Sunday, March 09, 2008

Penang, Perak, Kelantan, Kedah, Selangor

Before I begin, let me make it clear I am never a racist guy. I have friends of multi races and I have criticized the Malays, Chinese and Indians consistently. However, my following comments might be misinterpreted by some people. But that is the way we analyse election results in Malaysia where race based politics are still in existence. So be patient when you read and don't start having bad assumptions about me.

People of Penang. You have voted Gerakan and MCA out of Penang. Sayonara for Penang! My dad would be very sad now because something he said was quite true and affected my thinking. All these while, UMNO had more seats than any single party in Penang. However, due to the pact acknowledged in the past, and that MCA+Gerakan>UMNO seats, Gerakan maintained the Chief Minister-ship.

Now, given that DAP has a clean sweep of Penang, then what will happen to Penang in future? If DAP-PKR-PAS continue winning Penang, there will not be a problem and the Chinese can be assured that Penang will remain a multiracial state under a Chinese rule of DAP.

But, what if Barisan Nasional wrests Penang back in future? UMNO warlords in Penang might tell Gerakan to "go to hell" and blame them for their failure in the 2008 elections. The warlords could push for a UMNO member to hold the CM-ship or the federal level leadership would agree to a rotation system of Gerakan-MCA-UMNO Chief Ministership in Penang. What then will the Chinese in Penang get? It could end up in a lose-lose game for them there.

So why are the Chinese, Indians and Malay voting DAP, PAS and PKR? This question is more to the Chinese. Barisan Nasional has not done enough for you? No 2nd bridge? No monorail?

Do you think voting Barisan Rakyat will give you a monorail, another bridge and a better economy? Don't compare to Tun Lim Chong Eu's time. He brought in industrial mega companies and created jobs and development in Penang. With Penang's current space constraints and with Penang already having so many things, we surely cannot expect a great bang boom boom from BN but we should instead expect gradual growth. What do you want Gerakan to do? Bring more cash to your home? How? Ask Toyota to come in and build the factory on top of Intel factory? Voila .... economy solved?

Let us all see what a Malacca politician - the now Chief Minister of Penang Lim Guan Eng - can do for all of you in Penang. We all criticize Pak Lah for letting his son-in-law getting into power, MCA with the Ongs and Lings, Gerakan with the Lim dynasty also. What about the Lims in DAP, the Ibrahims in PKR? Let us all hope the Opposition can really satisfy the needs of Penangites.

In Perak, the people voted for DAP and PKR. Why will we be having a PAS assemblyman from Pasir Panjang as the next Menteri Besar of Perak? If that is the case, I am not being racial or what, but the Malay, Chinese and Indians who looked forward to a PKR-DAP rule will no longer support the Opposition in the next term.

Perakians are not like the people of Kelantan or Kedah. There are alot of Indians and Chinese here. And a lot of Malays, Chinese and Indians support DAP and PKR here due to the power of professionals in DAP with their check and balance and the Anwar factor of PKR. This is clearly shown in the composition of results of the Opposition. If the YB of Pasir Panjang is sworn in as the next leader of Perak, I am sorry to tell the Barisan Rakyat that the next results for Perak could be the worst ever for them. The Chinese, Indians and some Malays are worried over the PAS rule especially from the 'stories' they heard of Kelantan and formerly Terengganu.

Note : I am beginning to receive some comments and it seems that I have been misunderstood. Never have I said here that I want a Chinese MB in Perak. I am aware that 'Undang-undang Tubuh Negeri Perak menyatakan bahawa seorang MB mestilah seorang Melayu yang beragama Islam'. Just that in the eyes of Perakian non Malays, they wouldn't mind having a PKR Malay who is a Muslim to lead Perak as compared to someone from PAS. Perakians, especially those living in villages, have heard 'scary' stories of the Islamic state rules. They are already having misconceptions since the beginning of PAS existence. We Perakians have never rejected a Malay MB in Perak.

Thus, to appeal to the public that consists of a multiracial society, it would have been wiser to put a PKR Malay as the next MB for at least this time. You wouldn't want to see the DAP-PKR-PAS pact winning only this time in Perak, right? Moreover, PKR would have deserved more given that the results were DAP - 18, PKR - 7, PAS - 6. In this case, it could be Ab Yunus Jamhari of Kuala Kurau, Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu of Changkat Jering, and Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi of Behrang. Again, I have nothing against PAS and it is just a comment of what I think the Perak people will feel ... I personally have in the past and present stressed my support for PAS rule under Nasharuddin and Datuk Husam as well as Nik Aziz. I wouldn't mind having any of the two as my MB in Perak. But I am not sure about this YB of Pasir Panjang. Nevertheless, it will be a fresh new start for Perak! So please, don't come writing comments in my blog to slam me on this anymore okay? Thanks ! ( added 12.38am 10th March 2008 )

As for Kelantan, bye bye UMNO. Uprising PAS leaders like Nasharuddin Mat Isa and Datuk Husam Musa are just too good and charismatic. I guess the Kelantanese want to unite under PAS and see what the new leaders can bring to them when Dato' Nik Aziz steps down next. And I have a preference to see Datuk Husam Musa to take over ... it would be interesting to see either Nasharuddin or Husam as the next MB though.

I guess Dato' Seri Khir Toyo is feeling uneasy now. Many UMNO Youth leaders are awaiting his head at the chopping board. But pity this guy. He was the MB of Selangor till the 8th of March. When results were officially announced, he automatically becomes the Opposition Leader of Selangor. There .... things happen overnight huh? Never did I expect Selangor to fall under Opposition rule. This is because according to the interactive elections map in The Star, the description for Selangor was "Barisan will undoubtedly retain the state but look out for some interesting, even tough, fights in certain parliamentary and state seats where the Opposition is fielding some strong candidates."

Over confident I guess? Never try to make sweeping statements anymore, dear editors of The Star! Well, I have just read that Kedah's MB has been sworn in at 3.30pm today. That was pretty quick. I don't know much about Kedah so I will leave it there.

Dr Mahathir called a press conference and asked for the leader of Barisan Nasional to take responsibility for creating the best ever election results in 2004 and now the worst ever election results in 2008. Haha .. Encik Sufi Yusof (Tun's PA) will be forwarding the transcripts to me soon and I hope we can all see what Tun said on post election day!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

THE PPL VOTE ANYONE OR ANYTHING AS LONG ITS NOT BN.

THE PPL HAS SPOKEN, WHO CARE WHETHER THE MB IS MALAY, CHINESE OR INDIAN AS LONG ITS NOT FROM BN.

TELL IT TO OUR DAD, DON'T WORRY WHAT GOING TO HAPPEN IN ANOTHER 5 YEARS, MOST IMPORTANT IS TO GET THOSE ELECTED TO FULFILL THEIR OBLIGATION... KICK THEIR BUTT IF WE HAVE TO.

Anonymous said...

You are right.

As a Malay, I don't even care whether they give it to a Malay, Chinese or Indian. But the best scenario - in the short-term - is for a Malay MB from PKR with an Indian Deputy MB, and with DAP making the majority of executive councillors.

This will balance up the positions from other states. Make sure the Dy MB for Selangor is Chinese and Dy CM for Penag is Malay. Once PKR has established itself fully, and BN obliterated, hopefully by GE13 -all these dividing lines, race, religion etc should no longer play any part. And anyone can be an MB or a PM. Fullstop.

The Way I See It said...

I need to inform you that 'Undang-undang tubuh negeri perak menyatakan bahawa seorang MB mestilah seorang melayu yang beragama Islam'.

Undang-undang tubuh is equal to a State Constitution.

Anonymous said...

I believe many Chinese would prefer to live under a Malay CM who is upright than a Chinese CM who kneels and kow-tows. BTW race has nothing to do with politics. Learn to think out of the box that you and your dad have built for yourselves... or have been built for you.