Malaysian coalition suffers rebuke in general elections

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - - Malaysia's ruling coalition was dealt a shock rebuke in Saturday elections that looked set to deliver the key state of Penang to the opposition as well as a slice of its majority in parliament.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi won a landslide victory in 2004 polls, but pollsters said he was being punished over high inflation, rising crime rates and ethnic tensions in the multicultural nation.

Opposition figurehead Anwar Ibrahim, the former deputy premier who was sacked and jailed in 1998, said the Barisan Nasional coalition could lose its two-thirds majority in parliament for the first time in four decades.

"We have crossed the one-third majority. This is based on information from the candidates from the initial counting," he told AFP.

"This is a major victory... and we are moving up very fast towards 40 percent."

The opposition held just 20 seats in the outgoing 219-seat parliament.

In Penang, the only state dominated by ethnic Chinese, the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) said it was confident of ousting Barisan Nasional with the help of Anwar's Keadilan and the Islamic party PAS.

"Definitely we have won enough seats to form the next state government. The DAP has won 19 seats while Keadilan and PAS secured another five," DAP candidate P. Ramasamy told AFP.

Malaysia's minority ethnic Indians and Chinese had been expected to turn away from the government, but pollsters said the coalition also suffered a loss of support from the majority Muslim Malays that form its bedrock.

"Basically, what we are seeing right now is that there is a massive swing against the Barisan Nasional among the ethnic Indian and Chinese electorates, " said Merdeka Centre research firm pollster Ibrahim Suffian.

"And also a significant swing of about 15 percent, I estimate, from among the Malay electorate as compared to the 2004 elections," he told AFP.

"Judging by the extent to which the unofficial reports are coming through there is a slim chance that the BN's two-thirds majority might be breached."

Anwar is barred from holding office until April, but has been criss-crossing the country campaigning for Saturday's general elections, rallying his own Keadilan party and two others which have formed a loose alliance.

"My concern now is why is there a deliberate delay on the part of the government-controll ed media in announcing the results," he said.

Six hours after voting closed, the Election Commission had announced just a few dozen seats -- mostly ones where the coalition won.

The charismatic 60-year-old Anwar, who was jailed on sex and corruption charges that were widely seen as politically motivated, said the result was a personal victory.

"I feel truly vindicated by the mass support given to the opposition," he said.

"Going forward, Malays, Indians and Chinese all have to work together and make us a formidable force."

Asked when he cast his vote early Saturday whether Barisan Nasional would retain its two-thirds majority, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said only: "Insya-Allah (God willing)."

Merdeka Centre pollster, Ibrahim, said the results put the premier's future in jeopardy as the head of the United Malays Nasional Organisation (UMNO), which leads the coalition.

"I think he will have a tough time ahead as he goes into UMNO party elections which are in the middle of the year. There will be some tough questions asked there," he said.

Rights monitors and opposition leaders had warned that the coalition, which has ruled for half a century, may manipulate the vote in tightly fought seats.

Concerns over electoral fraud triggered a clash between supporters of the Islamic party PAS and police in northern Terengganu state, with authorities using tear gas to disperse some 300 people. Twenty-two people were arrested.

In the major battleground of Kelantan, the only state the coalition does not hold and which it had hoped to snatch from PAS which has ruled there for 18 years, the Islamic party said it would extend its majority.

No official count was available, but Barisan Nasional state chief Annuar Musa conceded his party was faring badly in early tallies.

"It looks very bad for BN, not just in Kelantan but across the country," he told AFP. "Just watch the results as they come out. I cannot say more."

Report From Kg Lindungan P/Jaya

Kg Lindungan, PETALING JAYA : It was about 10.00 am, I took my family along to PJS 6/3, Kg Lindungan, Petaling Jaya to vote. Wow, the crowd was really big and both sides of the road leading to the voting center is packed with supporters shouting slogans and waving theie respective flags and banners. 

In my view they behave well, as they all belong to the same community living in the area for a long time though they may have some difference in opinion when coming to elect who suppose to rule Malaysia for another term. We have to wait for the outcome later in the evening...

I

Tear gas used on Islamic supporters

MALAYSIAN police used tear gas to disperse 300 supporters of a hardline Islamic party and arrested 20 people after they pelted police cars with stones in a poll-related incident.

Police chief Musa Hassan said the trouble began in northeastern Terengganu state when Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) supporters stopped several buses and cars carrying people arriving to cast their votes in general elections.

PAS has accused the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition of ferrying in “phantom voters” to skew the outcome of today's polls.

Musa said police intervened after PAS supporters confiscated dozens of identity cards from the people inside the vehicles, triggering scuffles in the coastal town of Rusila.

“The PAS supporters threw stones at police vehicles, forcing the police to release tear gas to control the situation,” he said.

PAS officials said PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang's son, Mohamad Kholil Abdul Hadi, 32, suffered a serious injury to his face during the melee and was treated in hospital, where he received stitches.

“We will investigate further whether the leaders incited these people. We have detained 20 of them for investigation,” Musa said, denying those on the buses were engaged in electoral fraud.

“No, there is no such thing as phantom voters. If they have registered, they can vote. They are all legitimate voters,” he said.

India has a stake in the few, poor and scatterd Malaysian Indians

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080308/jsp/opinion/story_8991923.jsp

FEW, POOR AND SCATTERED 
- India has a stake in ethnic peace and stability in Malaysia 
Sunanda K. Datta-Ray

Kumutha Rahman 
New Delhi can rest assured that today's Pilihan Raya Umum (general election, 2008) in Malaysia will not affect the strengthening of military and strategic ties since Abdullah Badawi's ruling Barisan Nasional will return to office, though perhaps with a smaller majority. But the two million Indians (7.1 per cent of the population) whose controversial leader, S. Samy Vellu, of the impossibly black hair is also celebrating his 72nd birthday today draw little comfort from a process that leaves them out in the cold so far as education, jobs and effective political representation are concerned. 
India's concern is not only because of its diaspora. Selling cruise missiles, training Malaysians to fly fighter jets, giving scholarships and road-building contracts to Malaysia and building railways there and burgeoning trade give India a stake in the kingdom's stability. That demands ethnic peace. The problem is not religious. Malaysia is not a Shariah-driven theocracy. Not yet. But it is an ethnocentric society in which Indians are too few, too poor and too scattered not to be marginalized. They constitute more than 20 per cent of the voters in only 10 parliamentary and 34 state constituencies and must, therefore, come to an accommodation with Malay-Muslims to prosper. There are two alternatives to Vellu, who has been president of the Malaysian Indian Congress since 1975. Indians can emulate either the devoutly Hindu, 29-year-old Kumutha Rahman, who has thrown her lot in with the Islamists, or the defiant Hindraf (Hindu Rights Action Force), whose leaders are languishing in jail without charges or trial. 
It's a feverish time for them, mobilizing makkal shakti, people power, through SMS, DVD and e-mail. Indian anguish is not the only blot on the fabric of Malaysian life. There are more weighty reasons like crime and corruption for wondering if today's outcome will accurately reflect voter sentiment (even among Malays) or just skilful management. The timing of elections was clearly designed to exclude the charismatic former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, who is banned from contesting until next month. The latest surprise announcement, dispensing with indelible ink, invites speculation about what the Barisan's dominant constituent, the United Malay National Organization, might be up to. Postal votes from the military and the police will play a large part in its success. Constituencies are mapped out almost for Barisan's convenience. The Chinese-majority Seputeh constituency had 46,500 voters in 2004, when the Malay-majority seat of Putrajaya had only 4,654. Thus, one Malay vote is the equivalent of about 10 Chinese votes. 
The Chinese who comprise 23.7 per cent of Malaysia's 27 million population are also perturbed by the drift from secularism, which alone can unite a multi-racial state in contented peace. The election announcement during the Chinese new year celebrations was seen as an insult. UMNO's 2005 general assembly — when the party's youth chief brandished a traditional Malay dagger (keris), threatening to bathe it in Chinese blood — awakened memories of the horrendous 1969 race riots. But the Chinese have weightage of numbers (they are in a majority in 26 constituencies), wealth (several millionaires), and political power (Penang state has a Chinese chief minister). They also have China and Singapore (especially Lee Kuan Yew) behind them. Indians are helpless in contrast. 
They voted solidly for Barisan, hoping for justice in return. But as works minister and the MIC's sole representative in the government, Vellu was seen more and more as a token Indian leader, rather like apartheid South Africa's Bantustan chiefs. He trounced his opponent in 2004 by 10,349 votes, but has recently been jeered at, harangued and insulted by Indian crowds. He has had to flee meetings where he has been heckled. His official car has been blocked from entering Indian enclaves in Penang and Kuala Lumpur and rowdy protesters have shoved his bodyguards around. Some MIC candidates feared his appearance would undermine their position but were embarrassed to ask their president to keep away. On police advice, the MIC cancelled many events. Mounting resentment against Vellu reportedly prompted Badawi at one time to consider dumping him. It is believed this is his last election though there has been no formal announcement. 
Does Kumutha Rahman suggest an alternative? Her name should really be Raman, but a clerical error inserted the 'h', which could be dangerous in a country where body-snatching for the faith is a pastime with Muslim clerics. Reporters say she rattles off the names of Hindu temples she visits regularly; eats only vegetarian meals three times a week; and that nary a drop of alcohol passed her lips while she studied for a law degree at Northumbria University in England. She is active in the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia Supporters Club and her brother, president of an organization with 2,500 Indian youth members, organizes joint activities with the PAS. But since the PAS constitution does not permit non-Muslim members, she is technically contesting on the affiliated Parti Keadilan Rakyat ticket for the Tiram assembly seat in Johor state. It is no coincidence that 14 per cent of Tiram's voters are Indian; by fielding her, the avowedly Islamic PAS hopes to mop up that vote as well as substantiate its claim to have abandoned the original goal of a Muslim theocracy. Supping with Islamists is, for Kumutha, an acknowledgement that an Indian can achieve something only by cooperating with the mainstream. "The Hindu religion made me aware of my limits," she says. 
Hinduism also has a role in the third — Hindraf — alternative. The courts' recent refusal to release the five leaders held under Malaysia's Internal Security Act means more prayers for their welfare in temples. Inevitably, prayers lead to political speeches, bestowing on temples, for the first time in Malaysian history, a function that churches discharged in medieval Europe and mosques do most conspicuously now. Temple prayer meetings are still safe from police raids. 
Malaysia's deputy prime minister, Najib Razak, suggests the MIC can meet the challenge by "rebranding itself as a political party". That demands a new and dedicated leadership but as Mahathir Mohamad (the former prime minister) says, Vellu will not allow any other Indian to come up. Hindraf can probably rebrand itself more easily if it softens its defiance, gives up a rejectionist posture, capitalizes on the goodwill it has won and harnesses the Tamil youth power now at its disposal. After all, its target of 20 parliamentary seats indicates a yearning for participative legitimacy. The nature of the Malaysian state rules out meaningful minority politics save with the majority's consent. Malaysia is not India (or Britain), where the minority can call the tune in many social matters, and where law and tradition provide a level playing field and an impartial umpire. Malaysian Indians can ensure the sanctity of their places of worship and their social and economic opportunities only with Malay-Muslim patronage. Sadly, there is no alternative to the Kumutha Rahman way, no matter how it is disguised. 
India might remind protesters who carry Mahatma Gandhi's pictures that apart from compromising with the British, he was ready to make massive concessions to the Muslim League. The task would be easier if Badawi is also convinced that the only way of defusing anger and restoring the Barisan-Indian compact is by co-opting Hindraf into mainstream politics. Releasing the incarcerated leaders is a necessary first step. Malay-Muslim hotheads, who reportedly prevented a new election manifesto promising an equitable share of the economy to minority groups and who reacted hysterically last year to Manmohan Singh's innocuous comment, will object. But Badawi must know that if it's surrender all the way, there will be little difference between UMNO and PAS or, for that matter, between Malaysia and Iran. He calls Barisan a racially "inclusive" organization. Proving it, irrespective of the result of today's voting, would benefit Malaysia in the long term, at home and abroad.

Former PM Dr. Mahathir's Admission

Indians 'are now politically awakened'B Mahendran

Indian Malaysians make up at least 25 percent of voters in more than 20 parliament and state seats and this is where they can make a difference today at the ballot box. Once staunch supporters of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, the winds of change have recently blown through this minority community.  

The Hindraf cause last November was the spark in the awakening of political awareness among the mostly conservative Indians. Claims of marginalisation were the major topic of discussion among the Indians at coffee shops, weddings and even toddy shops in the rural areas.

Hindraf has been used as the rallying call for not only the underclass, but also educated middle-class Indians. The November rally saw 30,000 Indian Malaysians taking the street to express their frustrations, not so much over the government’s pro-Malay policy, but the discrimination they face during its implementation. 

The hatred towards Umno and the New Economic Policy has also affected BN’s Indian partner, MIC and its party chief, S Samy Vellu(right).

MIC officials secretly admitted that Samy Vellu has now become a liability to the party and BN, yet they defended him publicly. Former premierDr Mahathir Mohamad in an interview inMalaysiakini recently has said that Samy Vellu has never raised Indian concerns in the cabinet, and this added fodder to existing frustrations.

In his defence, Samy Vellu pulled out facts and figures on how the government has helped the Indian minorities. He claimed that the MIC-administered Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST) has alone received RM300 million, and it was named the first PIO (people of Indian origin) university outside of India.

But many Indians were not taken by such claims.  

"In his (Samy Vellu’s) statement, he claimed that RM1 million was allocated annually to the temples in Malaysia. Do you think that is enough? How many temples are there in Malaysia?" said A Vickneswaran from Ipoh.  

Vickneswaran was one of the detainees in the ‘Rose for Pak Lah’ rally last month. He represents the voice of younger generations who are expressing anger against the government.  

"We have no future in this country, we are ‘anak tiri’ (stepsons) of this soil!" 

Such sentiments are well and alive all across the country. In an estate in Sungai Siput, a group of ethnic Tamils gathered in front of a temple, each with a story to tell. Ladang Dovenvy has a sizable number of Indian voters, many of whom were once staunch MIC supporters.  

"I am here not for myself, [...] but I realise these boys must be educated of the situation," said Kalai (right), a man in his 40s, referring to the young men around him. He came all the way from Puchong in Kuala Lumpur to Sungai Siput - Samy Vellu’s stronghold in Perak - two weeks before the polling day to educate the residents on ‘BN’s injustice’.  

"Hindraf has done what MIC couldn't do at all. The Indians are now politically awakened, they know their civil rights, and they realised they have been made a fool for the past 50 years or so," said the mechanical degree holder from Sunderland University.  

The sentiment on the ground in Sungai Siput is very much the same as with other parts of the country.

Further up north, in Taiping for instance, PAS members were seen shouting 'Makkal Sakthi' (people's power) on nomination day to the delight of the Indians who were there. The feeling there among Indians is that they would rather vote for the opposition, or independent, rather than BN.   

"The temple here is not being taken care of. What lies did Samy tell regarding the allocation for temples annually? What money?" says an angry youth in Ipoh, who declined to be identified. 

"We have seen too much discrimination in this country, even at school level. There is no opportunity for us to further our studies, to get employment, no nothing." 

Many angry youth not voters

One resident in Sungai Siput complained of being ignored by the Election Commission. The four-time voter in the constituency claimed that he was brushed aside by EC officials after finding out that he was not on the electoral rolls.  

"They say I'm not on the list, but I have voted four times before. They just ignored my pleas. I am a citizen of this country. What difference is there between me and an Indonesian if I can't cast my vote?" said S Ravi (left) from Ladang Dovenby. 

Kalai claimed he has come across similar cases elsewhere. However, while he conceded that the ‘Makkal Sakthi uprising’ is strong, most angry Indian youths are not registered as voters. 

MCA’s Yik Phooi Hong, who is standing for Ipoh Barat, is confident of wresting this Perak seat from DAP based on this factor alone. 

"Most of the youth who are angry with us are not even registered," says M Rajoo, a volunteer at BN's service centre in Buntong - a state seat which has the highest proportion of Indian voters in the country. Popularly known as 'Buntong Tiger', Yik will be facing incumbent M Kulasegaran from DAP.

Not surprisingly, Kulasegaram (right) is facing a tough fight to retain his seat, but he hopes the popularity of party leader Lim Kit Siang - who is defending the neighbouring seat of IpohTimur - will pull him through. 

Nevertheless, whatever the outcome today, the Indian community has already made history. For the first time since Independence, they are united in their mission to ensure everyone has a place under the Malaysian sun.