Malaysian Post

In the aftermath of the 2008 Malaysian General Elections, a new dawn has arrived on the shores of Malaysia. The arrogant ruling coalition were greatly humbled by the People’s Power and the event proved to be a fertile ground for Comedy Court Jesters Allan Perera and Indi Nadaraja.

Below is their latest takes on the election.

The most interesting results of the 12th General Election is P5 Jerlun in Kedah.

In this Parliamentary seat contest Mukhriz Mahathir, son of Mahathir Mohammad won with a majority of 2205 votes.

The most surprising thing is, 99.85% of the 37,297 voters turned out to vote! Must be a Malaysia record.

Hard to believe, eh? Check out SPR’s official result at http://pru12.spr.gov.my/spr/.

A bit early for an April Fool’s Joke, I think. Either that, or……….

Please click on image to enlarge it.

By now, most Malaysians would be recovering from the effects of Election Results 2008. Me, I have yet to recover from the loss of sleep from staying up and tracking the results all night long.

I am proud that my fellow Malaysians have stood up to the threats and bribery of the ruling coalition and voted for Change. The corrupted and inefficient politicians were all (well, nearly all - a handful did escape) swept away into the trashcan of history.

Below is a Reuter Report highlighting the power of Cyberspace in leveling the playing field for the Opposition, and in doing so give them a fighting chance. I totally agree with the writer that the Internet play a vital role in the dissemination of vital information which otherwise would not be available to the ordinary Malaysian. However, I would like to add that this report did not mention Malaysiakini and Malaysia Today. These two websites had contributed and continue to contribute immensely to the battle for transparency and distribution of news that is censored in the mainstream media.

Malaysia opposition win shows power of cyberspace

By Bill Tarrant

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia’s weak opposition was up against a hostile mainstream media and restrictive campaign rules, but it can chalk up much of its stunning success in Saturday’s election to the power of cyberspace.

Voters exasperated with the unvarnished support of the mainstream media for the ruling National Front furiously clicked on YouTube and posted comments with popular bloggers about tales of sex, lies and videotapes in the run-up to Saturday’s election.

Jeff Ooi, a 52-year-old former advertising copywriter who made his name writing a political blog, “Screenshots” (www.jeffooi.com) won a seat in northern Penang state for the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP).

Elizabeth Wong, a human rights activist and political consultant who runs a blog (http://elizabethwong.wordpress.com), won a state assembly seat in the central state of Selangor.

YouTube, the phenomenally popular video Web site, did as much damage as any opposition figure could hope to inflict, after netizens uploaded embarrassing videos of their politicians in action on hot-button issues.

One YouTube video in January showed ruling party MP Badruddin bin Amiruldin causing a ruckus in parliament over whether Malaysia was an Islamic state. “Malaysia is an Islamic state,” he declared. “You don’t like it, you get out of Malaysia!”

Muslim Malays form the majority in multi-racial Malaysia, but ethnic Chinese and Indians account for a third of the population and they deserted the ruling National Front in droves, partly in outrage over the religious debate.

SEX, SLEAZE, CORRUPTION

Another YouTube video that got wide distribution shows a rambling and incoherent Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin, in a live interview with al-Jazeera, excitedly defending a police crackdown against peaceful protesters calling for changes to the electoral process in November.

Zainuddin was one of several “big guns” in the National Front that fell to the opposition’s onslaught.

Sex, sleaze and corruption were election issues and they all had video soap operas on Web sites.

Malaysia’s health minister resigned in January after admitting he and a female friend were the couple in a secretly filmed sex video uploaded on YouTube. That cost some votes.

“We were concerned about the morality of our leaders,” said Maisarah Zainal, a 26-year-old teacher in Kuala Lumpur. “It didn’t help that Chua Soi Lek was involved in a sex video.”

Loh Gwo Burne, who secretly videotaped a phone conversation, allegedly showing a high-profile lawyer trying to fix judicial appointments with Malaysia’s former chief judge, was elected to a seat in parliament from a seat in suburban Kuala Lumpur.

The grainy video hit a nerve in Malaysia, whose judiciary has been under question since the late 1980s.

Malaysia’s blogging community offer alternative views in a country where the government keeps a tight control on mainstream media. The government said last year it might compel bloggers to register with the authorities to curb the spread of malicious content on the Internet.

Government backers doubt whether bloggers turned opposition politicians could make their presence felt. “Beyond the major cities like Kuala Lumpur and Penang, there’s not much the bloggers can really hope to accomplish,” says Mohamad Norza Zakaria, a leader in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s UMNO party ( www.umno-online.com )

The Chinese-backed DAP, by contrast, appointed blogger Ooi to head the party’s “e-campaign.”

Even a barely literate 89-year-old grandmother running for parliament with little money and only a bicycle to get around on, hopped the cyberspace bandwagon with a Facebook profile and her own blog, courtesy of some Internet savvy supporters. Mamin Yusuf, however, lost. It wasn’t clear how many of her potential voters were hooked up to the Internet in northeastern Terengganu.

Stumbled upon Patrick Teoh’s blog and discover this video promoting a Steamboat Restaurant (Hot Pot).

Patrick Teoh has his own Blog here

Election Glossary as published by The Star

Know your election lingo

ELECTION fever is upon us as we await our General Election scheduled for March 8.

In the current atmosphere, you will no doubt encounter, whether in the media, in coffeeshops or even in your own home, words related to elections.

Here are some that have been chosen randomly. See if you don’t already know them.

If you have others to add, please e-mail them to us at english@the star.com.my

Democracy: Defined by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary as “a system of government by all the people of a country, usually through representatives whom they elect, thought of as allowing freedom of speech, religion and political opinion”. It is sometimes popularly expressed as “government of the people, by the people, for the people”, derived from Abraham Lincoln.

Constitution: The Constitution is the set of principles or rules by which a state or country is governed. It tells how the country will be administered, how decisions will be made, what the guarantees of freedom are, and so on.

Candidate: A person who is running for election. It comes from the Latin word candidatus, which means “clothed in white”. In ancient Rome, people who sought political office were garbed in white togas to show they were pure in their motives.

Incumbent: The person who is now holding the seat.

Challenger: The candidate who is trying to unseat the incumbent.

Independent: A candidate who does not belong to a political party.

Dark horse: A candidate whom people know little or nothing about but may well upset the odds and win the vote.

Open seat: One that is being contested in which there is no incumbent.

Stalking horse: A candidate who is put in to split the vote, for instance, in a three-cornered fight.

Three-cornered fight: When three candidates are vying to be elected for a seat. There can of course be “four-cornered fights” too, and so on.

Straight fight: When just two candidates face off each other.

Coalition: A coalition is, according to the OALD, “a temporary union of separate political parties, usually in order to form a government”.

Election Fund: The election fund is an amount of money for canvassing and promoting a certain candidate or party. This money often comes from wealthy supporters of the party, who would, naturally, have much to gain if that particular party comes into power.

Constituency: A constituency is an area, or group of people, who are served by a particular elected official. These people are known as the constituents of that district.

Manifesto: Public announcement of principles, intentions and policies by a political party. Each party’s manifesto would be different in its aims and priorities based on the party’s outlook.

Gerrymander: To gerrymander is to divide a voting area in such a way as to give one political party the advantage in as many districts as possible, or weaken the voting strength of an ethnic or racial group. Due to this division, the voting area could end up odd-shaped and unnatural, geographically and administratively.

This word was first coined in 1812 to criticise such a division of a county in Massachusetts – “Gerry” comes from Governor Elbridge Gerry and “mander” from “salamander”, the shape that the divided county resembled.

Spin: To provide biased information about a candidate or party so that it gives a favourable interpretation of their actions, ideas or policies.

Spin doctor: A person who spins.

Rhetoric: The use of exaggerated language to influence others.

Mudslinging: Negative, often personal, or exaggerated attacks against the opposing candidate or party.

Cronyism: The favourable treatment of friends and associates in the distribution of resources and positions, regardless of whether they are deserving of such rewards.

Nepotism: The exploitation of one’s power and authority to procure jobs or other favours for relatives.

Transparency: The quality of being clear, honest and open. It involves providing sufficient information so that interested parties, including the general public, can assess whether relevant procedures are followed in public administration by those in office. It is considered an essential element of accountable governance, leading to improved resource allocation, enhanced efficiency, and better prospects for economic growth in general.

Voter turnout: The total number of voters who participated in the voting.

The hustings: A general term for the places where a candidate gives speeches, e.g. The Prime Minister will be joined on the hustings by his deputy at Alor Gajah.

Grass roots: The people at the ordinary level rather than at the heart of a political party or activity. When politicians talk about going down to the grass roots, they mean going to the ordinary people to get their responses to proposed ideas and policies. If they enjoy the support of the grass roots, it means they have the support of the common people, such as their constituents or party followers.

Landslide victory: A victory in which a candidate or party receives an overwhelming majority of votes.

Vote with your feet: Show that you do not support a party any more by not voting it.