BN Out!

SHAHRIZAT ABDUL JALIL (BN)

ABDULLAH BADAWI

It was an unhappy birthday for the Works Minister, who turned 72 yesterday. He became the biggest victim of the backlash from Indian voters as he lost his Sungai Siput seat.

The leader of the Malaysian Indian Congress, a BN component, had held the Perak seat for three decades. He lost it to the PKR's Dr Michael Jeyakumar by 2,466 votes.

S. SAMY VELLU (BN)

Datuk Seri Samy Vellu was the longest-serving government minister with almost 30 years in the Cabinet. But he became a prime target of anger within the minority Indian community over complaints that they faced discrimination by the coalition.
More than 10,000 ethnic Indians took to the streets in an anti-government protest last November.



The 54-year-old minister lost to the much younger Nurul Izzah Anwar, 27, in a seat that was meant to be a BN stronghold.

The defeat in Lembah Pantai in Kuala Lumpur marked two worrying trends for the government.
First, it meant that it is not just the Chinese and Indian votes that have swung to the opposition. The loss of a Malay-majority seat meant urban Malay votes have also upped and left.

Second, it gave an indication of just how strong the support for former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim is.

All eyes now will be on whether Ms Nurul Izzah will give up this seat to her father.

ZAINUDDIN MAIDIN (BN)

The Malaysian Information Minister, 69, lost to the PKR's Johari Abdul, 53, in Sungai Petani, Kedah.

His defeat was one of many for the ruling party in the home state of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad as it fell into PAS hands.

The result came as a rude shock for the minister. He had been confident of retaining the BN stronghold, to the point of proclaiming that his target was a sweep of all the three state seats under the parliamentary seat.

KOH TSU KOON (BN)

The decision by the outgoing Penang Chief Minister to move from a state seat to a federal one proved disastrous as he lost to DAP's P. Ramasamy.

Tan Sri Koh has led the state since 1990 and the defeat marked a quick fall from grace. He had only recently taken over leadership of BN component party Gerakan from Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik.

He is partly responsible for his own downfall, having held back from naming his successor as chief minister.

The opposition seized on this and accused Gerakan of being under the control of Umno, the lead party of BN.

His loss and that of the Gerakan base Penang cast serious doubts over the future of the party.

M. KAYVEAS (BN)

The Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department had been on shaky ground in Taiping before the election, and his unpopularity on the ground resulted in a handy defeat by DAP's Nga Kor Ming.

There had been unhappiness in the lead-up to the polls, as residents considered him a 'parachute' candidate who had been imported just to contest the constituency.

The DAP had also been engaging in attacks on his credibility. Its chairman Karpal Singh alleged that Datuk Kayveas had been fined RM1,500 (S$660) by the Malaysian Bar disciplinary board in 2005.

TAN CHAI HO (BN)

The Deputy Minister for Home Affairs lost Selangor's Bandar Tun Razak by a slim margin of 2,515 votes to PKR's secretary- general Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

After winning the constituency in three consecutive elections, Datuk Tan's loss was seen as part of a wider trend across the state of Selangor residents deserting BN candidates.

In the lead-up to the election, there was speculation that this seat could be given up for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to make his political return.