan Rakyat Order Paper, clearly in violation of Standing Order 27 (3) which states:

“Except as provided in Standing Order 43 and in paragraph (5) of Standing Order 86 and 26(1), not less than fourteen days’ notice of any motion shall be given unless it is in the name of a Minister, in which case seven days’ notice or, if Tuan Yang di-Pertua is satisfied upon representation to him by a Minister that the public interest requires that a motion should be debated as soon as possible, one day’s notice shall be sufficient.”

Azalina’s motion clearly does not have the requisite seven days’ notice stipulated for motions in the name of a Minister.

Is the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia satisfied upon Azalina’s representation that one day’s notice is sufficient, as “public interest” requires that the motion should be debated as soon as possible?
Read the rest of this entry »

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PKR roasted in London

Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
21 Sep 2015

The remarks sounded like fingernails being dragged across the blackboard. They were made by a member of the audience, at a dialogue with two PKR executive councillors (exco) from Penang. The questioner was straight and candid. He did not mince his words, and judging by the nods of approval, a majority of the audience, shared his sentiments.

In a forceful voice, the man said, “I think you, the opposition, have missed three times. You are not able to exploit the current conundrum in the country, because you are fractured.

“So, what are you going to do, in order to strengthen yourself for what has to be done? You have missed big time, because of your situation. That is the focus. How are you going to get together, and fight them?

“Removing Najib (Abdul Razak) is not that difficult, if you are strong. He survives, because you are weak.”

These sentiments must have been echoed in a similar fashion, by around 97 percent of opposition supporters, both in Malaysia and abroad; “Najib survives because you are weak”. The words must have stung, but the PKR exco members’ faces remained inscrutable. Read the rest of this entry »

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What Can Ensure a Real Political Breakthrough

Koon Yew Yin
3rd August 2015

Recently I wrote of developments on the opposition side that had the potential to lead to a political breakthrough for the country. I was referring to the formation of a new party led by Pas moderates and progressives.

I had also written on the need for the new Islamic party to adhere to the Common Policy Framework and reject a hard line and extremist Islamic ideology; oppose the move to introduce hudud in Kelantan and the federal parliament; support the constitutional position on democratic and human rights and the equality of all citizens, irrespective of race or creed and to fight racial and religious extremism wherever it comes from.

But in politics it is not enough to have the right manifesto or ideology. To win power, it is equally – if not more important – to have the right leaders. Today we have a clear political leadership crisis in the country in both government and the opposition. Read the rest of this entry »

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It is Hadi’s prerogative if he wants to provide a life-line to support Najib and shore up the Prime Minister in the gathering storm over the 1MDB scandal, but PAS leaders should not expect DAP leaders to keep quiet when they make baseless attacks on the DAP

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Terserah kepada Hadi jika beliau mahu membantu memanjangkan jangka hayat Najib sebagai Perdana Menteri di tengah taufan skandal 1MDB, namun pemimpin-pemimpin PAS tidak boleh mengharapkan DAP berdiam diri apabila mereka membuat serangan tidak berasas ke atas DAP.

Saya telah menasihatkan para pemimpin DAP untuk tidak mencontohi sikap Presiden PAS Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang dan bekas Setiausaha Agung PAS Datuk Mustapha Ali menyerang pemimpin DAP tanpa asas. Saya juga telah menasihatkan para pemimpin DAP untuk sentiasa “berpegang dengan prinsip, menjaga etika, sopan dan jangan sekali-kali menggunakan pembohongan dan pendustaan, memfitnah, atau menggunakan gelaran yang buruk atau memburukkan peribadi sesiapa.”

Terpulang kepada Hadi jika beliau mahu membantu memanjangkan hayat politik Datuk Seri Najib Razak sebagai Perdana Menteri di tengah taufan politik skandal 1MDB dan mengecam percubaan mantan Perdana Menteri Tun Mahathir untuk menjatuhkan Najib sebagai PM (mungkin Hadi boleh juga jelaskan mengapa beliau tidak cuba menyelamatkan Tun Abdullah ketika beliau menerima tekanan yang sama daripada Mahathir selepas pilihan raya umum 2008.

Namun pemimpin PAS tidak boleh mengharapkan para pemimpin DAP berdiam diri apabila mereka membuat serangan tidak berasas terhadap pemimpin DAP seperti yang dilakukan oleh Mustapha di Kuala Terengganu kelmarin.

Mustapha mengulangi dua tuduhannya terhadap pemimpin DAP, iaitu bahawa para pemimpin DAP angkuh serta menuduh DAP menyediakan “perangkap” buat para pemimpin progresif dalam PAS yang tewas dalam pemilihan parti itu baru-baru ini untuk menjadikan Gerakan Harapan Baru (GHB) “proksi” DAP. Read the rest of this entry »

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The new coalition of Malaysian progressives – whether Pakatan Rakyat 2.0, New Pakatan Rakyat or Harapan Rakyat – will be sequel to 13GE battle in 14GE to rekindle hopes and aspirations of Malaysians for political change in Putrajaya

Five days ago, I posed the question whether PAS could lose Kelantan in the next 14th General Election.

I said that based on the 13th General Election performance, if there is a 4% swing of voters against PAS in Kelantan in the next poll, PAS will lose power in the state it had governed for 25 years since 1990.

Is a 4% swing in a state an unlikely happening?

In the 13th General Election in Kedah, PAS and Pakatan Rakyat lost the Kedah State Government because there was a 3.8% swing of the voters against PAS.

The voter swing against PAS was even greater and more overwhelming during the 2004 General Election in Terengganu, where there was a 15% swing of voters against PAS, sweeping out the Terengganu PAS State Government after only one term of Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi as the Terengganu Mentri Besar.

There is no doubt that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) would have been wiped out in the next general election if Pakatan Rakyat had contested the next polls in total disregard of the violation of the PR Common Policy Framework by one of the component parties, with hudud as a controversial issue in the election campaign. Read the rest of this entry »

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Pakatan Rakyat crisis might have come earlier if PR had won majority of seats in 13 GE as Hadi had never accepted Anwar as PR candidate for Prime Minister

In response to media query, I want to stress that I do not want to be involved in polemcis with the PAS President, Hadi Awang who claimed that Pakatan Rakyat is not dead yet and that the coalition still exists.

The PAS Muktamar resolution cutting ties with DAP is the last straw that breaks the camel’s back as for a year Pakatan Rakyat had existed in name but not in fact, because Hadi had violated the two basic and bedrock Pakatan Rakyat principles, the PR Common Policy Framework and the consensus operational principle that the agreement of all three PR component parties are needed for any PR motion to be made and that no single leader has the veto power to override the decisions of the PR Leadership Council.

Hadi not only violated the PR Common Policy Framework but acted in utter disregard of the PR consensus operational principle as if he could override decisions taken by the PR Leadership Council in the same way he had no qualms about overriding decisions taken by the PAS Central Working Committee.

In fact, the Pakatan Rakyat crisis might have come even earlier if Pakatan Rakyat had been successful in winning the majority of the parliamentary seats in the 13GE two years ago as Hadi had never accepted Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the PR candidate to be Prime Minister of Malaysia.

With such a background, I find it astounding that Hadi could now claim that Pakatan Rakyat is not dead, when the PR Secretariat had for the past year find it almost impossible to fix a meeting when the PAS President could attend. Read the rest of this entry »

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Thanks to DAP’s opposition and PKR support, Hadi’s private member’s bill on hudud implementation will not be passed in Parliament next week

Thanks to DAP’s opposition and PKR support, PAS President and MP for Marang, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang’s private member’s bill on hudud implementation will not be passed in Parliament next week.

It is now more than two weeks since the initial claims of the MCA President, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and Gerakan President, Datuk Mah Siew Keong that the Cabinet had discussed and taken a stand to oppose Hadi’s private member’s bill and that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak would come out with an unequivocal statement declaring UMNO/BN’s opposition to Hadi’s private member’s bill.

But these claims have been debunked by two events:

Firstly, Najib’s 15-day silence on the issue, as Liow and Mah had leaked the “exclusive news” that the Prime Minister would be making such an announcement two Fridays ago on 20th March 2015;

Secondly, the denial by three UMNO Ministers, the Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, the International Trade and Industry Minister, Datuk Mustapha Mohamad and the Youth Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin that the Cabinet had discussed, let alone taken a stand on, Hadi’s private member’s bill on hudud implementation.

These three UMNO Ministers are virtually calling Liow a “liar” with the MCA President insisting today (Sin Chew) that the Cabinet had discussed Hadi’s private member’s bill at its meetings on March 20 and 27. Read the rest of this entry »

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PAS, MCA, Gerakan all falling into UMNO trap to use “UG” to divide, destabilize and destroy Pakatan Rakyat as well as to save UMNO from being voted out office in Putrajaya in the 14GE

The reiteration of the PAS Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah that PAS would table the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Bill “without any amendment, regardless of DAP’s view” in the Kelantan State Assembly on Wednesday, 18th March 2015, would be pushing the seven-year-old Pakatan Rakyat to breaking point.

It is not just the DAP views, but if the decisions made at the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council, represented by the top leaders of DAP, PKR and PAS, including the latest PR Leadership Council meeting of March 12, 2015, are repeatedly disregarded or violated, then the present format of Pakatan Rakyat cannot function or continue.

This will be a great pity, for it will mark the triumph of UMNO conspirators who have been trying their utmost in the past seven years to use the bait of “UG” (unity government between UMNO and PAS) and in the past year the additional bait of “hudud implementation in Kelantan” to achieve their objective to divide, destabilize and destroy the most formidable coalition challenge to be faced by UMNO/BN – the Pakatan Rakyat of DAP, PKR and PAS – as well as to save UMNO from being voted out of office in Putrajaya in the 14GE.

The writing on the wall is unmistakable. Read the rest of this entry »

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UMNO’s “Unity Government” plotters now celebrating for they believe they will be able to achieve a major breakthrough for their seven-year-old conspiracy in four days’ time

UMNO’s “UG” (Unity Government between UMNO and PAS) plotters are now celebrating for they believe they will be able to achieve a major breakthrough for their seven-year conspiracy in four days’ time.

Although UMNO’s “UG” conspirators hatched their plot immediately after the 12th General Elections in 2008, they could not make any headway, although over the years, the UMNO “UG” plotters have refined their game and overcome one obstacle after another.

The UMNO “UG” plot had right from the beginning involved the highest UMNO levels – like the present and former UMNO Presidents and Prime Ministers – and a very high-level meeting was held in the first few months after the 12th General Elections but plotters came away empty-handed.

The “UG” plotters found the obstacles quite impregnable, especially in the steely, principled and consistent opposition of the late Mursyidul Am PAS, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

In fact, when the “UG” concept was revived again over the Selangor Mentri Besar crisis in the third quarter of last year, there was an article in The Malaysian Insider entitled: “Jangan cakap soal gabung PAS – UMNO selagi Nik Aziz ada, kata penganalisis”, quoting a political analyst who said it was better not to discuss it as it was impossible so long Nik Aziz was still alive. Read the rest of this entry »

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If it ‘agrees to disagree’ so often, can Pakatan ever rule Malaysia?

by Sheridan Mahavera
The Malaysian Insider
9 February 2015

The fact that Pakatan Rakyat needs a special meeting to trash out differences on whether to have local council elections is an admission that they have found another critical issue where they have to “agree to disagree”.

Analysts said this raised questions of whether the six-year-old coalition was cohesive enough and ready to rule this country, as local council elections, unlike hudud, were in their common manifesto.

Hudud, the Kelantan Shariah criminal law, is special because it was passed in 1993 by the PAS-dominated state government and preceded PR’s formation in 2008.

Local government elections, some PR leaders said, were agreed upon by all coalition partners in the 2013 in its common policy framework, which is a manifesto of sorts.

So if these three parties are fighting over something they had already agreed upon as a coalition, one wonders what other points of agreement they are going to fight about if it took over federal power in the 14th general election.

“If this internal turmoil keeps going on, one wonders if they really are ready to replace Barisan Nasional,” said political scientist Dr Maszlee Malik. Read the rest of this entry »

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Get real PAS, differences within PR not minor

– T K Chua
The Malaysian Insider
26 January 2015

PAS vice-president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said it correctly that people were getting fed up with the bickering within Pakatan Rakyat.

I think “fed up” is too mild a word. I think most Malaysians are completely pissed off. Many are in fact wondering whether PR is still a viable alternative to Barisan Nasional.

Worse still, I think Tuan Ibrahim has completely misdiagnosed the real problems in PR.

What happened within PR is not about minor differences. What happened in PR is about major and substantive differences which all parties must come to an agreement before proceeding further. Read the rest of this entry »

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What happens in the next 24 hours in the Selangor MB crisis may upstage the August 17 PAS leadership meeting and set the seal for the irretrievable break-up of Pakatan Rakyat

The meeting of the PAS national leadership on August 17 will have a critical bearing on the future of the six-year-old three-party coalition Pakatan Rakyat.

However, the August 17 meeting of PAS may be upstaged by what happens in the next 24 hours in the Selangor Mentri Besar crisis which may set the seal for the irretrievable break-up of Pakatan Rakyat.

The break-up of Pakatan Rakyat will cause consternation and even despair among Malaysians over the betrayal of their high hopes that change has finally come to Malaysia after more than half a century of political stagnation and even regresson but welcomed as a boon and relief by Umno/BN leaders and apparatchiks as a “salvation” to spare them from political rejection and repudiation in the country.

This is the reason why the Deputy Prime Minister and UMNO Deputy President, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, had been so fast in declaring unconditional support of 12 UMNO/Barisan Nasional State Assembly representatives in Selangor to Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim as Mentri Besar of Selangor although he has lost the mandate of Parti Keadilan Rakyat and Pakatan Rakyat to continue as Selangor Mentri Besar. Read the rest of this entry »

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Why Khalid must go

Nik Nazmi
The Malaysian Insider
12 August 2014

PKR has sacked the menteri besar of Selangor, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, from the party.

This has caused a great deal of shock to many.

Everybody – whether it was my relatives over Hari Raya, constituents at mamak stalls or my friends over WhatsApp – wanted to know why we wanted him out.

Quite a number were critical and this was not surprising.

Having known and worked with Khalid for some time, I personally found the deterioration of his relationship with the party and his removal very sad.

Nevertheless, PKR has made the right decision.

Khalid had to be removed from the party.

He must also be made to leave the MB’s position. Read the rest of this entry »

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Pakatan Rakyat will only be a one general-election coalition if it is unable to keep faith with Malaysians to give top priority to PR common policy framework and consensus

Although Pakatan Rakyat formed by DAP, PKR and PAS failed to dislodge the Barisan Nasional from federal power in the 13th General Elections last May, it won 52% of the popular vote and for the first time in the nation’s history, there is a minority Federal Government in Putrajaya.

Malaysians are waiting for the next general elections full of hope and expectation that a change of federal government will finally come to the country in the 14th GE to herald the advent of a new Malaysia where there is justice, freedom, good governance and full respect for the fundamental constitutional guarantees for the diverse races and religions in the country.

However, in the past year since the 13th General Election, supporters of Pakatan Rakyat are increasingly concerned whether Pakatan Rakyat, like the Barisan Alternative after the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister and expulsion from UMNO, could only survive for one general elections.

Would Pakatan Rakyat go the way of Barisan Alternative, comprising DAP, PAS, PKR and Partai Rakyat, which only succeeded in contesting the 1999 general elections? Read the rest of this entry »

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Pakatan Rakyat would suffer devastating setbacks in Perak, Pahang, Negri Sembilan and Melaka in the 13GE if hudud had been a major controversial issue in 2013 general elections

Yesterday I wrote about how hudud was never a vote-winner for PAS in previous elections and would have given back to the Barisan National (BN) two-thirds majority control of parliament and cost Pakatan Rakyat (PR) the state of Selangor if hudud had been part of the PR Manifesto prior to GE2013. PR would still have lost the Kedah state government and Johor would have reverted to being a BN “fixed deposit” state.

How would PR’s performance in the other states been affected namely Perak, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka if hudud had been a major controversial issue in the 13GE?

The answer is that Pakatan Rakyat would have suffered devastating setbacks in Perak, Pahang, Negri Sembilan and Melaka in the 13GE if hudud had been a major controversial issue in the 2013 general elections.

In Perak, Pakatan was two seats short of forming the state government in GE2013. If hudud had been part of Pakatan’s manifesto, instead of the 28 state seats won, PR would have only won 17 state seats with a 20% drop in non-Malay support (Scenario 3). PAS and PKR would have been reduced to 1 and 2 seats respectively from 5 seats each. DAP would have only won 14 seats rather than the 18 it actually won. (Table 1 below) Read the rest of this entry »

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