GE 13 ia over in Malaysia and the ruling party BN or NF won 133 aeats in Parliament as against a total of 87 ( DAP 38, PKR 28 and PAS 21) won by the opposition. That gives BN a majority of about 22 seats in Parliament, no 2/3 majority. That could explain why the PM Dato Seri Najib seems to accept the victory with a solemn look at the victory reception in PWTC. Nor was Datin Rosman who sat by his side together with DPM,flashing a victory smile.Even those standing behind them - nor representative from MCA or MIC it appears to me - were not too happy as were the other supporters of BN who were present.present leaders and the exPMs behind them
Why the solemness? 4 Cabinet Ministers, 2 Chief Ministers and 8 Deputy Ministers went down. The Ministers were mostly from MCA while the two Chief Ministers were very strong UMNO personalities.It certainly reflects very poorly on the popularity of the Najib's former Cabinet line-up.The two Chief Ministers were doing very well at the state level but when asked to contest for a Parliamentary
seat, failed to get sufficient support.
The defeat of former Johore Bahru Chief Minister, at the hand of the DAP strongman Lee Kit Siang who has no earlier footing in Gelang Patah, reflects another issue which could have saddened the PM. That the Chinese votes will go to their popular candidate irrespective of party affiliation with BN. Most MCA candidates have been trounced by their DAP contenders. The Chinese citizens of Malaysia seem to be putting all their faith on DAP. DAP continues to dominate Penang. Najib would do well to invite DAP to share power with Barisan rather than continue to play host to MCA. If that is done PKR and PAS would of course become a very weak coalition.
PAS' spiritual leader Dato' Nik Abdul Aziz, its President DS Hadi Awang and other Pas stalwarts are of course unshakeable as are some of the PKR leaders like its supremo Anwar Ibrahim and its most prominent general TS Khalid Ibrahim, the Chief Minister of Selangor. Selangor, Kelantan, Terengganu and Penang remain in the Opposition's hand while Kedah has been wrenched back by BN. Tun Mahathir's son is certainly going to be the Chief Minister as a stepping stone perhaps before going for the Primiership in the near future until Najib's son grow of age to join politics.
Now where does that leave TS Muhyiddin? Is he going to be a DPM forever without a chance to become PM? That could be another issue which could disturb Najib very much. Tun Mahathir had given himm all the support during this election and everyone can see why he wants BN to remain in power.The tradition of passing on the baton to the first born in Malaysian politics is a known fact. TS Muhyiddin seems to be the odd man out in the race for the no one post.
Whatever it is, Malaysia is back on track now with the nation's agenda of becoming a developed country with a multiracial identity. The Opposition and AnwarIbrahim will have to wait another four plus years to make another attempt at grabbing the reign of power.Malaysians have chosen their leaders for the next five years in spite of the unanswered allegations and suspicion of high-level corruption which had plagued the BN. Perhaps Najib transformation program had retrieved the bumipitras's faith in UMNO but not the Chinese faith in MCA. More will have to be done to bring back the old qualities and glory of BN. The victory in GE 13 could only be the result of a last flicker in the magic of the old BN although Najib's Father Christmas' style of bringing the goodies to the poor had won him considerable admiration in the year before the election.
A most disturbing observation made by a panelist discussing the outcome of GE13 on the night of May 5th (or morning of May 6th ) on RTM1, was that (free quote) the Malays show their grievances on the street but not in the ballot box while the Chinese show their grievances in the ballot box and not in the street (as had happened in Gelang Patah). It amounts to saying the the Malays grumble a lot but do not take action to change a situation while the Chinese don't grumble much but act positively to change things. There's indeed a lot that the Malays should learn from their more prosperous and wealthy fellow citizens. The only wealthy Malays are those BN politicians who have been holding public posts in the BN government during its half a century's hold on power and those businessmen under their aegis.
6 comments:
Akhi Norzah,
The comment is perfect! 'Show it on the street but not the ballot box' In no time there are no more streets to demonstrate or gather around in. They are 'thrown' far away inland. By that time they slog just to get crumbs and it would have been too late! Sad!
Hank
That's the possibility we must prevent at all costs, Akhi Kaykuala. MCA has just announced that that it will not hold any government post anymore, a complete abandonment of its responsibility to voice the Chinese interest since Chinese support has been almost completely taken over by DAP. BN will have to review the nature of its coalition to avoid a complete break with the Malaysian Chinese. And it must act fast.
Hello Norzah, I have lost touch with Malaysian politics 25 years...and read your this very eloquent posting with great interest. Ok, sekarang saya da faham, ha ha.
My bahasa was from Tunku Abdul Rahman's time, thus out of tune.
I guess the people have spoken...made their choices....
Whatever it is, Politicians and diapers should be changed frequently and all for the same reason.
You have a nice day and keep well.
Best regards.
Lee.
Thank u very much Uncle Lee. 25 years out of touch with Malatsian politics is quite a while but I'm sure you've heard about us time and again. Thanks for dropping in. It would have been wonderful to hear more from you.
Akhi Norzah,
In my view, those who were demonstrating in the streets only make up a miniscule segment of the voters, whereas the majority of the rural voters who have been bombarded by the goodies and the propaganda machinery day and night still owe loyalty to the ruling party,except of course those in the east coast. Thus with increasing awareness through the social media, in time to come the voting pattern would change too. It is not that the Malays do not translate their unhappiness through the ballot box, but the system of giving weightage to the rural voters gives that leverage to the ruling coalition.
You can be right Akhi Hakim but that's not my view alone, it was based on some views expressed one tv. be as it may, we see little changes in the heads of state under BN )only Malacca and JB), while at central level, we don't know yet. To me its going to be the same old story again, perhaps with a bigger dollar sign for Najib is now talking in terms of trillion riggit. Mana ada perubahan. It's more of the same.
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