Post 13th Malaysia General Election [XIII MyGE] Analysis and Review

The results of the 13th Malaysia General Election [XIII MyGE] were out. It looks like BN leads the Parliament by 133 seats, while Pakatan Rakyat which comprises PAS, PKR, and DAP, 89. A first mandate for PM Datuk Seri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak since becoming the 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia on 3rd April 2009. On the state side, BN has retaken Kedah, retains Perlis, Perak, Pahang. Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor, and Sabah.Sarawak has its separate DUN elections. Meanwhile, on the opposing side, DAP, PAS, and PKR defended their respective bastions of Penang, Kelantan, and Selangor. So now, brace yourselves for another half a decade of agonies under those Pakatan-led state goverments.

We shall [NOT We will] start with Gelang Patah [P162]. Apparently, the advice of BN leaders had gone on deaf ears as Lim Kit Siang moved from his old constituency, Ipoh Timur to win the parliamentary seat by 54,284 votes and a majority of 14,762. DAP’s single-four-lettered word BM slogan,Ubah (Change) has successfully penetrated minds of voters. This is evident when its loser from BN, former Menteri Besar of Johor, Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, who got 39,522 votes said that Johoreans voted based on their emotions. Johor, however remains BN fortress. Why? It is definitely because UMNO was born in this state out of struggle against Malay Union state.formation by the British. However, in Ghani’s advertisement entitled “My Worry for Johor”, he is adamant of maintaining the so-called “Johor Way”.In his letter, he added “moderation, never polarisation”. Nusajaya, a state legislature under the Gelang Patah parliamentary consistuency.[N.49(J)] survived the Pakatan tide as incumbent assemblyman, Zaini Abu Bakar from BN retained the seat with 23,166 votes and a majority of 2,201 votes against his PAS rival, Salahuddin Ayub a former Kubang Kerian parliamentarian, who.polled in 20,965 votes. He also lost his neighbouring Pulai parliamentary [P161] candidacy to Datuk Nur Jazlan bin Allahyarham Tun Mohamed. with 40,525. The son of the late former information minister got 43,751 votes and a majority of 3,226. In Pengerang [P157], BN incumbent Datuk Azalina binti Othman Said defended her parliamentary seat by 26,992 votes and a majority of 22,508. PKR’s Dayangku Intan only got 4,484 votes.  The same went in Jempol [P127], where Aishah, the lady with the babyish voice who once was popular with songs like Pulanglah (Come Home, a Raya song) and Janji Manismu (Your Sweet Promises) from PAS was up against BN’s Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad, but she also lost to Isa, who voted in 31,109 and and a majority of 8,614. What do both constituencies have in common? They are situated in FELDA schemes, making it impossible for Pakatan to make inroads there. It’s obvious that electorates were sticking to BN.

Moving on now to a family affair. Incumbent Pakatan leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim defended his Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat [P44] with 37,090 votes and a majority of 11,721, beating his BN opponent, Datuk Mazlan Ismail. Mazlan got 25,369 votes, while Papa Gomo, an independent candidate got only 201 votes. In the XII MyGE, it was won by his wife, Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. On the other hand. Anwar’s daughter. Nurul ‘Izzah defended her Lembah Pantai parliamentary seat with 31,008 votes and a majority of 1,847, dashing hopes of her BN rival, Datuk Seri Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin of recapturing the consistuency, which is considered to him as THE [duh] toughest fight he ever faced, just like Gelang Patah. A father-and-son tandem in Kelantan as Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Aziz defeated the Pasir Mas parliamentary incumbent independent, Ibrahim Ali by 33,431 votes and a majority of 8,047. His father, octogenarian Nik Aziz Nik Mat also defended his Chempaka [N6(D)] state seat with 12,310 votes and a majority of 6,500. With his ailing condition, will he be able to hang on to his secularist rule for the next 5 years? Shall [NOT Will] we see a state legislative election in case Nik Aziz returns to Rahmatullah? Or will Rohani Ibrahim, an assemblywoman for Tanjung Mas [N8(D)] make history as women Menteri Besar of Kelantan? Meanwhile, wheelchair-bound Bukit Gelugor parliamentarian Karpal Singh from DAP defended his seat, while his two sons, Jagdeep Singh Deo and Gobind Singh Deo retained their respective Datok Keramat [N29(P)] and Puchong [P103] seats. Another DAP man,Lim Guan Eng, who is the son of Gelang Patah parliamentarian defended both the Bagan parliamentary and Air Putih state seats. Meanwhile, a brotherly battle in Perlis is seen, where Shahidan Kassim, former Menteri Besar of Perlis won the Arau parliamentary seat [P3] with 19,376 votes and a majority of 1,371. His younger brother, Ismail Kassim won the former’s Tambun Tulang state legistative assembly [N12(R)], with 5,286 votes and a majority of 2,481. Once again, the family factor plays an important role in ensuring  victory for either sides.

BN’s Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak and his deputy, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin defended the Pekan and Pagoh parliamentary constituency with a majority of 35,613 and 12,842 respectively. Datuk Mustapa Mohamed is perhaps the only Barisan man who serves both Jeli parliamentary and Air Lanas state legislative assembly constituency. Several BN biggest names lost their seat, Incumbent Lumut parliamentarian, Kong Cho Ha lost to PKR while Saifuddin Abdullah, lost his Temerloh parliamentary seat to PAS’ Nasrudin Hassan. Rafizi Ramli, PKR strategist won Pandan [P100] parliamentary seat.

For my constituency, Petaling Jaya Utara [P106], DAP defended the seat through Tony Pua Kim Wee. PJU parliamentary constituency has two state legislative seats, namely Kampung Tunku [N35(B)] and Damansara Utama [N36(B)] which were won and defended by Lau Weng San and newly-elected assemblywoman, Yeo Bee Yin from DAP as well.

Federal Territory has 13 parliamentary seats, in which of those seats contested, 5 were won by PKR, 4 by DAP, and the other remaining 4 were Barisan Nasional. In FT of KL, Barisan secured only one seat, namely Setiawangsa [P118] as well as recapturing  another seat, Titiwangsa [P119] which was last held by PAS. A good job for its newly elected parliamentarian Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani, thwarting Ahmad Zamri Asa’ad Khuzaimi’s attempt to avenge the passing of his predecessor, Lo’Lo’ Ghazali. So, now, with Titiwangsa brought back by BN through Johari, he will now focus on priority to transform the 113-year-old Kampung Baru. Hopefully as well, he’ll be made the Minister of Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing post if he is appointed into the cabinet. The neighbouring Setiawangsa was also defended by Ahmad Fauzi Zahari with 26,809 votes, about 2,000 margin increase from his predecessor, two-term parliamentarian Zulhasnan Rafique. Putrajaya survived the wrath of Husam Musa, who instead defended his Salor state legislative seat [N17(D)], with Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, defending the administrative capital’s constituency for the third time with 9,943 votes with a majority of 5,541, compared to his performance in the XII MyGE 2008, where he defeated Mohamad Noor Mohamed, also from PAS with 4,038 votes and a majority of 2,734.

So, with only one state returned to BN, it is now time for Najib to do some kaizen and muhasabah [soul-searching] for his BN, although BN defended two-third majority in the parliament. Najib should also be working out on his 5-year improvement plan to recapture 3 Pakatan-stronghold states in the XIV MyGE, slated in 2018. apart from the signature programmes like BR1M, BB1M, KR1M, and so on. Perhaps the next one is going to be a clean sweep.

To me, Barisan is like Autobots and Pakatan are Decepticons.

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EIU Predicts Barisan Victory

KUALA LUMPUR: The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which is part of the respected London-based magazine The Economist, predicts that Barisan Nasional (BN) will win the 13th general election based on its successful track record, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s reform agenda and his successful economic leadership.

For international observers, the outcome of the upcoming polls is already clear, that the Barisan will be victorious, it said.

It also said the opposition Pakatan Rakyat has been making “costly promises” to gain power, and these were a big stumbling block.

The EIU, a think-tank which offers regular country, industry and risk analysis, said that “it is clearly not feasible” for Pakatan to implement all of its campaign promises.

“For example, providing free secondary education would cost the Government RM43bil, while abolishing car duty would cut tax revenue by RM4.6bil a year,” it said.

The EIU pointed out that Pakatan had broken many of its earlier promises, including financial assistance for pre-school education, university students, senior citizens and the disabled, free healthcare for those over 65, lower property taxes and assistance for home buyers.

Pakatan’s populism has remained as just hot air.

In Selangor, for example, Barisan claimed that Pakatan has implemented only 15% of its 31 election pledges made in its 2008 general election manifesto.

“Selangor Mentri Besar (Tan Sri Abdul) Khalid Ibrahim commented that a manifesto is not a promise but conceded that voters may think otherwise,” the EIU noted.

“Compare this with BN’s successful track record in fulfilling its promises, and you have a clear difference in approach.

“Both will need to appeal to young, first-time voters, given that nearly three million people in this crucial voting block have been added to the electoral register since the last election,” it added.

The EIU claimed the “bulk of this group” was undecided about which party to vote for and could swing the outcome of the election. — Bernama